Broadcast area Winnipeg, Manitoba Frequency 1290 kHz (AM) Format Sports | Branding TSN Radio 1290 First air date November 1, 1963 | |
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Slogan Home of the Hockey Experts | ||
CFRW is an AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Broadcasting on 1290 kHz and owned by Bell Media, it carries a sports radio format branded as TSN Radio 1290. CFRW is co-located with its sister stations CKMM-FM and CFWM-FM on 1445 Pembina Highway. CFRW is the flagship station of the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League.
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History
CFRW first went on the air as CJQM, an easy listening station owned by Winnipeg Broadcast Associates Ltd. (a division of Vancouver Broadcast Associates, the original owners of CHQM and CHQM-FM in Vancouver) at 1470 kHz, on November 1, 1963. Shortly afterward, CJQM-FM signed on to simulcast its AM sister's programming. Winnipeg Broadcast Associates sold both stations in 1965 to QM Winnipeg Ltd., which was later purchased by ]Radio Winnipeg Ltd.{ The callsign changed to CFRW in 1969. Jim Pattison's CJOR Ltd. (the owner of Vancouver station CJOR) bought CFRW from the bankrupt Radio Winnipeg in 1970.
Purchased by CHUM in 1974, the station's frequency changed in 1976 to the more accessible 1290 kHz, although the station branded itself as "13 CFRW". Some notable personalities on-air during the CHUM ownership include: Ron Able, Gary Christian, Dick Reeves, Tim "Trucker" Bradley, KC Foxxe, Ralph "Racoon" Carney, Franc Cappozolo, Lee Marshall, Stu Ferguson, Pat Cardinal and Steve Jackson. Al Gibson was News Director with notables such as Byron Scott (George Gordon - recently retired from 680 News in Toronto), Tom Mark (recently, morning news anchor at CKNW Vancouver) and Jeff Murray (Feldman) as Sports Director. Bob Laine (popular disc jockey in CHUM'S hey day, now deceased) was transferred to CFRW from CHUM to be station manager. CFRW played a contemporary music format until 1987, when it switched to soft rock, with a callsign and branding change to CIFX ("1290 Fox"). The station changed formats several more times, including to talk radio in 1995, pop standards in 1999 and sports (as part of CHUM's now-defunct "The Team" network) in 2001. The CFRW callsign and oldies format returned in August 2002, competing with KY-58 in the format before that station moved to the FM dial and changed to an adult contemporary format in 2004. CFRW airs all games of the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team. For several years in the early 1980s it broadcast Winnipeg Blue Bombers football, with play-by-play voice Ron Oakes and Robb Glazier.
In 2007, CFRW, along with the other CHUM stations, were sold to CTVglobemedia.
CFRW reverted to an all-sports format as Sports Radio 1290 on September 27, 2010; much of its programming at the outset was provided by ESPN Radio, though it also carried The Jim Rome Show. However, since the station's relaunch, the station has progressively added original programming, including shows that originated from other local radio stations, such as the Illegal Curve Hockey Show and Hustler & Lawless.
Three months later, CTVglobemedia would relaunch the oldies/classic hits format on CHIQ-FM.
On July 21, 2011, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that Bell Media had reached broadcast rights deals with the Winnipeg Jets for both television and radio coverage of the returning NHL team—with TSN becoming its television broadcaster, and CFRW becoming the official radio broadcaster of the Jets. Since 2015, CFRW has also been the radio and online broadcaster for the Manitoba Moose, the Jets' American Hockey League affiliate.
On October 5, 2011, the station was re-branded as part of the TSN Radio network, becoming TSN Radio 1290.
Live sports
TSN Radio 1290 is the flagship station for the following teams' radio broadcasts:
TSN Radio 1290 also features live coverage of the following: