CKAC (AM)
Encyclopedia
CKAC is a French-language
Canadian
radio station
located in Montreal
, Quebec
, currently broadcasting a traffic information
format as Radio Circulation 730.
The station broadcasts on 730 kHz on the AM band
with a power of 50,000 watt
s as a clear channel (class A) station, using a slightly directional antenna
pointing east (towards Montreal) with the same pattern day and night.
CKAC is owned and operated by Cogeco
. Their studios are located at Place Bonaventure
in Downtown Montreal
, and their transmitter is located in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac
.
, which created the station and owned it until 1969.
While some sources indicate that the station started to broadcast on October 2, 1922, that date actually refers to an official inauguration concert
, and not to the actual beginning of regular programming.
The station was originally on 360 metres (833 kHz) and had a power of 2,000 watts. In 1925, the station switched to its current frequency of 730 kHz, using a power of 1,200 watts. It shared time with CFCF (now CINW
) until 1928, at which point it became the only station on that frequency. Power was increased to 5,000 watts fulltime on October 19, 1929, using an omnidirectional antenna
from a new transmitter site located in Saint-Hyacinthe
. CKAC applied to increase its power to 50,000 watts the following year, but this application was denied by government authorities.
The station became an affiliate of the CBS
network in 1929. This affiliation was established to broadcast concerts from renowned American
orchestras on CKAC. CKAC also created its own orchestra that year, which would produce concerts aired on American stations twice a week until 1933. (CKAC did keep its CBS affiliation until the late 1940s.)
Radio drama
s appeared on CKAC in 1931 and would continue to be heard for many years thereafter, until they were phased out as television
was introduced and became popular.
On October 1 of that same year, CKAC began to air the "Le Chapelet en famille" (the "Family Rosary Hour") as recited by archbishop
Paul-Emile Léger in the Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral, and this program proved so popular that competitors actually lobbied hard to get permission to simulcast
that program, to no avail. (The program disappeared in 1970 as religious practice declined precipitously in the late 1960s in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec and ratings were down, but this provoked many complaints among still devout Catholics
.)
On March 13, 1958, CKAC raised its power to 50,000 watts fulltime, using a directional antenna
pointing east using two towers, as it moved to its current transmitter site located in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac
, just west of the Island of Montreal
. The station now had one of the best signals in Eastern Canada, which was quite an exceptional situation for a privately owned station. In the early days of radio in Canada, the CBC
used its dual role as regulator and broadcaster to ensure that most of the country's clear-channel allocations went to CBC-owned stations.
CKAC faced serious competition which intensified in the 1960s as new French-language stations such as CKVL
(opened in 1946), CJMS
(opened in 1954) and CKLM
(opened in 1962) were attracting listeners. While none of these stations had a signal nearly as impressive as CKAC (especially considering nighttime signal restrictions), this was not yet a problem for these stations as urban sprawl
was still minimal.
However, CKAC quickly regained the top ratings spot in 1970, due to the crucial role its highly regarded news service had in keeping listeners informed during the October Crisis
, in which the terrorist
and separatist
Front de libération du Québec
movement kidnapped and murdered provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte
.
The station was sold from Power Corporation (which bought La Presse and CKAC in 1968) to Telemedia
in 1969, and CKAC became the flagship of the new Télémédia network, which also included CHLN 550 in Trois-Rivières
, CHLT 630 in Sherbrooke, and the now-defunct CKCV 1280 in Quebec City
, CKCH 970 in Hull (now Gatineau
) and CJMT 1420 in Chicoutimi (now Saguenay
).
From 1970 until the late 1980s, CKAC was regularly one of the very few stations in Canada to attract over one million listeners according to BBM
ratings and regularly made millions of dollars in profits every year, as it was home to such famous and renowned hosts as long-time morningman Jacques Proulx, mid-morning host Suzanne Lévesque and 1980s midday host Pierre Pascau.
CKAC became the French radio flagship of the MLB
Montreal Expos
(who became the Washington Nationals
after the 2004 season) in 1972 and broadcast post-season games in addition to all (or in the last years, most) Expos regular-season games until 2003, with legendary play-by-play host Jacques Doucet describing over 5,500 games.
The station got an FM
sister station
in 1977, when Telemedia launched CITE-FM
on 107.3 MHz. (The two stations became competitors in May 2005; for more information, please see "Recent decline and sale to Corus Entertainment" section.)
Unlike most other privately-owned clear channel (class A) radio stations in North America
, CKAC never converted to AM stereo
.
. These difficulties had a disproportionate economic impact on CKAC because of the recession
that was particularly difficult in Montreal, and Quebec in general. In addition, radio in Quebec was generally suffering from the appearance of the new (TQS TV network, which provoked a severe advertising
price war
.
Because of these factors, Telemedia merged its Quebec AM radio operations with Radiomutuel on September 30, 1994 to form the new Radiomédia network, and six AM stations across Quebec closed that very same day at 6 PM, including competitor CJMS 1280. Radiomutuel acquired 50 % of CKAC, with the remainder still being owned by Telemedia (both companies continued to compete on the FM side).
While CKAC survived thanks to its superior signal (compared to CJMS), most of the new programming included hosts from CJMS, and the merged newsroom was dominated by former Radiomutuel journalists.
The merger did help CKAC to regain many of its lost listeners and market shares, but still CKAC did not dominate in ratings as it used to do. Even the format switch of competitor CKVL to all-news
radio in late 1999 did not prop up CKAC in any significant manner. CKAC actually started to lose significant numbers of listeners to Première Chaîne (CBF-FM
95.1) in the early 2000s.
(successor of Radiomutuel) got permission from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to buy Telemedia's Quebec radio properties, which included the RockDétente network as well as 50 % of the Radiomédia network. However the Competition Bureau, another federal agency, partially blocked the deal over concentration of ownership issues, and ordered Astral Media to sell Radiomédia stations, which were temporarily put into trusteeship.
A first attempt failed when TVA
(Quebecor
) and RNC Media were refused permission by the CRTC in June 2003 to buy the stations, because of ownership concentration concerns. A second deal was announced in September 2003 with businessmen Gaétan Morin and Sylvain Chamberland, but a month later popular CKAC morningman Paul Arcand
unexpectedly announced his departure from the station, and in late November Corus Entertainment
announced that it would launch a new news/talk format on CHMP-FM
98.5 (then CKOO-FM) in January 2004, with Arcand as its morningman. Jean Lapierre
, who was the afternoon drive host, also announced his departure as he returned to active politics; as a result Morin and Chamberland exercised their option to cancel their acquisition, paying a million-dollar fee to do so.
Astral Media then concluded in March 2004 an exchange of assets deal with Corus Entertainment
; the latter publicly announced in June its intention of dramatically reducing programming expenses if the deal was approved, most notably by shutting down the CKAC newsroom.
Despite widespread opposition against that deal, the known existence of at least four other serious and much less controversial contenders to buy the Radiomédia stations, and numerous allegations to the effect that Corus Entertainment's offer was actually part of a larger plan to prevent any meaningful competition
to its new FM talk
format (as Corus seemed to try to weaken and steal listeners from CKAC and not from the increasingly popular CBF-FM, and its sales representatives claimed to clients that they would be better advised to buy advertising at CHMP-FM
and not CKAC as they pretended the latter was going to close shortly no matter what would happen), the deal was approved in January 2005 by the CRTC in the midst of strong rumours that Astral Media
would close CKAC if the deal was not approved. The deal took effect a few months later after a failed attempt by CKAC employees to appeal the decision to the Federal Cabinet
.
On May 30, 2005, Corus Entertainment closed the reputed CKAC newsroom in favour of the lowly regarded CINF (Info 690) newsroom, which, until its January 2010 closure, produced newscasts for all French-language Corus Entertainment stations under the name "CorusNouvelles". (The production of CorusNouvelles would move to CHMP-FM following the closure of CINF.) The Radiomédia network became known as the Corus Québec
network, and CKAC continued to be the flagship of the network as it continued to be the source of talk programming for Corus' talk stations outside of Montreal. However ratings continued to suffer, and CKAC fell well below the 500,000 listeners mark according to BBM
ratings.
oldies programming. Before April 2, 2007, the station had a news/talk
format
with sports talk
in the evenings and some music (mostly oldies
) during weekends.
CKAC was the radio flagship
of the Montreal Canadiens
(NHL
hockey
), the Montreal Alouettes
(CFL
football
), the Montreal Impact
(NASL soccer) and the Toronto Blue Jays
(MLB
baseball
). The station broadcasted all Canadiens and Alouettes games, and all Impact games except for regular season road games; the number of Blue Jays games aired is limited to only a few per year.
On April 30, 2010, it was announced that Cogeco
will acquire all radio stations owned by Corus in Quebec for $80 million, pending CRTC approval. However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or Cogeco's own stations) to a third party as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke. Corus is selling off their Quebec radio stations, as they are less profitable than Corus's stations in other parts of Canada.
On December 17, 2010, the CRTC approved the sale of most of Corus' radio stations in Quebec, including CKAC, to Cogeco. The same decision, however, also denied Cogeco's request to convert Sherbrooke station CKOY-FM to a repeater of CKAC.
format that would launch at 4:30 AM on September 6, 2011. Branded as Radio Circulation 730, the new format is being subsidized by the Quebec government, and will feature round-the-clock traffic updates from around Montreal. Unlike Cogeco's original plans for 690, CKAC's traffic radio service will operate 24 hours a day, with live announcers on the air between 4:30 AM and 1 AM. Pre-recorded announcements detailing overnight road closures and detours are played when live announcers are not on the air.
Effective September 6, 2011, some of CKAC's sports programming and airstaff have moved over to CHMP, along with Montreal Canadiens
and Montreal Alouettes
broadcasts.
After playing a wide variety of continuous music over Labour Day
weekend, Radio Circulation 730 made its debut at 4:30 AM on September 6, as announced. The first announcer heard on the air was Michel Millard.
Cogeco originally planned on an English-language traffic radio service for the 940 kHz frequency previously used by CINW; however, that frequency was awarded instead to Paul Tietolman, for a francophone news-talk radio service.
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...
Canadian
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...
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...
located 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...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, currently broadcasting a traffic information
Highway advisory radio
Travelers Information Radio Stations , are sometimes also called Highway Advisory Radio Stations by Departments of Transportation in the United States. These radio stations are licensed low-power AM radio stations set up by local transport departments to provide bulletins to motorists and other...
format as Radio Circulation 730.
The station broadcasts on 730 kHz on the AM band
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...
with a power of 50,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s as a clear channel (class A) station, using a slightly directional antenna
Directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates greater power in one or more directions allowing for increased performance on transmit and receive and reduced interference from unwanted sources....
pointing east (towards Montreal) with the same pattern day and night.
CKAC is owned and operated by Cogeco
Cogeco
Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...
. Their studios are located at Place Bonaventure
Place Bonaventure
Place Bonaventure is an office, exhibition and hotel complex in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, adjacent to the city's Central Station. At in size, Place Bonaventure was the world's largest building upon its completion in 1967....
in Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is nearly enitirely located at the southern most slope of Mount Royal and is approximately bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Papineau Avenue to the east, Guy Street or until Shaughnessy Village to the west,...
, and their transmitter is located in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac
Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, Quebec
Saint-Joseph-du-Lac is a municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Deux-Montagnes Regional County Municipality.-History:...
.
Previous hosts
Previous hosts on the station included : Michel Langevin and Gabriel Grégoire (morning show), Mario Langlois (mid-mornings), Jean-Charles Lajoie (early afternoons), Michel Villeneuve (afternoon drive), Jean Chartrand (early evenings), Ron Fournier (late evenings), Marc Bryson (weekends) and Jacques Fabi (general talk, weekday nights).Early days
CKAC is famous for being the first French-language radio station in the entire world. The construction of the station was announced on May 3, 1922, and it started to regularly broadcast on September 22, 1922, as reported by daily newspaper La PresseLa Presse (Canada)
La Presse, founded in 1884, is a French-language Monday-Saturday newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned today by Groupe Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada. The Sunday version was dropped in 2009.-Description:...
, which created the station and owned it until 1969.
While some sources indicate that the station started to broadcast on October 2, 1922, that date actually refers to an official inauguration concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
, and not to the actual beginning of regular programming.
The station was originally on 360 metres (833 kHz) and had a power of 2,000 watts. In 1925, the station switched to its current frequency of 730 kHz, using a power of 1,200 watts. It shared time with CFCF (now CINW
CINW (AM)
CINW was an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.Owned and operated by Corus Quebec, it broadcasted on 940 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel station, using a slightly directional antenna solely for the purpose of improving reception in downtown...
) until 1928, at which point it became the only station on that frequency. Power was increased to 5,000 watts fulltime on October 19, 1929, using an omnidirectional antenna
Omnidirectional antenna
In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is an antenna which radiates radio wave power uniformly in all directions in one plane, with the radiated power decreasing with elevation angle above or below the plane, dropping to zero on the antenna's axis. This radiation pattern is often...
from a new transmitter site located in Saint-Hyacinthe
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
Saint-Hyacinthe is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 55,823. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie region, and is traversed by the Yamaska River which flows...
. CKAC applied to increase its power to 50,000 watts the following year, but this application was denied by government authorities.
The station became an affiliate of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
network in 1929. This affiliation was established to broadcast concerts from renowned American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
orchestras on CKAC. CKAC also created its own orchestra that year, which would produce concerts aired on American stations twice a week until 1933. (CKAC did keep its CBS affiliation until the late 1940s.)
Radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
s appeared on CKAC in 1931 and would continue to be heard for many years thereafter, until they were phased out as television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
was introduced and became popular.
Golden age
In 1950, CKAC increased its daytime power to 10,000 watts (nighttime power remained at 5,000 watts), and the station began to broadcast 24 hours a day.On October 1 of that same year, CKAC began to air the "Le Chapelet en famille" (the "Family Rosary Hour") as recited by archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Paul-Emile Léger in the Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral, and this program proved so popular that competitors actually lobbied hard to get permission to simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
that program, to no avail. (The program disappeared in 1970 as religious practice declined precipitously in the late 1960s in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec and ratings were down, but this provoked many complaints among still devout Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.)
On March 13, 1958, CKAC raised its power to 50,000 watts fulltime, using a directional antenna
Directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates greater power in one or more directions allowing for increased performance on transmit and receive and reduced interference from unwanted sources....
pointing east using two towers, as it moved to its current transmitter site located in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac
Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, Quebec
Saint-Joseph-du-Lac is a municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Deux-Montagnes Regional County Municipality.-History:...
, just west of the Island of Montreal
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....
. The station now had one of the best signals in Eastern Canada, which was quite an exceptional situation for a privately owned station. In the early days of radio in Canada, the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
used its dual role as regulator and broadcaster to ensure that most of the country's clear-channel allocations went to CBC-owned stations.
CKAC faced serious competition which intensified in the 1960s as new French-language stations such as CKVL
CINF (AM)
CINF was a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.Owned and operated by Corus Quebec, it broadcasted on 690 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel station, using a slightly directional antenna solely for the purpose of improving reception in downtown...
(opened in 1946), CJMS
CJMS (defunct)
CJMS 1280 was a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.The station went on the air on April 25, 1954. CJMS got an FM sister station in 1964 as CJMS-FM began operations. The AM station adopted a highly popular Top 40 format in the 1960s and became the flagship of the ...
(opened in 1954) and CKLM
CKLM (defunct)
CKLM was a French-language Canadian radio station located in Laval, Quebec . It operated from 1962 to 1994.The station broadcast on 1570 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts fulltime as a class B station, using a directional antenna with different patterns day and night...
(opened in 1962) were attracting listeners. While none of these stations had a signal nearly as impressive as CKAC (especially considering nighttime signal restrictions), this was not yet a problem for these stations as urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
was still minimal.
However, CKAC quickly regained the top ratings spot in 1970, due to the crucial role its highly regarded news service had in keeping listeners informed during the October Crisis
October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...
, in which the terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
and separatist
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...
Front de libération du Québec
Front de libération du Québec
The Front de libération du Québec was a left-wing Quebecois nationalist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada. It was active between 1963 and 1970, and was regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action...
movement kidnapped and murdered provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician who was the Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour of the province of Quebec before being kidnapped and killed by members of the group Front de libération du Québec during the October Crisis. Mr...
.
The station was sold from Power Corporation (which bought La Presse and CKAC in 1968) to Telemedia
Telemedia
Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing.The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.Telemedia was held privately until it became publicly traded in the late 1980s....
in 1969, and CKAC became the flagship of the new Télémédia network, which also included CHLN 550 in Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières means three rivers in French and may refer to:in Canada*Trois-Rivières, the largest city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada*Circuit Trois-Rivières, a racetrack in Trois-Rivières, Quebec...
, CHLT 630 in Sherbrooke, and the now-defunct CKCV 1280 in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, CKCH 970 in Hull (now Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
) and CJMT 1420 in Chicoutimi (now Saguenay
Saguenay, Quebec
Saguenay is a city in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, on the Saguenay River, about north of Quebec City....
).
From 1970 until the late 1980s, CKAC was regularly one of the very few stations in Canada to attract over one million listeners according to BBM
Bureau of Broadcast Measurement
BBM Canada, also known as BBM, is an audience measurement organization for Canadian television and radio broadcasting.BBM was established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. The organization was originally known as the "Bureau of Broadcast Measurement", and...
ratings and regularly made millions of dollars in profits every year, as it was home to such famous and renowned hosts as long-time morningman Jacques Proulx, mid-morning host Suzanne Lévesque and 1980s midday host Pierre Pascau.
CKAC became the French radio flagship of the MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
(who became the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
after the 2004 season) in 1972 and broadcast post-season games in addition to all (or in the last years, most) Expos regular-season games until 2003, with legendary play-by-play host Jacques Doucet describing over 5,500 games.
The station got an FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
in 1977, when Telemedia launched CITE-FM
CITE-FM
CITE-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.Owned and operated by Astral Media, it broadcasts on 107.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 42,900 watts using an omnidirectional antenna from the Mount Royal candelabra tower.The station has had an adult...
on 107.3 MHz. (The two stations became competitors in May 2005; for more information, please see "Recent decline and sale to Corus Entertainment" section.)
Unlike most other privately-owned clear channel (class A) radio stations in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, CKAC never converted to AM stereo
AM stereo
AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for wireless radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers...
.
Telemedia/Radiomutuel merger
CKAC ran into ratings difficulties in the early 1990s, mostly because of a resurgence from CJMSCJMS (defunct)
CJMS 1280 was a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.The station went on the air on April 25, 1954. CJMS got an FM sister station in 1964 as CJMS-FM began operations. The AM station adopted a highly popular Top 40 format in the 1960s and became the flagship of the ...
. These difficulties had a disproportionate economic impact on CKAC because of the recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
that was particularly difficult in Montreal, and Quebec in general. In addition, radio in Quebec was generally suffering from the appearance of the new (TQS TV network, which provoked a severe advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
price war
Price war
Price war is a term used in economic sector to indicate a state of intense competitive rivalry accompanied by a multi-lateral series of price reduction. One competitor will lower its price, then others will lower their prices to match. If one of them reduces their price again, a new round of...
.
Because of these factors, Telemedia merged its Quebec AM radio operations with Radiomutuel on September 30, 1994 to form the new Radiomédia network, and six AM stations across Quebec closed that very same day at 6 PM, including competitor CJMS 1280. Radiomutuel acquired 50 % of CKAC, with the remainder still being owned by Telemedia (both companies continued to compete on the FM side).
While CKAC survived thanks to its superior signal (compared to CJMS), most of the new programming included hosts from CJMS, and the merged newsroom was dominated by former Radiomutuel journalists.
The merger did help CKAC to regain many of its lost listeners and market shares, but still CKAC did not dominate in ratings as it used to do. Even the format switch of competitor CKVL to all-news
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
radio in late 1999 did not prop up CKAC in any significant manner. CKAC actually started to lose significant numbers of listeners to Première Chaîne (CBF-FM
CBF-FM
CBF-FM-10 in Sherbrooke and CBF-FM-8 in Trois-Rivières were once full satellites of CBF-FM, but have been separately licenced since 2000 , despite still having rebroadcaster-like callsigns...
95.1) in the early 2000s.
Decline and sale to Corus Entertainment
In 2001, Astral MediaAstral Media
Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV,...
(successor of Radiomutuel) got permission from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to buy Telemedia's Quebec radio properties, which included the RockDétente network as well as 50 % of the Radiomédia network. However the Competition Bureau, another federal agency, partially blocked the deal over concentration of ownership issues, and ordered Astral Media to sell Radiomédia stations, which were temporarily put into trusteeship.
A first attempt failed when TVA
TVA (TV network)
TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
(Quebecor
Quebecor
Quebecor Inc. is a communications company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded by Pierre Péladeau, and remains run by his family. Quebecor Inc. owns 55% of Quebecor Media Inc...
) and RNC Media were refused permission by the CRTC in June 2003 to buy the stations, because of ownership concentration concerns. A second deal was announced in September 2003 with businessmen Gaétan Morin and Sylvain Chamberland, but a month later popular CKAC morningman Paul Arcand
Paul Arcand
Paul Arcand is a radio host, journalist and film producer. He was a popular francophone radio host for many years. His latest film is "Québec sur ordonnance" a documentary filmed with a point of view, on the subject of Quebeckers taking ever more prescribed medication...
unexpectedly announced his departure from the station, and in late November Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...
announced that it would launch a new news/talk format on CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM is a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts on 98.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 40,800 watts using an omnidirectional antenna....
98.5 (then CKOO-FM) in January 2004, with Arcand as its morningman. Jean Lapierre
Jean Lapierre
Jean-Charles Lapierre, PC is a Canadian television broadcaster and a former federal politician.He was Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant during the period of the Martin government. He returned to the Canadian House of Commons after an eleven year absence when he won a seat in the 2004 federal...
, who was the afternoon drive host, also announced his departure as he returned to active politics; as a result Morin and Chamberland exercised their option to cancel their acquisition, paying a million-dollar fee to do so.
Astral Media then concluded in March 2004 an exchange of assets deal with Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...
; the latter publicly announced in June its intention of dramatically reducing programming expenses if the deal was approved, most notably by shutting down the CKAC newsroom.
Despite widespread opposition against that deal, the known existence of at least four other serious and much less controversial contenders to buy the Radiomédia stations, and numerous allegations to the effect that Corus Entertainment's offer was actually part of a larger plan to prevent any meaningful competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
to its new FM talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format (as Corus seemed to try to weaken and steal listeners from CKAC and not from the increasingly popular CBF-FM, and its sales representatives claimed to clients that they would be better advised to buy advertising at CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM is a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts on 98.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 40,800 watts using an omnidirectional antenna....
and not CKAC as they pretended the latter was going to close shortly no matter what would happen), the deal was approved in January 2005 by the CRTC in the midst of strong rumours that Astral Media
Astral Media
Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV,...
would close CKAC if the deal was not approved. The deal took effect a few months later after a failed attempt by CKAC employees to appeal the decision to the Federal Cabinet
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...
.
On May 30, 2005, Corus Entertainment closed the reputed CKAC newsroom in favour of the lowly regarded CINF (Info 690) newsroom, which, until its January 2010 closure, produced newscasts for all French-language Corus Entertainment stations under the name "CorusNouvelles". (The production of CorusNouvelles would move to CHMP-FM following the closure of CINF.) The Radiomédia network became known as the Corus Québec
Corus Québec
The Corus Québec network, previously known as the Radiomédia network as it used to be called until May 2005, was a French-language Canadian news/talk radio network serving most of Quebec...
network, and CKAC continued to be the flagship of the network as it continued to be the source of talk programming for Corus' talk stations outside of Montreal. However ratings continued to suffer, and CKAC fell well below the 500,000 listeners mark according to BBM
Bureau of Broadcast Measurement
BBM Canada, also known as BBM, is an audience measurement organization for Canadian television and radio broadcasting.BBM was established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. The organization was originally known as the "Bureau of Broadcast Measurement", and...
ratings.
All-sports era
The format switch to all-sports was announced on March 1, 2007 and took effect on April 2, 2007. Sister station CHMP-FM became the co-flagship of the Corus Québec network. The long-time tradition of airing news bulletins on the 45th minute of the hour, a practice that was begun in 1972, was ended. Music programming also disappeared from the station's schedule for the first time ever, except for late-night Souvenirs GarantisSouvenirs Garantis
Souvenirs Garantis is a network of French-language classic hits radio stations broadcasting throughout Quebec, Canada...
oldies programming. Before April 2, 2007, the station had a news/talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
with sports talk
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
in the evenings and some music (mostly oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
) during weekends.
CKAC was the radio flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
(NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
), the Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
(CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
), the Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team played in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid until the 2011 season. The owner Joey Saputo now operates the MLS team Montreal ImpactThe...
(NASL soccer) and the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
(MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
). The station broadcasted all Canadiens and Alouettes games, and all Impact games except for regular season road games; the number of Blue Jays games aired is limited to only a few per year.
On April 30, 2010, it was announced that Cogeco
Cogeco
Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...
will acquire all radio stations owned by Corus in Quebec for $80 million, pending CRTC approval. However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or Cogeco's own stations) to a third party as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke. Corus is selling off their Quebec radio stations, as they are less profitable than Corus's stations in other parts of Canada.
On December 17, 2010, the CRTC approved the sale of most of Corus' radio stations in Quebec, including CKAC, to Cogeco. The same decision, however, also denied Cogeco's request to convert Sherbrooke station CKOY-FM to a repeater of CKAC.
End of all-sports era and transition to traffic information
On September 2, 2011 at exactly 10 AM, CKAC dropped its all-sports format. A recorded announcement from Cogeco vice president Richard Lachance was played, announcing a new traffic informationHighway advisory radio
Travelers Information Radio Stations , are sometimes also called Highway Advisory Radio Stations by Departments of Transportation in the United States. These radio stations are licensed low-power AM radio stations set up by local transport departments to provide bulletins to motorists and other...
format that would launch at 4:30 AM on September 6, 2011. Branded as Radio Circulation 730, the new format is being subsidized by the Quebec government, and will feature round-the-clock traffic updates from around Montreal. Unlike Cogeco's original plans for 690, CKAC's traffic radio service will operate 24 hours a day, with live announcers on the air between 4:30 AM and 1 AM. Pre-recorded announcements detailing overnight road closures and detours are played when live announcers are not on the air.
Effective September 6, 2011, some of CKAC's sports programming and airstaff have moved over to CHMP, along with Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
and Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
broadcasts.
After playing a wide variety of continuous music over Labour Day
Labour Day
Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for...
weekend, Radio Circulation 730 made its debut at 4:30 AM on September 6, as announced. The first announcer heard on the air was Michel Millard.
Cogeco originally planned on an English-language traffic radio service for the 940 kHz frequency previously used by CINW; however, that frequency was awarded instead to Paul Tietolman, for a francophone news-talk radio service.
Rebroadcasters
The following community-owned rebroadcasters are currently listed as rebroadcasting CKAC. Although traffic information for the Montreal area has little apparent relevance to these communities, no changes to this transmitter list (if any) following CKAC's 2011 format change have yet been made available.- CFAE-FM 101.7 FM - La Grande-1 generating stationLa Grande-1 generating stationThe La Grande-1 is a hydroelectric power station on the La Grande River that is part of Hydro-Québec's James Bay Project. The station can generate 1,436 MW and was commissioned in 1994–1995...
- CFBD-FM 93.1 FM - La Grande-3 generating stationLa Grande-3 generating stationThe La Grande-3 or LG-3 is a hydroelectric dam on the La Grande River in northern Quebec, part of Hydro-Québec's James Bay Project. The station can generate 2,418 MW and was commissioned in 1982-1984. It generates electricity through the reservoir and dam system. The dam and reservoir both are...
- CFCC-FM 92.1 FM - Guyer
- CFDD-FM 93.1 FM - Keyano (Camp LG-4)
- CFEA-FM 92.5 FM - Nikamo (Camp LA-1)
- CFFD-FM 103.9 FM - Laforge-2 generating stationLaforge-2 generating stationThe Laforge-2 is a hydroelectric generating station on the Laforge River, a tributary of the La Grande River, and is part of Hydro-Québec's James Bay Project. The station can generate 319 MW and was commissioned in 1996. It is considered a "run of the river" generating station since the Laforge-2...
- CFGA-FM 92.1 FM - Brisay
- CIHQ-FM 93.1 FM - Champion
- VF2059 98.1 FM - FermontFermont, QuebecFermont is a town in northeastern Quebec, Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border about from Labrador City on Route 389, which connects to the Trans-Labrador Highway...
- VF2155 103.9 FM - Poste Laverendrye
External links
- Radio-Circulation 730 CKAC history at Canadian Communications FoundationCanadian Communications FoundationThe 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....
CKAC Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes