Think Tank: Q107

Classic rock fans in Toronto woke up to some changes on April 7th, with morning man John Derringer explaining that their favourite station was evolving from “Classic Rock” to “Toronto’s Rock Station”. According to Derringer, “The dinner menu does not change, that stays the same, it’s rock, it’s the music we all love, the flavouring is going to change a little bit.”

So what type of “flavouring” are we talking about here?

Since 2000, when Q107 transitioned to full-on Classic Rock, residents of the GTA have been able to enjoy a steady diet of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Stones and other acts from a playlist that encompassed the musical era of the mid-60’s to just past 1994 (with a few selective songs ranging up to around 2000).

Like virtually all Classic Rock stations, Q107 pretty much avoided the entire post-Nirvana music catalogue, the idea being that it was all too “Alternative” and wouldn’t sonically blend with their core library of classic material. One thing Derringer did touch upon was that a lot of tracks from this timeframe had been unfairly judged as being “Alternative” when, in hindsight, they were simply just great rock songs, period. Plus there are many current acts, like The Sheepdogs, whose sound can appeal to a wide, cross-generational audience.

By expanding their library to include these lost decades, Q107 will be bringing their core audience in the 35-54 (and older) demo slowly up-to-speed on what’s been happening in the world of rock over the past 20-years, which means they’ll have a huge pool of music that — while considered recurrent or gold by industry standards — will be fresh and new to their listener’s ears.

New titles (current – 2000) airing for the first time on Q107 (April 7 – 10, 2014):

Arkells — Whistleblower (2011)
Arkells — Michigan Left (2011)
Arkells — Oh, The Boss Is Coming (2008)
Audioslave — I Am The Highway (2002)
Audioslave — Like A Stone (2002)
Audioslave — Show Me How To Live (2002)
Billy Talent — Surrender (2006)
Black Keys — Gold On The Ceiling (2011)
Black Keys — Little Back Submarines (2011)
Black Keys — Lonely Boy (2011)
Black Keys — Howlin’ For You (2010)
Black Keys — Tighten Up (2010)
Big Wreck — Albatross (2011)
Alice Cooper — The House Is Haunted (2003)
Default — Count On Me (2005)
Default — Wasting My Time (2001)
Finger Eleven — I’ll Keep Your Memory Vague (2007)
Finger Eleven — Paralyzer (2006)
Finger Eleven — One Thing (2003)
Finger Eleven — First Time (2000)
Foo Fighters — The Pretender (2007)
Foo Fighters — Best Of You (2005)
Foo Fighters — All My Life (2002)
Fuel — Hemorrhage (In My Hands) (2000)
Matthew Good Band — Load Me Up (2001)
Matthew Good Band — Hello Time Bomb (2001)
Green Day — 21 Guns (2009)
Green Day — Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (2004)
Green Day — Wake Me Up When September Ends (2004)
Green Day — American Idiot (2004)
Green Day — Holiday (2004)
Incubus — Drive (2000)
Jimmy Eat World — The Middle (2001)
Kid Rock — Rock N Roll Jesus (2007)
Kings of Leon — Wait For Me (2014)
Krokus — Born To Be Wild (2010)
Monster Truck — Righteous Smoke (2012)
Monster Truck — Sweet Mountain River (2013)
Monster Truck — Seven Seas Blues (2012)
Nickelback — Photograph (2005)
Nickelback — Rockstar (2005)
Nickelback — Someday (2003)
Nickelback — How You Remind Me (2001)
Sam Roberts — I Feel You (2011)
Sam Roberts — Bridge To Nowhere (2006)
Sam Roberts — Brother Down (2003)
Sam Roberts — Don’t Walk Away Eileen (2003)
Sam Roberts — Hard Road (2003)
Sam Roberts — Where Have All The Good People Gone (2003)
Three Days Grace — Animal I Have Become (2006)
Three Days Grace — (I Hate) Everything About You (2003)
Three Days Grace — Just Like You (2003)
The Sheepdogs — How Late, How Long (2011)
The Sheepdogs — The Way It Is (2012)
The Sheepdogs — Feeling Good (2012)
The Sheepdogs — I Don’t Know (2009)
Strokes — Last Nite (2001)
Sum 41 — In Too Deep (2001)
Thornley — So Far So Good (2004)
3 Doors Down — Kryptonite (2000)
Treble Charger — American Psycho (2000)
The Trews — Can’t Stop Laughing (2008)
The Trews — Hold Me In Your Arms (2008)
The Trews — So She’s Leaving (2005)
The Trews — Not Ready To Go (2003)
The Trews — Tired Of Waiting (2003)
Eddie Vedder — Hard Sun (2007)
White Stripes — Hardest Button To Button (2003)
White Stripes — Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground (2001)
White Stripes — Fell In Love With A Girl (2001)