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The Closing of the oldest Radio Station in the World

The end of an era has come. The oldest am radio station in North America shut its broadcast on Friday 29, 2010. Today as of 10 am French am radio station 690 closed down and English radio station 940 which was famous for Montreal’s greatest hits ceased to broadcast at 7:00 pm this evening.

Corus Entertainment shut down its Montreal am radio stations because they were no longer profitable. People under the age of 50 are just not tuning into AM radio anymore. There is nothing to hold the interest of young people. The stations were geared to the older crowd. Young people prefer the DVD’s, utube and all the latest techno gadgets. There is no appeal for simple old am radio anymore.

General manager of am 940, Mark Dickey said it was a tough decision to make, the employees were hardworking and dedicated and it was hard to let some of them go. However, the economic times dictated the decision. The stations were not profitable. The company will be returning their radiobroadcasting license to the CRTC, the government regulation board for broadcast media.

Actually it was not only the quality of music affected, the French station am 690 was an all news station and still it could not survive. However, not everyone will lose his or her jobs. The French journalists will keep their jobs and the news forecasters will migrate over to the French radio station 98.5 fm.

Two positions will be lost at the English am 940 station. The situation is troubling for Montreal radio broadcasting as they go off air, but according to Jean Lapierre a broadcaster political analyst, and former politician, the situation is much worst for small areas outside of Montreal, which will not have any more local radio news channels.

Am 940 is North America’s oldest am radio station which made its debut in 1918. It started with experimental broadcasts under the name of CINW. The station known as XWA, began on May 20, 1920. It may very well be the first Am radio station in the World. KDKAm from Pitsburgh, Pennsylvania and WWJ of Detroit, Michigan also make the same claim. In November of the same year the station changed its name to CFCF and has been Canada’s best and finest radio station every since. It’s latest name change is am 940 radio.

Some of the notable radio celebraties include Gordon Sinclair, Dick Irvin Jr, (Canadian Hockey Hall of fame inductee – broadcasting category). John Robertson, and Dave Boxer.

Through the years the station changed names and changed format, including pop, golden oldies, country and news and talk radio. From 1997 – 1999 the station was called CIQC and was syndicated in the United States. It later switched to the higher megahertz am 940.

The station will be missed taking with it a hundred year old legacy.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CINW

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100129/mtl_940_690_cancelled100129/20100129/?hub=MontrealHome