#cfgo

[bygonebytown]

Mark Elliot (Nils Johannsen), CFRA/CFGO DJ in Ottawa from 1977 through 1988, passed away on January 11, 2019 from complications of pneumonia acording to his Twitter account.  In memory of Mark, here’s his explanation of where “Mark Elliot” came from.

[bygonebytown]

CFGO 1440 (now TSN Radio 1200) issued a Christmas record in 1980. The full track listing:

Side 1

Andy Williams - The First Noel Julie Andrews - It Came Upon The Midnight Clear Brothers Four - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Barbra Streisand - Ave Maria Mitch Miller - We Three Kinds Of Orient Are

Side 2

Anita Bryant - O Come All Ye Faithful Johnny Mathis - What Child Is This Patti Page - Santo Natale Anthony Newley - Coventry Carol Ray Conniff - We Wish You A Merry Christmas

[bygonebytown]

December 7, 1985: CFGO prepares to move to a new frequency at AM 1200 after 20 years at AM 1440.  The move would happen on January 5, 1986.  The longtime MOR/Top 40 station would adjust it’s format to a more “adult” sound as “GO 1200 - Adult Rock”. By September 1986 they would be back to Top 40 after CFRA abandons the format.  In 1988, CFGO adopts the “Energy 1200″ branding it would keep until 1996. A brief experiment as a modern rock outlet “The Buzz” in 1996/97 would give way to the all-sports format the station currently uses as “TSN 1200″.

[bygonebytown]

On August 21, 1978 CFGO AM 1440 made a number of staff changes precipitated by News Director Fred Ennis leaving for a national parliamentary reporting gig. Ennis would later become the Page Six columnist for the Ottawa Sun in the early 90′s and now runs a consulting firm.  Steve Madely is now (and has been since 1993) doing mornings at 580 CFRA.  CFGO is now known as TSN 1200 having changed frequencies in 1986.

[bygonebytown]

May 27, 1988: The Energy 1200 Top 20 chart for this week contains some late 80′s pop gems.  And some forgotten crap. Starting with Aerosmith at NUMBER ONE with “Angel”.

Natalie Cole is on the way up the charts this day in 1988 with “Pink Cadillac”, the Bruce Springsteen b-side he prevented a number of female artists (including Bette Midler) from recording.  Until Natalie Cole asked.

There’s the ultimate 80′s pop sensation, Tiffany (Darwish) performing a Beatles track that appears to be on the way off the chart this week.

At #11 we find the long forgotten one-hit wonders Johnny Hates Jazz and “Shattered Dreams”.

Of course, how could I end this post without a Rick Roll?  Since he has two tracks on the chart this week? “Together Forever” debuts at #16 and “Never Gonna Give You Up” slides to #17 in what will be it’s last week on the chart.  Let’s listen to “Together Forever” since everybody knows the other one.  ;)

[bygonebytown]

May 25, 1964: CKPM 1440AM owned by Confederation Broadcasting, announces the date it will hit Ottawa's airwaves.  The station would end up with a colourful history as it had it’s license revoked by the CRTC in 1970 which led to an unprecedented appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. At one point in 1970 and 1971 the CRTC was renewing CKPM’s license first for 6 months and then year-by-year while the legal drama and the station’s recovery played out.

Ultimately, the station was sold in 1972 and became CFGO (CF “Greater Ottawa”) on June 21, 1972.  Things settled down after a bit and by 1975 the station was stable and playing a close second to CFRA for the music listening habits of Top 40 Ottawa although their Top 40 playlist skewed a little bit more MOR/AA (“Middle Of the Road” or “Adult Alternative”) than CFRA. And that’s pretty much where things stayed until the big shake-up of 1986.

On January 5, 1986, CFGO moved from 1440AM to 1200AM.  This allowed the station to realign its transmitter facilities and gain better coverage in the surrounding areas along with a better signal.  With the switch the station adopted the branding “GO 1200 - Adult Rock” and soldiered on until August 18, 1986 when top-rated CFRA suddenly flipped from Top 40 to Oldies. CFGO moved almost immediately to fill the void by flipping back to a full Top 40 playlist within weeks and snatching up the very troubled, but very popular, Mark Elliott from CFRA.  Elliott had a couple of months earlier walked off the air at CFRA when he learned of the flip to Oldies (a story for another day). He was later fired by CFGO’s station manager in 1987 after his addictions became too much and she worried that his position as the hottest evening DJ in the city was just enabling his self-destruction.  Today Elliott credits her with saving his life.  The station continued on as Top 40 with the branding “CFGO AM 1200” until early 1988 when it became Energy 1200.  For a short time it became The Buzz, then OSR 1200 (Ottawa Sports Radio), then it was The Team 1200, and now exists as TSN Radio 1200.

[bygonebytown]

This is the CFGO 1440 Top 30 chart from 35 years ago today. This is what Bytown was listening to as summer 1980 kicked off. There are actually some pretty good classic new wave songs on here among the crap rock.  The Romantics are clawing their way slowly up the chart while Blondie tumbles big time from #2 to #9.  The Pretenders jump up with “Brass In Pocket”, Pink Floyd is hanging around after 15 weeks, and The Clash are on the way down with “Train In Vain”. Good stuff.

But NUMBER ONE today in Ottawa 35 years ago was “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc.

Gary Numan is the big mover on the chart as “Cars” jumps 10 places and lands at #2 after only 4 weeks on the chart.

The big dropper on this week’s chart is “Computer Game” by Yellow Magic Orchestra.

“White Hot” by Red Rider slides up a little in its second week on the chart...

And I had never heard of Rupert Holmes but “Him” was a huge dropper this week too.  Frankly, it’s what I always associate with “80′s crap rock”...

So that’s what we were listening to 35 years ago today.  For better or for worse.

[bygonebytown]

Energy 1200, the Top 40 pop station that existed from 1988-1995, the station with such an interesting and rich history. For a short time it became The Buzz, then OSR 1200 (Ottawa Sports Radio ...or... Ottawa Senators Radio), then it was The Team 1200, and now exists as TSN Radio 1200.

The station has one of the most colourful histories in Ottawa. Founded on 1440AM in 1964 as CKPM and owned by Confederation Broadcasting it had it's license revoked by the CRTC in 1970 which led to an unprecedented appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. At one point in 1970 and 1971 the CRTC was renewing CKPM's license first for 6 months and then year-by-year while the legal drama and the station's recovery played out.

Ultimately, the station was sold in 1972 and became CFGO (CF "Greater Ottawa") on June 21, 1972.  Things settled down after a bit and by 1975 the station was stable and playing a close second to CFRA for the music listening habits of Top 40 Ottawa although their Top 40 playlist skewed a little bit more MOR/AA ("Middle Of the Road" or "Adult Alternative") than CFRA. And that's pretty much where things stayed until the big shake-up of 1986.

On January 5, 1986, CFGO moved from 1440AM to 1200AM.  This allowed the station to realign its transmitter facilities and gain better coverage in the surrounding areas along with a better signal.  With the switch the station adopted the branding "GO 1200 - Adult Rock" and soldiered on until August 18, 1986 when top-rated CFRA suddenly flipped from Top 40 to Oldies. CFGO moved almost immediately to fill the void by flipping back to a full Top 40 playlist within weeks and snatching up the very troubled, but very popular, Mark Elliott from CFRA.  Elliott had a couple of months earlier walked off the air at CFRA when he learned of the flip to Oldies (a story for another day). He was later fired by CFGO's station manager in 1987 after his addictions became too much and she worried that his position as the hottest evening DJ in the city was just enabling his self-destruction.  Today Elliott credits her with saving his life.  The station continued on as Top 40 with the branding "CFGO AM 1200" until early 1988 when it became Energy 1200. And from there you can go back to the first paragraph.

I will confess to listening to Energy 1200 back in 1988. Long before 54 Rock came on the scene and I discovered metal. Yeah, I had bad taste in music in the late 80's. But, hey, memories are memories, right?