City Toronto, Ontario Slogan Today's Best Music First air date September 1, 1963 | Branding 104.5 CHUM FM Frequency 104.5 MHz (FM) Format Hot AC | |
 | ||
CHUM-FM is a Canadian radio station licensed to Toronto, Ontario and operated by Bell Media. It broadcasts at 104.5 MHz with a hot adult contemporary format. CHUM's studios are located at 250 Richmond Street West in the Entertainment District, while its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower. The station also broadcasts nationwide on Shaw Direct channel 872, Bell TV channel 990, Bell Fibe TV channel 978, and locally on Rogers Cable channel 925.
Contents
CHUM-FM is consistently one of Toronto's most popular stations according to Numeris' radio ratings, and is currently the third most listened-to station in the market after Rogers Media-owned Adult Contemporary station CHFI, and CBC Radio One's CBLA.
History
CHUM-FM started broadcasting on September 1, 1963 with an ERP of 18,000 watts and a transmitter and studio at 1331 Yonge Street. It aired a classical music format, the first station in Canada to do so. On March 21, 1966, their ERP was increased to 54,000 watts. In 1968, CHUM-FM received approval for a change in its transmitter location and increase in power to 100,000 watts. The transmitter was to be moved to the top of the Manufacturer's Life Building at 250 Bloor Street East.
At Midnight on July 1, 1968, CHUM-FM changed formats to progressive rock, a forerunner to today's adult album alternative format, by playing a wide range of music ranging from world music and jazz to classical and folk. The station also aired public affairs programming, such as In Toronto. The station featured many famous Canadian radio personalities such as Larry Green, Walter Michaels, Steve Harris, Pete and Geets, Larry Wilson, David Marsden, David Pritchard and actor Rick Moranis.
On December 14, 1973, the station was authorized, along with other Toronto radio and TV stations, to move their transmitter to the top of the CN Tower. The new transmitter was turned on on May 31, 1976 with a reduced ERP of 40,000 watts.
In 1978, CHUM-FM created a Top 30 Album Chart to complement sister station CHUM-AM's Singles Chart. A television version of the countdown was later broadcast on Citytv, featuring music videos for most of the songs in the countdown; the TV version was discontinued in January 2008, following Rogers Communications' acquisition of Citytv.
In June 1984, the station started evolving towards adult contemporary, with the shift completed by that September, though the station would retain a rock lean through the remainder of the decade. Current morning show host Roger Ashby would join the station from 1050 CHUM on September 2, 1985. Rick Hodge (who had been doing sports updates on the FM's morning show since 1974) and Marilyn Denis would join the show in June 1986, and the show became an instant success, making them some of the best known broadcasters in Toronto radio. Throughout the next two decades, CHUM-FM would usually be the highest rated station in the Toronto market, though it would occasionally alternate with CHFI, who was usually ranked a very close second, and would occasionally dip to third place behind CFRB.
The station evolved towards its current Hot Adult Contemporary format in 1990.
On May 26, 1998, CHUM-FM was granted a license to broadcast in Digital audio broadcasting using the Eureka-147 system. The transmitter was installed on the CN Tower and broadcast at 1456.304 MHz with an ERP of 5,084 watts.
Since the mid-1990s, CHUM-FM's playlist has been noticeably more open to periodic, carefully selected rhythmic crossover songs, including R&B, reggae, hip hop, and dance music, while keeping some 1980s, 1990s and 2000s songs, as well as standard pop/rock material that forms the Hot AC format. The reason for this was to balance younger and older audiences. Many hot adult contemporary stations in Canada have followed this pattern and resulted in audience growth nationwide, making Hot AC the country's most listened-to format. The closest local competition musically within the format came from CKFM-FM (99.9 Mix FM), which leaned mostly younger.
CHUM-FM also carried American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest from 2004 to 2006. CIDC-FM and CKFM have been the Toronto affiliates for the show since then.
At the 25th Anniversary Canadian Music Industry Awards, held March 8, 2007, CHUM-FM was honoured as Station of the Year, Program Director of the year for CHUM-FM PD Rob Farina, and air talent of the year for Roger, Rick & Marilyn. Former CHUM President Jim Waters was inducted into the Music Industry Hall of Fame that same evening.
VP Programming Rob Farina moved to Astral Media as EVP of Content in 2009. David Corey, ex-APD at Kiss 108 in Boston, took over as program director that same year.
On June 22, 2007, CTVglobemedia purchased CHUM-FM and most of the other assets of CHUM Limited, the station's owners since their sign-on in 1963, following approval by the CRTC, while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Communications.
On June 23, 2008, Rick Hodge resigned from both CHUM-FM and 1050 CHUM to pursue other opportunities. Roger Ashby and Marilyn Denis continue to host mornings, which would then be titled Roger, Darren & Marilyn (when Darren B. Lamb joined the show after a stint of afternoon drive host); Lamb left the station on September 23, 2015, with mornings currently hosted by Ashby and Denis. Hodge currently works at sister CHRE-FM in St. Catharines, Ontario, and Lamb is now at CHFI.
Also in 2008, CTVglobemedia announced they had sold 1331 Yonge Street to a condominium developer and had acquired a new property, 250 Richmond Street West, to serve as the new home of CHUM and CHUM-FM. On August 18, 2009, CHUM-FM left 1331 Yonge Street, ending 46 years at its historic home. The site is slated to become a new condominium complex. The new building is adjacent (and connected) to Bell Media's headquarters at 299 Queen Street West (which also formerly housed the studios of Citytv).
Until late 2009, CHUM-FM continued to be the most listened to and most influential radio station in Canada with over 1,166,000 weekly listeners according to the BBM data released on December 3, 2007. But in December 2009, when CJEZ-FM flipped from adult contemporary to adult hits, adult contemporary rival CHFI became the most-listened-to radio station in Toronto. During the 2005-2009 season, CHFI continued to usually beat CHUM as the top-rated radio station in Toronto, although CHUM had unseated CHFI in some books. Also in 2009, CHUM-FM dropped most modern adult contemporary artists and heavy amounts of older songs from its playlist, and began leaning towards rhythmic AC. By 2011, CHUM-FM dropped most rhythmic artists and now patterns itself to be more of a mainstream Hot AC station. At this point, CHUM-FM's playlist closely resembled CHFI's, who began phasing in more currents and rhythmic content.
On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including CHUM Radio. When the deal was finalized on April 1, 2011, CTVglobemedia became Bell Media, and likewise CHUM Radio became Bell Media Radio, effectively retiring the last remaining piece of the former CHUM Limited company. CHUM Radio had been the only division of the company to retain the CHUM name following the acquisition of CHUM Limited by CTVglobemedia in 2007.
Beginning in the summer of 2016, CHUM-FM began to ramp up advertising for new Bell Media parter brand iHeartRadio. Since then, the launch of iHeart Canada brought on some changes to CHUM-FM, including a new website, and a newly added "iHeart" sign to the CHUM building at 250 Richmond Street West underneath the famous CHUM neon sign. Also since the launch of iHeart, CHUM-FM has experienced a shift in programming, dropping most of its 1980s and 1990s songs from the playlist, focusing on playing more current hits, and a variety of recurrent songs from 1997 to the present.
On January 26, 2017, after nearly 40 years with CHUM-FM, midday host Ingrid Schumacher was released from the station.
Currently, CHUM-FM competes with AC station CHFI-FM, and Top 40 stations CKFM-FM, CIDC-FM and CKIS-FM, as well as, to a lesser extent, Hamilton-based Hot AC-formatted CING-FM, and Buffalo-based Hot AC formatted station WTSS.
On-Air Personalities
CHUM-FM's current host lineup includes Roger Ashby & Marilyn Denis, Ashley Greco, Meredith Shaw, Richie Favalaro, Taylor Kaye, and Kat Carter.
Roger & Marilyn
CHUM-FM's morning show has been hosted by Roger Ashby and Marilyn Denis for 30 years. The show runs from 5:30 AM until 9:00 AM. The show originally featured Rick Hodge as an additional host until he resigned in 2008; after Hodge's resignation, Darren B. Lamb became a co-host, until he too resigned in September 2015.
The program has had a consistent hold as the highest-ranked and most listened-to morning show in the Toronto market. Despite the station's overall market share battle with CHFI, Roger & Marilyn's average minute audience is over 50% higher than CHFI's morning show, which is hosted by former co-host Darren B. Lamb and Maureen Holloway. As of December 2016, Roger and Marilyn still holds its spot as the #1 morning show in Toronto.
The Sound Lounge
On February 5, 2007, CHUM-FM became the flagship station to a syndicated interactive evening show titled, The Sound Lounge. The show handed over control of the content to the user's hands by an all listener chosen playlist, listener generated remixes and mash ups, and the opportunity to interact with listeners coast to coast via email, SMS, and voice. The show was originally hosted by Cory Kimm. Kimm then moved to Winnipeg and became part of the morning show on CHIQ-FM. Chris Biggs became the new host on September 11, 2007. Biggs moved to CKFM-FM and Richie Favalaro became the new host in early 2008. The show aired on CHUM Radio-O&O Hot AC affiliates in Halifax, Brockville, Peterborough, Kingston, Winnipeg, Calgary and Victoria. On June 16, 2008, the show was cancelled.
Specialty Shows
CHUM Chart Top 40: A weekly countdown of the 40 biggest songs in Toronto. The CHUM Chart Top 40 (originally the "CHUM Chart Top 30" until July 9, 2016) began airing on January 10, 1998, and is a successor to the original CHUM Chart Top 30 that was aired on CHUM AM and hosted by now-morning show host Roger Ashby. The CHUM Chart Top 40 updates every weekend, airs on Saturdays at 9 AM and Sundays at 9 PM, and is hosted by Richie Favalaro.
90 Minute Workday Kickoff: Weekdays 9-10:30AM after Roger and Marilyn. 90 minutes of Today's Best Music non-stop and commercial free.
Top 5@8: Weekdays 8PM. Hosted by Meredith Shaw. The top 5 most requested songs of the day.
The Weekend Blowout: Saturdays 10 PM-2 AM. Hosted by Ashley Greco and DJ Jay Michaels. Mix show of Today's Best Music.
The Back In The Day Brunch: Sundays 9-11AM. Now hosted by Meredith Shaw. Playing music from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
Contests
CHUM-FM airs numerous contests throughout the year, including:
As of January 2017, both Beat The Bank and Breakfast In Barbados are on hiatus. It is currently unknown when they will make a return to CHUM-FM.