‘Cat’ out of the bag: Q 92.5 FM name to disappear

By Mike Cohen

There are gigantic changes in store for the radio station we have come to know as CFQR and The Q 92.5 FM for many decades. It appears very likely that the Q will disappear on Sept. 6 at 4 p.m., with a brand new station being introduced in its place. What will it be called? We have heard names like The Beat FM bounced around, but this is clearly a closely guarded secret.

What we can say for certain is that Cat Spencer will make his long awaited debut as the new morning man on Tuesday, Sept. 7. Back in February, soon after Aaron Rand announced that he would be leaving the Q because his contract had not been renewed, Spencer told his employers at Virgin Radio that he would be leaving at the end of the summer as Rand’s successor. Virgin promptly shunted him to the sidelines for six months and brought in Freeway Frank to take his place.

The soon-to-be former Q also hired away Nat Lauzon from Virgin in June. She will start her Saturday and Sunday afternoon shows in October. The popular Ken Connors will now host a full fledged weekend morning show. Radio industry observers see a clear attempt by the soon-to-be former Q to take away Virgin listeners. As for Rand, see my Suburban blog (http://blog.thesuburban.com) for talk that he is about to join CJAD.
TEAM 990 Announcement: It appears that THE TEAM  990 will announce its choice for the play by play and colour commentary posts for Montreal Canadiens broadcasts next week. Elliott Price is the in-house favorite while Derek Wills of the Hamilton Bulldogs is reportedly also a candidate. As for the colour, Chris Nilan, Sergio Momesso, Bobby Dollas and Karl Dyhuis are names being mentioned.

BeautiFeel Visit: I had an opportunity to meet Ami Bar Nahor last week. He is the Israeli businessman whose popular brand of shoes called BeautiFeel set off a controversy involving the St. Denis Street shoe store called Le Marcheur. As reported regularly in The Suburban, Le Marcheur became the object of a boycott campaign by a group called PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) and Québec Solidaire Member of the National Assembly Amir Khadir,  all because they carry the BeautiFeel line. Store owner Yves Archambault stood up to the bullies and thanks to broad support from a citizen’s coalition among whose organizers was our own editor Beryl Wajsman and a non-partisan group of politicians whose support this coalition rallied, the protests ended. Sadly, they have continued across the street at the Naot shoe store, where almost all of the products are made in Israel.

Nahor was in town to visit with his distributor. He paid a visit to Le Marcheur, but Archambault was out of town. In addition, he dropped into Naot to express his solidarity. “What these people did was completely wrong,” he said. “They took a store hostage for no good reason. There should be a law against such activity. It is disgusting.”

COHEN CHATTER: Montreal’s Arnait Video and Rotating Planet have nabbed three Gemini Award nominations: best documentary series for Uluit, Champions of the North and best performing arts program and best direction in a performing arts program for the Instrument Bank. The ceremony takes place on Aug. 29 and 30, in advance of the Sept. 7 show in Toronto. ...Spotted in line with cellphone problems last week at the Bell Mobility store at Fairview Shopping Centre in Pointe Claire was Habs legend Guy Lafleur….Dr.  McDreamy, actor Patrick Dempsey of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy, was at Île Notre Dame over the weekend to take part in the Grand-Am Rolex auto race…Is the former Bloc Québécois MP for Rosemount, Bernard Bigras, about to join François Legault’s fledgling political party?