Was in Winnipeg - saw Oasis and Ryan Adams @ MTS. Fun show. Observations on area radio, from my brief listening:

92.9 - Kick FM - proof college radio can remain "alternative" while also being well formatted and listenable. great upbeat mix of British and indie rock, and major kudos for throwing in a Snow Patrol cover of "Crazy In Love" and the new Oasis single as I was heading to the concert.

94.3 - Curve - I like the format, it sounds interesting. I do have some minor issues with them calling it "North America's First Pop Alternative" - similar formats have been done before (96X, and several US stations.) The logo seems like a rush job compared to the clean and modern appearance of the Q94 logo before the flip. Imaging is good, I do like the contrast between serious and quirky. The rap element confuses me. I know it makes sense on one level because I know people who listen to a lot of the pop leaning modern stuff and some urban, but some of the picks seem put into the mix so randomly that it doesn't flow. Long set of poppy alt stuff then Missy Elliot then back to the pop alt. I think they'll either evolve the selection/placement of the urban or lose most of it within the year. I enjoyed hearing some new fresh songs that seemed too pop for modern rock, but definitely sounded good on the radio. Also major kudos to whoever came up with the Fatboy Slim remix of the Beastie Boys track "Body Movin'" that Curve spun last night. There's a "wow" track you never hear on the radio and I hope they keep doing things like that to keep it fresh. The one thing that drove me nuts about most US implementations of pop alternative is the over-repetitiveness of it to the point of being completely bland once you'd heard their entire playlist for six months.

95.9 and 101.5 continue to be a fun listen due to the sheer randomness and fun that is college radio.

99.9 - enjoyed the "Bob-ography" feature and interview with Noel from Oasis.

107.1 - what is up with Freq? I appreciated some of the music they dug out and elements of their programming. Last night, they were running a liner between every song, and some of the liners were straight from adult contemporary "you guys play a better mix of music" fake phoner drops. Sounded out of place, how many alt rock fans use that sort of term to describe a station like Freq? I read that it's been sold to Golden West Broadcasting but can't find much info. Musically though, I don't see how this station has avoided CRTC fines because while I like some of what they play, it doesn't seem to be in compliance with Freq's religiously based license. Anyone know the background here?

Freq has always been a "faith-based" station, no matter how they bill themselves, and now that Elmer's purchased it (to halt competition with his CHVN) who knows what they'll do with it.  Might be turned into another "Eagle" AC Gold format...

I'm a bit confused as to how you can say it's "always been." I've listened to it a lot via streaming and I couldn't work out how in recent times "faith based" played much of a role in anything Freq was doing. Not saying that made it bad but questioning how it was complying with the license in recent history?

I'm not entirely sure, and would never listen to a faith-based station unless under duress, but I know that their mission statement, which was always posted on the website, said something about "...following His word..."