CJFM-FM

CJFM-FM
City Montreal, Quebec
Broadcast area Greater Montreal
Branding Virgin Radio 96
Slogan Montreal`s #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 95.9 FM
First air date 1962
Format Top 40/CHR
ERP 41,200 watts
Class C1
Transmitter coordinates 45°30′20.16″N 73°35′30.12″W / 45.5056000°N 73.5917000°W / 45.5056000; -73.5917000
Callsign meaning CJAD-FM
Owner Bell Media
(Bell Media Radio G.P.)
Sister stations CHOM, CITE-FM, CJAD, CKGM, CKMF-FM
Website Virgin Radio 96

CJFM-FM is an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it broadcasts on 95.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 41,200 watts (class C1) using an omnidirectional antenna located atop Mount Royal, while its studios are located at the Bell Media building at 1717 Rene-Levesque Boulevard East in Montreal.

History

The station originally went on the air in 1948 as CJAD-FM. It was a simulcast of Montreal's AM station CJAD. CJAD-FM was short-lived and went off the air in the 1950s.

The station was revived in 1962. Although initially intending to sign as CJAD-FM, it finally signed on with the CJFM calls and separate programming - an innovation at the time. CJFM was one of four FM stations which came on the air in the first half of the 1960s using common transmitting facilities on the new Mount Royal tower. The other stations were CFCF-FM on 92.5, CJMS-FM on 94.3, and CKGM-FM on 97.7.

"CJFM 96" or "FM 96" had an album-oriented rock, pop and variety format throughout the 1980s. By 1992, CJFM-FM changed monikers to Mix 96, and altered its format to a more top 40-leaning hot AC format.

From 1962 to 2007, CJFM was owned by Standard Broadcasting. Standard Broadcasting sold the station to Astral Media in 2007. In 2013, Astral was acquired by Bell Media.[1]

Virgin Radio

Mix 96 logo

On December 4, 2008, Astral announced that CJFM, as with sister stations CKQB-FM in Ottawa and CKZZ-FM in Vancouver, would be rebranded as a Virgin Radio station effective January 12, 2009.[2][3] This is in addition to an existing Virgin Radio station, CKFM-FM in Toronto.

On January 12, at 4 PM, the station changed monikers to "Virgin Radio 96." The final song played on Mix 96 was "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by Great Big Sea, while the first song played on "Virgin" was Madonna's "Like a Virgin". CJFM kept the hot AC format and most of its on-air staff it held while it was Mix 96, albeit with several programming changes. By July 2016, CJFM made the transition to Top 40/CHR, putting it in line with the "Virgin Radio" branding that Bell Media has been expanding in Canada.

Previously, when CIDC-FM in Toronto went exclusively top 40, CJFM-FM was the only radio station in Canada playing dance top 40 music daily, as the station airs dance shows nightly Sundays to Thursdays from midnight to 3am, and Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm to 5am. Since then, CIDC has moved back toward a Dance-leaning direction.

Annual events

Shave To Save was a fundraiser conceived in 2001 by the station. Every October, Virgin Radio jocks visit offices and schools, where they shave heads for a minimum $2000 donation. The proceeds go to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.

Virgin Festival is held every summer in Montreal.

The Top 96 songs of the year are played every year, on New Years Day.

History of #1s

These songs hit #1 on Virgin Radio's Top 96 Songs:

References

  1. ↑ "CRTC approves Bell-Astral merger". CBC. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2008/04/c7123.html
  3. ↑ http://matin.branchez-vous.com/nouvelles/2008/12/mix96_deviendra_virgin_radio.html
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