- CHEZ-FM
Infobox_Radio_station | name = CHEZ-FM
city = Ottawa, Ontario
area = National Capital RegionEastern Ontario
branding = CHEZ 106
slogan = Ottawa's Classic Rock
airdate = 1977
frequency = 106.1 MHz (FM)
erp = 100 kW
class = C1
format = mostlyclassic rock , somealternative rock
owner =Rogers Communications
website = [http://www.chez106.com/ CHEZ 106]CHEZ is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts
classic rock at 106.1 FM inOttawa . The station uses the brand name CHEZ 106 ("chez" is pronounced "shay", like the French word.)History
CHEZ was launched at 6pm on March 25th
1977 by CHEZ-FM Inc., a company owned and operated by Harvey Glatt and based at 126 York Street in the Market. Harvey Glatt owned Treble Clef music stores and was a concert promoter at the time.The initial signal strength was 100,000 watts, and the first song was "Isn't She Lovely" by
Stevie Wonder . The original morning show host was Mike O'Reilly, better known at the time as frontman in the rock group Bolt Upright and the Erections.The station focused on the 18-34 year old demographic by playing English progressive rock music. CHEZ also ran children's programming, talk programming and even some French programming when it first launched on air. Shows like "CHEZ Ottawa", "The Source", "Jazz 106", "Medium Rare" and "In the City" distinguished the station from others in the Ottawa market.
During the first few years on air, CHEZ FM competed with AM station CFRA, then a pop leaning music station, and after less than 10 years on the air CHEZ attained the number one position in the Ottawa Market with nearly 300,000 weekly listeners.
CHEZ had two sister stations, 101.1 FM CHEQ and 630 AM CJET, under the umbrella of Rideau Broadcasting, located in Smiths Falls.
From 1987 to 1993, CHEZ news director
Ken Rockburn hosted the syndicated newsmagazine show "Medium Rare" from CHEZ's studios.In 1994, CHEZ 106 shifted to
classic rock , partly due to CJSB moving its rock format from AM to FM.The station and its holdings (Rideau Broadcasting), Canada's last major independent radio station, was sold to
Rogers Communications in1999 , joining CKBY (Y105) and CIWW (Oldies 1310) in the Ottawa market. CHEZ quickly went on to hire their main competition, CKQB's morning show of Doc & Woody, in late 1999.In 2000, Rogers Communications moved its operations out of the Market, and CHEZ-FM are currently located at 2001 Thurston Drive.
On December 10th, 2007 after 10 years off the Ottawa radio airwaves,
Darren Stevens returned to the weekdays 3pm - 7pm on CHEZ-FM. "The Real Darren Stevens Show" enjoyed a brief run, with his final show on Wednesday February 20th, 2008. In a strange twist of fate, on March 29th, 2008 Stevens returned 'home' to the rock station down the dial toCKQB-FM which is the location where he started his career during the 54 Rock AM period & the FM launch of 106.9 The Bear.CHEZ's "classic rock" universe spans from mid 1960's to roughly the late 80s and early 90s, also including "new music from old artists" such as
U2 , Rush,Robert Plant ,Neil Young ,the Tragically Hip ,Aerosmith andOzzy Osbourne .A majority of CHEZ's programming is pre-recorded using only live announcers 6a-6p Monday to Friday.
External links
* [http://www.chez106.com CHEZ 106]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=457&historyID=230 CHEZ history at Canadian Communications Foundation]
*RecnetCanada|CHEZ-FM
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