 | |
| Broadcast area | Greater Vancouver |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 103.5MHz (FM) (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Move 103.5 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Adult contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2:Pure Country HD3: Silent (previouslyCFTE) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| CFBT-FM,CIVT-DT | |
| History | |
First air date | August 10,1960 |
Call sign meaning | Canada'sHighestQualityMusic |
| Technical information | |
| Class | C |
| ERP | 53,000watts average 100,000watts peak Horizontal polarization only |
| HAAT | 617.6 metres (2,026 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 49°21′15″N122°57′30″W / 49.354252°N 122.958308°W /49.354252; -122.958308 (CHQM-FM Tower) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | iheartradio.ca/move/vancouver |
CHQM-FM (103.5FM) is a Canadianradio station inVancouver,British Columbia. It broadcasts with aneffective radiated power of 100,000watts from atransmitter onMount Seymour and airs anadult contemporaryformat. It is owned byBell Media. CHQM's studio is located at750 Burrard Street inDowntown Vancouver.
The station is carried onShaw Direct channel 509, and also carried on Telus Optik TV channel 7025.
CHQM-FM signed on the air on August 10,1960 with a mainly instrumentaleasy listening format, several months after its originalAM sister station, CHQM (whose programming CHQM-FM mainly simulcast), first went on-air on December 7, 1959. The original owner of CHQM-AM and -FM was Vancouver Broadcast Associates Ltd., headed by Bill Bellman and Jack Stark, with the stations' studios and offices, then located on 1134Burrard Street.
On November 4, 1961, CHQM-FM began broadcasting in stereo, and was authorized by theBoard of Broadcast Governors (predecessor of theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to increase its transmission power from 18,950 watts to 100,000 in 1963. The transmitter site was moved from Grouse Mountain to Mount Seymour at this time. CHQM-FM was the second private radio station in Canada to transmit in stereo (afterCFRB-FM/Toronto), and it was the first in the nation to transmit an SCMO subcarrier ("Q Music"). This subcarrier was used to transmit background music to stores and businesses throughout the Lower Mainland, and it helped support the FM station during the difficult first two decades when FM audiences were small. Parent company Vancouver Broadcast Associates changed its corporate name to Q Broadcasting Ltd. on August 23, 1969.
The two owners had a dispute, and each struggled to control Q Broadcasting through the mid-1970s. In 1979, Stark assumed complete control of the company. Bellman moved on to become a major shareholder in fledglingCKVU-DT, also in Vancouver.
CHUM Limited acquired CHQM-AM and -FM on October 17, 1990, on condition from the CRTC that CHUM sell either CHQM-AM or its otherVancouver AM station,CFUN (regulations of the time allowed media companies to own only one AM and one FM station in a particular market inCanada); CHQM-AM was sold, while the FM made a gradual switch from its longtimebeautiful music format to its current format over a six-month period between March and September of1992, giving Vancouver twoadult contemporary stations (the other being CKKS, nowCJAX-FM).[2]
On July 12, 2006, CTVglobemedia announced it would acquire CHUM Limited, which includes CHQM-FM. The transaction was approved by the CRTC (on condition that CKVU, which had also been acquired by CHUM in 2001, be sold toRogers Communications) on June 8, 2007, and CHQM-FM became a CTVglobemedia station on June 22. CTVglobemedia becameBell Media in 2011.
On December 27, 2020, as part of a mass format reorganization byBell Media, CHQM rebranded asMove 103.5, ending 60 years of the "QM FM" branding. While the station would run jockless for the first week of the format, on-air staff would return on January 4, 2021.[3]
In 2016, CHQM signed onHD Radio services, marking the firstBell Media station to do so. They also signed on HD2 and HD3 sub-channels, which airsimulcasts of sistersCKST andCFTE, respectively.[4]
