Spirit of Radio BBS

That's exactly my question...

I know most of the history of CFNY, but when did the station finally change its name over to 102.1 the EDGE?
please help!

It was either late 1992 or early 1993 that the station started to use the moniker The Leading Edge which was later shortened to The Edge.

Didn't they steal it (The Edge) from a college station in Windsor?

"The Edge" is actually a format conceived and marketed by demographics researchers. There are many "Edge" stations all across North America.

Sad but true
89X the cutting "edge" in windsor detroit succumbed to the same marketing forces as CFNY although even at it's best it was a distant third to CFNY after WFNX in Boston

There was a theory that CFNY took the name Edge from Radio Erindale "Music on the Edge", a college station at U of T Mississauga that I had a show on. Our program director was convinced that his friends at CFNY liked our slogan so much they decided to use the Edge name. I always doubted that story but there you go - another theory.

It actually became The Edge by stealth.

The big changes happenned at the station in the Fall of 1992, when PD Reiner Schwartz was fired.

At first they kept the call letters CFNY but changed the slogan from "Toronto's Best New Music" to "The Leading Edge" (or the leaning hedge as a friend of mine used to say) and then after a few months just "The Edge" followed quickly by dropping the call letters.

The Administrator is quite right. You'll find a Edge in every city across the U.S. Just like a Sears.

They didn't just "become" the Edge - the Edge is actually a franchised format that they had to purchase, just like every other "Edge" station across Canada and the US.

Prefab alternative, What will they think of next?!

"The Edge" is not a franchised format that they need to pay for. I'd be interested to see some evidence in order to believe that.

"Franchised" as a figure of speech, yes. Does anyone own the rights to the name? No. But almost nothing has gotten airplay on 102.1 in the past decade without being run through the U.S. alternative rock radio mill first. (Besides some CanCon, of course.)

Well it's not a figure of speech if they had to purchase the Edge name as the Spirit Admin suggested. I would be curious to get a confirmation of this.

Whoooo, does 'Edge' still mean anything?
Maybe it's just time for a corporate division rebranding!

Seeing tv ads for a K-W radio station called the Beat, when will T.O. be given a new & exciting copycat name such as: the Song, the Bass, the Cuts, the Hitz , the Mix, the Fan, the Team, Dave, Jack, oops, ...

Before there was an edge in Toronto, there were a dozen or so edge stations already in the states prior to 1995. Now there is even more. It's a brand name, a mission and positioning statement within the marketplace. Come to think about it, so was the "Spirit of Radio". Both were/are just carving out their niche in the marketplace. Both have more in common then you think.

Sorry, conspiracy theorists, but the admin is wrong. The name wasn't purchased from anywhere. If it was, there wouldn't have been an Edge 103.3 in Buffalo launched around the same time 102.1 took on the positioner. What they did register a copyright for at the time was the use of the term "new rock alternative" in Canada, back when the grunge format was a hot thing and they feared a direct competitor.