Editing CFNY-FM (section)

==="The Spirit of Radio"===
During Marsden's tenure as program director, the style of the station evolved into a sound which has been described{{by whom|date=February 2017}} as a more professional-sounding version of a [[campus radio]] station. At the time, [[alternative music]] was new and had not yet received wide exposure, but [[New wave music|new wave]] and [[punk rock]] soon emerged as dominant forms of popular music—and so the station became known as one of the few commercial stations at the time which played alternative music.

[[File:CFNY-FM.png|thumb|left|"The Spirit of Radio" logo used by CFNY during the early and mid-1980s]]
During this period, the station began using "The Spirit of Radio" as a promotional catchphrase. In turn, listeners of the station began to refer to CFNY as "The Spirit of Radio". Canadian band [[Rush (band)|Rush]] was unable to obtain airplay on many radio stations other than CFNY early in their career; in 1979, the band wrote the song "[[The Spirit of Radio]]" about the station. Unable to mention CFNY directly for fear of alienating airplay on other stations, the band instead ensured the [[catalog number (music)|catalogue number]] for their album ''[[Permanent Waves]]'' was 1021, a nod to the station's 102.1 FM frequency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiritofradio.ca/index.asp|title=The CFNY Spirit Of Radio Fan Page|publisher=Spiritofradio.ca|date=2003-11-12|access-date=2012-03-16}}</ref>

While the fan base was loyal, the station struggled to grow its audience due to its small studio and low broadcasting power of only 679 watts. With only a small broadcast range, the station used unconventional promotional strategies in an attempt to grow the brand. CFNY would send DJs to host regular new wave dance parties, both to build a community amongst its fans and to supplement the station's limited advertising revenue through admission fees.<ref name=reynolds>Bill Reynolds, "A rock 'n' roll original: DJ Martin Streek symbolized CFNY's unlikely resilience". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', July 11, 2009.</ref>