History CKGM

1 history

1.1 days
1.2 top 40 era
1.3 sale chum limited
1.4 team 990
1.5 sale ctvglobemedia
1.6 ckgm files frequency swap
1.7 tsn radio

history
early days

ckgm founded geoff stirling , opened on december 7, 1959. station on 980 khz power of 10,000 watts full-time class b station, using directional antenna different patterns day , night (the nighttime pattern being tighter). 980 khz frequency had been occupied ckvl, before moved 850. while of station s programming devoted music (playing top 40 hits), station had number of open-line talk shows. ckgm 980 listened in heyday of top 40 hits in northern vermont , northern new york areas due proximity montreal.

on july 16, 1963, fm sister station, ckgm-fm, later known chom-fm starting in 1970. after few weeks of simulcasting ckgm, fm station adopted beautiful music format on september 1.

in 1963, molotov cocktail thrown through window, faulty , did not ignite inside studios.

in 1965, ckgm hired open-line host pat burns, famous controversial opinions, on language issues. known in particular featuring prominently on show francophones proud of being bilingual or of being assimilated anglophone community (again, depending on point of view), burns remain on air until 1969, resigning after boycott campaign targeting station s advertisers launched. burns sufficiently controversial publicly denounced quebec premier daniel johnson sr., , station received several bomb threats during late 1960s.

in 1968, ckgm moved 1455 drummond in downtown montreal 1310 greene in westmount.

ckgm became montreal expos flagship baseball team s first season in montreal in 1969. (baseball move cfcf following year.)

top 40 era

on january 1, 1970, ckgm changed format become full-time top 40 station. ratings climbed, ckgm beating direct competitor cfox, full-time top 40 station, in fall 1970 bbm ratings. ckgm become 1 of north america s legendary top 40 stations.

legendary morning drive time host ralph lockwood, formerly of cfox, made debut on ckgm on october 2, 1972. remain station until late 1981.

in 1975, ckgm introduced la connection française , referring trio of bilingual personalities (rob christie, marc denis , scott carpentier) used both english , french on air , played songs of both languages. ckgm remained english-language station, resulted in french-language stations complaining canadian radio-television , telecommunications commission (crtc) , refusing observe quotas of francophone music. on-air bilingualism remain distinctive ckgm feature until stringent crtc regulation forbidding (and enforcing quotas on francophone side) went effect on january 1, 1980.

ckgm got record-high number of listeners among english-language stations in montreal according fall 1976 bbm ratings released on december 13 of year, in part large numbers of francophones listened station. (almost 40% of ckgm listeners french-speaking.)

during top 40 era, ckgm 1 of handful of canadian radio stations carry syndicated countdown show american top 40 casey kasem.

sale chum limited

on august 20, 1985, ckgm , sister station chom-fm sold chum limited. ckgm switched format gold-based adult contemporary under lite rock, less talk , , favourites of yesterday , today monikers few months later, on january 15, 1986.

the station returned top 40 format @ 5 p.m. on february 10, 1989, changing call sign chtx in attempt distance far possible earlier days top 40 station included adopting new phone number. chtx identified on-air 980 hits , , referred station plays music allowed law (in reference here crtc regulations limited hit music on fm stations). anecdotal evidence suggests @ least listeners wondered if there in fact legal limitation on number of songs radio stations can play.

on september 14, 1990, @ 5 pm, chtx moved adjacent 990 khz frequency, increasing power 50,000 watts full-time new transmitter site located in ville mercier, , converting stereo. however, 990 class b frequency, requiring station use directional antenna directional during day , extremely directional @ night protect clear channel (class a) stations cbw in winnipeg, manitoba , cby in corner brook, newfoundland , labrador. switch occurred 1 week later scheduled, on orders federal department of communications, due tense security situation (the oka crisis) in neighbouring indian reserve of kahnawake.

another format change occurred on may 24, 1991, new format being oldies, although station air dr. laura s syndicated advice show. station changed call sign ckis , identified oldies 990 .

on january 15, 1996, station returned original ckgm call sign, station moved talk radio format known talk radio attitude. station aired syndicated talk shows. reason, station got low ratings, fewer 100,000 listeners. ckis call letters moved calgary radio station formerly owned rawlco, , of 2009, used on toronto radio station.

when 1998 ice storm took place, ckgm continued rely on automation, making few efforts broadcast adapted emergency information. on january 9 of year, competitor cjad lost broadcast towers due accumulation of ice. after station moved temporarily 1410 khz using former facilities of cfmb, ckgm leased signal cjad on temporary basis, starting on january 22, 1998. (technically, ckgm left airwaves , replaced on 990 khz cjad.) cjad returned assigned frequency of 800 khz on may 29, 1998, , after 2 weeks of simulcast, ckgm returned on june 12, 1998, @ noon. station took opportunity re-launch largely automated oldies station, again using oldies 990 moniker (but keeping ckgm call sign).

the team 990

team 990 logo

in september 2000, shortly after crtc made changes radio ownership regulations allowing single company own 4 stations in market, chum announced trade ckgm , sister station chom-fm standard broadcasting (which owned 2 stations in montreal) in exchange cfwm-fm in winnipeg (a market chum had 2 stations). move allowed standard acquire winnipeg s ckmm-fm (hot 103) & cfqx-fm (qx104.1).

however, few months later, ckgm portion of deal cancelled. company announced ckgm added list of chum-owned stations switching all-sports format on may 7, 2001, joining new team network , identifying team 990 . ckgm became radio flagship of montreal expos few days later, marking return of baseball on english-language airwaves. station broadcast last expos games montreal franchise in 2004.

even in last days before switch new format, largely automated ckgm continued air promo criticizing talk stations (in addition playing same songs in same order).

while team stations returned music programming (generally oldies) on august 27, 2002, ckgm 1 of few stations all-sports format survived, , locally produced programming increased.

the team 990 anchored 3pm-7pm drive show mitch melnick. s morning show features veteran broadcaster elliot price , shaun starr (denis casavant left in november 2011 pursue career @ rds television). former nhler pj stock hosted own program daily 1-3pm. stock, during 2010-2011 part of morning show @ chom.

other popular programs include delmar cargo habs post game show, comes on after each montreal canadiens game.

currently, ckgm has broadcasting rights nfl football (through priszm radio), sunday night baseball, cfl grey cup , montreal canadiens hockey.

in summer of 2007, matthew ross, host of game points, set team 990 station record hosting 10.5-hour marathon program.

sale ctvglobemedia

on june 22, 2007, ctvglobemedia purchased ckgm , of other assets of chum limited following approval canadian radio-television , telecommunications commission, while citytv stations sold rogers communications.

ckgm files frequency swap

on september 7, 2011, crtc announced applicants 690 khz frequency occupied cinf—and before then, had been longtime home of cbf. among these included bell media, planned on using 690 new frequency ckgm. reasoning swap take advantage of 690 s around-the-clock clear-channel frequency, during nighttime hours when sporting events, hockey, takes place; @ 990, station forced broadcast @ lower power @ night, broadcasting directionally towards north protect cbw , cby, decreasing coverage area in suburban areas , on south shore. other frequencies ckgm considered moving 940 khz, though doing have taken 6 months make move, opposed 3 months if ckgm awarded 690; , 600 khz (formerly used cinw s predecessor, ciqc, before moving 940 in 1999), have required building new towers, , suitable site broadcast in kahnawake, on land owned competing broadcaster, cogeco.

on november 21, 2011, ckgm s relocation 990 690 approved crtc. changeover took place on september 4, 2012, , on-air branding renamed tsn radio 690. following switchover, ckgm began 90-day simulcast period, requested , approved crtc. on week of november 27, 2012, ckgm began running announcement on loop on 990, reminding listeners tune 690; announcement mentioned ckgm cease operations on 990 entirely on december 1, 2012. sometime after simulcast period had ended, 990 frequency transferred evanov communications, planned launch new lgbt-oriented station, chrf ( radio fierté ), @ 990 in 2013. however, due technical considerations, evanov applied for, , awarded, 980 frequency instead (the frequency used ckgm), launch date of 2014. evanov applied new station broadcast on 690.

tsn radio 990 logo, used october 2011 september 2012, when moved 690


tsn radio

on october 3, 2011, bell media announced team 990 relaunched (along cfrw in winnipeg) under new tsn radio banner, becoming known tsn radio 990 effective october 5, 2011. renamed tsn radio 690 after ckgm moved frequency 690 in september 2012.

in july 2012, in midst of proposed acquisition of astral media, bell requested permission crtc convert ckgm french-language station, plans broadcast sports talk format in french, in conjunction tsn s french-language sister network réseau des sports (rds). while bell explained proposal have taken advantage of ckac s recent flip all-sports in french traffic radio in 2011, switch necessary maintain ownership of ckgm following proposed astral merger. astral media owned maximum of 3 english-language stations can legally own in montreal market, has less 8 english-language commercial stations. on october 18, 2012, crtc rejected bell s proposal acquire astral media. since application convert ckgm french station contingent on approval of astral merger, rejected crtc.

prior hearings in may 2013 regarding modified proposal acquire astral media, 15,000 listeners signed petition issued bell in support of allowing company keep station. bell asserted crtc force ckgm sold or shut down if company not granted exemption ownership cap. bell proposed exemption promising keep ckgm sports radio station , invest $245,000 in local amateur sports , sports journalism scholarships 7 years. @ hearings however, crtc s commissioner noted of comments on bell s petition supported ckgm maintaining sports radio format , not bell s purchase of astral whole, , company elect sell different station instead. rogers media showed interest in making reasonable offer purchase ckgm if bell forced divest station; rogers planned put station in sportsnet radio chain, maintaining sports format , complimenting acquired city station cjnt-dt increase presence in montreal. however, if have occurred, ckgm have lost canadiens radio rights because owned bell directly. crtc approved bell s deal , exemptions ckgm.

after 45 years in same building, ckgm relocated studios 1717 rené-lévesque boulevard east join rest of bell media cluster in montreal in september 2013.