CIDC-FM

"Z103.5" redirects here. For the radio station in Halifax, Nova Scotia who formerly used this moniker, seeCKHZ-FM.

CIDC-FM

Orangeville, Ontario
Broadcast area	Greater Toronto Area
Frequency	103.5MHz(FM) (HD Radio)
Branding	Z103.5
Programming
Format	Rhythmic contemporary
Ownership
Owner	Evanov Communications (Dufferin Communications Inc.)
Sister stations	CIRR-FM,CHLO,CKDX-FM
History
First air date	May 1,1987
Call signmeaning	CIDufferinCommunications (licensee)
Technical information
Class	B
ERP	30,700watts
HAAT	190.3 metres (624 ft)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	z1035.com

CIDC-FM(103.5FM,Z103.5) is a radio station licensed toOrangeville, Ontario,Canada. Owned byEvanov Communications,the station broadcasts arhythmic contemporaryformat targeting theGreater Toronto Area.Its studios are located onDundas StreetWest in theEatonvilleneighbourhood in theEtobicokedistrict ofToronto.

CIDC has historically been known for having adanceandelectronic music-leaning format, and has sponsored electronic music events and co-branded dance music compilations. CIDC held a 2.0 share of the market inNumeris's Spring 2018 ratings.

Due to its signal location near Orangeville, the station coversBarrieandKitchenerin addition torimshottingDowntown Toronto.The station has often marketed itself as a Toronto station, while Evanov made repeated attempts to move or otherwise modify CIDC's signal to better serve the GTA, almost all of which were denied by theCRTCfor neglecting its formalcity of licence.The CRTC also reprimanded CIDC for not specifically devoting enough on-air community interest programming, news, sports and information specific to Orangeville orDufferin County,as specified in its original approval.

History

TheOrangevillearea was struck by a massive F4 tornado as part of the1985 United States–Canada tornado outbreakon May 31, 1985, and the community felt it did not receive adequate warning from stations in Toronto. As such, an application was made to the CRTC for a radio station to serve Orangeville. CRTC approval was given for the station on September 10, 1986, under a guideline not to solicit advertising from Toronto,BarrieorBrampton.The station's frequency allocation was originally specified forGuelph,and was moved to Orangeville to allow for the service.

CIDC was launched on May 1, 1987, on 103.5FMwith anERPof 50,000wattsfrom a site located northwest of Orangeville. Its transmitter's terrain, which measured 527.3 metres (1,730 ft)height above average terrain,and tower height of 98.1 metres (322 ft) meant it was.6 metres (2.0 ft) higher than the top ofCN Tower.CIDC's launch format as "DC 103.5" was70's/80'shits.

OriginalZ103.5logo

On September 28, 1994, the CRTC approved the ownership transfer of Dufferin Communications from its shareholders to CKMW Radio Ltd., operator ofBramptonmulticultural stationCIAO.The station was brandedHot 103.5in February 1995 (later calling it "Hot 103 dot 5" ), playing onlydance music.The station then began adding moreR&Bandpoptracks to itsTop 40/danceplaylist in February 1998, and was renamedHits 103.5.

On July 28, 2000, approval was given to relocate the transmitter site from 6 km west of Orangeville town hall to 11 km east of Orangeville town hall and decrease the station's power from 50,000wattsto 30,700 watts.

In late December 2000, the station was re-branded asZ103.5(with the decimal point heard as "dot" ), with the slogan "The Hit Music Channel", though the CIDC call letters were retained. The slogan was later changed to simply "Today's Hit Music".

Until the summer of 2006, CIDC was the only radio station in Canada that playeddance musicsinceCING-FMchanged formats in 2001. It was the onlyTop 40station left in Toronto afterCISS-FMbecame "Jack FM"in 2003. For a brief period in 2001,CKDX-FMalso played dance music but poor ratings led it to switch to anoldiesformat.

In the summer of 2006, Evanov launched anew stationinHalifax,Nova Scotia,also on 103.5, patterned after CIDC, though with a different logo and slogan. In 2011, Evanov began to brand all it stations only by whole numbers. In January 2012, the Halifax station relaunched their Top 40/Dance format and began patterning their direction after its sister station inWinnipeg,CHWE,who uses the monikerEnergy 106.However, while the Winnipeg station continues to do well, the Halifax outlet would see their fortunes take a downturn in ratings and format changes that resulted in their flip to Country in September 2015.

RivalCKFM-FMswitched fromadult top 40toCHRdue to high airplay on top-played singles, while CIDC-FM tweaked its format by adding some adult top 40 singles, such asBon Jovi'sWhat Do You Got?.RivalCKIS-FMdropped their rhythmic lean and went more mainstream in February 2011. At that same time, CIDC did the reverse: from mainstream to a rhythmic-lean, although it still plays a small percentage of dance music, which was slightly increased by 2015. Most non-top 40 dance hits remain at the station, although they are classics. It continues to report onMediabase&NielsenBDS as acontemporary hit radio.As of the summer of 2012, the station's slogan is "#1 For Hit Music", following the othertop 40stations in Toronto,CKIS-FMandCKFM-FM,which both claimed to be "Toronto's #1 Hit Music Station". As of 2016, CIDC reverted to the slogan "All The Hits."

Previous Z103.5 logo

Despite the decrease in dance music, the station's highest-rated program continues to beThe Drive @ 5 Street Mixwith DJ Danny D. The show is mixed live with vinyl records and Compact Discs. In 2000, the show started out as a 30-minute Friday afternoon mix, but soon expanded into a 1-hour set. By 2004–2005, the set was so popular that CIDC introduced the "Drive @ 5" five times a week. Recently, as of 2008, high-profile guest DJ's have started to mix live for the Drive @ 5 on several occasions includingDavid Guetta,Tiesto,andArmin van Buuren(his showA State of Trancecan be heard Sunday nights on this station). The station also had a Saturday Night edition of the "Drive @ 5 Street Mix" for a time. A similar show,The Power Mixwith DJ Spence Diamonds, used to air three nights a week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights). The show, which featured urban music, was cut in the fall of 2007. In 2011, the station introduced a mix show during the lunch hour, dedicated to hits from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, called theWayback Lunch.

The station aired some programming hosted by Canadian DJChris Sheppardin the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, includingPirate RadioandGroove Station.

CIDC also had a weekly show on Sundays called theFreestyle Frenzy,hosted by veteran Tony Monaco. It was solely a show of freestyle music and mixes. It aired from June 4, 1995, to January 2004, and was replaced withRyan Seacrest'sAmerican Top 40countdown. As of the summer of 2008, that show was removed from the schedule.CKFM-FMlater picked up the show after its relaunch as Virgin Radio.

MC Marioalso previously held regular Sunday programming called "The Mixdown" which ran for a full hour in the afternoon until 2004

Dance music makes up approximately 20-30% of the CIDC playlist and programming.

Currently, the station competes with fellowtop 40stationsCKFM-FMandCKIS-FM,and to a lesser extent,hot ACstationCHUM-FM.

On September 21, 2020, CIDC-FM launched a digital signal in theHD Radioformat.

Attempts to relocate

On January 12, 2015, Evanov filed an application for permission to relocate CIDC's transmitter toGeorgetown,using the tower of its sister stationCIAO-AM,and increase its average power from 37.5 kW to 51 kW. Evanov stated that the move would help to improve reception inDowntown Toronto(especially inside buildings) to add one million potential new listeners, and deployHD Radioservices simulcasting CIAO andCIRR-FM.The application was denied by the CRTC, citing that the proposed changes would reduce coverage in Orangeville and increase its strength in an out-of-market area, thus neglecting its city of licence. The CRTC ruled that Evanov did not "[demonstrate] a financial need justifying the proposed technical changes".On September 15, 2017, Evanov submitted an application to increase the effective radiated power of CIDC-FM, with no change in frequency.

During CIDC's licence renewal process, the CRTC also noted that the station had been neglecting its city of licence in its news and information content, relating specifically to the GTA as a whole rather than Orangeville; the station's website and social presences contain no mention at all of Orangeville, or of any news and weather. As a condition of its licence renewal, the CRTC ordered the station to regularly broadcast content of direct and particular relevance to Orangeville (including news headlines and other local information), traffic and weather reports for markets within its signal contours, refrain from exclusively devoting this coverage to Toronto, and toidentifyas an Orangeville station.

In 2018, Evanov filed an application to swap CIDC and CIRR's frequencies and change their ERP, with CIDC moving to 103.9 under reduced power to specifically serve the Orangeville market, and CIRR moving to a full-power signal on 103.5, which would inherit CIDC's existing programming. Evanov proposed moving the previous LGBT community programming on CIRR to an HD Radio subchannel, committing to produce five original hours of programming per-day. Evanov also filed another application to change CIDC-FM's frequency from 103.5 to 103.7. The application was denied by the CRTC on January 31, 2020, who ruled that it would undermine the commission's competitive licensing process, and cited technical restrictions related to use of the frequencies in both markets.

Compilations

Z103.5 has released various music compilation CDs, mixed by DJ Danny D and later The Hammer. The 3 series included Hitmix, Streetmix, and Summer Rush, named after the concert of the same name. They released from 2002 until 2018.

Concerts and live-to-air programs

The station annually hosts a number of live concert events. Past and present concerts include the Hot Rush (created in 1993 as Energy Rush, now Summer Rush), Euro-Freestyle Invasion (now Euro Invasion), and Partymania. Most of the concerts are sold-out because they are mostly filled with performances by dance artists that usually don't get much publicity. Its sister station in Halifax also started holding a similar Summer Rush concert in 2007, usually around the same time as its Toronto sibling.

The Summer Rush has been held at various venues over the years, including the Molson Amphitheatre atOntario Place,Polson Pier(previously known as The Docks), and, more recently, the Kingswood Theatre atCanada's Wonderland.Typically, venues have changed every three to five years. There have been over a hundred artists featured from Europe, South America, USA, and Canada, includingReal McCoy(twice – 1997 and 2009),Culture Beat(twice – 1993 and 2004)Cascada(three times – 2004, 2006, 2008),DHT,B4-4 (a crowd favourite), Joee,Sarina Paris,Len,The Boomtang Boys,Snap!,Waldo's People,Do (singing DJ Sammy's "Heaven" ), Haiducci, DC Project, Jam & Spoon, Elissa,Stevie B,Ian Van Dahl, Sash!,Rupee,Kevin Lyttle,Jesse McCartney,JoJo,Elise Estrada,BasshunterandDaddy Yankee.

The station also hosts live-to-airs from various Toronto-area nightclubs three to five nights per week. Wednesdays have been wayback playbacks from Club Menage since 2002 (hence the term Wayback Wednesdays), but they have recently moved to Gravity Soundbar, Bloke, and now Ristorante Buonanotte. Thursdays are live from Sugar Daddy's in Mississauga, playing the bestR&B,Hip-Hop,Reggae,andDancehall.Fridays they broadcast out of Gravity Soundbar. Saturday nights are live from My Apartment in Mississauga.

On November 11, 2015, Tony Monaco announced that after nearly 14 years, Wayback Wednesdays would end on November 25, 2015.

On March 23, 2016, Wayback Wednesdays returned to Z103.5, back by popular demand, broadcasting live from Ristorante Buonanotte.Low turnouts at the venue caused the show's cancellation a few months later.

External links

• Z103.5
• CIDC-FMat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by theCanadian Communications Foundation
• CIDC-FMin the REC Canadian station database