“Pub Royale” Played Everywhere in Quebec: Cowboys Fringeants Force Radio Stations' Hand

The Cowboys Fringants phenomenon succeeded in shaking the foundations of radio stations. On Thursday evening, the Énergie, Rythme, Rouge, CKOI and Boom networks played the album Pub Royal In full, throughout Quebec. never seen And Newspaper I knew it was a bitter song Let it show wellCarl Tremblay sings about his inevitable death, entering regular rotation on some stations for more than seven minutes.

• Read more: “Pub Royale”: Carl Tremblay's poignant, moving and illuminating farewells

• Read more: Tributes rain across Quebec for Cowboys Fringeants' final creation, “Pub Royale.”

Cowboys need fringes to shake up the habits of commercial radio. During the day on Thursday, several stations quickly made the decision to shift their evening programming to play the group's brand new album in its entirety.

“I got a call around 10 a.m. to find out if I was available to host a special at 7 p.m.,” says Energy's Mike Gauthier. The host notes that in his 43-year career, he has never seen Quebec radio stations broadcast an album from A to Z on the day of its release. “There are live radio releases, but no full album,” he says.

Exceptional result

At Rythme, Tatiana Polevoy dedicated the first hour of her show Generation VJ to play Pub Royal. “It's crazy, the reaction,” he said. I have rarely experienced such a moment. We don't understand the extent to which cowboys' fringes touch the interior of the world. I received hundreds of texts. All super touching stuff. “

“People were touched, moved, delighted,” says Phil Branch, who for his part hosted a special performance at the Rouge. Cowboys can be heard as a group, as a people. Last night, we were a bad bunch.

On Énergie et Rouge, 19 stations from both networks played one song per hour on Thursday and the entire album in the evening. “This is an exceptional result, which is linked to the group's status in the hearts of our audience,” says music director Vincent Corneo. In fact, Les Cowboys Fringants was unanimously praised by our listeners, who we determined was what they wanted to hear at the time.

Fully included

An epic and moving song Let it show well The unabridged version (commonly called the “radio edit”) was sent to more than 200 radio stations in Quebec. Despite its long duration of 7 minutes and 16 seconds, Vincent Garneau confirmed that the piece was “completely included with the regular cycles”. [leurs] Two networks (Energy and Red)”.

On WKND, music director John Bedulla mentioned that a committee will meet next week to decide whether or not to enter the song into the rotation. “Yes, we've been seeing it for a long time. But the text is unusual and it's Les Cowboys Fringants. It's very different.”