- CHOM-FM
Infobox Radio Station
| name = CHOM
airdate = 1963
frequency = 97.7 MHz
city =Montreal, Quebec
area = GreaterMontreal area | format =classic rock
owner =Astral Media
erp = 41,200watt s
branding = "CHOM 97.7"
slogan = "The Spirit of Rock"
class = C1
sister_stations = CFEI, CFZZ, CHOM, CITE, CJAD, CJFM, CKMF
website = [http://www.chom.com/ CHOM 97.7 (official website)]
callsign_meaning = Arbitrary coinage | The "CHOM" tune was part of a tune by Italien composer Ennio Morricone. A story was played on NPR (National Public Radio, Weekend Edition Sunday)February 4 ,2007 . Listen to it here... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7150495. Morricone is mostly know for his "flutey-whistling" tune in "A Fistful Of Dollars". He will be awarded, for only the second time in its history, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences lifetime achievement Oscar (to a film music composer).CHOM-FM is an
English language Canadianradio station located inMontreal ,Quebec ,Canada .Owned and operated by
Astral Media , it broadcasts on 97.7 MHz from theMount Royal candelabra tower , with aneffective radiated power of 41,200watt s (class C1) using anomnidirectional antenna .The station has a
classic rock format since 2002 and has had some type of rock format since 1969. It uses the brand name CHOM, pronounced as if it were a French word (that is, "shoam", IPAEng|ˈʃoʊm, rather than "tchahm" IPA|/ˈtʃɒm/).History
CKGM-FM, as the station was originally known, was founded by
Geoff Sterling as a sister station to AM station CKGM and opened onJuly 16 ,1963 . After a few weeks as a simulcast of CKGM, CKGM-FM launched abeautiful music format onSeptember 1 ,1963 .On
October 28 ,1969 , CKGM-FM changed its format toalbum-oriented rock . The first song played after the format switch wasRichard Strauss 'Also Sprach Zarathustra followed byThe Beatles 'Here Comes the Sun . The station would change itscall sign to CHOM-FM only two years later onOctober 19 ,1971 .In 1974, CHOM-FM proposed to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) a plan in which the station would become bilingual (English/French). The CRTC accepted this plan but only on an experimental basis that would last three years; it also blocked a plan to implementquadraphonic broadcasting. In 1977, the station was forced by the CRTC to opt between the two languages, and after considering becoming a French-language station, it finally reverted back to English fulltime.CHOM-FM became increasingly popular, and in 1979 surpassed sister station CKGM in
Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings. Both stations were sold toCHUM Limited onAugust 20 ,1985 .The 1993 loss of popular morning man
Terry DiMonte toCJFM-FM (Mix 96), combined with new competition from Americanmodern rock stationWBTZ (better known as 99.9 The Buzz) starting in 1996, resulted in a decline in ratings which the station tried to stop by acquiring rights to the syndicated show ofshock jock Howard Stern . Stern made his debut on CHOM-FM onSeptember 2 ,1997 amid much controversy as he launched himself on his very first show heard in Montreal in an anti-Francophone /anti-French tirade. His show was dumped a year later, onAugust 27 ,1998 , after numerous complaints to the CRTC about politically incorrect remarks interpreted by complainants as "sexist" and "homophobic", despite the fact that the show ran on a delay with more controversial comments being censored, which sometimes resulted in minutes of dead air. While the CRTC did not take any actions against CHOM-FM, it is generally believed that owner CHUM Limited feared other projects could be hampered by them having such a controversial host on one of their stations.The station was sold to
Standard Broadcasting , which already owned CJAD and CJFM-FM in Montreal, effective in January 2002 in exchange for Standard'sCFWM-FM inWinnipeg , nowBob FM and now owned byCTVglobemedia . This ownership change was promptly followed in February by a format change toclassic rock and the return of DiMonte as morning man, which resulted in ratings improvements.Ownership changed hands again when on
October 29 ,2007 ,Astral Media took control of Standard Broadcasting and its assets.On November 26, 2007, Rob Kemp (former Mid-day announcer at Mix96) joined Ted Bird and Kim Rossi on the CHOM morning show..."Ted, Kim & Kemp".
CHOM hosts
*Rob Kemp
*Ted Bird
*Kim Rossi
*Sharon Hyland
*Chantal Desjardins (Chom Traffic)
*Pete Marier
*Bilal
*Randy Renaud
*Allison Van Rassel
*Nick Michaels
*Tootall
*Brandon Craddock
*Steven Van Zandt
*Mike MetalExternal links
* [http://www.chom.com/ CHOM 97.7 (Official Site)]
* [http://www.chom.com/player/player CHOM 97.7 (Listen Live)]
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