CJCH-FM
 | |
| City | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
|---|---|
| Branding | 101.3 Virgin Radio |
| Slogan | Halifax's #1 Hit Music Station |
| Frequency | 101.3 MHz (FM) |
| First air date |
November 14, 1944 (AM) May 30, 2008 (FM) |
| Format | CHR |
| Audience share |
 2.5% Rank: 6. Based On BBM Ratings Fall 2014 |
| ERP |
vertical polarization: 43,000 watts horizontal polarization: 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 160.1 meters (525 ft) |
| Class | C1 |
| Callsign meaning | CJ Chronicle-Herald (Newspaper) |
| Owner |
Bell Media (Bell Media Radio) |
| Sister stations | CIOO-FM, CJCH-DT |
| Website |
halifax |
CJCH-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 101.3 FM in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The station broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format branded on-air as "101.3 Virgin Radio", and is owned by Bell Media.
CJCH's studios are located at the intersection of Russell and Agricola Streets in Halifax (right behind TV sister CJCH), with its transmitter located on Washmill Lake Drive in Clayton Park.
CJCH-FM is currently the only Top 40 outlet in the Halifax market, as Energy 103.5, which it competed with, flipped to Country in September 2015.
Station history
The station was established on November 14, 1944 by the Halifax Chronicle at 920 AM, and acquired in 1970 by CHUM Limited. It was co-owned with the city's CJCH-TV until 1997, when CHUM sold the television station to CTV. The approval by the CRTC of the acquisition of CHUM by CTVglobemedia has again brought the stations under common ownership as of June 22, 2007.
For many years, CJCH was a very popular Top 40 station and is credited as the original Top 40 radio station in the area. In 1983, it began broadcasting in AM Stereo, the first in Atlantic Canada. Also, it was once a close rival of another Halifax station, CHNS, during the 1970s. In 1986, the station shifted to a gold-based adult contemporary format due to the decline of hit music stations on AM radio. In January 1993, the station switched to a Classic Rock format as "Arrow 92". In March 1994, it switched formats again and became known as "All Rock and Roll Oldies 92/CJCH". In May 1995, it switched to a hybrid news/talk and oldies format. By the following year, it shifted to full-time talk programming and became known as "News/Talk Radio 920/CJCH". In 2001, CHUM started a sports radio network known as "The Team". CJCH joined this network and became "The Team 920" on May 7. On August 27, 2002, The Team network was shut down and CJCH flipped to an oldies format, becoming "AM 920/CJCH - Yesterday's Favourites".
In July 2006, CHNS, an oldies station for many years, switched to the FM band and adopted a classic rock format (which has since shifted to classic hits). As a result, CJCH was now the only oldies station in Halifax. Its oldies format was unique in that it boasted a mid-morning call in program called "The Hotline" with host Rick Howe, who has worked with CJCH in the past.
On August 31, 2007, CTVglobemedia applied to the CRTC to move CJCH from AM 920 to FM 101.3, with approval given on November 30, 2007.[1] The application originally indicated that CJCH would retain its oldies format. Industry Canada required a three-week test on 101.3 FM, which began on May 8, 2008.
On May 30, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., the last oldies song finished playing on 920 CJCH as the station went silent on AM and the new station launched on 101.3 FM with a new CHR format, branded as "101.3 The Bounce". The first song aired was Kanye West's "Stronger". The station did not take advantage of its right to simulcast on both frequencies for three months as is customary in such cases. This put the station in direct competition with CKHZ-FM, whose musical direction favors Rhythmic and Dance product, targeted towards young adults. The "Bounce" logo and fonts were patterned after CHBN in Edmonton, which, until 2010, was under the same ownership as CJCH. With CKHZ adopting an Adult Top 40 direction in March 2013 (which lasted until it flipped to Country in September 2015), CJCH has moved towards a Rhythmic-leaning approach, but still stays within the Mainstream realm. The move was also in part to avoid overlapping with sister CIOO, though they do tend to share much of the same music.
On April 1, 2011, Bell Canada completed its acquisition of 100% of the shares in CTVglobemedia it didn't already own and named the new division Bell Media.
On July 26, 2016, CJCH-FM began promoting a "major change" to the station to take place on July 29 at 1:00 PM. At that time, after playing "Sorry" by Justin Bieber, CJCH-FM rebranded as "101.3 Virgin Radio", becoming the 9th station in Canada (after sister stations in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, London, and Kitchener) to use the "Virgin" branding (the Kitchener station, CFCA, rebranded as "Virgin" at the same time as CJCH). The first song on "Virgin" was "This Is What You Came For" by Calvin Harris.[2][3][4]
References
External links
- 101.3 Virgin Radio
- CJCH history at Canadian Communications Foundation
- Query the REC's Canadian station database for CJCH-FM
Coordinates: 44°39′33.6″N 63°35′58.8″W / 44.659333°N 63.599667°W