You may have been wondering where the muzak played while you shop (and while I was working) comes from. I suspected it might be a big ol' cd changer full of all kinds of crap dictated by the Zellers head office. Wrongo Bub!
The music is broadcast from the studios of CHUM FM on a special FM channel for businesses that want to play music in their establishment. It's completely commercial and talk free broadcast that is encrypted when it gets sent out into the airwaves. To pick up the music, you must have a special decryption device which costs some amount of money to rent, the cost being determined by the level of crap the business wants its listeners to hear.
There are a few levels of service you can get. I only know about 2 right now...
The first level gets you that crap-ass wordless muzak that you hear in elevators.
The second level will have clients listening to the popular songs of the past few years as well as a few oldies. This is the service that Zellers #148 is using, and it costs them 40$ a month.
That's all I have for you today, but tomorrow the store manager is going to give me some numbers I can call, and I'll post some more goodies for you.