CJBC (AM)

History

The station was originally launched in 1925 as AM 840 CKNC, owned by the Canadian National Carbon Company. In January 1927, the station moved to AM 690, returning to 840 kilohertz a month later. The station then moved to 580 kilohertz in 1928, and to 1030 kilohertz in 1931.

The station was leased and then acquired by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, the forerunner of the modern Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in 1933 and became CRCY, before leaving the airwaves in 1935. The following year, it returned at AM 1420, as a signal booster for CRCT. The station's callsign was changed to CBY in 1938, and to CJBC in 1943.

In 1944, CJBC became the flagship of the CBC's Dominion Network. In 1948, its signal strength was boosted to 50,000 watts, up from its previous strength of 1,000 watts. As a Dominion Network affiliate, the station carried network programming in the evening, which included light entertainment fare and some American programming, and local programming during the day.

CJBC began carrying some French language programming in 1962, initially in the form of a nightly, half-hour newscast at 10 pm. With the closure of the Dominion Network on October 1, 1962, CJBC's French schedule expanded to two hours of programming each evening. The station adopted a French-only schedule when it became a fully fledged Radio-Canada station on October 1, 1964.

The station has been carried on rebroadcasters in Belleville, Kingston and Midland-Penetanguishene since 1977, London since 1978 and Peterborough since 1980. CBEF in Windsor, although officially licensed as a separate station, has also been a de facto rebroadcaster of CJBC since staffing cutbacks in 2009; the station maintained a skeleton staff of just two reporters for local news breaks, while otherwise simulcasting CJBC's programming at all times. Eventually, CBEF would expand its local programming with a morning program and local news bulletins, though otherwise broadcasting a similar schedule as CJBC.

Since 1993, CJBC's Toronto studios have been based at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street. A sister station, CJBC-FM, was launched in 1992 to broadcast Radio-Canada's music network.

In 2011, following the revocation of CKLN-FM's license, the CBC submitted an unsuccessful application to the CRTC to add a nested rebroadcaster of CJBC on 88.1 FM in Toronto with an average effective radiated power of 98 watts and a height above average terrain of 303.4 metres, in order to improve reception in areas of Toronto, due to inefficiencies of the AM signal. On September 11, 2012, the 88.1 FM frequency was awarded to Central Ontario Broadcasting, which would sign on the station as CIND-FM, "Indie88".

Programming

The station's regional morning program is Y'a pas deux matins pareils, weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and its regional afternoon program L'heure de pointe Toronto, weekdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., is also heard on CBEF in Windsor. The station also airs the provincewide program ICI #ONRC weekdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday mornings, the station airs the provincewide morning program Grands Lacs Café. Hosted and produced in Sudbury, with additional contributions from staff in Toronto. The provincewide programs airs on CBON and CJBC, as well as CBEF in Windsor. On all public holidays, L'heure de pointe Toronto from CJBC in or Ça parle au Nord from CBON-FM in Sudbury is heard provincewide (except Ottawa) from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. On some holidays, Y'a pas deux matins pareils or Le matin du Nord from CBON airs on both stations, but on some others holidays, both stations airs their local shows as usual.