CFOM-FM

CFOM-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Quebec City, Quebec. While the station's official city of license is and always has been Lévis, its studios are now in Quebec City, and it identifies itself as a Quebec City station. The station has a classic hits format.

Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts on 102.9 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radiated power of 16,800 watts and a peak effective radiated power of 32,800 watts (class C1). The station's transmitter is located at Mount Bélair.

The station usually is the most popular station in Quebec City according to BBM ratings (using full coverage ratings). It used to be an AM station, broadcast at 1240 AM from its inception in December 1967 until 1976, then moved to 920 AM until 1994 and was originally known as CFLS. In 1988, CFLS's then-owner, Radio Etchemin, planned to relocate CFLS from 920 kHz to the FM band at 106.3 MHz, with effective radiated power of 54,350 watts; this application would be denied by the CRTC. (106.3 has since been occupied by the local Ici Radio-Canada Première outlet, CBV-FM.) CFLS's second application to relocate to FM, this time to 102.9 MHz, was successful, and the relocation was made in 1994. When the station switched to an oldies format in 1995, it changed its call sign to the current CFOM-FM.

CFOM (defunct)

CFOM was a radio station in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was the only full-time English language radio station in the city until it was shut down in 1976.

History

The station was launched in 1949, with the call sign CJNT, later changing to CJQC in 1953. It finally adopted the CFOM call sign, which it retained for the remainder of its existence, in 1964. For its entire history, it was owned by Goodwill Broadcasters of Quebec.

The station was a privately owned affiliate of CBC Radio's main network, the Trans-Canada Network (forerunner of today's CBC Radio One). At the time Quebec City was the only provincial capital without a CBC-owned and -operated English-language radio station. This put CFOM in a difficult position as a commercial station whose license required it to air predominantly non-commercial programming. As such, it was a money-bleeder for most of its existence.

The station was hobbled by the fact that it was an anglophone station in a nearly monolingual francophone city. Its audience came primarily from anglophone members of the National Assembly, as well as anglophone government employees--just barely enough for the station to be viable.