CJAD

Last updated
CJAD
CJAD Logo 2011.png
Broadcast area Greater Montreal
Frequency 800 kHz (AM)
BrandingCJAD 800
Programming
Format News/Talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
CFCF-DT, CHOM-FM, CJFM-FM, CKGM, CITE-FM, CKMF-FM, CFJP-DT
History
First air date
December 8, 1945
Call sign meaning
Joseph-Arthur Dupont (founder)
Technical information
Class B
Power 50,000 watts day
10,000 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
 45°14′49.92″N73°31′23.16″W / 45.2472000°N 73.5231000°W / 45.2472000; -73.5231000
Repeater(s) 107.3  CITE-FM HD2 (Montreal)
Links
Webcast Listen live (via iHeartRadio)
Website www.cjad800.com

CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as CJAD 800. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power of 50,000 watts but reduces power to 10,000 watts at night to avoid interfering with other stations on AM 800. The transmitter is located near Saint-Édouard, while studios and offices are located on René-Lévesque Boulevard East in Downtown Montreal. CJAD can be heard across Canada on Bell Satellite TV channel 953. [1]

Contents

Local hosts are heard throughout the day and evening. Affiliated with CBS News Radio for many years, in 2018 the station, along with many other Bell-owned talk radio stations in Canada, switched to NBC News Radio and 24/7 News for U.S. and international news.

CJAD and co-owned CKGM are currently the only two full-time commercial English-language stations in Quebec on the AM band.

History

The CJAD studios in 1948 News. At CJAD BAnQ P48S1P16801.jpg
The CJAD studios in 1948

Early years

CJAD was founded by J. Arthur Dupont in 1945, basing the call sign on his initials. [2] CJAD is often called Montreal's heritage anglophone station, particularly since the demise of the city's oldest anglophone station, CINW (successor to CFCF, Canada's first radio station). CJAD signed on the air on December 8, 1945. [3] In its first years, CJAD had its studios and offices on Rue de la Montagne (Mountain Street) in Montreal, now the site of O'Sullivan College.

In 1961, CJAD was purchased by Standard Broadcasting. In 1978, control of Standard Broadcasting was purchased by Conrad Black via Hollinger Inc. In 1985, Standard was purchased by Slaight Communications, a privately held company owned by J. Allan Slaight.

In 1962, sister station 95.9 CJFM was launched, with programming always separate from CJAD.

Full service format

For most of its history, CJAD had a full service format. The music was mainly middle of the road songs in the 1960s and 70s, switching to an adult contemporary sound by the 1980s. Two specialized shows were heard on weekends: "The Bandstand" with Dick Irvin Jr., and "Starlight Concert" with Rod Dewar. In 1995, CJAD shifted its format to full-time news/talk, dropping all music and entertainment, save for the Sunday morning Trivia Show and the CJAD Comedy Show, also heard on Sundays.

Starting in 1992, almost all of CJAD's programming was simulcast on Corus Entertainment-owned 900 CKTS in Sherbrooke. On November 19, 2006, CKTS ceased broadcasting, signing off the transmitter and surrendering its licence to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). According to Corus, this was because of high ongoing maintenance costs that neither Corus nor Standard were willing to cover. [4]

Ownership changes

In April 2007, Astral Media and Standard Broadcasting announced that Standard had agreed to sell CJAD and its other Montreal stations to Astral. On March 16, 2012, Bell Media announced that it had entered in an agreement to acquire Astral Media for an estimated value at $3.38 billion, with the deal including CJAD and its sister radio stations in Montreal.

On Labour Day Weekend, 2012, CJAD, as well as its sister stations previously owned by Astral, moved from 1411 Fort Street to new facilities in the Bell Media Radio building on René-Lévesque Boulevard East at Papineau Avenue.

1998 Ice Storm

In January 1998, all four of CJAD's broadcast towers toppled during The Ice Storm. CJAD's first attempt to get back on the air was to use CKGM's former AM 980 transmitter, re-tuned to the 800 frequency. This, however, turned out to be impossible as the 980 site was damaged by ice as well. CJAD then made arrangements to broadcast on CFMB's former 1410 transmitter, but the signal was poor to the west. CJAD management then reached an agreement with CHUM Limited to use their CKGM transmitter on 990 kHz until new towers were erected.

News

A large part of CJAD's daily programs are talk shows discussing local and international news. CJAD broadcasts newscasts every 30 minutes, except overnights when newscasts are delivered every hour, on the hour. Live @ Five is a half-hour news program broadcast at 5 a.m. on weekdays. Traffic updates air every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes late nights.

On weekdays, James Foster and veteran anchor Trudie Mason deliver morning newscasts, with Jason Mayoff taking over in the afternoons. Dawn Kagan-Fleming serves as anchor on weekend mornings.

Overnight news is read during the week by James Foster. Longtime anchor and reporter Tom Armour retired in 2015. [5] Armour died in December 2018. [6]

Some of the station's notable former reporters include Shuyee Lee, Claude Beaulieu, Patrick Lejtenyi, Angelica Montgomery, Tina Tenneriello, Matthew Gilmour, Michel Boyer, Natalie Nanowski, Benson Cook, Elizabeth Zogalis, Sofia Misenheimer, and Emily Campbell. [7] Sidney Margles, [8] Peter Shurman and Rick Leckner were notable reporters from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

On February 2, 2021, CJAD's newsroom was eliminated as part of a major round of layoffs by Bell Media. CTV Montreal reporters file reports for CJAD, and the station's late-night anchors will read news headlines on CJAD during the evening hours. It was later announced that Natasha Hall and Aaron Rand's afternoon and evening shows would be replaced by a co-hosted afternoon show, and that a simulcast of CTV News at 6 would also be added to its lineup. The cuts were among 210 across the company, which also included a similar elimination of staff at Toronto sister station CFRB. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Sports

CJAD is the exclusive English radio broadcaster of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes. Some game broadcasts are simulcast on sister station CHOM 97.7 FM. CJAD was the longtime English radio home of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, until the 2010–11 season. In June 2010 it was announced that Canadiens broadcasts would switch to sports radio station CKGM, now on AM 690 and co-owned with CJAD.

In July 2012, Bell Media, owner of CKGM, announced that English-language rights to the Canadiens could return to CJAD following its proposed acquisition of Astral Media, if its conversion of CKGM to a French-language sports station (which would have been done to satisfy ownership limits preventing the merged company from owning both CJAD and CKGM if they both broadcast in English) were approved by the CRTC. [13] [14] On October 18, 2012, the CRTC rejected Bell's proposal to acquire Astral Media; since the application to convert CKGM into a French station was contingent on the approval of the Astral merger, it too was rejected. [15]

On March 5, 2012, it was announced that CJAD would be the exclusive English language radio broadcaster of Montreal Impact soccer team for the next two years. [16]

Beginning in September 2013, CKGM (TSN 690) staffers began providing sports updates for co-owned CJAD. Until recently, Rick Moffat did the weekday morning sports, Mitch Gallo does the weekday afternoon sports, and Amanda Stein does the weekend morning sports for CJAD as well as TSN 690.

Transmitter

CJAD broadcasts with 50,000 watts in the daytime, the maximum power permitted for Canadian AM stations. At night, power drops to 10,000 watts to avoid interfering with other stations using the 800 kHz frequency, such as CJBQ in Belleville, Ontario; the now-dark CHRC in Quebec City (which is approximately 250 miles [160 km] away and was shut down in September 2012); and CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. CJAD must also protect the Class A station on AM 800, XEROK in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. CJAD's antenna is a four-tower array, located near Saint-Édouard, using two different directional patterns for day and night.

The previous logo of CJAD from 2007-2011 used until Aaron Rand returned to the station. During the Standard Radio era from 2002-2007, the words inside the red rectangles were in black. CJAD-AM.png
The previous logo of CJAD from 2007-2011 used until Aaron Rand returned to the station. During the Standard Radio era from 2002-2007, the words inside the red rectangles were in black.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell Media</span> Canadian media company

Bell Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc.. Its operations include national television broadcasting and production, radio broadcasting, digital media and Internet properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astral Media</span> Canadian media company

Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channels and two conventional stations. In addition, Astral had a presence in out-of-home advertising.

Réseau des sports (RDS) is a Canadian French language discretionary specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc.. Its full name translates as "The Sports Network", the name of its Anglophone counterpart, TSN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corus Entertainment</span> Canadian media/broadcasting company

Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio, Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. Corus is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Ontario.

The following media outlets are located in Canada's National Capital Region, serving the cities of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. The two cities, which are adjacent and each receive virtually all television and radio stations operating in either city, are considered a single media market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKAC</span> Traffic information radio station in Montreal

CKAC is a French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial traffic information service branded as Radio Circulation 730. Its studios are located at Place Bonaventure in Downtown Montreal, and its transmitter is located in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac.

CFMB is a multilingual radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, owned by Evanov Communications. It broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts full-time as a class B station, using a directional antenna with different patterns day and night. Its transmitter is located near Saint-Mathieu, while its studios are located on Papineau Avenue, Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHOM-FM</span> Rock radio station in Montreal, Canada

CHOM-FM is a commercial FM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it broadcasts a mainstream rock radio format. The studios are in the Bell Media Building at 1717 René Lévesque Boulevard East in Downtown Montreal. Rather than spelling out the call letters, personalities on the station usually pronounce them as SHOHM, although other Bell Media Radio personalities have also pronounced the call sign as CHOM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CJDC-TV</span> CTV 2 television station in Dawson Creek, British Columbia

CJDC-TV is a television station in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, airing CTV 2 programming. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it is part of the Great West Television system. CJDC-TV's studios are located on 102 Avenue and 9 Street in Dawson Creek, and its transmitter is located near 233 Road in Peace River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CINF</span> Radio station in Montreal (1946–2010)

CINF was a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKGM</span> Radio station in Montreal

CKGM is an English-language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an affiliate of sports radio network "The Team," it was one of three stations to retain the sports format after the network folded in 2002 until it switched to the TSN Radio branding in October 2011. CKGM has been an all-sports station since May 2001. Its studios and offices are located on René Lévesque Boulevard East in Downtown Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHRC (AM)</span> Former radio station in Quebec City, Quebec

CHRC was a French language radio station located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Known as Québec 800, the station had a news/talk/sports format. Founded in 1926, it was the oldest station in Quebec City at the time of its shutdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CJFM-FM</span> Radio station in Montreal

CJFM-FM is a commercial English-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by Bell Media, the station broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format branded as 95.9 Virgin Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFTK-TV</span> CTV 2 television station in Terrace, British Columbia

CFTK-TV is a television station in Terrace, British Columbia, Canada, airing CTV 2 programming. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it is part of the Great West Television system. CFTK-TV's studios are located on Lazelle Avenue in Terrace, and its transmitter is located on Thornhill Mountain. The station operates rebroadcast transmitters in Prince Rupert and Smithers.

CKTS was an English language Canadian radio station located in Sherbrooke, Quebec. It broadcast on 900 kHz with a power of 10,000 watts as a class B station, using a directional antenna which had a slightly directional pattern during the day and a much tighter pattern at night, to protect Class-A clear-channel station XEW-AM in Mexico City at night.

Bell Media Radio, G.P., operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media. The company owns stations across the country, including in most of Canada's largest radio markets. The company's programming is distributed to other stations across Canada via its syndication division, Orbyt Media, and it is also the local licensee of the Virgin Radio brand.

TSN Radio is a semi-national sports radio brand and part-time network in Canada carried on AM radio stations owned by Bell Media. The TSN Radio brand, and some of the stations' content, is shared with Bell Media's television sports channel, The Sports Network. With the American sports media company ESPN being a minority shareholder in TSN, most of the stations also air some ESPN Radio programming, usually on weekends and/or overnight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHRF</span> Former radio station in Montreal

CHRF was a French language commercial AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Evanov Radio Group, the station broadcast an adult standards radio format, along with some multicultural programming. CHRF's studios were located on Papineau Avenue in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough of Montreal, while its transmitter is located near Mercier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFNV</span> Radio station in Montreal

CFNV is a French language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by TTP Media and was licensed in 2011. CRTC records indicated that the station was not in operation for the majority of the license term. CFNV began test broadcasting in 2016, with a full-time power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel station, and a Francophone talk radio format. Broadcasts started in 2017 with mainly music, rather than talk, using the branding AM 940 La Superstation.

References

  1. ↑ "Channel Listing/Satellite TV" (PDF). Bell. February 25, 2016. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  2. ↑ "Canada: Montreal" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1970. p. B-238. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2021.
  3. ↑ "The Voice of Montreal for 75 Years". CJAD. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  4. ↑ "CKTS to stop rebroadcasting CJAD" (Press release). Cartt.ca. November 20, 2006.
  5. ↑ "Tom Armour retires after 54 years on Montreal radio". CTV News . May 2, 2015. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  6. ↑ "Remembering the life of Tom ARMOUR". montrealgazette.remembering.ca. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  7. ↑ Faguy, Steve (November 20, 2015). "TSN 690's Elliott Price, Abe Hefter among Bell Media cuts in Montreal". Montreal Gazette .
  8. ↑ "Margles, Sidney | History of Canadian Broadcasting". www.broadcasting-history.ca. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  9. ↑ Faguy, Steve (February 2, 2021). "Larger wave of cuts coming at Bell Media this week; UPDATE: 210 positions eliminated in Toronto" (Press release). Cartt.ca. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  10. ↑ Lorinc, Jacob (February 2, 2021). "Bell Media cuts more than 200 jobs at stations including Newstalk 1010 and CJAD 800". Toronto Star . Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  11. ↑ Tomesco, Frédéric; Faguy, Steve. "Bell Media closes CJAD's newsroom, cuts two weekday evening shows". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2021-02-01. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  12. ↑ Faguy, Steve (February 20, 2021). "CJAD merges Natasha Hall, Aaron Rand shows, to rebroadcast CTV News at 6". Fagstein. Archived from the original on 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  13. ↑ "Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2012-370 (item 2)". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission . July 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  14. ↑ "TSN Radio 990 set to become a French all-sports station". CBC Radio News . Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  15. ↑ "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-574". CRTC. October 18, 2012. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  16. ↑ "The Montreal Impact returns with CJAD 800" (Press release). CF Montreal. March 5, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.