CFCB
 | |
| Broadcast area | Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 570 kHz C-QUAM AM Stereo |
| Branding | 570 VOCM |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/Talk/Classic Hits |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Newcap Radio |
| CKXX-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | October 3, 1960 |
Call sign meaning | Coming From Corner Brook |
| Technical information | |
| Class | C |
| Power | 10000 watts (day) / 1000 watts (night) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www.cfcbradio.com |
CFCB is an AM radio station in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, broadcasting at 570 kHz operating at a power of 1000 watts. Owned by Newcap Radio, CFCB first went on the air on October 3, 1960. The year 2010 marked CFCB's 50th anniversary of broadcasting. The station was founded by Dr. Noel Murphy. On March 26, 2012 CFCB rebranded, which included a new slogan, logo, programming, and more. The "Local News Now" slogan was adopted from VOCM in St. John's who had rebranded just weeks before. The new CFCB logo also features the VOCM color scheme, which includes yellow, and red.
As of September 2016, CFCB is branded as '570 VOCM'.
Shows and music format
Being owned by Newcap, CFCB carries VOCM's Open Line, Backtalk, and Night Line live phone-in shows, Saturday Evening (Lions Club & VOCM Cares Radio Bingo) Host Greg Smith, Producer Jordan Keating, and the Saturday Night Cabin Party, which is devoted to classic country music from the 1950s to the 1980s, as well as the 1:00 PM and 5:30 PM VOCM newscasts (though those newscasts are carried on weekdays only), but not the 7:45 AM newscast, or the 5:00 newscast, as CFCB has its own 8:00 AM and 5:00PM newscast. The station's regular music format is primarily country music. Prior to the early 2000s, CFCB was an adult contemporary station.
The longest-running radio show on the station is This One's For You, which is broadcast every Sunday morning from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Without notice, on April 25, 2015 at 12:00am, CFCB along with its other network station CFSX dropped its country music format in favour of soft AC and classic hits. This format change was also made on VOCM-AM in St. John's just weeks prior, a network of which CFCB is part of. Both stations previously aired a country music format, but switched to classic hits. Due to this format change on CFCB, there are now no longer any country music stations outside of the Avalon peninsula.
Repeat transmitters
CFCB also operates repeat transmitters in the following locations:
- CFNW 790 AM Port aux Choix (opened January 29, 1972) - moveed to 96.7 FM (2013).
- CFSX 870 AM Stephenville (opened November 13, 1964) 1 2
- CFGN 1230 AM Port aux Basques (opened August 6, 1971) 1 2
- CFCV 97.7 FM Codroy Valley (opened June 6, 1974) 1
- CFDL 97.9 FM Deer Lake (opened December 6, 1974)
- CFNN 97.9 FM St. Anthony (opened June 27, 1974)
For some time now, the repeater CFNW-AM in Gros Morne National Park has been off-the-air leaving the Northern Peninsula without radio service from CFCB. The cause of this transmitter failure is due to an ice and wind storm in late 2011 which damaged the tower. When the transmitter site was constructed in 1971, the area was not a national park. Now that the station has to construct a new facility for their equipment, there are some issues with disturbing the environment in the park, all that have yet to be resolved. As of 2012 the signal in this area is still off-the-air. On October 3, 2012, Newcap Broadcasting applied to convert CFNW Port aux Choix from the AM band to the FM band. [1] On January 25, 2013, the CRTC approved Newcap's application to convert CFNW from the AM band to the FM band. CFNW's new transmitter in Port aux Choix will operate at 96.7 MHz. [2]
In September 2013, the CFCB transmission tower on Lewin Parkway in Corner Brook was taken down. Construction on a new AM tower has been recently completed with a modern three-legged guyed mast radiator. The previous mast radiator was in terrible shape and over 50 years old prior to being taken down. The old mast radiator, according to the website www.broadcasting-history.ca, was a second hand tower that was erected and begun broadcasting at 1000 watts in 1961. No CRTC or Industry Canada records indicate the station filed any application to do this work. However, according to the broadcasting-history.ca web site, the CRTC approved the daytime transmitting power to 10,000 watts from 1000 watts which could be achieved with the new and more modern mast radiator now located on the same plot of land that the previous one had been erected. Photos of the old and new towers are illustrated below.
1 In the daytime, CFSX operates independent of CFCB aside from the phone-in shows and the weekday 1:00 PM and 5:30 PM news. CFGN and CFCV serve as repeaters of CFSX. At night, CFSX and its repeaters serve as repeaters to CFCB.
2 Originally a full-time repeater of CFCB.
On April 2, 2001, the sale of Humber Valley Broadcasting Co. Ltd. to Newcap Inc. was approved.[3] This included a number of radio stations such as:
- CFCB Corner Brook and its transmitters;
- CFDL-FM Deer Lake
- CFNW Port-aux-Choix
- CFNN-FM St. Anthony
- CFSX Stephenville
- CFGN Channel-Port-aux-Basques and its transmitter;
- CFCV-FM St. Andrew's and CFLN Goose Bay and its transmitters;
- CFLW Wabush and CFLC-FM Churchill Falls
As of early September 2016 (date unknown) CFSX (870) and its repeaters (97.7 and 1230) went off the air and programming now takes place in Corner Brook
References
- ^ Newcap's application - CRTC to convert CFNW Port aux Choix from the AM band to the FM band - October 3, 2012
- ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2013-24, CFCB Corner Brook – New transmitter at Port au Choix, CRTC, January 25, 2013
- ^ Decision CRTC 2001-208
External links
- CFCB
- CFCB history - Canadian Communications Foundation
- CFCB in the REC Canadian station database
- CFCB in the FCC AM station database