After occasional sputters of an audible tone a few hours a day over a few weeks, 940 AM has actual audio for the first time in almost seven years as TTP Media’s first AM radio station has officially begun testing.
The programming consists of music in English and French, with a 23-second announcement about the station about every 15 minutes confirming its callsign of CFNV and asking people with reception issues to call 1-855-732-5940. It says the station will launch “progressivement sous peu” or “très bientôt” (the message varies slightly).
CFNV will be a French-language talk station when it launches, which the CRTC has said it must do by Nov. 21. The licence was first authorized in 2011, and the deadline extended three times (one more than usual).
The deadline to launch an English station at 600 AM passed on Nov. 9. The CRTC confirms to me it has received an application for an extension to that deadline (which was supposed to be final) but has not made a decision yet.
A third station, a French sports-talk at 850 AM, had its authorization expire this summer with no request for extension.
940 AM, which is assigned to Montreal as a clear channel, so this station will have a very large footprint at night, was last used by AM 940, a Corus-owned station that began as 940 News and kept cutting resources and changing formats until it finally shut down in 2010.
Another pathetic stillborn broadcasting misadventure. Listeners need a good reason to tune a new radio station. Music isn’t it. Advertising isn’t it. Generic feelgood talk isn’t it. What remains? POV, evangelical or community. There’s no room for another radio station with nothing original to say. Plenty of those.
This is pre-launch on-air testing. Don’t confuse it with regular programming.
Yes, don’t confuse this on-air testing…Actually surprised that you thought this was the real thing…As for original things to say, if you’re referring to CJAD, I agree and suspect others as well….With the damaging Bell Media cuts almost two years ago..
‘AD has lost its fire in the belly, they don’t break out news scoops any more…
In other words, they’ve have gotten complacent..and some hosts still think they’re the almighty defenders of the anglo community, that famous anglo angst..
Jim… Bell Media has attempted to evolve their stations into barebones corporate money making machines. All their stations have lost their lustre of years ago. With Bell Media, it’s all about corporate self branding, cross promotion and cross media. Not much is local any more. One Bell Media station is like listening to any other. Locally, CJAD has dumped many of their high profile on-air personalities and replaced them with local media “hangers-on” looking for a job. Also, way too many boring personalities and infomercials disguised as actual programming. With the likes of Evan Soloman, Kevin O’Leary, Laurie Betitto and George Noory among others, it is difficult for me to listen to this station any more.
I welcome a new local alternative to CJAD. Even if they do not survive, at least it will inspire CJAD to pick up their pants.
I make it a rule not to criticize local media. The market should be the only arbiter of what sells. Where I have a problem is with the monopolies and their enablers in the federal and provincial bureaucracies who together decide what lives and what dies. One example: for 65 years our families ran the Hudson Gazette, a well-read and respected English community weekly. We closed it two years ago, following a Federal Competition Bureau decision that let Transcontinental dictate terms for our continued survival. Same story in radio and television. Canadians think they’re being well served by their media. They aren’t. The owners engage in activities that would be considered as a criminal conspiracy in the U.S. And they have the support of complicit governments.
WEll this answers the questions, many of them anyways…Have you heard yet of any site for a studio….and staff poaching or if CJAD and 98.5 is starting to get scared and adjusting their progrmming…
I’ve noticed changes in CJAD’s weekend schedule and it’s really terrible..
There is no news related to studio location or on-air (or off-air) staffing.
I think for the purposes of being on the air, the “studio” location may be nothing more than a small room with a PC in the back of a real estate office. They have a very hard deadline (Monday) to be actually live with a commercial station.
Longer term, they will need a reasonable to studio space if they want to not only be a talk station, but one that important people are willing to come to for interviews and such. If they are also planning to get 600AM up and running as well, they will likely need enough space to run both.
Reception reports on the test transmission have already come in from Bloomington, Minnesota, Welland, Ontario, Scranton PA, Winnipeg MB, Niagara ON, Lynn MA, and Quebec City, all reporting good to strong signals.
CFNV comes in day and night here in St. Albans Vermont we are 65 miles south of Montreal. It is on the 940 am band which was the former CBM English. Listen to it when I was growing up. We got all the radio AM and FM from Montreal. CKGM 980 in my teen’s was a rock and roll station had alot of listners down here.
Check this out. The new 940 signal was heard by a DXer in Scotland overnight! Here is his YouTube audio file https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G2UL09Noeo&feature=youtu.be
In this video, Nicolas Tétrault talks about the 940AM transmitter. He also say a few word about the 600AM English talk radio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHTW4K_0w64
This is the video I mentioned to Steve some time ago before it was quickly deleted.
940 Loud and clear in Binghamton, New York
I like the music! Refreshing , better than the blah, blah of talk radio.
You’re going to be real disappointed when it turns into a talk radio station then.
I hope it will be a talk radio debate!
I am down here in St. Albans Vermont about 12 miles from the border and about 65 miles south of Montreal. Land terrain from here to Montreal is flat as a pancake. CFNV comes in here with a grade A signal. We get most all of the AM and FM radio stations from Montreal. The strongest signal here is from CJAD durning the day putting out 50,000 watts and 10,000 at night. Durning the daytimes hours CJAD signal is also grade A here. Years ago 940 AM belonged to CBM which was the CBC network station in Montreal.
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