Winnipeg's New 106.3

Emerging Artists

The City of Winnipeg is home to some of the most renowned musical talent in the world, and continues to benefit from an exciting local music scene. As born and bred Winnipeggers, we recall those special nights (a few years back…) when the River Heights Community Centre would showcase the newest talent – including the likes of future stars such as Burton Cummings and Neil Young. 106.3 FM intends to revive this great tradition of showcasing local talent, through our core Canadian music content initiative, Friday Nights at the Park. The Park Theatre is a renowned Winnipeg landmark, and has been recently – and beautifully – renovated.

Each Friday night for 52 consecutive weeks, 106.3 FM will book the Park Theatre venue for the explicit purpose of showcasing local talent. An average of two or three bands/ individuals will be selected to perform before some 325 patrons. Beyond this weekly showcase of local talent, we will also invite the musical talent of Manitoba to participate in an exciting new talent contest. For 12 weeks out of the year, a panel of local music professionals will judge the Friday Nights at the Park talent showcase; three of the musical acts performing over this period will have all costs of producing a CD covered by 106.3 FM. The winning bands will also be highlighted in the station’s emerging artist music rotation, as well as on our website.

And, when the first 52-week run is over and the winners have been selected, we will do it all over again.

It is well understood within both the music and radio industries that public exposure and promotion of talent – leading to word of mouth about emerging talent – is fundamental to artistic success. With this in mind, our Friday Nights at the Park is designed to:

• Provide important public exposure and promotion for local and regional music talent;
• Support the artistic development and success of emerging Canadian talent in support of the Commission’s Commercial Radio Policy objectives; and
• Contribute to the local music scene while providing an opportunity for the Winnipeg community to see some great, live music.

All costs of Friday Nights at the Park will be absorbed by 106.3 FM: on-air promotion, venue rental, stage production, CD production and related expenditures.