CIGL-FM

CIGL-FM
City of license Belleville, Ontario
Branding Mix 97
Slogan Quinte's Best Veriety
Frequency 97.1 MHz (FM)
First air date 1962
Format hot adult contemporary
Power 50,000 watts
Former callsigns CJBQ-FM (1962-1978)
Owner Quinte Broadcasting
Sister stations CJBQ, CJTN-FM
Website Mix 97

CIGL-FM is a hot adult contemporary radio station broadcasting at 97.1 FM in Belleville, Ontario with the on-air branding "MIX 97 Quinte's Best Variety".

History

The station first started in 1962 as CJBQ-FM, then changed its callsign to CIGL in 1978. The former CJBQ-FM callsign currently belongs to its sister station CJBQ. The call letters CIGL were often featured with seagulls in logos and advertisements, leading many to conclude that the call letters were a short form for "seagull".

CIGL has long used the resources of CJBQ 800 AM for news and sports, most CJBQ news personnel can also be heard on CIGL (Mix 97)and CJTN-FM (Rock 107). One of the strengths of Quinte Broadcasting stations has been the News Department. Longtime News Director John Ferguson retired in 2006 then returned to broadcastings in 2014 doing news for a new radio station in the area. When Ferguson retired at Quinte Broadcasting he was replaced by Todd Smith who was then replaced by John Spitters. The News Staff includes veteran news reporters and broadcasters John Spitters, David Foot, Mary Thomas, Tim Durkin and Sports Director Jack Miller.

Until 1995 CIGL featured essentially a "Beautiful Music" format playing many instrumental renditions of popular songs by artists such as Percy Faith, Nelson Riddle, Richard Clayderman, Frank Mills and Floyd Cramer. As the popularity of the Beautiful Music format decreased throughout the 1980s all around North America more soft rock vocal music was added, including light songs by Kenny Rogers, Glenn Medieros and many others. In the summer of 1995 the station was re-branded as "Mix 97". Most hosts of the old CIGL did not move to the new Mix 97, most notably midday host Bill Conlon and evening host Art Watkins. Morning show host Matthew Hopcraft and afternoon host Mary-Ellen Keays did join Mix 97 for a short time.

Current morning show host Sean Kelly assumed the role moving from a similar position at CJTN in Trenton. Ingrid Moore joined him shortly after and "Sean and Ingrid" became a popular show in the Quinte area.

During the 2007 provincial election morning show host Sean Kelly was absent from the air pending the results of the vote on election day. Kelly ran for office under the Liberal party banner in Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, located to the north and east of the CIGL listening area. As a result of his defeat in the election he has since returned to his administrative and on-air roles on Mix 97 including hosting the Mix Morning Crew - the most talk in the morning.

Mix 97's current on air line up is Sean Kelly, Orlena Cain, and the Mix morning crew featuring John Spitters with news and Jack Miller with sports, Charity Brown, Chris Wiggins and On Air with Ryan Seacrest, as well as the American Top 40 and [Rick Dees' Weekly Top 20].

CIGL is owned by Quinte Broadcasting.

External links

Coordinates: 44°11′56″N 77°24′18″W / 44.19889°N 77.40500°W