Straight From the Mouth

Although they can get involved in content issues, they very rarely do. They do not fine, if there is an extreme violation, they have the power to revoke the station's licence and shut it down. Generally that isn't done, however, multiple infractions might keep your station in a situation where the next licence renewal will be for only one year instead of 5 years, and obviously there are higher costs involved in that. The other body is the CBSC - Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. This is a group that all stations join voluntarily that patrols on air content. If complaints are made, a panel will look over the issue and render a decision. If found to be at fault, a station generally will have to issue one or several on-air apologies to make up for what was done. The general rule of thumb is that you can technically swear on Canadian radio, but if you do, you would have to be able to defend why you did it - and 'cause it was funny' would not be enough to satisfy the council.

Mauler: Good fu*king explanation Josie!

Okay, let's take the "Baby Giveaway." Give us the anatomy of how you got it put together?

Rush: complete disaster. Luckily for us, we seem to have found an amazing balance where rather than disagree, we end up brainstorming from four different headspaces and ending up with some incredible (and sometimes horrific) ideas.

Rush: Also, the girls like Jennifer Aniston, and we think she's needy and comes across as desperate.

Josie: Boys!! Leave Jennifer alone!

And then there was Mauler's appearance on Regis & Kelly. How cool was that? Didn't you end up with the most votes? What was the trick?

Mauler: Paid some IT guy to rig everything.

Jenni: Truth is, we have an amazingly loyal group of listeners here in Ottawa. Whether it's something serious like raising money for a charity, or something more fun like the Regis and Kelly contest - if we need our Hotties to participate, they will. Utilizing the power of social media also helped immensely, and going through that has given us a HUGE database of listeners

How is Canadian radio most and least alike to radio here in the states?

Josie: Musically, things are quite similar. During the day, it's shut up and play the hits. Look at the charts, take the 40 biggest songs and spin them. Easy as that. It's hard to answer the question you're asking with anything other than "a feeling", though, since none of us have ever worked in the U.S. We have a feeling they are pretty similar.

Are there any hosts on the air there who came from the U.S.?

Rush: Not at this radio station, no there aren't. We have a competing morning guy who came from the UK about 6 years ago. Does that count for anything?

How about music. Are you still required to play a set number of Canadian artists in your rotation?

Josie: That depends on the licence that the station applied for and was granted by the CRTC. Some stations are mandated to play 35% Canadian music, we at The New Hot 89-9 are mandated to play 40%. Hooray for Nickelback!

Jenni: And Avril Lavigne.

Mauler: And Gordon Lightfoot.

Have to ask about money. How's the pay for Canadian personalities compared to the U.S.?

Mauler: We are in a major market. Major market morning radio talent have salaries that can range from $100,000 all the way up to $1,000,000 per year. It all depends on your time on a station, ratings etc. I think it's similar to the U.S. Don? Are we underpaid??

Talk radio is quite lively there as well. How's the presence of FM talk progressing?

Rush: That is not moving as fast as it is in the U.S. Currently I'm not aware of any FM stations in the country (other than the CBC, our public broadcaster) that are all talk. Most heavy-talk morning shows like ours still play 3 to 4 songs an hour.

Where would you like to see the show go from here?

Josie: If you had asked five years ago we'd have told you that things couldn't get better....and we'd give you the same answer every year after... and still, I bet things would just keep on improving.

Jenni: If there are opportunities for syndication in the future we would definitely be open to them, but for now, we're very happy doing exactly what we're doing.

We've been honored to have you as guests at our last several Morning Show Boot Camps. Which shows there do you always make it a point to hook up with first?

Rush: We are not the typical friendly Canadians that you might expect. In fact we're very anti-social. Sometimes we nod our heads at people as we pass them in front of a coffee decanter, other than that though, we generally go unnoticed I think.

Mauler: While that is true, we have had great conversations with Fitz, Bert and Dave Ryan.

Finally, tell us something you did at Boot Camp that you've never told anyone until now?

Rush: In Miami, I had Art Vuolo tie me up, cover me in postage stamps and try to send me to Milwaukee. It didn't work.

Josie: We will try again next year.