Every year at CJLO we ask our staff, DJs, and volunteers to tell us all their favourite things of the past year. Much like 2023 itself, this list is an eclectic mix. Join us for recommendations of albums, songs, films, snacks, and other experiences you may have missed this past year. Happy New Year from your favourite campus-community radio station!

Surprise, it's Santapalooza! More specifically it's BVST Goes Santapalooza XII: The 12 BVSTs of Santapalooza on CJLO 1690AM! Join BVST host Angelica as she's joined by special guest Matt Kiernan for an annual heaping helping of carefully curated Christmas music surprises!

Christmas came early as Canadian indie musician Tim Baker brought much-needed holiday merriment on a dreary, icy Tuesday in Montreal. Playing solo to a packed house at the Salle de Gésu, the former Hey Rosetta! Frontman - who is touring on the strength of his new EP Along the Mountain Road - proved to be the perfect tonic for the all-too-real pedagogical and commercial stresses prevalent in December.

This past June, Amber Bain a.k.a The Japanese House released not just a great indie-pop record, but one of the best albums of 2023. Featuring co-production by George Daniel of The 1975, as well as contributions from Katie Gavin of MUNA, Charli XCX, and Matty Healy (also of The 1975), her sophomore album In the End It Always Does is a triumph in focus. Every instrument, lyric, and vocal fits perfectly in place over the forty-five-minute run time. Gorgeously produced, deeply personal and moving, ITEIAD shows Bain in peak form.

I don't know where to begin to communicate how much gratitude I have for CJLO 1690 AM and everyone I’ve had the privilege of working with over the last three years. I reached out to the station on a whim in 2021, and the first episode of Purple Hour aired just weeks later. The excitement, expression, and ambition this show lit in me was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Just a few months into my tenure at CJLO, I had the honour of taking on the role of Hip Hop Music Director (more like hip hop/R&B/soul/funk music director). Coming from Toronto, when I moved to Montreal to study at Concordia, I was shocked by the lack of presence these genres seemed to hold in the city and the lack of infrastructure in place to support them.