Radio broadcasting in Canada: the case of ‘transformat’ music

Abstract

What do Michel Rivard's ‘Un trou dans les nuages’ and Marjo's ‘Les chats sauvages’ have in common? Both songs were released in 1987 by two well-known French-speaking Québécois artists; they sold over 500,000 copies each and remained on the Top-Ten chart of Radio-Activité for over seventy weeks. These songs were played repeatedly on AM and FM radio stations in Quebec. However, unlike most other hits, Rivard's middle of the road (MOR) ballad was even heard on dance-music radios and Marjo's slow-beat rock appeared on the regular playlist of stations devoted primarily to easy-listening music! In fact, these songs are two examples of ‘transformat’ radio music, that is songs that get airplay on various stations which according to their respective operating license, should specialise in different musical genres and display contrasting programming styles. Using examples drawn from an exploratory study of radio music in private (commercial) FM stations in the Eastern Townships (Québec), this article will address some of the issues raised by transformat music. After a brief analytical portrait of Canada's radio policies and format regulations, I shall examine contrasting explanations of this phenomenon which focus on genre/style, state policy and business/industry. In the closing section, I shall present outlines of an alternative approach which rests upon the acknowledgement of the specific contribution of radio to the social production of popular music and addresses transformats as the outcome of creative repetition broadcasting devices.

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