Details On The Fox 104.3's Monday-Friday On-Air Schedule!!

After a few days of double checking the on-air schedule, here is our second post all about new Sault Ontario rock radio station The Fox 104.3 FM! In our post from this past Sunday, I looked at general information about CJQM's switch from country to rock, and gave some insights into their playlist rotation, but today's post looks at the on-air programming lineup during the work week (we'll look at the different weekend schedules in a post early next week). At press time, The Fox's website does not have a "Shows" tab like its sister stations to reflect the shows and DJs on air, but you don't need one, as the local station shares a nearly identical schedule as The Fox 101.9 in North Bay, Q92 in both Sudbury & Timmins, and (where all four stations get their base playlist and schedule) K-Rock 105.7 in Kingston. The only programming exceptions from those markets are a North Bay Battalion talk show and the "Friday 6pack" in Kingston.

The Fox has two different zoo crew programs during the week, including The Brock & Dalby Show from 5:30-9:00 AM and The Biggs & Barr Show from 6:00-8:00 PM, bookending overnight autoplay with no hosts or DJs. The former show is hosted by Brock Lewis & Drew Dalby out of K-Rock in Kingston, while Chris Biggs & Jason Barr (alongside Pastey Jamie) host the latter from CHEZ 106 in Ottawa. Both shows are formatted similarly, in that their host segments pop up between the station's music rotation, though only Brock & Dalby introduce songs. If you just want to hear the hosts and their on-air segments (like The Draft and The Quiz on Brock & Dalby, or OttaWHAT?! and Lights Out on Biggs & Barr), you can hear both programs sans music/commercials and with some additional exclusive content on major podcasting services, plus Rogers' Seekr application.

Which of the two zoo crew shows that you like more will be subjective (let alone if you factor in Scott Cook In The Morning on Rock 101 in the morning drive timeslot, which runs from 6:00-10:00 AM), and while I have laughed a little more at Brock & Dalby, both shows have certainly had their moments. I do like when radio hosts have someone to play off of and react to, so keep both shows in mind if you haven't tuned in yet, and if you like what you hear, catch up with their podcasts!

From 9:00 AM-6:00 PM weekdays, The Fox enters normal rock radio airplay with DJs in the booth, plus weather and news reports. Mid-week, you'll hear three DJs, including Heather Williams from 9:00-11:00 AM, Lew MacDonald from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM, and Dan Koo from 2:00-6:00 PM. Heather is out of CHEZ in Ottawa, and also hosts the Today In Rock interstitials, where she names off three major events in rock music history on this day in the past. Lew is out of K-Rock in Kingston, and his time in the booth encompasses the Classic Rock Lunch, featuring an hour of just pre-1990 rock songs from 12:00-1:00 PM (call it an appetizer for Classic Rock Sundays, which we'll outline early next week). The 2:00-6:00 DJ changes in every market in this five station loop, so Dan is the only locally-based on-air personality, and also the only on-air holdover from the hosts/DJs on Country 104.3.

If you're tuning in online to Country 600 in North Bay (which shared the same playlist and schedule as 104.3 until last week), Dan is still on air there too, so things will be familiar regardless. I suspect Dan will also be the primary conduit for local promotions and interviews for The Fox, but we will see how that bears out in the coming months. I'm not one to compare and rank DJs on a given station, but all three have handled their spot well on CJQM, so continue getting familiar with all three if you have the former Q104 on during the week! Lastly, if you were tuning in to The Fox from launch, you may have heard a different host/show at nighttime during its first three days on air, namely the syndicated Greg Beharrell Show, which has been heard on dozens of rock stations across North America and isn't exclusive to Rogers. It aired last Thursday & Friday from 6:00-10:00 PM and this past Saturday from 9:00 PM-2:00 AM, but was not on this week.

From what I can tell, episodes of Greg's show (which used to air on Q92 and in North Bay) were used as a stopgap until Biggs & Barr episodes were ready to run on CJQM, though that's just how I read it. As far as I know, Greg Beharrell is not related to Luxury/ex-Billy Bastards guitarist Greg Beharriel. In the event that he resurfaces on The Fox, Greg's show is similar to The Fox's zoo crew programs, in that host segments were dropped in between the music rotation, including light-hearted conversations with callers, and he came off kinda Ryan Reynoldsy, if that's fair. If you're curious, click here to see what other stations that Greg airs on! We'll leave things there for now, but the variety of on-air content, musical or otherwise, is very noted for local rock music fans, so hopefully this post helped outline the weekday schedule! Weekends on The Fox is very different, so look for our coverage of what airs on Saturdays & Sundays on the site next! Thanks everyone!

RedD Monkey Video Showcase (Part 2)

Following up from last month's showcase of videos from local/Toronto hardcore punk trio RedD Monkey (now that we're covering them fully on the SMS), here's our second all-video post covering their existing online videos! There could be more videos on other sites or not labelled under their name, but I'll address any I've missed in the future for sure! We're touching on two very different sources today, including an official channel with lots of 2011 live videos, and a pair of interviews from a Toronto web series at the turn of the 2010s, so read on below to see and find out more!

We'll start with an older official YouTube channel of RedD Monkey's, which features live videos from four different concerts during the band's Southern Ontario tour run in February 2011, though none of them were uploaded until this past December. The videos all appear to have been filmed on the same camera, with trial program watermarks sometimes visible, though they are small. The earliest videos come from their show in Ottawa at The Rainbow Bistro on February 21st, with one video featuring them playing "Lethargic Rampage", "Broken Parts" (which isn't on their first two CDs), and their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades", while the other video features them covering One Day As A Lion's "Wild International" and playing their song "Zombie Epoch". Two other videos come from their show at The Spill in Peterborough the next day, one featuring just their cello rap number "Fo' Dozen Cookies" and the other featuring their "All Baroque" originals "Monkey's Paw (5th Wish of the Swamp Donkey)" and "Turbosledt 2027".

The other three videos come from their Toronto concert at Rancho Relaxo on February 23rd, and they include the guys playing "Friar's Ire" & "Bog", and "No Teeth & A Lazy Eye" & their cover of Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff" (though the second half of that song is taken from a separate show at Norma Jean's in Tillsonburg from that same tour.) Embedded below though is five songs from their Toronto gig, including "The Attic", "Fight Skateboard With Fire!", "Losing Friends", "The Clock's Dement", and "The Jock Song", but click each link above to head straight to a specific track! Note that "Losing Friends" & "The Jock Song" are not on their first two albums, but "Losing Friends" was actually the second song of the video I shot at the Sewer Swampstravaganza last month, so I've since edited the title & info to reflect that (apologies for the omission!) It's great to see so many RedD Monkey videos online, which I believe captures their entire early-2011 setlist (albeit taken from different shows), though the watermarks and generally dark lighting can be an issue.

The sound's generally really solid, I like Steve Mozarowski's casual demeanor and occasional fake song titles, and the crowds tend to be active at these four gigs, so if you love RedD Monkey, you'd be well served to check these videos out! The five song video from the Toronto gig in February 2011 is featured below, so give it a look and see more at the above links, including some outdoor happenings outside of the Rancho Relaxo after the "Break Stuff" cover!

We'll close this post with a pair of interviews that RedD Monkey had with Hugh Reilly of the Toronto online talk show Liquid Lunch! There was at least one more from early 2009 with a different host, but I can't find it at present. The more recent one (which is embedded below) was filmed and uploaded to Blip.TV in March 2010, and they were the first interview subjects on this episode, though their segment doesn't begin until 9:45 in. Featuring then-drummer Kevin Overton in their lineup, the interview is actually held in between in-studio performances where they played songs from their then-upcoming EP "Thought Control Tower" (including "Fight Skateboard With Fire!", "Friar's Ire", and "No Teeth & A Lazy Eye") in an acoustic format, so this is definitely a unique way to hear these songs! The interview itself includes Hugh & co-host Stella Hunt asking about how they classify their sound, Pete Mozarowski's cello background, what they were doing in the Soo recently, their musical inspirations, how often the play acoustically, and info on their upcoming tour (which I believe was their last with this lineup.)

RedD Monkey's segment is 24 minutes long, and though there are some technical quirks (Pete's microphone gets very quiet later on), they seem relaxed and happy to talk about their music on air, and Hugh & Stella come across as genuinely invested in their material! The earlier interview (which came from an August 2009 installment of Liquid Lunch) can be seen at this location, and it includes three early MySpace copies of their original songs 7 minutes in, followed by an interview with Hugh and then-cohost Erin Ademoglu on how the band formed, their then-plans for the future, and how they got the band's name, while they also played a handful of early originals in between guests on the episode (again in an acoustic format.) The video quality is much lower on the earlier episode, but the audio sounds good, and it's great to see the guys get some early exposure! Check out the longer and higher quality 2010 interview below, but give the earlier video a look at the above links for more early RedD Monkey performances, and if I find the early 2009 video, I'll let you guys know!



Also, I apologize for early mentions of their 2009-2010 lineup being their original lineup. They played with drummer Christopher Langevin (source here) and an uncredited bassist briefly during their late 2000s infancy, with photos of this lineup available here, though little else for specific information remains online. We have one more RedD Monkey video to share on here, but for now, that's all for today, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums? post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!