City Cobourg, Ontario Frequency 103.1 MHz (FM) Format Classical music | Branding "Classical 103.1" First air date 1979 | |
Slogan Cobourg's classical music station | ||
CFMX-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts classical music at 103.1 FM in Cobourg, Ontario and serving the Peterborough area. The station is branded as Classical 103.1. It is a semi-satellite of Toronto's CFMZ, repeating most of that station's programming as well as airing some local programming.
The station was launched in 1979 by D. B. Williamson, the owner of Cobourg's CHUC. The station was plagued with financial and technical problems in its early years, and in 1981 its license was briefly suspended by the CRTC. Williamson's company went into receivership in 1983, and the station was acquired by businessman Martin Rosenthal.
In 1988, the station added a transmitter in Mississauga on 96.3 FM, which was moved to Toronto in 1993. The station's operations eventually became centralized in Toronto by 1997, with a small sales office remaining in Cobourg. For all intents and purposes, the Toronto rebroadcaster was now the primary station.
In September 2006, Canadian broadcaster Moses Znaimer purchased the station, changing the call sign to CFMZ to reflect his initials. Toronto's CKFM briefly attempted to change its call sign to CFMX (reflecting its branding as "Mix 99.9") after Znaimer adopted the CFMZ call sign, but was forced to revert to CKFM because the Toronto transmitter had kept its original CFMX-FM-1 call sign.
In September 2007, Znaimer also announced a deal to acquire CHWO, a pop standards station in Oakville.
In 2008, the CRTC also approved a license change that resulted in the Toronto rebroadcaster being upgraded to a full-fledged station. As part of the change, the CFMZ call sign moved to Toronto, while the Cobourg station reclaimed the original CFMX call sign. All music programming on both stations originates from Toronto, although the Cobourg station originates 24 hours per week of locally oriented talk and spoken word programming.
The station was originally owned by Znaimer's privately held MZ Media Inc., but as part of a reorganization of Znaimer's media assets, the station was transferred to the publicly traded ZoomerMedia in 2010.