Q the story

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/01/2011 (5388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

— 94.3 CHIQ: From Q to Curve and now FAB

— May 22, 2003: Winnipeg Free Press publishes radio ratings from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM). Q94 is in the top three of listeners age 12 and up with 10.1 per cent tuning in.

— May 2003 through August 2006: BBM ratings show CHIQ sliding into the middle of Winnipeg’s top 10 stations.

— August 29, 2006: Free Press reports a “surprise sign-off” for CHIQ, which then-program director Andrew Long attributes to being a means to avoid stagnation. Days later, the station switches from hot adult contemporary to adult contemporary hits, keeping the Q-94 name.

— August 2006 through August 2008: CHIQ’s share of Winnipeg’s radio market gets as low as 3.3 per cent.

— August 30, 2008: Q-94 is rebranded as Curve 94.3 and with a new format called pop-alternative. As the name suggests, this is a combination of pop and alternative formats. Long tells the Free Press “there’s zero like it in North America.”

— August 2008 through November 2010: CHIQ’s ratings hover at 3.5 per cent and then drop below three per cent in the BBM’s spring 2010 ratings.

— Nov. 18, 2010: Free Press reports CHIQ has fired program director Andrew Long. Also gone are on-air talent Pamela Roz and Andrew Taylor. Days later, the station begins playing only holiday music, a common move before a format change.

— Dec. 26, 2010: CHIQ becomes known as FAB 94.3 and plays “super hits of the ’60s and ’70s.” Careful listeners will note some ’80s tunes creeping in, particularly Canadian artists like Bryan Adams, Corey Heart, Glass Tiger and Loverboy.