Bygone Bytown

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on June 28, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

Whitney Houston knocks Howard Jones out of the top spot after only one week with "The Greatest Love Of All".

Peter Gabriel and The Fixx tie for biggest gainers with 5 spot jumps this week. We featured "Sledgehammer" a few weeks back so here's The Fixx with "Secret Separation" going from #34 to #29.

There's a 2-way tie for "Biggest Loser" this week between "Let's Go All The Way" by Sly Fox (#22 to #34) and "Something About You" by Level 42 (#12 to #24).

The highest debut of the week goes to Joe Cocker and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" at #32.

Today we’re looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on June 21, 1986 according to CFRA. We’ll do this until early August. That’s when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

Howard Jones dethrones The Pet Shop Boys to claim #1 with his re-recording of 1985's "No One Is To Blame" from the "Action Replay EP". I was a huge Howard Jones fan in the 80's. Still am.

The biggest gainer this week is "The Best Of Me" by David Foster & Olivia Newton-John going from #30 to #23. But we featured it last week as the highest debut. So picking randomly from the several 5 spot movers we'll feature "If You Leave" by OMD which moves from #11 to #6.

There are a bunch of BIG drops this week but it's easy to pick the biggest. Boys Don't Cry drop from #18 to #33 (15 spots!) with "I Wanna Be A Cowboy". Probably justified.

And our highest debut this week is Nu Shooz at #29 with "I Can't Wait".

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on June 14, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

The Pet Shop Boys land at #1 for 3rd straight week with "West End Girls".

There is a tie for biggest gain this week between "Holding Back The Years" by Simply Red and "Your Wildest Dreams" by The Moody Blues. Both climb 7 spots to #17 and #24 respectively.

There's a three way tie for the biggest drop this week - all at 12 spots each. First, "Harlem Shuffle" by The Rolling Stones which drops from #11 to #23. But we featured it just a few weeks back when it was at #1. How the mighty have fallen! Our second and third biggest fallers this week at "Move Away" by The Culture Club (#21 to #33) and "Why Can't This Be Love?" by Van Halen (#15 to #26). We already featured Culture Club a couple of weeks back so here's Van Halen:

And the highest debut this week goes to David Foster & Olivia Newton John with "The Best Of Me" debuting at #30.

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on June 7, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

There's no copy of this week's chart in the archive but based on last week's chart and next week's chart we can make some educated guesses.

First, The Pet Shop Boys hold on to #1 this week with "West End Girls".

The highest debut on the chart this week is Genesis with "Invisible Touch at #28.

It appears as though our biggest gainer moved from #33 to #25, and that's Luba with "How Many (Rivers To Cross".

The biggest loser of the week seems to be The Culture Club who drop from #11 to #21 with "Move Away".

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on May 31, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

The Rolling Stones drop from #1 all the way down to #7 this week with "Harlem Shuffle" which makes way for The Pet Shop Boys to take #1 with "West End Girls".

Peter Gabriel is the highest debut this week at #27 with "Sledgehammer".

Not a lot of huge moves up on the chart this week. Madonna jumps 8 spots to #19 but we featured that song just a couple of weeks ago when she debuted at #33. So let's go with "Peter Gunn" by The Art of Noise that moves from #30 to #25...

"American Storm" by Bob Seger is the biggest loser this week dropping from #18 all the way to #34. But since there's no video for it, let's go with the second biggest dropper of the week. The former #1 tune "Manic Monday" by The Bangles drops from #7 to #15 this week. I remember my sixth grade teacher being all about this song.

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on May 24, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

The Stones spend this week only at #1 in Ottawa with "Harlem Shuffle".

Billy Ocean has the highest debut of the week at #28 with "There'll Be Sad Songs To Make You Cry".

A number of tracks on this week's chart move up 6 spots to gain the most spots. Those include Madonna (we saw her debut last week) from 33 to 27 and Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald jump from 31 to 25 with "On My Own". But the third 6 spot jumper is a local Ottawa group so let's look at "Angel In My Pocket" by One To One.

And this week will be the last for Cats Can Fly who drop from 19 to 33 with "Flippin' To The A Side".

Today we're looking at the Top 35 songs in Ottawa on May 17, 1986 according to CFRA. We'll do this until early August. That's when CFRA changes formats away from Top 40 and stops the weekly charts (in July they become the Top 20).

At number one this week in "The Power of Love" by Jennifer Rush.

Madonna has the highest debut this week at number 33 with "Live To Tell".

There is a tie for biggest gainer on the chart this week as Whitney Houston jumps 8 spots but so does Double with "The Caption of Her Heart". A song so great I don't have any memory of it whatsoever...

And this week we'll be saying goodbye to "Bop" by Dan Seals, the biggest dropper on the chart going from #14 to #29.

*tap tap* Is this thing still on?

July 16, 1986: Mark Elliot, longtime and legendary CFRA evening DJ quits the station live on the air and walks out in protest of the changes the station is making to the format.  CFRA, Ottawa’s longtime number one Top 40 outlet is slowly transitioning to oldies and Elliot was not pleased.

In January 1992, Archie Andrews and his pals took a trip to Ottawa.  Read their whole adventure here:

https://ottawaephemera.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/archie-jughead-and-dilton-come-to-ottawa-part-1/

https://ottawaephemera.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/archie-jughead-and-dilton-come-to-ottawa-part-2/

https://ottawaephemera.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/archie-jughead-and-dilton-come-to-ottawa-part-3/

Exactly 70 years ago, on the morning on March 27, 1946, Eugene Larment was the third (and final) man to make the walk down death row to the gallows at the Ottawa Gaol. Previous executions here were the public execution of Patrick Whelan in 1869 for the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and, in 1933, William Seabrooke made his final walk to meet the hangman for the murder of Paul Lavigne in a robbery gone wrong.

Capital punishment was applied very sparingly in Canada. From 1867 to abolition in 1962 there were only three hangings in Ottawa at the Ottawa City Gaol on Nicholas Street, and five executions across the river in Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau).

This article discusses the last moments of Stanislas Lacroix who was one of the five people executed in Hull. He met his end (apparently quite hard) at 8:04 am on March 21, 1902 for the murder of his wife and a neighbour.