!earshot Top 200 of 2021

Program Profile: Everything's Different

By Magnus Thyvold

Hot coffee keeps Chris White's jittery brain
working hardto find another new artistListening to commercial radio can be trying. It’s not just the ads; it’s hearing the same songs over and over. One thing that distinguishes community radio from other kinds of radio is the huge variety of different songs played. Where a commercial station might have 40 or 50 or maybe as many as 75 tracks on its playlist, a community station will play as many as 600 to 900 different songs each week.

Most programmers have their favoured artists and songs that they return to from time to time but there are a few who take playing new material very seriously. Chris White has instituted his own personal no repeats policy for his program “I am Collecting Beautiful Things” on Detroit/Windsor’s CJAM 91.5FM. “The ultimate goal,” Chris explains, “is to never play the same artist twice for the duration of the year.” He is also the CJAM Music Director and used to do math rock show but began to feel it was getting redundant. Obviously, that redundancy was really bugging I look forward to respectfully to telling them I can't play what they want him. Chris will be featuring interviews whenever possible this year and also hopes to take advantage of CJAM’s new facilities for live in-studio performances. And he says mischievously, “I look forward to getting listener requests and having respectfully to tell them I can’t play what they want because it was already featured on the show earlier in the year.” A few of his favourite recent releases include Windsor’s Yellow Wood, Detroit producer El-Iqaa, Big Black Coud and The Pack A.D. but you won’t be hearing them on his show anytime soon. He’s played them already.

You can catch “I am Collecting Beautiful Things” every Thursday from 2:30 to 4 P.M. ET on CJAM 91.5FM or online at www.cjam.ca.

Monday Night Scribes (poetry) on CHUO 89.1FM on Ottawa, ON
Monday from 10 P.M. to 11 P.M. ET
Online at www.chuo.fm

Anoize (noize) on CiTR 101.9FM in Vancouver, BC
Wednesday from 11:30 A.M. to 1 P.M. PT
Online and podcast at www.citr.ca

Sugar Foot Stomp (20’s jazz) on CIUT 89.5FM in Toronto, ON
Thursday from 3 P.M. to 5 P.M. ET
Online at www.ciut.fm

Roxies’ Ruse (comedy) on CKXU 88.3FM in Lethbridge, AB
Monday from 10 P.M. to 12 midnight MT
Online at www.ckxu.com

The First Sound (percussion) on CKMS 100.3FM in Waterloo, ON
Monday (alternating) from 6 P.M. to 7 P.M. ET Online at www.ckmsfm.ca