CHWO (AM)
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| CHWO | |
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| Broadcast area | Oakville/Toronto, Ontario |
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| Branding | "Prime Time Radio" |
| Slogan | All Time Favourites |
| Frequency | 740 kHz (AM) |
| First air date | 1956 |
| Format | pop standards |
| ERP | 50 kW |
| Class | A |
| Owner | Prime Time Radio LP sale to MZ Media pending |
| Website | www.am740.ca |
CHWO is a Canadian radio station, licensed to Toronto, Ontario, which airs at AM 740 from studios in Oakville, Ontario. The station airs a pop standards format branded as Prime Time Radio, with the slogan "All Time Favourites, AM 740".
The station was originally launched in 1956 on AM 1250 by broadcaster Howard Caine and a number of minority investors. In 1967, shortly before Caine's death, his wife Jean was appointed to the board of directors and took over the station's management.
In 1974, CHWO added a sister station, CJMR in Mississauga.
In 2000, after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CBL relinquished the AM 740 frequency and moved to FM, the prized clear channel frequency was hotly contested. CHWO applied for the frequency, citing that it could provide a stronger service to the region's older adult population. Concurrently, the Caine family also applied for a new station on the old 1250 frequency, to air a Christian music format.
The applications were granted, and CHWO moved to the 740 frequency on January 8, 2001. CHWO originally applied for the new call sign CFPT, but when this was denied by Industry Canada because the call sign was already in use, the station chose to retain its heritage CHWO calls. The new CJYE launched on February 5 on the 1250 frequency.
CHWO is perhaps the only remaining adult standards-formatted station in North America broadcasting on a 50,000-watt clear channel signal. The station's signal is heard as far away as Charlestown, Rhode Island and Philadelphia, PA at night; in fact, it often registers significant Arbitron ratings in the Erie, Pennsylvania market where WRIE 1260 flipped from Standards to "ESPN Radio." The station has even stronger numbers in Buffalo, New York (where it has picked up many disenfranchised listeners of WECK-AM when that station flipped from adult standards to classic country). During the daytime, CHWO can be heard as far west as Saginaw, Michigan, as far east as Watertown, New York, as far north as Georgian Bay, and as far south as Youngstown, Ohio, and at night, the station's signal blankets a substantial chunk of Canada and the United States. CHWO also offers online streaming of their audio through their website.
On September 18, 2007, Prime Time Radio announced a deal to sell the station to Moses Znaimer, under whom it would become a sister station to Toronto's classical station CFMZ.The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 31, 2008[1].
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