Editing CIMX-FM (section)

===Top 40 Era===
In 1982, CJOM and CKWW were acquired by [[Geoff Stirling]]'s company, Stirling Communications International, which also owned [[CKGM]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] and [[CHOZ-FM]] in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]. CJOM made an abrupt switch to a [[contemporary hit radio|CHR/Top 40]] format. In the evening hours, 1983-85, DJ Karen Evans played more alternative music with an introduction of British new wave music to the market. In the late 1980s, the station went by the moniker "Laser Rock," a reference to becoming one of the first radio stations in the Detroit area to program music solely from [[compact disc]]s.

CJOM ran afoul of the [[Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission|CRTC]] in the summer of 1983 for its format change to [[contemporary hit radio|CHR/Top 40]]. Then as now, all radio station format changes in Canada must be approved by the CRTC. CJOM had been approved for a "contemporary [[middle of the road (music)|MOR]]" (a.k.a. [[adult contemporary]]) format, but analyses of the station's programming in May 1983 showed that almost all of the music being played was rock-oriented, that the station was playing 78% "hit" music rather than the allowed <50%, and that the station was not meeting its licence commitments for "foreground", "mosaic", spoken word, or [[all-news radio|news]] programming.

Stirling maintained that the station was "experimenting" with its programming and that such a format was necessary in order to make the station competitive with Detroit-based broadcasters. [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1984/PB84-23.HTM] Stirling and the CRTC finally reached a compromise in August 1985. CJOM was granted an "experimental" licence which would enable the station to play more harder-edged [[rock music|rock]] and [[pop music]] with higher repetition, although a proposal to reduce the station's Canadian Content quotient to 5% from 15% was denied. [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1985/DB85-666.HTM]

Under this experimental licence, CJOM remained a [[contemporary hit radio|CHR]]-formatted radio station for most of the rest of the decade. Most [[rock music|rock]] songs played were [[Top 40]] based like songs from [[Def Leppard]] and [[Billy Squier]] or Canadian artists such as [[Platinum Blonde (band)|Platinum Blonde]], [[Haywire (band)|Haywire]], and [[Gino Vannelli]]. CJOM would occasionally include several songs by one artist in a "star set" during the day. On Sunday evenings, CJOM would broadcast an "album countdown" in which the station would play several songs from the same album in the countdown.