text:
Omni Television

Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and group of specialty channels owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultural television stations, which are located in Ontario (two stations), British Columbia, Alberta (two stations), and an affiliate in Quebec. The system's flagship station is CFMT in Toronto, which was the first independent multicultural television station in Canada.

The Omni brand was first introduced in 2002 after Rogers launched a second station in Toronto, CJMT; the two stations were collectively branded as Omni Television, with CJMT branding as "Omni.2" and focusing on programs targeting Asian and African communities, and CFMT "Omni.1" focusing on targeting the European and Caribbean communities. The Omni brand expanded outside of Toronto for the first time in 2005, with Rogers' acquisition of religious independent stations in Vancouver and Winnipeg.

In 2007, Rogers secured new multicultural licenses in Calgary and Edmonton, announced its sale of the Vancouver and Winnipeg stations to S-VOX, and then acquired Vancouver's existing multicultural station CHNM. In 2012, Omni added an affiliate in Montreal via the new multicultural station CFHD-DT, with Rogers agreeing to help support the station in exchange for relieving CJNT of its own multicultural remit.

Since September 2017, Omni began to be distributed throughout the remainder of the country, as a group of specialty channels with mandatory carriage. This group is licensed under the blanket name Omni Regional; Rogers argued that revenue from mandatory carriage was necessary to restore and sustain the stations' local programming. Originally licensed by the CRTC on a three-year interim basis while the commission considered alternative proposals for a national multicultural channel, the Commission ultimately chose to re-licence Omni Regional until at least 2023, on the basis of commitments to expanded Canadian programming production.

Etymology
Derived from the Latin word "omnis" meaning "all", "Omni" is not an acronym, although the name is written all in capital letters.

History
Toronto's CFMT launched in 1979 as Canada's first multilingual/multicultural television station, owned by Multilingual Television (Toronto) Ltd. The station was originally referred to as "MTV" before using its call letters to identify on-air in 1983 due to confusion with the American music video channel. As its initial format was 100% ethnic, the station experienced financial difficulties, and was on the verge of bankruptcy when Rogers stepped in and purchased it in 1986. Rogers then attempted to launch a similar multicultural station in Vancouver in 1996, 1999 and 2002, but all three attempts were rejected by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It was, however, given a second multicultural licence in Toronto to provide room for additional multicultural programing, and launched CJMT as a sister station to CFMT in fall 2002. It was at this point that the "OMNI Television" brand was introduced, with CFMT and CJMT branded as "OMNI.1" and "OMNI.2" respectively.

The Omni brand was expanded in 2005, when Rogers acquired two religious TV stations, CHNU in the Vancouver market and CIIT in Winnipeg, from Trinity Television. CHNU was rebranded from "NOWTV" to "OMNI.10" in September 2005, while CIIT went on air as "OMNI.11" on February 6, 2006.

2007 realignment
Several proposed changes to the Omni system were announced, either by Rogers or by the CRTC, during a one-month span from June to July 2007. First, on June 8, the CRTC granted Rogers licences to operate new multicultural stations in Calgary and Edmonton, beating out a competing proposal from Multivan Broadcast Corporation (which won the bid for the Vancouver multicultural licence in 2002 against Rogers and launched CHNM-TV).

On June 28, 2007, Rogers made public its offer to sell the religious-licensed Omni stations in Winnipeg and Vancouver as part of its contemporaneous purchase of Citytv (which the CRTC ordered CTVglobemedia to sell them off as part of the CHUM Limited takeover deal). Rogers indicated, however, that it viewed retaining the multilingual licences in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton (effectively creating twinsticks in those three markets) as compatible with CRTC policy, since they are licensed to serve a different programming niche than the general interest Citytv stations.

On July 7, Rogers announced an agreement to purchase the aforementioned CHNM, finally securing a true multicultural television licence in Vancouver. The fact that Rogers had acquired the Calgary and Edmonton multicultural licences, beating out Multivan's competing applications, was cited as a major reason for the sale.

On September 28, the CRTC approved Rogers' takeover of the Citytv stations, giving the company one year to divest itself of the religious Omni stations. A tentative deal to sell the stations to S-VOX, owner of VisionTV, was announced on November 6. On March 31, 2008, the CRTC approved both Rogers' acquisition of CHNM and its sale of CIIT and CHNU to S-VOX. CHNU was rebranded as "CHNU 10" on October 31, 2007, a year before the Omni brand was transferred to CHNM. CIIT was rebranded "CIIT11" in July 2008, after S-VOX took control of the station. Both stations rebranded as Joytv on September 1, 2008; CHNM rebranded as "Omni BC" on the same date. The two new stations in Calgary and Edmonton launched on September 15, 2008 under the call letters CJCO and CJEO.

Partnership with ICI Montreal, cutbacks
Rogers announced an agreement to acquire the one Canadian multicultural television station it did not already own, CJNT-DT Montreal on May 3, 2012, from Channel Zero, after having passed on the opportunity when the station was previously put up for sale in 2009 by Canwest during its financial difficulties. While intending to relaunch it as a Citytv station, Rogers did not rule out the possibility of requesting that CJNT be re-licensed as an English-language station, but in the meantime CJNT aired Omni programs (including Omni News) to fulfill much of its ethnic programming requirements after it became affiliated with Citytv prior to the sale. As part of the sale, Rogers requested that the CRTC convert CJNT to an English-language station, on the condition that both Channel Zero and Rogers provide services and resources to CFHD-DT, International Channel/Canal International (ICI), a newly proposed, locally owned multicultural station. Both were approved by the CRTC on December 20, 2012. ICI officially launched on December 11, 2013.

In the mid-2010's, the Omni stations struggled financially; Rogers Media president Keith Pelley explained that between 2011 and 2014, advertising revenue had fallen from CA$80 million to CA$35 million. On May 30, 2013, Rogers announced the shutdown of production facilities at CJCO and CJEO, ending the production of local programming and news content from the Omni Alberta stations, and as a result, the discontinuation of the South Asian newscasts. On May 7, 2015, Rogers announced further cuts affecting Omni, including the re-structuring of the Omni News programs, the cancellation of V-Mix and Bollywood Boulevard, and the elimination of redundancy in technical staff between the Omni and Citytv stations.

Licensing as a must-carry specialty channel
On June 14, 2016, Rogers announced that it had submitted an application to the CRTC for a new, national specialty channel known as Omni Regional. The service would consist of four feeds; "Pacific", "Prairies", "East", and "ICI Quebec", which mirror the programming of the corresponding Omni Television O&O and affiliate stations in their respective regions (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal). The East feed specifically mirrors CJMT (Omni.2), which primarily focuses on the south and east Asian communities. CFMT (Omni.1), which focuses on European and Latin American communities, retains its existing distribution in southern and eastern Ontario. Rogers also sought 9(1)(h) must-carry status for the service.

Colette Watson, Rogers' vice president of television, stated that Omni Television was "not sustainable in its current state"; the company stated that must-carry status for the Omni Regional channels would result in an additional $14 million in annual revenue from carriage fees, which it planned to mostly invest into the production of daily half-hour national newscasts in the Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, and Punjabi languages—programming that had been cancelled in 2015 in the previous round of cuts. Omni also pledged to increase its investments in original domestic content.

With reservations, CRTC approved Rogers' application for Omni Regional on May 15, 2017, and granted it must-carry status under a provisional three-year term. This requires the service to be offered on the lowest tier of service by all Canadian digital television providers. In regions where Omni already operates terrestrially, providers may be relieved from carrying the Omni Regional version of the service on their lineups, or vice versa. Omni Regional launched on September 1, 2017.

Call for applications and 2020 renewal
In its approval, the CRTC felt that Omni Regional's business model was financially unsustainable, as there were no significant plans for new original programming beyond newscasts, and Rogers did not sufficiently demonstrate that the service would "ensure a sufficient reflection of Canada's third-language communities", as its structure did not sufficiently serve regions not currently served by an Omni station (such as Atlantic and Central Canada). As such, the CRTC recognized that there was "[an] exceptional need for a national, multilingual multi-ethnic programming service that can provide Canadians with news and current events programming in multiple languages from a Canadian perspective", and formally requested applications for a national, multicultural specialty service that would receive must-carry status.

The CRTC announced the eight applicants on April 17, 2018, which included competing proposals by companies such as Bell Media, the Corriere Canadese, and Ethnic Channels Group among others. Rogers proposed maintaining the existing Omni Regional structure, but with an increased investment in original scripted and factual programming, the addition of Arabic, Hindi, and Tagalog-language newscasts, local newscasts on the East, Pacific, and Prairies feeds in Mandarin and Punjabi, and a local newscast in Italian on the East feed (which would replace the Italian national newscast, as the majority of Canada's Italian population lives in Ontario and Quebec).

In May 2019, the CRTC approved Rogers' application, granting Omni Regional a three-year license renewal taking effect September 1, 2020. Changes included that at least 70% of the broadcast day and 70% of primetime must be devoted to Canadian productions, and at least 12 hours of programming per-week must be acquired from independent producers (including at least two hours per-week of programming reflecting the Atlantic provinces, and two hours reflecting Manitoba and Saskatchewan). The number of daily national newscasts expanded to six, and there will be six hours per-week of local news programming for Calgary/Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver. Programming must be governed by advisory panels for each region, and Rogers must maintain the Omni broadcast stations during the services' license terms. The service must also be operated on a break-even basis, with all additional profit re-invested into its operations. Rogers is only allowed to solicit advertising in the regions of the existing Omni broadcast stations.

The decision to maintain Rogers' service was controversial; Montreal Gazette media analyst Steve Faguy noted that the CRTC's decision contained no discussion of any of the other applicants, which he considered "shocking". In June 2019, the Corriere Canadese sent a letter to the cabinet requesting an appeal of the CRTC's decision, citing that the Commission ignored "widespread and intense dissatisfaction" with Rogers and Omni "in respect of its minimal conditions of license for Omni Regional to serve the multi-lingual multi-ethnic community of Canadians". The complaint pointed out the CRTC's previous disagreement with the structure of Omni Regional upon its initial approval, and argued that the new proposal also weakened Omni's mandates to provide ethnic news and public affairs programming (replacing four hour-long programs in specific languages with six half-hour programs in non-specific third languages). It argued that "the CRTC choice is an affront to its original Call for a unique service, to the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and to the constitutionality of the principles of equality inherent in the Multiculturalism Act."

Independent Community Television Montreal (ICTV)—who had proposed a service known as Tele1—also requested an appeal, accusing CRTC commissioners Ian Scott and Caroline J. Simard of having "communicated independently with representatives of Rogers and Bell on multiple occasions and without notice to ICTV", resulting in an unfair process.

In August 2019, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the case, and the CRTC's decision was upheld by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Programming
All Rogers-owned Omni stations are licensed to air programming in no fewer than 20 languages to communities encompassing at least 20 cultures—ethnic programming comprises 60% of the Omni stations' schedules. The Toronto-based Omni stations are differently licensed with respect to the languages and communities they serve: CFMT airs programming for European and Caribbean language communities, while CJMT airs programming for the Pan-Asian and Pan-African audiences. Since 2019, Omni Television has carried the Eurovision Song Contest.

Omni stations formerly scheduled a limited amount of English-language entertainment programming aimed at mainstream audiences, such as syndicated sitcoms, talk shows, and game shows, as well as CBS's late-night talk shows (primarily Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show under Tom Snyder and the majority of Craig Ferguson's run). The Omni stations do not typically air primetime programs simulcast from U.S. networks, but Omni occasionally served as an overflow channel for Citytv after Rogers' purchase of the network—allowing them to maintain their simsub rights in its duopoly markets. As of the 2015–16 television season, all of these programs have been dropped, and nearly all of the Omni stations' schedules are devoted exclusively to ethnic programming.

While under Rogers ownership, CHNU and CIIT aired many of the same types of programs as CFMT and CJMT, despite the difference in the nature of service of multicultural and religious stations. CHNU and CIIT had previously aired many of the same types of syndicated sitcoms and multicultural programs shown regularly on the Omni stations in Toronto, and the Toronto stations carried some religious teaching programs. The common brand allowed cost savings for promotions and for the acquisition of the general-entertainment programs that all of the Omni stations had used to generate most of their revenues. However, due in particular to Vancouver multicultural station CHNM (while under Multivan ownership) and Toronto religious station CITS, which both opposed Rogers's acquisition of Trinity's religious stations, the Omni stations' core formats remained intact.

Sports
Omni Television stations have occasionally aired sporting events in minority languages, and in English as an overflow for Citytv or Sportsnet. Prior to their move to Citytv and the eventual acquisition of late games by CTV, the Omni stations aired late-afternoon NFL games for a period, and in the 2014 season, simulcast selected Thursday Night Football games from CBS (which also aired on Sportsnet). During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Omni stations broadcast coverage of the games in minority languages as part of the CTV/Rogers consortium.

On June 27, 2013, Omni.2 in Toronto broadcast Mandarin-language coverage of a Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball game started by Taiwanese player Chien-Ming Wang, marking the first ever Canadian MLB broadcast in the language.

Rogers acquired national media rights to the National Hockey League in November 2013. Beginning in the 2014–15 NHL season, the Omni stations added Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition, which features Punjabi-language telecasts of NHL games on Saturday nights, and selected playoff games. The Punjabi broadcasts are carried over from CBC's past digital coverage of games in the language.

Beginning in the later half of the 2018 season, and expanding into the 2019 season, Omni carried a regular schedule of Sunday-afternoon Blue Jays games in Tagalog.

News
Prior to its rebranding as Omni 1 in 2002, CFMT aired news in Portuguese, Italian and Cantonese from Monday to Friday, with a Mandarin program on the weekend. With the launch of CJMT (branded as Omni 2), a South Asian news program in English was introduced, and Mandarin was expanded from weekends only to Monday to Friday newscasts.

CHNM, or Omni British Columbia, was branded as Channel M prior to its purchase by Rogers in 2008. As Channel M, and after being bought by Rogers, CHNM produced a national newscast in Punjabi, as well as Cantonese and Mandarin. Omni Alberta also produced newscasts in Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as an English language South Asian newscast, from its launch in 2008 until 2011. The programs featured coverage of Canadian news stories in the language, along with stories from foreign broadcasters in countries in which the language is natively spoken (or the Indian subcontinent, in the case of the Punjabi edition).

On May 7, 2015, Rogers announced a restructuring of Omni News programs as part of cutbacks that led to the loss of 110 jobs across the company. The existing newscasts would by replaced by new public affairs-oriented programs produced in Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi. The new programs featured in-depth discussion of local issues, and did not feature original news reporting. Colette Watson, Rogers' vice president of television, explained that the decision to drop the newscasts was financially motivated; the newscasts only brought in CA$3.9 million in advertising revenue per-year, but had production expenses of CA$9 million.

Rogers' decision to drop ethnic newscasts resulted in criticism by Julian Fantino, Member of Parliament for Vaughan, who described the loss of Italian-language news coverage to be "devastating"; Vaughan has a notably large population of Italians, Following an unsatisfactory response by the company, Fantino called upon Rogers representatives to appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

As part of the Omni Regional service, Rogers reinstated half-hour national newscasts in the Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin and Punjabi languages. In September 2020, Arabic and Filipino newscasts were added.

Meanwhile, Rogers subcontracted production of Omni's new Chinese-language newscasts to Fairchild Media Group, owner of the Cantonese Fairchild TV and Mandarin Talentvision channels. Unifor and community groups questioned whether this arrangement was in compliance with Omni Regional's CRTC license, which stated that the service would "produce and broadcast" half-hour national newscasts in multiple languages, but leaving it unclear whether they must be produced by the licensee itself. They also cited concerns over Fairchild's news coverage having historically skewed conservative. Rogers defended the partnership as compliant with the license, and stated that they had editorial control over the programs. Unifor stated that it would file a grievance and a complaint with the CRTC over this agreement. The CRTC dismissed the complaint in April 2018, ruling that "produce" was broadly defined to allow for subcontracting, and that Rogers' editorial control (including limits on content sharing with newscasts on Fairchild's own channels) were sufficient as to not reduce the diversity of voices.

High definition
In the fall of 2004, Omni launched high definition simulcasts of both Toronto stations, CFMT and CJMT. However, at the time both stations were only available through digital cable. In the summer of 2008, both stations began broadcasting digitally over-the-air. In December 2009, CHNM began broadcasting an over-the-air digital signal and broadcasts in standard definition.

title: Omni Television


text:
Vadstena bracteate

The Vadstena bracteate (Rundata Ög 178, IK 377.1) is a gold C-bracteate found in the ground at Vadstena, Sweden, in 1774. Along with the bracteate was a gold ring and a piece of gold sheet: all were nearly melted down by a goldsmith who was stopped by a local clergyman. The bracteate was stolen in 1938 from the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities and has not yet been found.

The bracteate is believed to have been made about AD 500. In the middle of the bracteate is a four-legged animal with a man's head above it, and in front of this a bird separated from the other images by a line. This image is commonly associated with the Norse god Odin in bracteate iconography. The bracteate is most famous for containing a full listing of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. The runes in the futhark are divided by dots into three groups of eight runes which are commonly called ættir. The entire inscription reads:

 * tuwatuwa; fuþarkgw; hnijïpzs; tbemlŋo[d]

The last rune (d) is hidden below the necklace holder piece that has been molded on top of the bracteate, but archaeologists know what it is because it is visible in a bracteate struck using the same die and found nearby in 1906, the Mariedamm bracteate, Nä 10, IK 377.2, which reads:

 * (t)uwatuwa; fuþarkgw; hnijïpzs; tbemlŋod.

The first part of the inscription, tuwatuwa, is not yet understood but is assumed to be associated with magic; however, this is a stock explanation for runic text that has not yet been interpreted.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Vadstena bracteate


text:
Category:Drug-related deaths

This is a category for people who died of an accidental drug overdose, suicide by taking psychoactive drugs, or from habitual drug abuse, prescription or otherwise.

title: Category:Drug-related deaths


text:
Hunt-class

Hunt-class may refer to:
 * Hunt-class minesweeper (1916)
 * Hunt-class destroyer (built 1939–1943)
 * Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel (built 1978–1988)

title: Hunt-class


text:
Talk:True Love (video game)

Screenshot
I think the title screenshot is not needed. Also, a screenshot that would show game mechanics better (calendar, activities planner, etc.) should replace one of the last two screens. Paranoid 17:52, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

"It can be viewed as..."?
I don't understand why the article says: “It can be viewed as a hentai dating sim...”. Is it a hentai dating sim? Can it be viewed as anything else? I was tempted just to rewrite that sentence as: “It is a hentai dating sim”, but thought that I'd better make sure that I wasn't missing anything first. Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 21:39, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) I know that i truly love Alleasa...........Mattjasd
 * What the author probably meant is that it has a lot more emphasis on gameplay than other games from the genre. I am going to focus on that aspect on my version of this article. It's in my WIP folder right now and at a very stuby state, but when I'm done with it, I can give you a shout and you can do some revision. (PS: thanks for the heads up, Paranoid.)--Sn0wflake 23:22, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks — I've rewritten that sentence (as a stopgap until your new article appears). Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 08:41, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Does anyone know where you can get the demo of the sequel? Is it real?

Oxymoron 7? its said true love was exported from the year 1994 while FF7 is 1997. O_o

Ahh, but FinalFantasy IV was out, V was probably out (don't cite me, I forget the release dates and I'm too lazy to check) You might want to change that to simply 'Final Fantasy' not 'Final Fantasy VI', while I agree tis a spoof of FF, it couldn't be FF7.SaderBiscut 03:21, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Wtf?
""But does true love actually exist? If so, how do we know? How do we discern between love and true love?"" What is this? I actually agree with it, but why is it written like this? Very non-wiki, if someone could expand on that greatly, that would be appreciated.220.238.236.67 13:49, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Umm, no offense to anyone, but there's an article on god. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God. Don't tell me true love doesn't exist and I won't tell you that God doesn't. - Skye

Link or title errors between True love and True love (game) articles
When I pull up the article True love (as in romance fantasy) and try to access the discussion page I get this True Love (game) discussion page. What gives?

Now Abandonware
Just wanted to comment that this game is apparently now listed as abandonware, so a link on where to download it could be useful. Talon 20:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Not abandonware, the companies that made it still exist. And even if, it wouldn't be legal. SaderBiscut 05:25, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Misinformation
This article contains some misinformation. It mentions that Otaku Publishing released the game in Japan, judging from the context, but that's not true. The back of my True Love box says CD Brothers, but usually bishoujo game companies release it themselves, so I'm not sure. Putting CD Brothers for now.

I removed the "hentai fans" bit, because hentai means pervert, and it's not the right designation for fans of this genre. These are bishoujo games.

It was not translated and published by JAST USA, and certainly not in 1994. It was translated and published in 1999 by Otaku Publishing. It wasn't just translated into English, but in German as well. Also, it was published in Europe. Not sure about the USA.

Lastly, a sequel was planned, but there was no demo. What people are actually referring to is True Love Select, which was the same game, but with a couple extra characters. BenoitRen 17:41, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Can you tell about the True Love Select. I have never heard of it and couldn't find any information from the Internet about it. 88.113.175.246 20:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

More information on True Love Select would be helpful

 * Yes, more information is demanded on True Love select. I think I added the faulty information that it was a sequel way back when, sorry about that. It's what the website I got my information from called it. It had it for download, but it was already taken down by the time I found it. So there SHOULD be a copy of it floating around, somewhere... Coolgamer (talk) 19:56, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

TrueLoveSelect&TrueLoveAnime
Here is a link where you can get the True Love Select demo. It is more a tech demo, containing a macromedia flash or shockwave engine that works very well on XP SP3, and it contains galleries of all the characters and graphics, music and game credits. It also refers to True Love 2, and shows off four new girl characters, but it does not contain any actual game. Probably there was a plan for True Love 2 but it was scrapped later on. These facts and maybe a small True Love Select sub-paragraph should definetly by added to the True Love article.

http://hentaifantasygames.blogspot.com/2008/04/true-love-select.html?zx=798dcce5be169ba

And one more thing, the True Love anime that appears in the article has got nothing to do as far as I saw with the game: different characters, story, setting, music... It might be a different thing altogether. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.233.93.11 (talk) 05:27, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Can we be honest about the ages
I know in the box art or english descriptions of the game for the American market, all the characters were labled as 18+ because it would be illegal otherwise, but does this article need to stick to those same statements. I havent read the japanese about this in a while to have actual figures, but it is plainly obvious to anyone who has played this that the characters are not 18. Or is it the rule that we must only report the english language official description?--Saul T (talk) 18:18, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:True Love (video game)


text:
CHBM-FM

CHBM-FM is a radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada broadcasting at 97.3 FM. The station currently broadcasts a classic hits format branded as Boom 97.3. CHBM's studios are located at Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue in Toronto's Deer Park neighbourhood, while their transmitter is located atop the CN Tower. The station is owned by the Stingray Group.

The station's playlist contains songs from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, with a core focus on music released in the 1980s, while also playing select songs from the 1960s and early 2000s.

History
The station was launched at 9:00 a.m. on May 18, 1987, by Redmond Broadcasting, with the call letters CJEZ-FM, and carried an easy listening format under the branding Easy 97. Staff for the new station included many long-time Toronto personalities, such as Jay Nelson, Russ Thompson, Bill Anderson and Carl Banas.

In the early 1990s, it changed its moniker to Lite 97, but soon after, it changed its format to classic hits as Z97.3. In February 1995, Redmond sold the station to Telemedia and on June 30, at 5:30 a.m., the station changed monikers to 97.3 EZ Rock. The slogan was The Heartbeat of Toronto, and aired an adult contemporary format. "EZ Rock" launched with the intent of having an audience of mainly women ages 25–44, and the Toronto station became the flagship when several other stations owned by Telemedia at the time broadcasting a similar format also gained the "EZ Rock" branding.

In 2002, Standard Radio bought Telemedia and kept CJEZ under their ownership, while some of the other "EZ Rock" stations were sold to either Rogers Communications or Astral Media. In October 2007, Astral Media purchased much of Standard's assets, including CJEZ. In early 2009, the station became known as Today's New 97.3 EZ Rock, pivoting to a hot adult contemporary-leaning direction. During November 2009, certain personalities from the station left. Throughout much of that time until December, CJEZ played nonstop Christmas music, while at the same time, asking their listeners what radio station they want to hear going forward.

Boom 97.3 (2009–present)
On December 24, 2009, during its standard Christmas music run during the holidays, the station's website was changed completely by hosting only a countdown clock and a posted message urging listeners to tune in at 9 a.m. on December 26. At 6 a.m. that day, after playing EZ Rock's final song (which was Christina Aguilera's version of "This Christmas"), the station began stunting with a recorded message on how to "view" the launch of the new station.

Finally, at 9 a.m., the station ended its 14-year run with AC, and flipped to classic hits with the branding Boom 97.3, Toronto's Greatest Hits, adopting the "Boom" branding used by some of Astral's small-market French-language stations in Quebec. The first song played on "Boom" was "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. CJEZ's call letters were changed the following day to CHBM-FM. The station's airstaff remained intact for a time, but in May 2011, Humble Howard and Colleen Rusholme were let go by the station.

In March 2013, the Competition Bureau approved a proposal by Bell Media to acquire Astral Media, under the condition that it divest itself of several television services and radio stations. Following the closure of the merger, CHBM was placed in a blind trust pending its eventual sale. On August 26, 2013, Newcap Radio announced it would acquire CHBM, along with three other former Astral stations and Bell Media's CFXJ-FM, for $112 million. The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 19, 2014, and the sale closed on March 31, 2014.

title: CHBM-FM


text:
Dixie Dregs

Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band is known for instrumental music that fuses elements of rock, classical music, country, jazz and bluegrass into an eclectic sound that is difficult to categorize. Recognized for their virtuoso playing, the Dixie Dregs were identified with the southern rock, progressive rock and jazz fusion scenes of the 1970s.

In 1975, the band recorded their demo album The Great Spectacular and self-released it in the following year in a limited pressing. The demo soon garnered attention from record labels, including Capricorn Records, with whom the Dixie Dregs would sign in 1976, and three albums were released for the label: Free Fall (1977), What If (1978) and Night of the Living Dregs (1979); the latter album, which was split between studio and live recordings, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and each of the band's next three albums would subsequently receive further Grammy nominations.

After Capricorn declared bankruptcy in 1979, the band signed with Arista Records, releasing the album Dregs of the Earth in 1980. The following year, the band changed their name to The Dregs, releasing two albums under this name, Unsung Heroes (1981) and Industry Standard (1982), which was the only album by the band to feature vocals. The band disbanded in 1983. After reuniting in 1988, the Dixie Dregs released Full Circle in 1994, and the live albums Bring 'Em Back Alive (1992) and California Screamin' (2000).

Formation and early years
Dixie Dregs evolved from an Augusta, Georgia, band called Dixie Grit, formed by Steve Morse and Andy West in 1970. The band featured Morse's older brother Dave on drums, Frank Brittingham (guitar and vocals) and Johnny Carr (keyboards). Carr was later replaced by Mark Parrish. Shortly after Steve Morse's enrollment at University of Miami's School of Music in 1971, Dixie Grit was disbanded. Morse and West continued performing as a duo, calling themselves Dixie Dregs (the "Dregs" of "Dixie Grit").

In 1973, Steve Morse (guitar), Andy West (bass), Allen Sloan (violin) and Bart Yarnal (drums) met while students at the University of Miami's School of Music to play as Rock Ensemble II. West also attended Georgia State University for a year while studying cello and music theory and composition along with Parrish. Parrish remained at GSU during the academic school years only to return to Augusta, Georgia, during summer breaks - re-establishing the guitar/bass/keyboards/drums quartet with Morse, West, Parrish, and Gilbert Frayer (drums) performing as opening acts for concerts and headlining local gigs as Dixie Dregs.

During subsequent academic school years, the remaining members of the Dregs, including Andy West, returned to the University of Miami and Mark Parrish returned to Atlanta, Georgia, to complete his degree in music performance and composition at Georgia State University, under the study of William Masselos, with additional studies of electronic music at Columbia University in New York City under Alice Shields, a protégée of Wendy Carlos.

First recording
At the time, the University of Miami hosted a lively musical community, including future professional musicians Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Danny Gottlieb, T Lavitz and Bruce Hornsby. Rod Morgenstein was asked to fill in as drummer after a surfing accident disabled Yarnal. In 1974, during the school years at UofM, keyboardist Frank Josephs was added to their lineup. In 1975, the group's first effort, The Great Spectacular (named by ex-"Dixie Grit" second guitarist and singer, Frank Brittingham) was recorded at the University. Approximately 1,000 copies of the original LP were pressed. The album was reissued in 1997 in CD form.

Signed to Capricorn
Based on the strength of a three-song demo and a tip from former Allman Brothers Band members Chuck Leavell and Twiggs Lyndon, Capricorn Records signed them in late 1976 to record their debut album Free Fall (1977). Steve Davidowski was the keyboardist on Free Fall. When Davidowski left to work with fiddler Vassar Clements, former Dixie Grit/Dixie Dregs keyboardist Mark Parrish rejoined the group later that year. The moderate success and critical acclaim of Free Fall led to their 1978 effort, What If, supported by their first tour with dates in New York, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and California.

Their third album, Night of the Living Dregs (featuring Morse, West, Sloan, Parrish, and Morgenstein), was released in April 1979, gaining the band their first Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, won that year by Paul McCartney's band Wings. Night of the Living Dregs included studio recordings as well as compositions performed live and recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978. Ken Scott, The Beatles' and producer/arranger George Martin's right-hand man and engineer, produced both Dixie Dregs albums, What If and Night of the Living Dregs.

Switch to Arista
In October 1979, Capricorn Records declared bankruptcy, and the band was signed by Arista Records in January 1980, to create three more albums. At that time, keyboardist Parrish left and was replaced by T Lavitz. Later that year, Dregs of the Earth (featuring Morse, West, Sloan, Lavitz, and Morgenstein) was released.

Parrish went on to play piano and keyboards for vocalists Andy Williams, Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, Peabo Bryson, Celine Dion, Regina Belle, Deborah Gibson, Pat Boone and daughter Debby Boone, Glen Campbell and for guitarist Larry Coryell. He won an Angel Award as co-producer of a Christian album "With Reverence" by singer Charles Land where he arranged and played all the instrumental parts. He has also been musical director, conductor, and keyboard instrumentalist with the touring stage shows of Cats, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, Little Shop of Horrors, Nunsense, Brigadoon, The Phantom of the Opera, Anything Goes, and other Broadway stage shows.

Name change
For Unsung Heroes, released in 1981, the band changed their name to The Dregs in an effort to gain more commercial appeal. Violinist Sloan began pursuing a career in medicine at the Medical College of Georgia culminating in a residency in Anesthesiology and was subsequently replaced by Mark O'Connor, winner of Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship for their 1982 release, Industry Standard. This album introduced vocals for the first time, as a further attempt to gain more airtime. Guest vocalists included the Doobie Brothers's Patrick Simmons and Alex Ligertwood (Santana). Industry Standard provided the Dregs with another Grammy nomination for Best Rock/Jazz Instrumental Performance. The recent name change, vocal additions and a grueling touring schedule did nothing to improve sales, and in 1983, the members of The Dregs decided to disband the group, parting for individual projects.

Reunion
During the early 1980s, the British disc jockey Tommy Vance started using the Dixie Dregs track "Take It Off the Top" as his signature tune for the BBC radio show The Friday Rock Show.

In the late 1980s, the group reunited for a tour featuring former members Morse, Morgenstein (who was also playing with Winger), Lavitz, and Sloan. Their return was complemented by a "Best Of" release entitled Divided We Stand (1989). Bassist Dave LaRue completed the lineup for a seven date tour culminating in the 1992 live album Bring 'em Back Alive, which garnered them a fifth Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in January 1993 - awarded to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble for "Little Wing". Violinist Jerry Goodman, of The Mahavishnu Orchestra fame, filled in for Sloan, who was frequently absent as a result of his busy medical career. They signed a deal with former label Capricorn Records for their first studio album in years entitled Full Circle in 1994.

Today
The Dregs to this day remain a loose collection of its former members, reuniting briefly for short tours and rare studio work. 1997's releases were The Great Spectacular in April and King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents (originally recorded in 1979 for the King Biscuit radio show) in September. California Screamin' (2000) is a curious mix of live recordings from the performances at the Roxy Theatre in August 1999. This release features older compositions and covers of the Allman Brothers Band's "Jessica", and Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia" (with Dweezil Zappa sharing guitar lead). 20th Century Masters: The Best of the Dixie Dregs and the DVD Sects, Dregs and Rock 'n' Roll were released in 2002.

On July 3, 2017, Rod Morgenstein announced a reunion tour beginning February 2018 in a YouTube video for Rock, Roots, & Blues - Live.

The first show of the reunion tour dubbed "Dawn of the Dregs" took place on February 28, 2018, in Clearwater, Florida. It featured the original lineup of Steve Morse (guitar), Andy West (bass), Rod Morgenstein (drums), Allen Sloan (violin), and Steve Davidowski (keyboards)

Musical style
Dixie Dregs' performances consist entirely of instrumentals, with Industry Standard (1982) being the only album by the band to contain vocals. The band members are noted for their virtuoso playing, and Dixie Dregs' music incorporates elements of many genres, which makes the band's sound difficult to singularly classify; they have been categorized as a jazz rock, instrumental rock, progressive rock or southern rock band. The band's influences include The Allman Brothers Band and Mahavishnu Orchestra. The Boston Herald described the band's music as a fusion of rock, jazz, country, and classical music. The Chicago Tribune categorized Dixie Dregs' music as a fusion of jazz rock and country music. The Christian Science Monitor defined Dixie Dregs' music as being a fusion of bluegrass and classical music. The Times described Dixie Dregs' music as a fusion of progressive rock, heartland rock and jazz.

Members

 * Current members
 * Steve Morse – guitar (1970–1983, 1988–present)
 * Andy West – bass guitar (1970–1983, 1988, 1999, 2017–present)
 * Rod Morgenstein – drums (1973–1983, 1988–present)
 * Allen Sloan – violin (1973–1981, 1988–1992, 1999, 2017–present)
 * Steve Davidowski – keyboards (1975–1977, 2017–present)

 * Former members
 * Frank Brittingham – guitar, vocals (1970–1971)
 * Dave Morse – drums (1970–1971)
 * Johnny Carr – keyboards (1970)
 * Mark Parrish – keyboards (1970–1971, 1973, 1977–1978)
 * Bart Yarnall – drums (1973)
 * Gilbert Frayer – drums (1973)
 * Frank Josephs – keyboards (1974–1975)
 * T Lavitz – keyboards (1978–1983, 1988–2010; his death)
 * Mark O'Connor – violin (1981–1983)
 * Dave LaRue – bass guitar (1988–2017)
 * Jerry Goodman – violin (1992–2017)

 * Substitute musicians
 * Jordan Rudess – keyboards (1994, 2024)

Studio albums

 * Free Fall (May 27, 1977) (Note: the LP label lists the title as Freefall)
 * What If (March 1978)
 * Night of the Living Dregs (1979)
 * Dregs of the Earth (1980)
 * Unsung Heroes (1981)
 * Industry Standard (1982)
 * Full Circle (June 7, 1994)

Demo releases

 * The Great Spectacular (1976 - released on CD April 1997)
 * Off the Record (1988) (demo for Ensoniq synthesizers)

Live albums

 * Bring 'Em Back Alive (1992)
 * King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents (September 16, 1997)
 * California Screamin'  (February 1, 2000)
 * From the Front Row... Live! (Dolby 5.1 DVD-Audio, 2003)

Compilations

 * Best of the Dixie Dregs (1987)
 * The Best of the Dregs: Divided We Stand (1989)
 * 20th Century Masters: The Best of the Dixie Dregs (March 26, 2002)

Video albums

 * Sects, Dregs and Rock 'n' Roll (DVD, December 2002)
 * Live at Montreux 1978 (DVD, 2005)

Singles

 * 1976: "Cruise Control"/"Refried Funky Chicken"/"Cosmopolitan Traveler" (self-released)
 * 1978: "Take It Off the Top"/"Little Kids"
 * 1979: "Punk Sandwich"/"Country House Shuffle"
 * 1980: "Pride O' the Farm"/"The Great Spectacular"
 * 1981: "Cruise Control"/"Go for Baroque"
 * 1982: "Crank It Up"/"Bloodsucking Leeches"

title: Dixie Dregs