CHAM

CHAM is a Canadian radio station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned and operated by Astral Media, and transmits from towers located in Binbrook. The station currently airs a country music format as "Today's Country, 820 CHAM," a format the station had for 25 years until adopting a talk format between 2008 and 2010.

History

CHAM began operations in November 1959 as a 5,000 watt station at the 1280 AM frequency under the CHIQ call letters. Initially the station broadcast a classical music format but rock and roll was featured later in the 1960s, with Canadian radio personality David Marsden among the station's DJ roster. In 1965, the power was increased to 10,000 watts day / 5,000 watts night (the station went full-time 10 kW in 1968). The station was purchased from CHIQ, Ltd. in 1967 by (Ted) Rogers Broadcasting Ltd., which received approval from the CRTC to change the call letters from CHIQ to CHAM. Under Rogers' ownership and management by Dancy Broadcasting, Ltd., CHAM launched a "Middle of the road" music format on November 1, 1967.

By 1970, CHAM switched to Top 40 format, directly competing with CKOC (a future sister station of CHAM's in the 2000s) and including in its playlist many records that didn't receive exposure elsewhere in the market. Some of the personalities who worked at CHAM during this time period included Paul Godfrey, Dick Joseph (who worked there twice - the second time under their next call letters), Gil Harris, Rockin' Ron Baptist, Ravin' Dave Mitchell, Don Collins, Bob Wood, Ike Isaac, Ken Packham, Skip Dewling, Wayne Dion, J.J.Clarke, Don West, Len Robinson, Dave Fisher Ted Michaels, and newscaster Glen Darling (son of Canadian broadcaster Tom Darling). CHAM published a weekly Top 40 poster approximately between 1971 and 1974. In an unusual move, CHAM's broadcasting facilities were located inside a shopping mall called Terminal Towers, from which passers by could peer into the station's glass walls and watch the announcers work.

In 1976, CHAM was sold to Keith Dancy and the station adopted a "gold and great" format under the CJJD call sign. Soon afterward, the station's facilities were moved out of Terminal Towers (and the public eye) and up a few blocks to Lloyd D. Jackson Square.

In 1981, Moffat Communications, Ltd. acquired CJJD and immediately upgraded the station's facilities, expanded its news staff, and included some talk programming in the lineup. Moffat changed the station call sign back to CHAM in 1982, and in 1983 changed format to country music, broadcasting in AM stereo. In August 1985, CHAM moved to a stronger dial position at 820 AM, increasing power to 50 kW day / 10 kW night^[1]

As a pioneering country station, "820 CHAM" would earn its greatest fame and following, having had a good run for 2+ decades under various management and ownership, including Golden West Broadcasting (acquired the station in 1993), Affinity Radio Group (1997), and Telemedia (2000). CHAM was honoured as Canadian Country Music Association Station of the Year in 1989, the same year the Country Music Association bestowed Medium Market Station honours.

In 2002, Standard Broadcasting acquired CHAM and its sister stations (CKOC and CKLH), and by February 2005, with contemporary country listeners having gravitated to the FM dial, adjusted CHAM's format to become "All Time Country Favourites: 820 CHAM - The Legend," with the station concentrating on classic country music (though a few current songs would later be included on a limited basis).

In October 2007, Astral Media acquired Standard Broadcasting's terrestrial radio and television assets, including CHAM. On August 29, 2008, the station began stunting with all-Christmas music, teasing listeners that on September 2, 2008, there would be "ten thousand reasons to tune in at 8:20am." On September 2, CHAM's new format was revealed—a talk radio format as "Talk 820." CHAM's talk schedule would include local talk shows hosted by Mike Nabuurs, Becky Coles, Jason Farr, Dave Shuttleworth, and Mike Bullard, along with syndicated shows including Dennis Miller. The new CHAM format included live sports coverage, including Hamilton Bulldogs hockey, Toronto Blue Jays baseball, and National Football League broadcasts from Westwood One.

The "Talk 820" format of CHAM did not provide the total numbers that Astral was looking for, with the station lagging behind longtime Hamilton talk stalwart CHML. Furthermore, the market's only country music station, FM 95.3, had switched to a classic hits format in 2009. As part of a staff restructuring at Astral's Hamilton station cluster, CHAM reverted back to an all-country format on July 22, 2010 at 12PM. The playlist will concentrate on both current country and hits from the past 20 years. The station is expected to keep the sports commitments it adopted during its talk format, many of which it had already held prior to the talk format's debut.^[2]

With CHKX-FM signing on as Hamilton's second country music station by August 2011, radio analysts are speculating that CHAM is expecting to reverted back to a talk format, again as Talk 820 and becoming again a competitor up against existing news/talk station CHML.

Current On-air Personalities

• Mike Nabuurs - mornings and Sunday afternoons
• Joel Christie - middays
• Peter Jaycock - afternoons and Saturday afternoons
• Blair Garner - evenings (syndicated)

Logos

References

External links

• Today's Country 820 CHAM
• CHAM History at Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CHAM