After CFNY program director Dave Pritchard left the station in 1978 due to conflicts with the station management, Marsden was promoted to program director. The station's mandate had been to present significantly different programming than other radio stations in the Greater Toronto Area. Before Marsden's arrival the station's format had been highly eclectic. Marsden saw the commercial potential of punk and new wave, and widened CFNY's focus even further, creating Canada's first alternative music station. Throughout the 1980s, under the slogan "the spirit of radio", CFNY was one of the most influential promoters of new international and Canadian artists most radio stations ignored.