Sunday, January 31, 2010
AM940 is Shut Down
I used to listen to this all-news station a lot on winter nights whenever I was driving back home from Franklin Pierce or Channel 10. It was a great station and it is sad to see it go.
Canada's first radio station goes off the air
Mike King, Canwest News Service
MONTREAL -- Canada's first radio station fell silent on Friday night, as
Canadian media and entertainment empire Corus Entertainment Inc., pulled
the plug on two Montreal AM stations.
AM Info690 Montreal and AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits went off the air
at 7 p.m. local time. Both were deemed unprofitable.
AM940 is a direct descendent of Canada's first radio station, CFCF
originally at the 600 dial on the AM band.
In 1919, the Canadian Marconi Co., launched XWA (Experimental Wireless
Apparatus) in Montreal and it became the first commercial broadcast
radio station in Canada. The name was switched to CFCF in November 1920.
Before the station signals were killed, recordings ran most of the day.
They were made by general managers of the respective stations, thanking
listeners and advertisers, and explaining it was a difficult decision to
close the stations.
"We put tremendous effort into trying to find the right format and
content to grow our audience base and operate profitably, but after
years of effort, it is clear these AM stations are not viable," Mario
Cecchini, vice-president of subsidiary Corus Quebec, said in a prepared
statement.
Brian Kenemy, a former vice-president of Corus Quebec's English radio
holdings, said in an interview that he thinks Corus "did its best to
hang on as long as they could, looking for affordable formats."
But with most money directed toward FM programming, Mr. Kenemy suggested
that the public company found it too difficult to continue supporting
the struggling stations.
Bourget MNA Maka Kotto, Parti Quebecois culture and communications
critic, argued the closing of Info690 "is not good news because it
sounds the death knell of another francophone newsroom in Montreal and
further undermines the media in Quebec."
The decision to cease operations affects eight jobs at Info690 -- three
journalists, two traffic reporters and three operations positions -- but
five of those positions are to be retained.
The Info690 Montreal newsroom, known as CorusNouvelles, will continue
its activities as part of 98.5 FM Montreal.
Two jobs, an on-air host and a technician, are affected at AM940, which
switched from all news to all music in 2008.
Canada's first radio station goes off the air
Mike King, Canwest News Service
MONTREAL -- Canada's first radio station fell silent on Friday night, as
Canadian media and entertainment empire Corus Entertainment Inc., pulled
the plug on two Montreal AM stations.
AM Info690 Montreal and AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits went off the air
at 7 p.m. local time. Both were deemed unprofitable.
AM940 is a direct descendent of Canada's first radio station, CFCF
originally at the 600 dial on the AM band.
In 1919, the Canadian Marconi Co., launched XWA (Experimental Wireless
Apparatus) in Montreal and it became the first commercial broadcast
radio station in Canada. The name was switched to CFCF in November 1920.
Before the station signals were killed, recordings ran most of the day.
They were made by general managers of the respective stations, thanking
listeners and advertisers, and explaining it was a difficult decision to
close the stations.
"We put tremendous effort into trying to find the right format and
content to grow our audience base and operate profitably, but after
years of effort, it is clear these AM stations are not viable," Mario
Cecchini, vice-president of subsidiary Corus Quebec, said in a prepared
statement.
Brian Kenemy, a former vice-president of Corus Quebec's English radio
holdings, said in an interview that he thinks Corus "did its best to
hang on as long as they could, looking for affordable formats."
But with most money directed toward FM programming, Mr. Kenemy suggested
that the public company found it too difficult to continue supporting
the struggling stations.
Bourget MNA Maka Kotto, Parti Quebecois culture and communications
critic, argued the closing of Info690 "is not good news because it
sounds the death knell of another francophone newsroom in Montreal and
further undermines the media in Quebec."
The decision to cease operations affects eight jobs at Info690 -- three
journalists, two traffic reporters and three operations positions -- but
five of those positions are to be retained.
The Info690 Montreal newsroom, known as CorusNouvelles, will continue
its activities as part of 98.5 FM Montreal.
Two jobs, an on-air host and a technician, are affected at AM940, which
switched from all news to all music in 2008.
