CJRS, branded as Radio Shalom Montreal, is a 24-hour non-profit radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 based in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is Canada’s first and only trilingual Jewish radio station. It broadcasts in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

. The station broadcasts at 1650 AM. Its current president is Robert Levy

Robert Levy

Robert Levy may refer to:*Robert I. Levy , American psychiatrist and anthropologist*Robert Joseph Levy, American writer*Robert A. Levy , American lawyer, pundit, and entrepreneur...

.

Radio Shalom is the only radio station in Canada that broadcasts mizrahi

Mizrahi music

Mizrahi music refers to the music integration that combines elements from Europe, the West, and Middle Eastern/North African countries transported to Israel by migrating Jews. It is usually sung in Hebrew, literary Hebrew and Arabic slang...

, yiddish

Yiddish language

Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...

, ladino, klezmer, hassidic

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

 and Israeli music. Radio Shalom is also, the only all Jewish radio station in North America. In accordance to Halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

 (Jewish law), Jewish programming on Radio Shalom is suspended on Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

 and on Jewish holidays. During those periods, the station brands itself simply as CJRS 1650 AM, and also as Radio CMM (Communications Michel Mathieu) and CKZW 1650, Le son gospel du Quebec. French gospel music is featured during these times.

Call sign

The station's call letters of CJRS are said to represent the station's branding of Radio Shalom. A common interpretation is that they actually stand for "Canadian Jewish Radio Station" or "Radio Shalom," and station executives have confirmed that they, in fact, may. The fact that CJRS and Radio Shalom share similar initials of RS is purely coincidental.

The CJRS call sign was previously used by Radiomutuel's Sherbrooke outlet, at 1510 on the dial. It went off the air along with a host of other AM

AM broadcasting

AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...

 stations in 1994.

When CJRS plays French gospel music, they identify themselves as CKZW 1650, Le son gospel du Quebec. It is unknown whether or not the CKZW call letters have been registered with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

External links

• Radio Shalom
• CKZW
• CJRS history at Canadian Communications Foundation
  Canadian Communications Foundation
  The Canadian Communications Foundation is a history of Canadian broadcasting for radio and television chronicles and documents. It also provides a history of radio and television stations, including networks, programs, broadcasters and many others....