North America’s FIRST VIRGIN RADIO STATION Comes to Toronto.

We’re the home of the first North American Hard Rock Cafe.Now we’re the home of the first Virgin Radio Station.As of August 25, 2008, Toronto’s old stalwart music station “Mix 99.9” has officially been renamed “Virgin Radio 99.9 FM“.There will be no format change, and the station will continue with its current playlist of adult contemporary and easy listening tunes.The announcement was made on Monday August 25 in the morning, and the changeover happened that same day around 4:00 PM.This represents the very first Virgin radio station in North America.Generally the news has had luke-warm response.Says Urban Toronto blogger Blovertis, “If Virgin Radio had launched 30 years ago (i.e. when Virgin was a pretty cool record label), maybe then I would have been excited.”Khristopher is a little more blunt: “Doesn’t really sound that interesting.I for one am f***ing sick and tired of celeb gossip. I don’t give a s**t who’s in rehab or who named their Baby whatever random name they could find to get the most attention this week.”Whether they plan to expand and open stations for other demographics is unknown, but fingers are crossed for that one, as long as they don’t interfere with the iconic 102.1 The Edge.Today, Astral Media (licencer of Virgin Radio 99.9) posted a job opening for a street promotions assistant. Looks like they’re staffing up and preparing to get the word out right around the time the school year starts.Additionally, the station is holding a contest letting you win a chance to be a Toronto International Film Festival Red Carpet Correspondent.Mix 99.9 has spent the past 17 years as the epitome of convention, with a revolving door of morning shows, and constant tweaking of a music formula: not too hard, not too soft, not too old, not too new, and definitely never too exciting.The station was also responsible for some of the worst crimes against transit advertising. An early desktop-published advert likened the appeal to a shelf of mix tapes — just as cassettes were becoming obsolete. A few years ago the station touted itself in public as “MP-FREE.”For the last couple years, a discreetly re-branded MIX-FM tilted to a predictable rhythmic hit format, drafting the established Mad Dog and Billie morning show. Four months ago, it became the Canadian flagship for Perez Hilton’s radio gossip bites.The new Virgin ownership comes hot on the heels of Virgin’s announcement of a Blackberry plan for its Virgin Mobile brand of cell phones available in Canada.It certainly appears that Virgin considers Canada a viable market and one worth expoloring. Whether the famous moniker will be able to revive a flagging radio station remains to be seen, but considering Mix’s history of asking itself “What the hell are we, anyway?” this certainly can’t hurt.With files from Eye Weekly.