CFUN is Now Sonic
byIf you tuned into 104.9 Fun FM this morning around 8:45am you would have heard Jack FM’s Larry & Willy make the announcement. CFUN, the call letters that hit the air in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver in 1955, are gone. Now when you tune to 104.9 on your radio you’ll hear “Top 40” and new hits on Sonic FM.
In November of 2009 Talk 1410 (CFUN’s last iteration on the AM dial) flipped over to TEAM 1410 and the CFUN letters moved into the hands of Rogers (where they have been in the form of Fun FM). Vancouver’s radio landscape changes all the time.
From new voices and the latest singles to less sports, more news, more hits, and fewer oldies. Now, there’s another new kid on the block.
Rock stations are playing Jack Johnson, alternative stations are playing classic rock, and they’re all (along with pop and top 40) playing Foster the People’s Pumped Up Kicks. You’ll be able to hear Lady Gaga on at least three Vancouver radio stations now, but you might also find Mumford & Sons on just as many.
I love radio. I used to play radio at home with my brother and sister, I grew up with the Morning Zoo, I married a radio engineer, and sometimes radio stations (from Queer FM Vancouver to the CBC) have me on to talk about events or the latest in social media. I also used to co-host two podcasts.
Radio is just that tune or voice that’s always there, whenever you feel like listening. Here’s what we have for selection in Vancouver:
FM stations
CBC Radio 88.1, CBC Radio Two 105.7, Vancouver Tourist Radio 89.3,CJSF SFU 90.1, CBUX French 90.9, CKYE multicultural music & talk 93.1, JR Country 93.7, The Beat 94.5 Top 40, Virgin 95.3 Adult Top 40, CHKG multicultural 96.1, 96.9 Jack pop variety, CBUF French 97.7, CFOX rock 99.3, The Peak alternative 100.5, Classic Rock 101.1, 101.9 CiTR UBC, Co-Op Radio 102.7, 103.5 QMFM soft rock and pop, Shore 104.3 roots rock, 104.9 Sonic Top 40.
AM stations
650 CISL all time favourites with talk, 730 all traffic, 980 CKNW news talk, TEAM 1040 sports, News 1130, RJ1200 Bollywood Top 40 from India, 1320 CHMB Chinese community, TEAM 1410 sports, 1550am Sher-E-Punjab, 1600 Radio India broadcasts.
When you compare us to most other major cities, our dials are pretty empty when you do a quick scan of the airwaves (despite the list above). Aside from their on-air music and personalities, local radio also supports the community. There isn’t one festival that I attend that doesn’t have a radio station as a sponsor. Many radio stations and on-air talent are also getting into social media, extending their audiences and engaging with them even further.
While my favourites are already set in stone on my tuner, having another option for radio in Vancouver isn’t a bad thing. Competition is good and so is selection.
10 Comments — Comments Are Closed
Do you know what there website is so I can listen to it from home in Calgary?
Good overview on radio scene; but I’ll miss the FUN FM of yesterday (literally) as they were providing a good mix of sounds from the past and coverage of the Valley. I suspect the new Sonic will dump the ties to the Valley.
We have a few more stations here in the Fraser Valley not on your list (all FM): 89.5 The Hawk (Rock); 98.3 STAR (light rock); 101.7 CIVL fm (from Univ. of the FraserValley with a variety of programming); and Country 107.1 FM
I listened to 104.9 in Vancouver every morning and every evening and turned all my friends onto it as well. I loved it. We will never listen to this rap and more rap on there now. You have just lost got your audience of 35 years and older. Shame shame on you.
The station made all of us over 35 laugh, cry of past memories of the songs and finally there was one radio station we never had to switch from.
This new station will never lASt.
To bad Rogers did not use the same format of Sonic in Edmonton
Tarzan Dan killed Fun FM. I stopped listening to the station and turned my iPod on at work when he came along. R.I.P. Fun FM, you were the last good radio station in Vancouver.
Sonic is awesome, its like listening to the beat, but without so much repetition and boring talk
no commercials? yes please!
not only do they play top 40 with cool poppin songs, they play a mix of other stuff as well
plus did i mention no commercials? as long as they have that, they win me over
It’s such a shame that they based this change solely on what Vancouverites are listening to. They said that the airwaves were saturated with similar content to Fun-FM – huh? Jack-FM wasn’t even close! And that’s all there was – Rock101 didn’t compare, because the Blow-Jake morning show is so immature. Anyway, did they poll anyone in the Fraser Valley? I bet not. Similar to when they switched Star-FM from 92.5/104.9 to X-FM back in the 90s… Rogers, when are you going to realize there’s more to the Lower Mainland than just Vancouver?
I only just found out about it today when I was driving from Surrey to langley, and when I did find out about the switching from Fun fm to Sonic I was pissed…. unbelievebly pissed. Even though I’m only 19 years old I enjoy listening to older music and loved Fun fm. Tarzan Dan was good but I always tuned onto Sunday’s for Red Robinson who was great entertainment and knew his music. This new radio station sucks, all they play is the crap that I was trying to avoid, plus they already have virgin radio and the beat, Jack fm and 103.5 also does play newer music. Let me just say screw you to whoever decided to switch. Thanks for forever ruining music and letting the younger generation on listening to stuff that is not even good. Eh I guess now I have to listen to Rock 101.1 or jack (they are all right stations) just wish they can play more Beatles, Elton John and ones like those. Hopefully they can bring back another station like Fun fm and bring in Red Robinson!
Just found out that Red Robinson is going to CISL AM650… here’s the press release… woo hoo! Love that guy!
http://www.am650radio.com/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1281622
What the hell were you thinking! The demographic that was listening to your station were all 60K+ a year income earners. Now who’s listening?…..certainly not a generation who has a lot of disposable cash…..what are your advertisers gonna do when they figure that out? Leave like I did