CHOM-FM

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CHOM

City of license	Montreal, Quebec
Broadcast area	Greater Montreal area
Branding	"CHOM 97.7"
Slogan	"The Spirit of Rock"
First air date	1963
Frequency	97.7 MHz
Format	classic rock
ERP	41,200 watts
Class	C1
Callsign meaning	The CHOM is French for "shōm"
Owner	Standard Broadcasting
Website	CHOM 97.7 (official website)

CHOM-FM is an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Owned and operated by Standard Broadcasting, it broadcasts on 97.7 MHz from the Mount Royal candelabra tower, with an effective radiated power of 41,200 watts (class C1) using an omnidirectional antenna.

The station has a classic rock format since 2002 and has had some type of rock format since 1969. It uses the brand name CHOM, pronounced as if it were a French word (that is, "shōm" rather than "tchawm").

1 History
2 CHOM daily line-up
3 Other Shows on CHOM
4 External links

[edit] History

CKGM-FM, as the station was originally known, was founded by Geoff Sterling as a sister station to AM station CKGM and opened on July 16, 1963. After a few weeks as a simulcast of CKGM, CKGM-FM launched a beautiful music format on September 1, 1963.

On October 28, 1969, CKGM-FM changed its format to album-oriented rock. The first song played after the format switch was The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun". The station would change its call sign to CHOM-FM only two years later on October 19, 1971.

In 1974, CHOM-FM proposed to the CRTC a plan in which the station would become bilingual (English/French). The CRTC accepted this plan but only on an experimental basis that would last three years; it also blocked a plan to implement quadraphonic broadcasting. In 1977, the station was forced by the CRTC to opt between the two languages, and after considering becoming a French-language station, it finally reverted back to English fulltime.

CHOM-FM became increasingly popular, and in 1979 surpassed sister station CKGM in BBM ratings. Both stations were sold to CHUM Limited on August 20, 1985.

The 1993 loss of popular morning man Terry DiMonte to CJFM-FM (Mix 96), combined with new competition from American modern rock station WBTZ (better known as 99.9 The Buzz) starting in 1996, resulted in a decline in ratings which the station tried to stop by acquiring rights to the syndicated show of shock jock Howard Stern. Stern made his debut on CHOM-FM on September 2, 1997 amid much controversy as he launched himself on his very first show heard in Montreal in an anti-Francophone/anti-French tirade. His show was dumped a year later, on August 27, 1998, after numerous complaints to the CRTC about politically incorrect remarks interpreted by complainants as "sexist" and "homophobic", despite the fact that the show ran on a delay with more controversial comments being censored, which sometimes resulted in minutes of dead air. While the CRTC did not take any actions against CHOM-FM, it is generally believed that owner CHUM Limited feared other projects could be hampered by them having such a controversial host on one of their stations.

The station was sold to Standard Broadcasting, which already owned CJAD and CJFM-FM in Montreal, effective in January 2002. This ownership change was promptly followed in February by a format change to classic rock and the return of DiMonte as morning man, which resulted in ratings improvements.

Their slogan is CHOM Rocks!