City Winnipeg, Manitoba Frequency 106.1 MHz Format CHR/Top 40 | Branding Energy 106 First air date July 29, 2011 | |
Slogan Winnipeg's New #1 Hit Music Station | ||
CHWE-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 106.1 FM in Winnipeg, Manitoba owned by Evanov Communications. The station broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format branded as Energy 106. The station broadcasts from 520 Corydon Avenue in Winnipeg with sister stations CKJS and CFJL-FM.
History
On May 8, 2009, Evanov Communications was granted approval by the CRTC to launch a new Winnipeg radio station on the 106.1 FM frequency. At first it was rumored that the company was going to launch another "Jewel" radio station (similar to CKDX-FM and various other stations around Ontario) as the station was registered as CFJL-FM.
On June 8, 2011, the station began testing its signal by playing non-stop commercial free music with a new music genre each week. Listeners could email the radio station to report any signal interruptions and suggest the genre of music that they wanted it to play before it launched on July 29.
On July 29, 2011 at 12pm, CFJL-FM launched with a CHR/Top 40 format as "Energy 106 - Winnipeg's New #1 Hit Music Station" playing 10,000 commercial free songs in a row. The first song played on Energy 106 was "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer. Starting on October 14, Energy 106 began broadcasting live club music from local Winnipeg nightclubs Friday and Saturday nights. On October 19, the station added a full-time airstaff.
On November 26, 2011, CFJL-FM changed its call letters to CHWE-FM, to match the "Energy" moniker. The CFJL-FM call sign would move to its sister station, "100.7 The Breeze", which dropped their classic rock format that same day; that station would become "Jewel 101 FM" in January 2014.
The station's dance-heavy direction was paying off in the BBMs, where in its first book it took a 6.9% share of the audience.