CJBC (AM)

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CJBC
City of license Toronto, Ontario
Broadcast area Toronto, Ontario
Branding La Première Chaîne
Frequency 860 kHz (AM)
First air date 1925
Format francophone news/talk
Power 50 kW
Class A
Former callsigns CKNC, CRCY, CBY
Owner CBC
Website Radio-Canada

CJBC is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at AM 860 in Toronto, Ontario. It is the city's affiliate of Radio-Canada's La Première Chaîne network.

The station was originally launched in 1925 as AM 840 CKNC, owned by the Canadian National Carbon Company. In January 1927, the station moved to AM 690, returning to 840 a month later. The station then moved to 580 in 1928, and to 1030 in 1931.

The station was leased and then acquired by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, the forerunner of the modern Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in 1933 and became CRCY, before leaving the airwaves in 1935. The following year, it returned at AM 1420, as a signal booster for CRCT. The station's callsign was changed to CBY in 1938, and to CJBC in 1943.

In 1944, CJBC became the flagship of the CBC's Dominion Network. In 1948, its signal strength was boosted to 50,000 watts, up from its previous strength of 1,000 watts. As a Dominion Network affiliate, the station carried network programming in the evening, which included light entertainment fare and some American programming, and local programming during the day.

CJBC began carrying some French language programming in 1962, initially in the form of a nightly, half-hour newscast at 10 pm. With the closure of the Dominion Network on October 1, 1962, CJBC's French schedule expanded to two hours of programming each evening. The station adopted a French-only schedule when it became a fully fledged Radio-Canada station on October 1, 1964.

The station has been carried on re-transmitters in Belleville and Kingston and Midland-Penetanguishene since 1977, London since 1978 and Peterborough since 1980.

Since 1993, CJBC's Toronto studios have been based at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street.

[edit] Transmitters

City of licence Frequency Callsign
Belleville 94.3 FM CJBC-1-FM
Kingston 99.5 FM CJBC-2-FM
Midland-Penetanguishene 96.5 FM CJBC-3-FM
London 99.3 FM CJBC-4-FM
Peterborough 106.3 FM CJBC-5-FM

[edit] External links