Late 2025. The onus was entirely on me to walk into a room with the owners of CFQR 600 and sell them a dream.
The goal? Simple to state, brutal to execute: make Montreal listeners take notice of this station again, bring life back to the frequency, and—most importantly—build a model that actually turns a profit.
Here is the exact battle plan I laid on the table.
1. The Positioning: AM in the Dashboard, Web in the Ears
Let’s be honest about the elephant in the room: FM has better audio fidelity, and modern listeners—especially those under 45—don't default to the AM dial.
So, how do you position an AM station in the mid-2020s? You flip the script.
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The Web Stream is King: We subtly and persistently push web and mobile app streaming as the primary listening platform for home, the office, and smart devices. Online, our audio quality is as crisp and competitive as anyone else in town.
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The AM Transmitter as the Engine: The 600 AM signal isn't a handicap; it's our mobile anchor. It guarantees in-car reach across the island and beyond.
Together, it lets us pitch a powerful reality: “We are a radio station that can be heard anywhere.”
2. The Soul: Reviving Montreal’s Heritage
Montreal radio was built on personality, energy, and genuine human connection—voices that made every track feel like an event and every listener feel like family. Today, Classic Top-40 carries that torch.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel; we just need to revive the golden era of legend stations like CKGM and the classic CFQR. Live, engaging programming that blends timeless hits, quirky news, and real local flavor. This isn’t sterile, automated radio. It’s real, vibrant, and rooted in Montreal’s rich tradition of airwave companionship.
The Core Philosophy: Attract the listener with the music. Make them stay for the personality and the nostalgia.
3. The On-Air Energy & Staffing Rules
A Classic Top-40 station lives and dies by its pacing. If the music stops for no good reason, you lose.
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Keep It Moving: Live/personality shifts from 6 a.m. to midnight with a short, high-energy break every two songs.
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Tight Talk-Ups: Hitting the intro ramp right up to the vocal. Back-sells kept tight (10–20 seconds max) leading into stop sets.
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The Hourly Structure: Every hour gets 2 tee-ups, 2 weather updates, 2 punchy station promos, 1 PSA, and 1 sports wrap. Never drag.
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The Producer Investment: You need at least one dedicated full-time producer focused strictly on promos, commercials, and imaging. Fresh, energetic sweepers are the heart and soul of this format—they create the excitement.
4. Promotions: Connecting with Listeners (and Driving Traffic)
Promotions can't just be filler; they have to spark curiosity, drive digital traffic, and build community:
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Specialty Programming Hooks: Ideas that grab immediate attention and turn casual dial-spinners into regular listeners. Think a "British Invasion Weekend" that lets people relive the energy of the '60s beat boom, sparking that nostalgia that keeps them locked in all week just to hear what’s coming next.
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The "Top 600" Newspaper Partnership: We partner with a local paper and invite readers and listeners to send in their top 3 favourite Top-40 classics of all time. We aggregate that local data and build a legendary Top-600 Countdown over a long weekend. It creates massive listener engagement, guarantees long quarter-hour tune-ins, and gives sales a premiere, high-value package to pitch to local advertisers.
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The Summer of 600: Our very first major campaign hit the mark instantly. We asked listeners to go to CFQR600.com and upload photos of themselves enjoying summer while tuning in to CFQR. The response was incredible—it generated a massive surge in website traffic in a very short amount of time and proved that people are listening and eager to engage.
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"I AM 600": We've got a proprietary listener-engagement concept up our sleeves under the "I AM 600" umbrella. I won't tip my hand too much here—no need to give the competition free ideas—but it’s designed to make the audience an active part of our daily broadcast.
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Aggressive Giveaways & Local Hustle: Movie passes, "Recruit a Listener," gift certificate call-ins, concert tickets (hear The Guess Who, message us online for Place Bell passes), and trade-swaps with local restaurants. If there's a family event in Montreal, we show up, smile, hand out t-shirts, and shake hands.
That Top-600 countdown idea is classic Top-40 mechanics at its finest—gives the sales team something tangible to sell and keeps the radios glued on all weekend long!
5. Monetizing the Pixels
Because we don't rely solely on expensive ratings subscriptions to sell airtime, our digital presence becomes a primary revenue generator alongside local spot sales:
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Sponsored Web Placement: Local businesses paying monthly fees for premium real estate on CFQR600.com. More web hits equal direct ad value.
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Digital Sales: Banner ads, audio pre-rolls, and sponsored station pages.
The Bottom Line
AM’s future isn't tied strictly to a copper tower in a field—it’s in the brand and the stream. Nostalgia isn't a weakness here; it’s our unfair advantage. By stepping into the shoes of classic Montreal radio traditions, we claim instant heritage status.
CFQR 600: Stream-first, upbeat, tight, local, and alive.
Next up in Entry 005... The Music. Fixing the 300-song Cancon mess, weeding out the downers, and building a 2,000-song wall of sound centered right on 1984.
Stay tuned...
