CFRC-FM
FM) | |
Branding | CFRC 101.9 FM |
---|---|
Programming | |
Format | campus, community |
Affiliations | CRBC (1934–1936), CBC (1936–1942) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Radio Queen's University |
History | |
First air date | October 7, 1922 1954 (CFRC-FM) | (on AM)
Former call signs | 9BT (1922–1923) |
Former frequencies | 450 m (c. 1923–1925) 1120 kHz (1925–1930) 930 kHz (1930–1933) 915 kHz (c. 1933) 1510 kHz (1933–1941) 1490 kHz (1941–1990) 91.9 MHz (1954–1990) |
Technical information | |
Class | A |
ERP | 3,000 watts |
HAAT | 90 metres (300 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 44°17′24″N 76°25′54″W / 44.29000°N 76.43167°W |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | www |
CFRC-FM (101.9
CFRC-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,000 watts. The transmitter is on Station Road in Kingston, near the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Ontario Highway 401).[1]
History
A comprehensive oral history of the station was compiled by Arthur Zimmerman, which was broadcast on the station in 1982 and was published in book form in 1991.
Radio technology has a surprisingly long history in Kingston, dating back to the early radio experimentations of Queen's first Professor of General Engineering,
An informal wireless club was formed by a group of Gill's students, who kept experimenting with the latest available wireless technology. With the help of Professor Douglas Jemmett an experimental station license (9BT) was obtained in the spring of 1922. The station's equipment was housed in the basement (later moved to the second floor) of the Electrical Engineering building, Fleming Hall (named after Sir Sandford Fleming). It had a power output of approximately 250 watts, and had an estimated range of 160 kilometres. While there were likely some preliminary, unscheduled broadcasts by 9BT, the station's first scheduled public broadcast was on October 7, 1922, as Professor Richard O. Jolliffe called the football game between Queen's and McGill. (At that time, the university's football/rugby team, the Queen's Tricolour, were the winners of the Grey Cup for three consecutive years, and it is a common myth that when the current call letters CFRC were assigned, their meaning was "Canada's Famous Rugby Champions"; this acronym being possible, however, was purely coincidental). Some student broadcasters also said that CFRC meant "Crazy Fellows Raising Cain".
An
In 1938, in what was possibly the station's most notable broadcast,
CFRC remained a CBC station for several years however, with a weak signal and with commercial limitations placed on it by the university (such as a ban on advertising for patent medicine), the Whig-Standard sought its own station and, in 1942, launched CKWS 960 (now an FM station), at which time CKWS acquired CFRC's CBC affiliation and its commercial license.[2] In exchange for CKWS carrying some programming from the university, CFRC agreed not to compete commercially with CKWS for ten years and to only engage in broadcasts that filled the university's educational mandate.[4] The station reverted to an experimental outlet for the university's Electrical Engineering Department until 1945 when it resumed programming on a limited basis as part of the Summer Radio Institute - a training program for broadcasters run with the CBC - and thereafter broadcasting non-commercial radio plays by the Queen's Drama Guild. Since the station originally began broadcasting, CFRC periodically changed frequencies until it settled on 1490 AM on March 29, 1941. In 1954, CFRC-FM began broadcasting at 91.9 Megacycles on the FM dial to simulcast the programming of CFRC 1490. In 1957, the university appointed Margaret Angus as its first director of radio and students formed the CFRC Radio Club to produce programming and operate the station under her supervision as a fully fledged campus radio station.[2] In 1986, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved Radio Queen's application to change CFRC-FM's frequency from 91.9 MHz to its current FM frequency, 101.9 MHz.[5][6] In 1990 the AM frequency went dark and all CFRC programming moved to the FM frequency (which had been broadcasting separate programming since 1970) and a new stereo transmitter.[4]
The station was for many years the only campus radio station in Canada to be owned and operated by a university rather than by its students. This changed in 2003 when ownership and management of the station was transferred from the university to the Alma Mater Society (Queen's student government).[7]
Due to changes in CRTC regulations, CFRC's ownership transitioned from 2012 to 2014 so that it became an autonomous service, no longer owned and operated by the AMS.[8][9] As a registered non-profit corporation, CFRC 101.9 FM is owned and operated by Radio Queen's University.
CFRC also hosts a podcasting network providing training and resources for independent podcast production.[10]
CFRC Sports
CFRC has for years provided regular coverage of all Queen's Golden Gaels regular season and playoff football games. Intermittently, they have also provided coverage of Golden Gaels hockey and basketball.
Notable CFRC alumni
- Lorne Greene (1915–1987), CBC wartime announcer, later star of Bonanza and Battlestar Galactica
- Charles P. B. Taylor (1935–1997), radio/TV/print journalist (Reuters in London 1955-'62; The Globe and Mail in China 1962-'70s), author, horsebreeder (son of E. P. Taylor)
- Matthew Barber, musician
- Shelagh Rogers, CBC Radio personality
- Stu (Stuart) Mills, CBC Radio host (Ottawa Morning)
- Jeffrey Simpson, print journalist
- Gord Sinclair, musician
- The Arrogant Worms, musical group
- Chris Cuthbert, hockey & football commentator, TSN
- Jaime Stein, football commentator, former voice of the Toronto Argonauts
- Peter Watts, football commentator, Calgary Stampeders (CHQR)
References
- Zimmerman, Eric Arthur, Ph.D. In the Shadow of the Shield. Self-published, 1991. ISBN 0-9695570-0-0
- ^ "FCCdata.org - powered by REC". fccdata.org.
- ^ a b c "CFRC 101.9 Fm". Archived from the original on 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ Queen's University Archives - CFRC - history
- ^ a b "Radio Station Histories - Canadian Communications Foundation | Fondation des Communications Canadiennes". Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ Decision CRTC 86-436
- ^ Decision CRTC 89-714
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-11-27. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "CFRC 101.9FM to become independent service". Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
- ^ "Radio station's separation finalized - Queen's Journal". Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
- ^ "CFRC Podcast Network – News and Views from Queen's University and Kingston, Ontario!".
External links
- Official website
- 100 Years of Radio Queen's Archive online exhibit
- CFRC-FM at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
- CFRC (AM) at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
- CFRC-FM in the REC Canadian station database