CHEZ-FM (106.1 MHz, ''CHEZ 106'') is a Canadian radio station broadcasting a mainstream rock format in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The station is owned by Rogers Sports & Media. CHEZ's studios are located at the intersection of Thurston Drive and Conroy Road in Ottawa, while its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

is located in Camp Fortune, Quebec, within

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History

CHEZ was launched at 6 p.m. on March 25, 1977 by CHEZ-FM Inc., a company owned and operated by

Harvey Glatt Harvey Glatt (born March 28, 1934) is a Canadian music promoter, manager, broadcaster, record and instrument retailer, and record label owner. Early life and education Harvey Glatt was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, graduating from Glebe ...

."Music Mogul; How Harvey Glatt transformed Ottawa's 'wasteland'". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

'', July 31, 2017. Glatt owned Treble Clef music stores, a chain of retail record stores, and was also a major local concert promoter. The initial signal strength was 100,000

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s, and the first song was " Isn't She Lovely" by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

. The original morning show host was Mike O'Reilly, better known at the time as frontman in the rock group Bolt Upright and the Erections. Other early DJs included Geoff Winter, Steve Colwill, Sheryl Nicholson, Brian Murphy, Pierre Bourque, Paul Hunks, and Kathy Donovan. Ken Rockburn provided news and Randy Burgess did sports. The station focused on the 18-34-year-old demographic by playing English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

music. CHEZ also ran children's programming, talk programming and even some

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

programming when it first launched on air. Shows like ''CHEZ Ottawa'', ''The Source'', ''Jazz 106'', ''

Medium Rare Doneness is a gauge of how thoroughly cooked a cut of meat is based on its color, juiciness, and internal temperature. The gradations are most often used in reference to beef (especially steaks and roasts) but are also applicable to other ty ...

'' and ''In the City'' distinguished the station from others in the Ottawa market. During the first few years on air, CHEZ competed with AM station

CFRA CFRA is a news/ talk formatted radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts on the assigned frequency of 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in Downtown Ot ...

, then a

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-leaning music station. In 1987, just a few weeks before celebrating its tenth anniversary on the air, CHEZ attained the number one position in the Ottawa market for the first time, with nearly 300,000 weekly listeners."CFRA loses top spot to CHEZ". ''

'', March 12, 1987. CHEZ had two sister stations, CHEQ and CJET, under the umbrella of Rideau Broadcasting, located in Smiths Falls. In 1994, CHEZ shifted to

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

, partly due competing station CJSB moving its mainstream rock format to FM. The station and its holdings (Rideau Broadcasting), Canada's last major independent radio station, was sold to Rogers Radio in 1999, joining CKBY and

CIWW CIWW (1310 kHz, ''CityNews Ottawa'') is a commercial AM radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, owned by Rogers Sports & Media, and branded as '' CityNews Ottawa''. It simulcasts a News/ Talk radio format, along with co-owned 101.1 CJET-FM. ...

as Rogers-owned stations in the Ottawa market. In 2011, CHEZ changed their slogan to "World Class Rock", and began adding more current rock music to its playlist, shifting towards a mainstream rock format. In March 2014, the station added more currents, and their slogan was changed again to "Ottawa's Rock Station" reflecting their competitor CKQB switching from active rock to a Top 40/CHR format. On June 6, 2016, CHEZ was rebranded to ''106.1 CHEZ'' with a new logo and the station's new website was launched reflecting the change. In June 2019, CHEZ announced a new morning show, ''The Biggs and Barr Show'', which formerly aired on CHTZ in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

. In May 2020, the station reverted to its old branding of ''CHEZ 106'', but kept the same logo and format.

References

External links

CHEZ 106
* * {{Rogers Communications HEZ HEZ HEZ Radio stations established in 1977 1977 establishments in Ontario