1) Interactive Web Form to provide letters of support for CRTC applications
2) New fatser links to Blues festival including the first ever Class Axe Guitars Calabogie Blues Fest
3) New social media interraction with facebook, Youtube and Twitter without leaving BIC browser
4) New links to Blues events and venues throughout Canada
5) Real time Blog entries from 101.9 DAWG FM radio hosts and personalities

Come back and check us out after August 5, 2011 and experience Canada’s on-line blues fans meeting place as you have never seen it before!

101.9 DAWG FM became the first commercial radio station to cover the maple Blues awards live yesterday.

J-man interviewed nominees, winners, presenters and some hall of fame blues musicians from around the world.

101.9 DAWG FM became the first commercial radio station to cover the maple Blues awards live yesterday.

J-man interviewed nominees, winners, presenters and some hall of fame blues musicians from around the world.

Hamilton, Halifax and Hogtown Celebrate Maple Blues Awards!
Ottawa’s Monkey Junk take three awards!

(January 17, 2010) Toronto, ON – Canadian blues artists from coast-to-coast were well represented at the 14th Annual Maple Blues Awards gala in Toronto last night as a sold-out crowd of blues lovers gathered to celebrate Canadian Blues at Koerner Hall.

Ottawa’s Monkey Junk took the lead with three wins, including Electric Act of the Year, Harmonica Player of the Year (Steve Marriner) and Drummer of the Year (Matt Sobb). East Coast blues giant Matt Andersen walked away with two Maple Blues Awards for Entertainer of the Year and Acoustic Act of the Year. Another young East Coast bluesman, Garrett Mason, took home the Guitar Player of the Year award.

Hamilton’s Rita Chiarelli was presented the Blues With A Feeling Award (lifetime achievement) by Frederic Lamoureux from the Montreal Jazz Festival and the president of legendary blues label Alligator Records, Bruce Iglauer. Chiarelli, who has been dubbed the “goddess of Canadian blues”, received the award for her long and vibrant career as one of the premier female blues musicians in Canada. Following a moving tribute video Hamilton native, Richard Newell a.k.a King Biscuit Boy received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the blues in Canada and internationally, accepted by his son Richard Oddie and brother Randy Waller.

Other highlights include Female Vocalist of the Year for Toronto’s Shakura S’Aida, an internationally recognized singer whose performance earlier in the evening had the audience spellbound. The award was presented by popular CBC personality George Stromboulopoulis and MBA winner Matt Andersen, who also presented Recording of the Year to Toronto’s Downchild. Toronto’s Julian Fauth was presented the award for Keyboard Player of the Year by legendary blues keyboard player Curley Bridges and Dave Booth, a.k.a Daddy Cool, now back on the air waves at Whistle FM. Keith Picot, of the Vancouver based band The Twisters was presented with Bassist of the Year by Montreal blues singer Dawn Tyler Watson and Bill Wax, host of XM Radio’s popular program Bluesville. The Maple Blues Awards gala featured outstanding performances from winners and nominees Jack de Keyzer, Tom Lavin, Matt Andersen, Shakura S’Aida and Dawn Tyler Watson, all backed by The Maple Blues Band.

The Blues Booster of the Year award, a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian blues music industry was awarded to Gord MacAulay, Chair of the Saskatoon Blues Festival and a long time serving board member of the Saskatoon Blues Society.

Now in its 25th year, The Toronto Blues Society is a non profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the Blues. The Maple Blues Awards is Canada’s national blues awards program. Its goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field.

WINNERS OF THE 14TH ANNUAL MAPLE BLUES AWARDS

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Matt Andersen

ELECTRIC ACT OF THE YEAR
Monkey Junk

ACOUSTIC ACT OF THE YEAR
Matt Andersen

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
John Mays

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Shakura S’Aida

NEW ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
Mike “Shrimp Daddy” Reid

RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Downchild / I Need A Hat / Linus
Producer – Don Walsh

BLUES WITH A FEELING AWARD (Lifetime Achievement)
Rita Chiarelli

BB KING INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Garrett Mason

HARMONICA PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Steve Marriner

PIANO/KEYBOARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Julian Fauth

HORN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Chris Whiteley

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR
Matt Sobb

BASSIST OF THE YEAR
Keith Picot

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Paul Reddick & Colin Linden

BLUES BOOSTER OF THE YEAR
Gord MacAulay

SPECIAL LIFETIME ACHEIVEMENT AWARD
Richard Newell

-30-
For more information contact:
Sarah French
Sarah French Publicity
sarah@sarahfrenchpublicity.com | 416-566-4188
Jordan Safer
The Toronto Blues Society
info@torontobluessociety.com
(416)538-3885

101.9 DAWG FM Canada’s only all blues radio station has announced that it will prominently sponsor the Blues Summit, which is a not-to-be-missed forum for all blues music industry members, artists, presenters, agents, and the like. It is an opportunity for the blues community to network as well as for artists to showcase in front of blues industry members. It is held every two years in conjunction with the annual Maple Blues Awards

SIGN UP TODAY!

101.9 DAWG FM is Canada’s first and only ALL BLUES COMMERCIAL RADIO STATION! DAWG FM is based in Ottawa, Ontario on 101.9FM and was launched in June 2010 with 4500 Watts.

DAWG FM, North Americas first all-blues commercial radio station, will broadcast from Ottawa next year. Founders Ed Torres and Todd Bernhard share their vision with Ottawa Citizen arts reporter Lynn Saxberg.

For Immediate Release

ED TORRES FROM THE NEW 101.9 DAWG FM WINS THE BLUES BOOSTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Toronto, ON January 5, 2010 — The Toronto Blues Society has announced the recipient of the Blues Booster of the Year award, a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian Blues industry.

This years Blues Booster of the Year award goes to Ed Torres, one of the founders of all blues radio station 101.9 DAWG FM. “It’s a great honour to receive this award on behalf of the staff of The New 101.9 DAWG FM. The real boost for the Blues and all of the Canadian Artists that make it their life’s work starts June 1, when we light up our full service commercial Blues FM station in Ottawa.  There’s a real buzz in the Ottawa radio scene, advertisers are excited and the applications and CD’s are flooding in,” said Torres.

What was to be Canada’s only all blues station based in Ottawa and Gatineau, DAWG FM was licenced by the CRTC in August 2008, only to have the licence sent back for reconsideration. Torres was instrumental in launching an exhaustive and expensive year-long campaign to have the licence upheld and to pave the way for all Blues radio formats across Canada.

In August 2009, the CRTC re-issued the licence for DAWG FM and the station is set for launch in the summer of 2010. “We were very pleased to get the licence re-issued by the CRTC. The appeal of the first licence was emotional and exhausting. It’s unfortunate that we’ve been delayed almost a full year but as it was explained to us by countless politicos that we met along the way: democracy isn’t always efficient but in the end it works. The excitement of our June 1st launch date is building hourly. The CRTC has acknowledged that Blues is not just an essential North American art form but that it can be the basis of a financially viable commercial FM station. This paves the way for the first Blues radio station in Canada,” Ed Torres will receive the Blues Booster of the Year Award at the 13th annual Maple Blues Awards gala on January 18 in Toronto.

What: The Maple Blues Awards

Where: Koerner Hall – The Royal Conservatory (273 Bloor Street W., Toronto)

When: Monday, January 18, 2010, 7:00PM

Website: http://www.torontobluessociety.com

Tickets: $20.00 – $28.00 available at www.rcmusic.ca or 416.408.0208

For Immediate Release

ED TORRES FROM THE NEW 101.9 DAWG FM WINS THE BLUES BOOSTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Toronto, ON January 5, 2010 — The Toronto Blues Society has announced the recipient of the Blues Booster of the Year award, a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian Blues industry.

This years Blues Booster of the Year award goes to Ed Torres, one of the founders of all blues radio station 101.9 DAWG FM. “It’s a great honour to receive this award on behalf of the staff of The New 101.9 DAWG FM. The real boost for the Blues and all of the Canadian Artists that make it their life’s work starts June 1, when we light up our full service commercial Blues FM station in Ottawa.  There’s a real buzz in the Ottawa radio scene, advertisers are excited and the applications and CD’s are flooding in,” said Torres.

What was to be Canada’s only all blues station based in Ottawa and Gatineau, DAWG FM was licenced by the CRTC in August 2008, only to have the licence sent back for reconsideration. Torres was instrumental in launching an exhaustive and expensive year-long campaign to have the licence upheld and to pave the way for all Blues radio formats across Canada.

In August 2009, the CRTC re-issued the licence for DAWG FM and the station is set for launch in the summer of 2010. “We were very pleased to get the licence re-issued by the CRTC. The appeal of the first licence was emotional and exhausting. It’s unfortunate that we’ve been delayed almost a full year but as it was explained to us by countless politicos that we met along the way: democracy isn’t always efficient but in the end it works. The excitement of our June 1st launch date is building hourly. The CRTC has acknowledged that Blues is not just an essential North American art form but that it can be the basis of a financially viable commercial FM station. This paves the way for the first Blues radio station in Canada,” Ed Torres will receive the Blues Booster of the Year Award at the 13th annual Maple Blues Awards gala on January 18 in Toronto.

What: The Maple Blues Awards

Where: Koerner Hall – The Royal Conservatory (273 Bloor Street W., Toronto)

When: Monday, January 18, 2010, 7:00PM

Website: http://www.torontobluessociety.com

Tickets: $20.00 – $28.00 available at www.rcmusic.ca or 416.408.0208