Cancon Classx has a new guest every week.

“Cancon Classx with Ian Strung”—spelled with an “x” to differentiate it from the Gran Fenwick album “Cancon Classics”—is a 22-minute radio spot that runs on the P.O. Box Radio Show with Postman Dan. This syndicated radio show, which runs on four different stations, six times a week, across Canada, is hosted by Lindsay native Daniel Greer. Dan is the D.J. and host, with Ian being the star contributor, bringing a guest to the show every week to perform a brand new cover of a Canadian classic.

Ian joined the P.O. Box Radio Show in early 2022. The original plan was to have a new contributor every week, but not enough people were interested initially. This is what gave birth to the Gran Fenwick “Cancon Classics” album. If other people didn’t understand how fun this was going to be, Ian was going to show them. Not only did Ian create a brand new amped-up version of a Canadian classic every week, but there was an impressive run of consecutive episodes where the original artist introduced the tune. Emm Gryner, Lexi Valentine of Magneta Lane, Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, Jay Ferguson of Sloan, José Contreras of By Divine Right, and many more introduced covers of their songs performed and recorded by Ian. Since then, Ian has had a warm relationship with many of the country’s finest songwriters.

At the beginning of 2024, the 18 tracks recorded by Ian were released on streaming as “Cancon Classics” by Gran Fenwick. From that point forward, the “Cancon Classx” radio spot, now with a logo lovingly ripped from the classic Montreal band Trans-X (who heartily approve of Gran Fenwick’s version of their “Living on Video”), would have a new guest every week. Now on YouTube, you can listen to most of the clips from this first year of the new format of the show.

The “Cancon Classx” spot on the P.O. Box Radio Show has now been going for three years, with two of them being the new all-contributor format. It is now difficult to swing a cat in downtown Toronto without hitting a bandmember who has been on the show already. It’s Cancon mania, and the show has a reputation for bringing together different generations of musicians, as younger ones pay tribute to older ones, or sometimes the other way around.

The 100th episode of Cancon Classx will air the week of April 1st. April 5th at the Painted Lady in Toronto, Mip Power Trio will hold a release party for their cover of Doug & The Slugs’ “Too Bad,” which debuted on the show and is now being released commercially. Gran Fenwick will perform solo at this show.