City London, Ontario Branding FM96 Frequency 95.9 MHz (FM) | Broadcast area Southwestern Ontario Slogan London's Best Rock First air date May 15, 1948 | |
CFPL-FM, or FM96, is a radio station owned by Corus Entertainment and based in London, Ontario, Canada that transmits at 179,000 watts at 95.9 MHz on the FM dial. Due to the strength of FM96's signal, on some days under clear atmospheric conditions it can be heard as far west as Whitmore Lake, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, as far south as Cleveland and Ashtabula, Ohio or as far north as Northern Ontario on a typical car radio. CFPL-FM currently primarily plays an active rock format with a slight lean towards alternative rock.
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History
Canada's third-oldest FM station, originally signed on in 1948 at 93.5 MHz as a simulcast station of CFPL AM. The FM station started airing separate programming in 1949, the same year it started broadcasting at 95.9 MHz at 4,440 watts. The "FPL" call sign letters stand for its original owner, the London Free Press newspaper.
In 1961, CFPL-FM boosted its signal strength to 179,000 watts. During the 1960s and early 1970s, CFPL-FM broadcast classical music as a CBC affiliate. In 1972, the station disaffiliated from the CBC, and adopted a variety format under the name "Stereo 96", which included various music formats and some talk programming. In 1979, the station became known as FM96 and the format changed to adult contemporary under the "Rock 'n' Easy" moniker. FM96 had the slogan "Music Above All" during part of the 1980s. CFPL shifted to rock in the 1980s.
In 2006, FM96 was named Station of The Year and won the BDS Cutting Edge Award.
On August 14, 2006, FM96 "pulled the plug". They played all acoustic songs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to remember the Northeast Blackout of 2003, and raise awareness on power conservation.
On August 24, 2007, FM96 re-launched their website to give it a more modern layout, similar to other Corus owned stations.
FM96 Rocks
FM96 Rocks was a concert held on September 15, 2006 in downtown London by FM96. It was held at the corner of King and Clarence Street. Bands that performed included:
On June 14, 2007, FM96 announced the bands participating in FM96 Rocks 2. The shows were held on August 4 and 5 at the Libro London Balloon Festival, and featured the following acts:
Coverage in Erie
As mentioned above, CFPL's signal travels across Lake Erie into the United States, and notably the Erie, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. The station even scored a 1.0 share in the fall 2006 Arbitron ratings book in Erie, where the station could be heard clearly just about anywhere in that metropolitan area, until the religious low-power station WXNM-LP signed on in Erie on 95.9 MHz. As of summer 2012, CFPL's signal can still be received fairly well in the vast majority of Erie's neighborhoods and suburbs. This effectively gives Greater Erie a second outlet for mainstream rock radio, alongside longtime Erie staple Rocket 101.