CINW: Difference between revisions

| logo = CINW AM940 radio logo.svg

| logo_size = 250px

| branding = AM 940

| translator = [[CFCX]] [[shortwave|SW]] 6.005 [[Hertz|MHz]]

| 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 broadcasting|AM]])

| power = 50,000 [[watt]]s

| class = A

| 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.

}}

 

 

Due to its heritage, the station is 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>

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&nbsp;kHz]."<ref name="vipond">Vipond, Mary (1992) ''Listening In: The First Decade of Canadian Broadcasting, 1922-1932'', page 17.</ref>

 

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>

 

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>

 

 

The chronology is not completely clear, but by 1921 the station's experimental call sign was changed to "9AM",<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101068131133&view=1up&seq=282 "Canadian Experimental Licenses: Issued for 1921-1922"], ''The Consolidated Radio Call Book'' (May 1922 edition), page 266.</ref> reflecting a call sign policy change implemented in 1919 in conjunction with the restoration of civilian radio stations. (Broadcasting licences did not exist at this time.) A short notice in the November 1921 issue of ''[[QST]]'' magazine reported that the station, now using 9AM, was broadcasting once a week on Tuesdays starting at 8 p.m., using a wavelength of 1200 metres (250&nbsp;kHz).<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008571517&view=1up&seq=223 "Strays"], ''QST'' magazine, November 1, 1921, page 47.</ref>

 

[[File:CFCF radio advertisement (1951).jpg|thumb|left|Station advertisements included the slogan "Canada's First Station".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/sponsormagazine-1951-08/Sponsor-1951-08-1/page/n71/mode/1up "In Montreal it's CFCF"] (advertisement), ''Sponsor'', August 13, 1951, page 70.</ref>]]

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&nbsp;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&nbsp;kHz, CFCF began operating full-time at 600&nbsp;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>

 

 

 

===CINW and the move to 940 kHz (1999)===

 

==Shortwave relay==

 

==Later use of the vacated frequencies==

==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)

* {{RecnetCanada|940CINW}}

 

[[Category:2010 disestablishments in Quebec]]

[[Category:Corus Entertainment radio stations|Inw]]

[[Category:Dominion Network|INW]]

[[Category:English-language radio stations in Quebec|Inw]]