 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Southern Ontario |
| Frequency | 860kHz |
| Branding | Ici Radio-Canada Première |
| Programming | |
| Language | French |
| Format | Public radio;news/talk |
| Network | Ici Radio-Canada Première |
| Affiliations | CBC Dominion Network (1944–1962) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| History | |
First air date | October 5, 1925 (1925-10-05) |
Former call signs |
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Former frequencies |
|
Call sign meaning | Jarvis Street Baptist Church (which set up an early radio station in Toronto) |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| Class | A (clear-channel) |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 43°34′30″N79°49′3″W / 43.57500°N 79.81750°W /43.57500; -79.81750 |
| Repeater | 90.3 CJBC-FM HD2 (Toronto) |
| Links | |
| Website | ici |
CJBC (860kHz) is aFrench language, non-commercial,public radio station inToronto, Ontario. It is theIci Radio-Canada Première Network's outlet for much ofSouthern Ontario. The studios are in theCanadian Broadcasting Centre onFront Street West inDowntown Toronto.
CJBC is aClass A station. It runs at 50,000 watts, the maximum power for Canadian AM stations. It uses anon-directional antenna. Thetransmitter is on Auburn Road inMilton nearOntario Highway 401.[1] CJBC programming is heard on five rebroadcasters around Southern Ontario.
The stationsigned on the air in 1925. Its originalcall sign was CKNC and it broadcast on 840 kHz. It was owned by the Canadian National Carbon Company. In January 1927, the station moved to 690 kHz, returning to 840 kHz a month later. The station then moved to 580 in 1928, and to 1030 in 1931.
In 1933, the station was leased and then acquired by theCanadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, the forerunner of the modernCanadian Broadcasting Corporation. It became CRCY, before leaving the airwaves in 1935. The following year, it returned on 1420 kHz, as a signal booster forCRCT. The station's call sign was changed to CBY in 1938. In 1941, with the enactment of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the station moved to 1010 kHz.
A previous radio station with the call sign CJBC was owned and operated by theJarvis Street Baptist Church from 1925 until 1933. That station wentdark in 1933, after the government of Canada withdrew all religious broadcasting licenses.[citation needed]
The CJBC call letters were subsequently acquired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to replace CBY. They were transferred on November 15, 1943.[2] The call signs for all other CBC and Radio-Canada stations in major cities begin with "CB".
In 1944, CJBC became theflagship station of the CBC'sDominion Network. On September 1, 1948, CJBC moved to its current frequency, 860 kHz, exchanging frequencies with the privately ownedCFRB, which moved to 1010. CJBC's signal strength was boosted to 50,000 watts, up from its previous strength of 1,000 watts.
As a Dominionnetwork affiliate, the station carried network programming in the evening, which includedlight entertainment fare and some American shows. Local programming and news was heard during the day.
CJBC began carrying someFrench language programming in 1962, initially in the form of a nightly, half-hour newscast. With the closure of the Dominion Network on October 1, 1962, CJBC's French schedule expanded to two hours of programming each evening.[3] The station adopted a French-only schedule when it became a fully fledged Radio-Canada station on October 1, 1964.[4]
Federal Member of ParliamentRalph Cowan attempted to fight the changeover, arguing that since the French language had no legal status outside of Quebec, the station's conversion to French was inappropriate and illegal.[5] However, his case was dismissed by theOntario Supreme Court in 1965 on grounds oflegal standing, as Cowan could not show material harm from the format change.[6]
The station has been carried on rebroadcasters inBelleville,Kingston andMidland-Penetanguishene since 1977,London since 1978, andPeterborough since 1980. CJBC also had rebroadcasters under the CJBC call sign that served most of Northern Ontario. Those were changed over toCBON-FM programming out ofSudbury after that station signed on in 1978.
CBEF inWindsor, although officially licensed as a separate station, has also been ade facto rebroadcaster of CJBC. Staffing cutbacks in 2009 resulted in only limited programming originating in Windsor. The station maintained a skeleton staff of just two reporters for local news breaks, while otherwise simulcasting CJBC's programming the rest of the time.[7] Eventually, CBEF expanded its local programming with a morning program and local news bulletins, though otherwise broadcasting a similar schedule as CJBC.[8]
On July 8, 2024, the CRTC published applications by the CBC to reassign the London rebroadcaster, CJBC-4-FM, to CBEF, following a request by a coalition of Francophone groups in that area to receive the Windsor station's programming.[9][10]
Asister station,CJBC-FM 90.3, was launched in 1992, to broadcast Radio-Canada'sFM music network. Since 1993, the CJBC studios have been based at theCanadian Broadcasting Centre onFront Street West inDowntown Toronto.
In 2011, following the revocation ofCKLN-FM's licence, the CBC submitted an unsuccessful application to the CRTC to add a nestedrebroadcaster of CJBC on 88.1 FM in Toronto. It would have an averageeffective radiated power (ERP) of 98 watts and aheight above average terrain (HAAT) of 303.4 metres. The rebroadcaster would help improve reception in areas of Toronto, due to inefficiencies of the AM signal.[11]
On September 11, 2012, the 88.1 FM frequency was awarded to Central Ontario Broadcasting, which launched a station on 88.1 asCIND-FM, "Indie88".[12] Beginning in 2020, CJBC's weekday morning and afternoondrive time programs weresimulcast on CJBC-FM 90.3, which carriesIci Musique network programming the other hours of the week, with a full-time simulcast later added on 90.3 HD2.
The station's regional morning program isY'a pas deux matins pareils, and its regional afternoon programDans la mosaïque, is also heard on CBEF in Windsor. On Saturdays, CJBC airs the provincewide morning programÀ échelle humaine, which also airs onCBON-FM inSudbury and CBEF.
On public holidays,Pas comme d'habitude is heard provincewide (except Ottawa). On some holidays,Y'a pas deux matins pareils orLe matin du Nord from CBON-FM airs on both stations, but on some other holidays, both stations either air their local shows as usual or carry CBEF'sMatins sans frontières.
| City of licence | Identifier | Frequency | Power | Class | RECNet | CRTC Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville | CJBC-1-FM | 94.3 MHz | 34,950watts | B | Query | 92-764 |
| Kingston | CJBC-2-FM | 99.5 MHz | 1,560 watts | A | Query | |
| London | CJBC-4-FM | 99.3 MHz | 22,500 watts | B | Query | |
| Penetanguishene | CJBC-3-FM | 96.5 MHz | 15,300 watts | B | Query | |
| Peterborough | CJBC-5-FM | 106.3 MHz | 13,000 watts | B | Query |
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