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Locally minded Sunday night program is definitely not your dad’s CHOM-FM
By Brendan Kelly, The GazetteMay 7, 2012
Montreal rocks. You probably know that.
But if you don’t know that, then you should be listening to Montreal Rocks, one of the few places on local commercial radio where you can hear brand new rocking tunes.
Let’s face it, music radio in Montreal is a wasteland, and it has been since CHOM dropped its loosey-goosey, free-form format somewhere around the mid-’70s. But, man, it’s worse than ever now.
I love Katy Perry as much as the next guy, but just how many times can you hear Part of Me on the local English pop stations?
The francophone top-40 outlets are just as bland, with their hands tied by the 65-per cent French-language quotas and their penchant for avoiding any franco tunes with even the hint of a raunchy guitar chord.
My guilty pleasure is blasting CHOM in the car, but guys, how about a month-long ban on Black Dog, Let It Ride and everything by the Tragically Hip?
Still, CHOM gets props for backing Montreal Rocks, the hip, actually-fun-to-listen-to show that kicks out the jams every Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight. The man behind Montreal Rocks is Jay Walker, just maybe the nicest guy in the local rock scene, and a fellow with an insatiable appetite for cool rock of every stylistic stripe.
A recent show opened with Jack White’s inspired You Really Got Me homage Sixteen Saltines, mixed it up with a little old-school Jesus and Mary Chain – the punky, Beach Boys-y classic Just Like Honey – and spiced things up with noisy hipsters the Ting Tings.
The West Island-raised Walker – born Jason Waugh – was working with a local Internet outfit three years back and was listening to BBC Radio One all day every day at work. That’s when his girlfriend, TV vedette Anne-Marie Withenshaw, said to him one night, “Why don’t you make a demo of a rock show and send it over to your old pals at CHOM?”
Walker, who’d done various jobs at CHOM over the years, didn’t need much arm-twisting. He recorded a sample show and dropped it off for Ray Scott, music director at the time. Scott called him up a half-hour later to set up an appointment.
“It was one of the happiest days of my life,” said Walker, in a recent chat at his home nestled on the edge of Mount Royal. “It really meant a lot. When I was a kid, there were two places to work: CHOM or the Canadiens.”
When the show started two years ago, its original idea was to focus on our city’s booming indie alt-rock scene and artists like Arcade Fire, The Dears and Patrick Watson. But Walker soon pushed the envelope to play those local heroes alongside rocking numbers from artists from elsewhere, with a particular affinity for spinning tracks by bands that are set to perform in town.
He won’t play anything you hear during the rest of the week on CHOM. If he plays the Black Keys, it won’t be Lonely Boy. And there are still plenty of Montreal tunes from artists like Jason Bajada, The Dears, Coeur de Pirate and Peter Peter. (Walker also has a national version of the show titled Canada Rocks, which airs on stations across the country.)
In addition to hosting, Walker picks all the music himself, usually around 36 songs per two-hour show, and he says there’s no secret formula.
“The philosophy of the show is simple – play the most-talked-about tracks in new music,” said Walker. “That’s my job – trying to find music that can blow people away. There’s a community out there that wants to hear new music. (Popular music-criticism website) Pitchfork exists for a reason. All these blogs are created every minute of the day by millions of people. And CHOM gets that. They let me do what I want with the show.”
Montreal Rocks airs on CHOM, 97.7 FM, Sundays from 10 p.m. to midnight.
bkelly@montrealgazette.com
twitter.com/brendanshowbiz
But if you don’t know that, then you should be listening to Montreal Rocks, one of the few places on local commercial radio where you can hear brand new rocking tunes.
Let’s face it, music radio in Montreal is a wasteland, and it has been since CHOM dropped its loosey-goosey, free-form format somewhere around the mid-’70s. But, man, it’s worse than ever now.
I love Katy Perry as much as the next guy, but just how many times can you hear Part of Me on the local English pop stations?
The francophone top-40 outlets are just as bland, with their hands tied by the 65-per cent French-language quotas and their penchant for avoiding any franco tunes with even the hint of a raunchy guitar chord.
My guilty pleasure is blasting CHOM in the car, but guys, how about a month-long ban on Black Dog, Let It Ride and everything by the Tragically Hip?
Still, CHOM gets props for backing Montreal Rocks, the hip, actually-fun-to-listen-to show that kicks out the jams every Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight. The man behind Montreal Rocks is Jay Walker, just maybe the nicest guy in the local rock scene, and a fellow with an insatiable appetite for cool rock of every stylistic stripe.
A recent show opened with Jack White’s inspired You Really Got Me homage Sixteen Saltines, mixed it up with a little old-school Jesus and Mary Chain – the punky, Beach Boys-y classic Just Like Honey – and spiced things up with noisy hipsters the Ting Tings.
The West Island-raised Walker – born Jason Waugh – was working with a local Internet outfit three years back and was listening to BBC Radio One all day every day at work. That’s when his girlfriend, TV vedette Anne-Marie Withenshaw, said to him one night, “Why don’t you make a demo of a rock show and send it over to your old pals at CHOM?”
Walker, who’d done various jobs at CHOM over the years, didn’t need much arm-twisting. He recorded a sample show and dropped it off for Ray Scott, music director at the time. Scott called him up a half-hour later to set up an appointment.
“It was one of the happiest days of my life,” said Walker, in a recent chat at his home nestled on the edge of Mount Royal. “It really meant a lot. When I was a kid, there were two places to work: CHOM or the Canadiens.”
When the show started two years ago, its original idea was to focus on our city’s booming indie alt-rock scene and artists like Arcade Fire, The Dears and Patrick Watson. But Walker soon pushed the envelope to play those local heroes alongside rocking numbers from artists from elsewhere, with a particular affinity for spinning tracks by bands that are set to perform in town.
He won’t play anything you hear during the rest of the week on CHOM. If he plays the Black Keys, it won’t be Lonely Boy. And there are still plenty of Montreal tunes from artists like Jason Bajada, The Dears, Coeur de Pirate and Peter Peter. (Walker also has a national version of the show titled Canada Rocks, which airs on stations across the country.)
In addition to hosting, Walker picks all the music himself, usually around 36 songs per two-hour show, and he says there’s no secret formula.
“The philosophy of the show is simple – play the most-talked-about tracks in new music,” said Walker. “That’s my job – trying to find music that can blow people away. There’s a community out there that wants to hear new music. (Popular music-criticism website) Pitchfork exists for a reason. All these blogs are created every minute of the day by millions of people. And CHOM gets that. They let me do what I want with the show.”
Montreal Rocks airs on CHOM, 97.7 FM, Sundays from 10 p.m. to midnight.
bkelly@montrealgazette.com
twitter.com/brendanshowbiz
Even if I'm totally agree with your argument, a Quebec-bashing argument is still subtly present (as if it was normal), suggesting that french radios are not able to appreciate Indie music.... Let me remember you that CISM was the first to play Arcade Fire?
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