MuchMusic Documentary ‘299 Queen Street West’ Traces How a Renegade Canadian Channel Took on MTV and Won (For a While)
Amber Dowling When Canadian specialty station MuchMusic launched in August 1984, founders John Martin and Moses Znaimer had about two hours of planned content to fill six hours of airtime. Their strategy? Pack the place with notable faces (Eugene Levy, Martin Short), create a party atmosphere in the control room “stage,” and let inaugural VJs Christopher Ward and J.D. Roberts figure out the rest as they went along. Thus, the iconic “Nation’s Music Station” was born. It was a scrappy, wild atmosphere in which inexperienced but music-loving kids stepped in front of the cameras with free reign to experiment and play the videos they loved. There were no rules and even less structure, but it worked. At the height of its popularity, MuchMusic was the global destination for artists of all genres. And it was led by a diverse and history-making group of hosts who connected those artists with fans in a new way—through the legendary studios at 299 Queen St. West in Toronto.