70 years ago today...

[Scott Fybush]

Dan.Strassberg wrote:
> CKGM was on 980--not 990--for many years. 990, was home, in addition
> to CBW, to WNOX and WIBG, both running 10 kW-U in the eastern US. WNTP
> (which used to be WIBG) now runs 50 kW-D/10 kW-N and, thanks to
> changes in the US Canadian treaty that governs 990 (and probably some
> other channels), was able, maybe 20 years ago, to remove one of the
> towers from what had been its five-tower night array. As some point, a
> 990 was added in Miami (only 5 kW-U). And now there is another in
> Orlando 50 kW-D/14 kW-N. Also, WLGZ, in what has to be one of the more
> bizarre stories related to US/Canadian AM channels, moved from 680 to
> 990, what? 30 years ago? (Maybe more.) I think all of that
> reconfiguration of 990 was what got CKGM onto 990 with 50 kW-U.

All true - but there *was* a Montreal AM station on 990 in the 1940s,
just not, as I'd said, CKGM. It was CKVL that started out on 990 in 1946
once the frequency had been vacated by the CBC. But CKVL didn't stay
long on 990; it soon filed to move to 980, where it remained until 1955,
when it moved to 850, clearing the way for CKGM to sign on in 1959.

(Canada moved its AM frequencies around a lot in that era; what
eventually became 640 in Toronto was on 1310 and later 1320, for instance.)

I'm pretty sure CKGM's move to 990, and possibly WTRY's daytime change,
both came after WCAP went fulltime, but I'd have to ask Maurice Cohen to
be sure.

s