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Rounding, because too precise calculation for the era. The station manager of WHAS, assigned to 360 meters in 1922 and using a state-of-the-art Western Electric transmitter, estimated that "we probably retained an accuracy of five or ten meters, above or under par.". |
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{{
{{for|the present radio station on the same frequency|CFNV}}
{{Infobox radio station
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| logo = CINW AM940 radio logo.svg
| logo_size = 250px
| above = Defunct
| city = [[Montreal
| country = CA
| branding = AM 940
| translator = [[CFCX]] [[shortwave|SW]] 6.005 [[Hertz|MHz]]
| sister_stations = [[CKBE-FM|CFQR-FM]], [[CINF]]
| airdate = May 20, [[1920 in radio|1920]]
| last_airdate = January 29, [[2010 in radio|2010]]<br>({{age in years and days|1920|05|20|2010|1|29}})
| frequency = 940 [[Hertz|kHz]] ([[AM
| format = Defunct (was [[
| power = 50,000 [[watt]]s
| class = A
| coordinates = {{coord|45|23|34.08|N|
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|XWA (
| former_frequencies = {{ubl|440 metres ≈ 682{{nbs}}kHz (
| owner = [[Corus Quebec]]<ref>[https://crtc.gc.ca/ownership/eng/cht032c.pdf "Corus Corporate Structure"] CRTC (crtc.gc.ca)</ref>
| licensee = Metromedia CMR Broadcasting Inc.
| callsign_meaning =
}}
'''CINW''' was the final [[call sign]] used by an English language AM [[radio station
Due to its heritage, the station
▲Due to its heritage, the station was generally considered to be Canada's first and oldest broadcasting station, as well as one of the first in the world.<ref>"La Radio, Une Histoire D’Innovation Canadianne - Early Radio Innovation in Canada", Denis Couillard, Ultra Electronics TCS & Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner Ed., 2020</ref>
==History==
As with most early broadcasting stations, some of the station's earliest activities are poorly documented. In ''Listening In'', a 1992 history of early Canadian radio, author Mary Vipond noted that "Several different versions of the gradual transformation of XWA from an experimenter in radio telephony to a regular broadcaster (with the call letters CFCF) exist" and "the precise date on which XWA/CFCF began regular programming may be impossible to determine". This uncertainty was evident when, in 1928, the station manager wrote to the Radio Branch in Ottawa asking "would you kindly let us know the date of our first broadcast", to which the reply was "We do not have the exact details of this on our files, but find that test programmes were carried out by your Company in Montreal during the winter evenings of 1919, and regular organized programs were commenced in December, 1920, by your Experimental Station, 'XWA' on a wavelength of 1200 metres [250 kHz]."<ref name="vipond">Vipond, Mary (1992) ''Listening In: The First Decade of Canadian Broadcasting, 1922-1932'', page 17.</ref>
===XWA / 9AM (
CINW's history was generally said to have begun with experimental station XWA, licensed to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada, Ltd. ("Canadian Marconi"), which was a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd. ("British Marconi"). XWA's first licence was granted sometime between April 1, 1914 and March 31, 1915,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858029285362&view=1up&seq=205 "Licensed Experimental Stations"] included in "Sessional Paper No. 38, Report for the Naval Service for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 1915", from ''Sessional Papers: Sixth Session of the Twelfth Parliament of the Dominion of Canada'' (1916, volume 27, page 119). XWA's call letters have traditionally been said to stand for "Experimental Wireless Apparatus". Additional stations granted over the next two years included XWB, XWC, XWD, XWE and XWF in Ontario and Manitoba.</ref> in conjunction with a training school on Rodney Street,<ref>''Histoire de la Radio au Québec: Information, Ėducation, Culture'' by Pierre Pagé, 2007, pages 42-43.</ref> and it was one of the few radio stations allowed to operate in Canada during World War I, when it was used to conduct military research.<ref>[http://www.phonotheque.org/radio/reperes-eng.html#Wireless_telegraphy_and_technological "Radio in Quebec society: Key dates"] by Pierre Pagé. (phonotheque.org)</ref>
XWA's transmissions were initially limited to [[Morse code]] "dots-and-dashes" produced by spark transmitters. However, during the war [[vacuum tube|vacuum-tube]] transmitters were developed which made audio transmissions practical. In spring 1919 Canadian Marconi's Arthur Runciman began voice transmission tests in downtown Montreal and in the Montreal harbor using a "[[H. J. Round|Captain Round]]" type vacuum-tube powered by a 500 volt battery, as the government lifted the restrictions imposed during the war on the use of radio by non-military personnel or organizations.<ref>Murray, Robert P. (2005) ''The Early Development of Radio in Canada, 1901-1930'', pages 23-24. Captain H. J. Round was a British Marconi engineer who had led that company's development of radiotelephone transmitters during the war.</ref> In March 1919 Canadian Marconi announced that it was planning to "install the new wireless telephone at important points in and around Montreal in the near future", in order that "the public will be able to test for themselves the latest development in long distance communication". There were also plans to install one of the devices in the Transportation Building office of J. N. Greenshields, president of the Montreal Board of Trade,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A2w1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=WIUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1772%2C1160870 "Wireless 'Phones Being Installed"], ''Montreal Gazette'', March 22, 1919, page 5.</ref> which "will enable brokers to talk with Kingston, Ottawa, Three Rivers and Quebec".<ref>[https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1919-03-22/ed-1/seq-5/ "Wireless Phones Being Installed"], ''(Portland) Oregonian'', March 22, 1919, page 5.</ref>
In early 1919, British Marconi shipped a bulky combination desk and 500-watt transmitter, shaped like an upright piano, to the Canadian Marconi building in Montreal at 173 William Street (later re-numbered as 1017). The set, capable of two-way radiotelephone and longer-range radiotelegraph operation, had been developed during World War One, but with the end of the war was now surplus. The parent company hoped there might be commercial interest within the Canadian paper and pulp industry in using transmitters like this for communication between their mills and offices.<ref>[http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/10567.46/9.html "Early Days in Canadian Broadcasting"] (Adventures in Radio - 14) by D. R. P. Coats, ''Manitoba Calling'', November 1940, page 7.</ref> It was installed on the building's top floor, and operated under the XWA call sign.<ref name="birth">[http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/10567.45/10.html "The Birth of Canadian Broadcasting"] (Adventures in Radio - 13) by D. R. P. Coats, ''Manitoba Calling'', October 1940, page 8.</ref>
The earliest tests and demonstrations focused more on using the transmitter for point-to-point communication than for broadcasting. This required engineers to repeatedly speak simple phrases, with pauses to listen if there were any replies.<ref name="birth" /> As was common at a number of early stations, the engineers soon tired of their repetitive talking, and began to play phonograph records to provide test signals. This in turn drew the attention of interested local [[amateur radio]] enthusiasts, who enjoyed hearing music instead of the usual telegraphic code used almost universally for radio communication at this time. In addition, during the fall of 1919 Canadian Marconi formed a separate company, Scientific Experimenter, Ltd., to sell equipment to radio amateurs.<ref name="page29">Murray (2005) page 29.</ref> By December 1919, the company was using the XWA radio broadcasts of music in order to interest people in purchasing receiving sets, thus introducing a whole new industry to Canada,<ref name="fifteen"/> although at first persons operating radio receivers were required to hold an "Amateur Experimental Station" licence,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2605161&view=1up&seq=
The first documented broadcast of entertainment by XWA to a general audience occurred on the evening of May 20, 1920, when a concert was prepared for a Royal Society of Canada audience listening 110 miles (175 kilometres) away at the [[Château Laurier]] in the capital city of Ottawa. This was part of a demonstration of the longrange capabilities of radiotelephony arranged by Dr. A. S. Eve of the Royal Society, who was giving a lecture reviewing "Some Inventions of the Great War".<ref name="ottawa">[https://earlyradiohistory.us/1920XWA.htm "Ottawa Hears Montreal Concert Over the Wireless Telephone; Experiment Complete Success"], ''Ottawa Journal'', May 21, 1920, page 7.</ref><ref name="montreal">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9P8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cYEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1878%2C5556437 "Wireless Concert Given for Ottawa"], ''Montreal Gazette'', May 21, 1920, page 4.</ref> In Montreal, Canadian Marconi's chief engineer J. O. G. Cann opened the broadcast with a series of announcements, including reading a sealed message previously sent by Dr. R. F. Ruttan,<ref name="ottawa" /> which was followed by the playing of phonograph records, beginning with "Dear Old Pal of Mine". Also included was live entertainment featuring Dorothy Lutton, who sang "[[Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms]]" and "Merrily Shall I Live".<ref name="montreal" /> A Naval Radio Service station in Ottawa also participated, with officer E. Hawken singing "[[Annie Laurie]]", along with the playing of phonograph records. The Ottawa transmissions were well heard at the Château Laurier, but had difficulty being received in Montreal.<ref name="ottawa" /> At the time these broadcasts received little publicity beyond a few local newspaper reports,<ref>Vipond (1992) page 3. Articles also appeared on page 3 of the May 20, 1920 and pages 3-4 of the May 21, 1920 issues of the ''Montreal Star''.</ref> in contrast to a similar broadcast made a month later by the Marconi station near London at Chelmsford in Essex, featuring Dame [[Nellie Melba]], which garnered broad international attention.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435065884231&view=1up&seq=200 "The Voice Around the World"], ''The Mentor'', October 1920, page 38.</ref> In May 2020 the Canadian Post issued two commemorative stamps marking the centennial of this broadcast.<ref>[https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/blogs/personal/perspectives/stamps-celebrate-100-years-of-radio-in-canada/ "Stamps celebrate 100 years of radio in Canada"], May 19, 2020 (canadapost-postescanada.ca)</ref>
XWA eventually began operating on a regular schedule in order to promote radio receiver sales, and at first the station was almost single-handedly run by Darby Coats. (Coats went on to have a long broadcasting career.)<ref>[
The chronology is not completely clear, but
===CFCF (
[[File:CFCF radio advertisement (1951).jpg|thumb|left|Station advertisements included the slogan "Canada's First Station".<ref>[https://archive.org/
In April 1922 the Canadian government began issuing the first licences specifically for "radio-telephone broadcasting stations". Initially all these stations received four-letter call signs starting with "CF", "CH", "CJ" or "CK", plus one additional "C" as the third or fourth letter. Included in the first group of twenty-three stations was a Montreal grant for Canadian Marconi, assigned a transmitting wavelength of 440 metres (682 kHz) and the call letters CFCF.<ref>[https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A2937410 "Radio Department: Broadcasting Stations"], ''Winnipeg Evening Tribune'', April 25, 1922, page 5. (Within the "CF" assignments, this first group also included CFCA (Toronto), CFCB (Vancouver), and CFCE (Halifax). In this list, CKCE Toronto should be 450 instead of 45 meters, and for Winnipeg, "CHCE" should be CHCF and "CKbC" should be CKZC.)</ref> The slogan "Canada's First, Canada's Finest" was later adopted based on the new call sign.<ref>"CFCF, Montreal, Quebec station", ''The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio'' (Volume 1), 2004, page 310.</ref>
After numerous frequency changes, followed by a three-year period from 1925 to 1928 when it shared time with [[CKAC]] on 730 kHz, CFCF began operating full-time at 600 kHz in 1933, which would remain the station's transmitting frequency until 1999. CFCF was an affiliate of the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s [[Dominion Network]] from 1944 to 1962; and also carried some programs from the U.S. [[Blue Network|NBC-Blue Network]], at least as of 1939.<ref>"Stations That Make Up the Networks", ''The (Hagerstown, Maryland) Daily Mail'', March 11, 1939, page 9.</ref>
In 1968, the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) required that all broadcasting outlets be 80% Canadian owned. Canadian Marconi's British parent had been acquired by the UK's [[General Electric Company plc]] earlier that year. Canadian Marconi was thus forced to put its entire broadcasting division—CFCF-TV, CFCF (AM), CFQR-FM and CFCX—on the market. A deal to sell the stations to Ernie Bushnell, owner of [[CJOH-DT]] in [[Ottawa]], collapsed in the spring of 1971 when Bushnell was unable to secure the necessary financing.<ref>[
===CIQC (
[[File:CIQC 600 (1997).svg|thumb|Logo used during the CIQC news-talk years (
===CINW and the move to 940 kHz (1999)===
[[Image:Logo 940 montreal.png|thumb|The station's logo as 940 Montreal (September 2005 - June 2008).]]
CIQC received permission from the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) to move to 940 kHz, the former frequency of [[CBC Radio|CBC]] owned and operated station CBM (now [[CBME-FM]]).<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1999/DB99-151.HTM "Decision CRTC 99-151"], June 21, 1999, (crtc.gc.ca)</ref>
===AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits (2008)===
On June 6, 2008, CINW announced it would drop its talk programming and move to an [[oldies]] format, effective June 14 at 5
===Closure (2010)===
On January 29, 2010, Corus announced that both CINW and CINF would cease broadcasting as of 7:00 p.m. that day, due to unsustainable ratings. Regular programming ended at 10:00 a.m. and was replaced with a repeating pre-recorded statement from general manager Mark Dickie announcing the station closure and inviting listeners to tune to sister station [[CKBE-FM|CFQR-FM]].<ref>[http://formatchange.com/940-cinw-signs-off/ "940 CINW Signs Off"], Format Change Archive (formatchange.com)</ref> Broadcasting abruptly ceased — the loop announcement was cut off in mid-sentence, foregoing any official sign-off — at 7:02 p.m., ending 90 years on the air under various call signs and formats.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvKQCk8BuIk "AM 940 CINW Montreal final transmission January 29, 2010"], uploaded March 3, 2011 by Lee32T (youtube.com)</ref> Licences for both CINW and CINF were returned to the CRTC for cancellation, which approved the revocation on June 8, 2010.<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-354.htm "Revocation of Licences"], Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-354, June 8, 2010 (crtc.gc.ca)</ref>
Later that year, [[Cogeco]] acquired Corus' Quebec station assets; the sale included the transmitter sites and equipment in [[Kahnawake]] used for CINF and CINW, but not the cancelled operating licences.<ref>[https://montrealgazette.com/news/Radio+just+usual+channels/5624856/story.html#ixzz1c9hmKDTf "Radio: Not just the usual channels"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101062750/http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Radio+just+usual+channels/5624856/story.html#ixzz1c9hmKDTf |date=2012-01-01 }}, ''Montreal Gazette'', October 29, 2011.</ref>
==Shortwave relay==
On December 25, 1930, the Canadian Marconi Company inaugurated experimental [[shortwave relay station]] '''VE9DR''' in order to relay the programs of CFCF-AM over [[shortwave radio]] using a frequency of 6005 kHz and power of 4,000 watts. The relay used a Marconi transmitter which had been erected at [[Drummondville, Quebec]]. This transmitter was
==Later use of the vacated frequencies==
===AM 940===
In May 2011, Cogeco announced it planned to establish two new AM [[Highway advisory radio|traffic information radio]] stations for the Montreal area, in conjunction with [[Transports Québec]]. The English language service would broadcast at CINW's former frequency of 940 kHz.<ref name=CRTC2011-336>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-336.htm "Notice of Hearing: 13. Montréal, Quebec (Application 2011-0801-9)]", "Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2011-336", May 19, 2011 (crtc.gc.ca)</ref> Both stations were expected to sign on in the fall of 2011, with broadcast hours from 4:30 a.m. on weekdays and 6
====CFNV====
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==External links==
*[http://www.marcdenis.com/chart.asp?chart=ckgm-boxerwithbeatles.jpg&cap=boxerwithbeatles Photo of DJ Dave Boxer] with [[Paul McCartney]] and [[Ringo Starr]] (1965)
* [https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/quebec/quebec-montreal-laval-lanaudiere-laurentides-monteregie/cinw-am/ CINW-AM] at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the [[Canadian Communications Foundation]] ''(See also: [https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/quebec/quebec-montreal-laval-lanaudiere-laurentides-monteregie/xwa-cfcf-am/ XWA/CFCF-AM])''
* {{RecnetCanada|940CINW}}
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[[Category:2010 disestablishments in Quebec]]
[[Category:Corus Entertainment radio stations|Inw]]
[[Category:Defunct
[[Category:Dominion Network|INW]]
[[Category:English-language radio stations in Quebec|Inw]]
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