CINW

:"XWA redirects here. For the computer game, see X-Wing Alliance. For the professional wrestling promotion, see XWA (professional wrestling)."

Infobox Radio station
name = CINW


city = Montreal, Quebec
branding = AM 940
sister station = CFQR (FM)
slogan = "Montreal's Greatest Hits"
airdate = December 1,1919
frequency = 940 kHz (AM)
format = Classic hits / oldies
power = 50 kW
former_callsigns = CIQC (1991-1999)
CFCF (1920-1991)
VE9AM (1920)
XWA (1919-1920)
owner = Corus Entertainment
website = [http://www.940hits.com/ http://www.940hits.com]

CINW is an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.

Owned and operated by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts on 940 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel (class A) station, using a slightly directional antenna solely for the purpose of improving reception in downtown Montreal.

On June 14, 2008, the station abandoned its news/talk format due to what its owner calls economic issues in the Montreal market. CINW now airs a classic hits / oldies format.cite web|title=Changement de format à 940 Montreal|url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/06/c9493.html|publisher=Corus Entertainment|date=2008-06-06|language=French|accessdate=2008-06-06]

History

XWA, CFCF, CIQC

CINW started as XWA on December 1, 1919. Experimental broadcasts continued from that date until the station began regular programming on May 20, 1920. As such, it has a claim to being the first commercial broadcaster in the world, although other stations, most notably KDKA and WWJ, have made similar claims. Its call letters were changed to CFCF on November 4, 1920. While the meaning of that call sign has never been officially confirmed, it is generally believed to be "Canada's First, Canada's Finest".

After numerous changes of frequency, and a three-year period in which it shared time with CKAC on 730 kHz from 1925 to 1928, CFCF landed on 600 kHz in 1933 and stayed on that frequency until 1999. The station was an affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Dominion Network from 1944 to 1962.

Some of the notable personalities from the CFCF era include newsman Gord Sinclair, morning hosts Ted Blackman, Al Boliska, sportscasters John Robertson and Dick Irvin, Jr. and 1960s Rock and Roll DJ, Dave Boxer.

CFCF changed its format from full service to Adult Standards in 1986. Call letters changed to CIQC in September 1991 as the station, and its FM sister CFQR-FM, were sold to Mount Royal Broadcasting (later Métromédia), with the TV station keeping the CFCF-TV callsign, and at the same time the station started an ill-fated country music format, which lasted only until March 1993, at which point the station switched to news/talk programming with on-air personalities such as civil rights advocate, Howard Galganov.

During the 1997-99 period, CIQC was the home station of The Travel World Radio Show, hosted by veteran travel broadcasters Stephen Pickford and Willem Bagchus, which became the first Montreal radio show to be carried in US syndication when it was picked up in simulcast by the Westminster,MD-based Liberty Works Radio Network in August 1999. The program was profiled in the October 15/2000 edition of L'Actualite magazine for its efforts in promoting Canadian and Quebec tourism to a US audience.

Move to 940-AM

CIQC received permission from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to switch to 940 kHz, on a signal vacated by CBC Radio One's CBM-AM (now known as CBME-FM). With this move, the station would technically increase power from 10,000 watts (daytime) and 5,000 watts (nighttime) to 50,000 watts fulltime by June 1999, even though CBM-AM had the current 50,000 watt signal in use since 1978. These technical changes were implemented on December 14 1999, and call letters were changed at the same time to the current CINW, to match the new all-news format introduced that same day.

The station initially wanted to use calls CKNN for its new format and frequency but was denied permission after they used illegally these call letters during testing on 940 kHz in the weeks preceding the frequency change. The 600 kHz transmitter was shut down on Easter Sunday 2000 (April 23), after four months of simulcast.

CINW ended its all-news format in September 2005 to pave the way for its current news/talk programming. The first day of the revamped format was September 14th 2005. In a throwback to the CIQC days, the first live guest on CINW, at 06:47 EDT with morning man Barry Morgan, was Stephen Pickford, who had hosted Travel World on CIQC from 1997 to 1999. Their most popular broadcasters in recent times have been Joe Cannon, Jim Duff and Charles Adler.

AM940 Montreal’s Greatest Hits

On June 6, 2008, the station announced that it would drop its talk programming and move to a "greatest hits" format effective June 14, citing recent difficulties operating in the Montreal market. Recent ratings had placed the station sixth among Montreal anglophones with a 3.8% share; nonetheless it was one of the lowest-ranked commercial English-language stations in the market (just ahead of CKGM (The Team 990)), and was well back of spoken-word rivals CJAD and CBC Radio One. [ [http://www.bbm.ca/en/BBM_Canada_S1_2008_Top-line_Radio_Report_final.pdf BBM Canada - Top-line Radio Statistics for S1 (Jan-Mar) 2008] ]

AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits officially launched at 9:40 AM on July 1, 2008, marking the return of oldies to anglophone radio in Montreal since CKGM flipped to The Team in 2001.

References

External links

* [http://www.940hits.com/ AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits (website)]
* [http://www.marcdenis.com/chart.asp?chart=ckgm-boxerwithbeatles.jpg&c
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr (1965)]
*