Fans of the hit show Glee, known as Gleeks, called in sick across Canada on a Monday morning in April to listen to the fleeting transmissions of GLEE-FM. To promote the second-season premiere of the top rated series, Canwest worked with Toronto’s 103.9 Proud FM to transform the station into GLEE-FM for a day, playing the 50-plus songs featured in the series and on the three soundtrack CDs released since the show began last fall.
“How do you launch a radio station? There were lots of pieces to this thing,” says Jamie Schouela, VP marketing strategy, Canwest. “We had to create a sound for the day – we did everything that a regular radio station would have.”
“How do you launch a radio station? There were lots of pieces to this thing,” says Jamie Schouela, VP marketing strategy, Canwest. “We had to create a sound for the day – we did everything that a regular radio station would have.”
That included producing station IDs, training talent and developing programming, such as interviews with cast members, hourly CD giveaways and a grand prize of a trip for two to New York to see the cast perform live – and, of course, constant reminders building up to the premiere the following night.
The launch was promoted like any other new station breaking onto the airwaves, with spots on Global Television and in newspapers announcing “Toronto’s newest radio station GLEE-FM,” a website and traditional premiums like “cheesy” bumper stickers with a bogus logo. The signal was amplified outside the Toronto area via a dedicated live internet radio stream, which, Schouela says, nearly crashed under the weight of all the traffic. And as for the premiere, let’s just say it beat American Idol at sectionals and is on its way to regionals.
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