CFAC

CFAC also stands for Commander Fleet Activities Chinhae
CFAC
City Calgary, Alberta
Branding Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Slogan Calgary's Sports Radio
Frequency 960 kHz (AM)
First air date May 2, 1922
Format Sports
Power 50,000 watts
Class B (regional)
Callsign meaning C FAn Calgary
Former callsigns CQCA
Owner Rogers Media, a division of Rogers Communications
(Rogers Radio)
Sister stations CFFR, CHFM-FM, CJAQ-FM, CKAL-DT, CJCO-DT, Sportsnet
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.sportsnet.ca/960

CFAC is an AM radio station serving Calgary, Alberta. Owned by Rogers Media, the station broadcasts a sports talk format branded as Sportsnet 960 The Fan—co-branded with the Sportsnet television channel also owned by Rogers.

CFAC broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts 24 hours a day; the daytime signal is non-directional, and the nighttime signal is directional using a three-tower array located on Rainbow Road just east of the Calgary city limits, while its studios are located on 7th Avenue Southwest in downtown Calgary. CFAC is currently the only radio station in Canada broadcasting on 960 AM, although the CRTC has issued an approval for a new station on 960 AM in Mississauga, Ontario (near Toronto). CFAC is a regional broadcast station because of its frequency of 960 AM.

History

CFAC was launched on May 2, 1922 by the Calgary Herald with the call sign CQCA (no radio and TV stations in Canada use "CQ" on the first half of their callsigns anymore). It changed its callsign to CHCQ a week later, and to the current CFAC in August of that year. Taylor, Pearson & Carson, a company which would eventually become Selkirk Communications, became a minority partner in the station in 1934. The station was a private affiliate of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, which became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1936.

Like most early radio stations, CFAC changed frequencies a number of times (see Canadian allocations changes under NARBA), and settled at 960 in 1941.

The station lost its CBC affiliation in 1948, when the CBC launched CBX to serve both Edmonton and Calgary from its transmitter was in Lacombe. Selkirk became the station's sole owner in 1971, and was acquired by Maclean-Hunter in 1989. Maclean-Hunter, in turn, was bought out by Rogers Radio in 1994.

In 1983, CFAC launched CFHC in Canmore to re-broadcast programs from CFAC, up until 1992.

In 2001, CFAC dropped the country music format which had been the station's staple for decades and adopted its current sports format as an affiliate of CHUM Limited's The Team sports network. It retained sports programming, but was rebranded as The Fan, when the Team network was discontinued in 2002.

Rogers also owns Calgary stations CFFR, CHFM and CJAQ, which, along with CFAC, all broadcast from within the same building.

"Mike Richards in the Morning" was a morning show that runs from 6am-10am local time weekdays. It was one of the most popular morning shows on Calgary radio and often features fake phone calls, skits and songs (all performed by Richards) from or about local and international sports celebrities. However, in January 2011, Richards left The Fan to pursue a job as morning host with TSN Radio 1050 back in his native Ontario.[1] His show has been replaced with a show co-hosted by ex-Calgary Flames player Rhett Warrener.

As of August 2008, The Fan was ranked 15th among Calgary radio stations with only a %1.9 share of the audience,[2] arguably due to the niche market of the all-sports AM format. As of the Fall 2011 BBM Radio PPM Data, CFAC was still ranked #15, but increased its share to 3.1.[3]

Logo from January to October 2011

On March 17, 2009, it was announced on "The Big Show" that The Fan 960 would be dropping the ESPN Radio affiliate and picking up the Fox Sports Radio affiliation for the market. The change happened the week of March 23, 2009. The station has since returned to ESPN.

As of 2010, according to the new measurement called PPM's, Mike Richards in the Morning became the highest rated sports morning show in the country, according to BBM.

In January 2011, CFAC became known as "Sportsnet Radio Fan 960", the move coming as part of a co-branding initiative with its television counterpart Rogers Sportsnet, amid indications that rival TSN was preparing to launch a competing sports radio network, which launched shortly after in Toronto. The stations on air identity was then changed to "Sportsnet 960 The Fan" in October 2011.[4]

Live sports

The Fan 960 is the flagship station for the following teams' radio broadcasts:

The Fan 960 also features live coverage of the following:

On-air staff

Former on-air staff

References

  1. ↑ Zelkovich, Chris (3 April 2011). "An edgier Mike Richards returns to town for TSN Radio gig". The Star. Toronto.
  2. ↑ BBM Canada Radio Statistics
  3. ↑ Fall 2011 Calgary PPM Ratings
  4. ↑ Dowbiggin. "Change is the operative word in sports radio". Toronto: The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 13 January 2011.

External links

Coordinates: 50°59′21″N 113°50′24″W / 50.98917°N 113.84000°W / 50.98917; -113.84000

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