Foxy Music with Nicole Burgers

A radio station that plays quality music, commits money to develop Canadian talent and wants to come to Ottawa? Commuting to work by car in Ottawa means chasing your tail on the circle of signals known as radio stations, and still there’s nothing you want to hear. That may soon change if Bill Evanov, President of Foxy 88.5, can help it. He and his colleagues have applied for a CRTC (Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission) licence in the hopes that they will soon be able to mix up the overplayed programmed programs of the Ottawa radio market and provide a station, called The Jewel, that is geared toward a more mature crowd (40 plus) yearning for something that doesn't put them to sleep or rudely wake them up. A radio station that plays quality music wants to come to Ottawa and wants to commit money to develop Canadian talent? I'm sceptical, but I'm listening.

Foxy’s aim is to redefine the term easy listening and set themselves apart from the conglomerate-owned stations that are restricted by a set-in-stone playlist. After buying Foxy two and half years ago, Evanov and his colleagues managed to resurrect it from shaky roots and grow it into a profitable organization. He says the now-thriving station based in Toronto was losing money over a 15-year period. When they took over, Evanov, simply said, “To hell with it, I’m going to program what I like.” And what he likes happens to be a growing library of more than 6,000 artists of different genres and eras. Foxy is one of the few independent stations left in Toronto that strive for that enduring quality, says Evanov, and this format, read enduring not oldie, is the first of its kind in Canada.

“They are timeless songs that are a part of your life,”says Carmela Laurignano, Vice President and Radio Group Manager. You can expect to hear anyone from Norah Jones to Bob Dylan; the Cowboy Junkies; Strauss; Kathleen Edwards and the list continues. You can also expect to hear Canadian artists that otherwise don’t get airplay, like local blues musician, Suzie Vinnick or Quebec pianist, Richard Abel.

As a Canadian radio station, music playlists should contain 35 per cent Canadian content, according to CRTC regulations. On Foxy’s application they have recommended 40 per cent, something the sister station in Toronto has already achieved. They are also planning to commit $4 million over seven years to developing Canadian talent.

Aside from the mosaic of easy-on-the-ears sounds, Foxy plans to have programs like, Crooners, Folk and Roots, World Music, Business, golf and ski reports, health watch as well as a theatre and arts report, “…a whole package of what’s relevant to this demographic,” says Laurignano.

And how is it working in Toronto? Recent findings show that people in Toronto are listening to Foxy 21 hours a week. Not bad for a station that currently only reaches 30 per cent of the heavily-populated, Toronto area. Should they be awarded the CRTC licence, they will be covering the entire Ottawa area. In addition, market research showed that the public is hungry for it. More than 50 per cent of people surveyed were definitely or most likely going to listen to this station. It was this information that fuelled the fire for Foxy.

“It makes sense,” says Evanov. “It’s in the public interest.” Foxy filed their application to CRTC in April and since then support has been flowing in from all directions including 300 letters of public support as well as backing from Canadian musicians like Michael Bublé and Dan Hill.
Some of the feedback has even inspired the Jewel FM mantra – “At last…a radio station playing ‘music with class.’”
Maybe this is something commuters might be waiting for; a station whose identification line is - “If you can’t get out of your car, you’re listening to Foxy.” www.thejewel.fm