Frequency 91.9 MHz (FM) Format Sports talk | Branding 91.9 Sports First air date December 2004 | |
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CKLX-FM is a French language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by RNC Media, its studios are located on West Laurier Avenue in the Le Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood of Montreal. Its transmitter, located atop Mount Royal, operates on 91.9 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radiated power of 1780 watts and a peak effective radiated power of 4675 watts (class B1).
History
The station had a smooth jazz format from its inception in December 2004 until August 2012, first as Couleur Jazz before being re-branded as Planète Jazz 91,9 in the summer of 2008.
On January 13, 2012, RNC Media applied to the CRTC to amend its licence conditions to allow 50% of its programming to be spoken-word and talk programming, with the remainder being its existing smooth jazz format (though its license also included other forms of jazz) as well as blues and other special interest music genres; its application hinted that the station would take a direction more towards its Quebec City sister station, CHOI-FM.
On August 20, 2012 at 5:30AM, CKLX-FM flipped to the new CHOI Radio X format, sharing the branding with its sister station. The station primarily aired spoken-word talk radio programming, but aired music programming during certain dayparts to remain in compliance with its license at the time. These included blocks of jazz programming on evening and weekend mornings, and rock music programming on weekends under the name La Garage. The hybrid format remained in effect pending its approval to allow a mainly-spoken-word format. The station's first effort to gain approval was denied by the CRTC on March 14, 2013. On April 8, 2014, the CRTC approved CKLX's request to discard its music requirements as part of its license renewal, in exchange for a requirement to carry a minimum of 50% spoken word and talk programming. While CKLX's new license took effect on September 1, 2014, the format change went into effect immediately.
On September 9, 2014, the station was rebranded as Radio 9. A new on-air lineup was adopted, including Louis Lemieux, previously from Ici RDI. However, despite the changes, the station's ratings remained lackluster, due to continuous competition from the region's leading francophone talk station, CHMP-FM. As a result, the station dismissed four of its on-air hosts, including Lemieux, in June 2015. At that time, CKLX announced that it would flip to an all-sports format; however, they would continue to face competition from CHMP, as that station had the rights to most of Montreal's professional sports teams.
CKLX adopted its new format and branding, 91.9 Sport, on August 31, 2015. Its weekday lineup initially consisted of sports talk programs throughout the day, followed by condensed highlight programs during the nighttime hours. Les légendes du rock continues to air on weekends. Several personalities from CKAC's previous sports talk era joined the station to host programs on the new lineup, including Michel Langevin (who co-hosts the morning show Du sport ... le matin! with Enrico Ciccone), and Jean-Charles Lajoie (who hosts its noon and drive-time programs). In August 2016, RNC Media announced the addition of new live programs, including the weeknight Sports Extra with Meeker Guerrier (which will also feature post-game coverage of Montreal Canadiens games), and weekend evening Le 5 @ 7. Numeris ratings indicated that the new sports talk format had achieved the station's highest ratings in five years, with a 2.4% share.