CHMJ (AM)

Infobox Radio Station
name = CHMJ


city = Vancouver, BC
area = Greater Vancouver
branding = AM730
slogan = "All Traffic, All The Time!"
airdate = 1955
frequency = 730 kHz (AM)
format = traffic/talk
power =
erp = 50 kW
class =
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = CKLG (1955-2001)
CJNW (2001-2002)
owner = Corus Entertainment
webcast = [http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/asx/CHMJAM.asx Listen live]
website = [http://am730traffic.com/ AM730]

CHMJ (identified on air as "AM730") is a Canadian radio station in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia currently owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts at 730 kilohertz on the AM band with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts from a transmitter in Delta. Studios are located in the TD Tower in downtown Vancouver.

Format

In November 2006, CHMJ adopted an all-day, every day "all traffic" format, becoming the first station in North America to do so. The station has dropped rebroadcasts of Corus Network talk shows, terminated its programming of university sports and limited its Seattle Seahawks coverage to the internet during storm or snow coverage. It is likely the station will terminate all play-by-play coverage at the conclusion of the respective sports seasons.Fact|date=February 2007

History

CKLG

In 1955, Vancouver AM radio station CKLG, owned by Lions Gate Broadcasting Ltd., began transmitting at 1070 kHz on the AM band with a 1,000 watt transmitter. Originally, studios and transmitter were both located in North Vancouver. The radio station was controlled by the Gordon Gibson family, better known in logging circles (Gordon Gibson, Sr, "The Bull of the Woods." In 1958, the station changed frequencies from 1070 kHz to 730 kHz and increased power to 10,000 watts. The transmitter site was moved at this time from North Vancouver to Delta. The station was sold to Moffat Broadcasting Ltd. in 1961, and in 1964 launched an FM sister station, the original CKLG-FM (now CFOX-FM), at 99.3 MHz. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, CKLG (also known as "LG73") played a variety of contemporary music, at times ranking as one of the most popular radio stations in the Vancouver market. In 1975, the station once again increased its transmitted power, raising it to the current 50,000 watts.

CJNW

The station's popularity declined in the 1980s and 1990s, as many music stations moved from AM to FM broadcasting, and in 1992 the Corus Radio Company (now Corus Entertainment) purchased Moffat's Vancouver radio properties. On February 1, 2001, Corus changed the station's call letters to CJNW (the CKLG call sign was later transferred to Rogers Communications' CKLG-FM), adopting a 24-hour news format referred to on-air as "NW2, all news radio, powered by CKNW". The hope was to leverage the Vancouver market dominance of CKNW, in light of the success of Rogers' all-news station News 1130. CJNW's all-news format lasted for approximately 14 months, but was abandoned in light of lower than expected ratings.

Mojo Radio

.

Its main talk personalities were morning host John McKeachie and afternoon host Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich, both former hosts at CKST "The TEAM 1040", a Vancouver all-sports station owned by CHUM Limited. MOJO competed heavily with The TEAM for ratings, personnel, and broadcast contracts, but continued to rank at the bottom of the BBM ratings, placing 17th of 17 stations surveyed in April 2006 with a 0.9 percent market share.

AM 730

NFL football.

In late 2006, the station dropped the talk show aspect of the format and became "All traffic...All The Time". The station now carries virtually nothing but traffic reports.

References

*Houston, William. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060530.mojo31/TPStory/Sports/columnists "Mojo says goodbye to all-sports format,"] "The Globe and Mail", May 30, 2006.
*Leung, Wendy. [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=64523abb-d319-4ef5-aebf-55ae157a4b4e "Mojo Sports Radio shuts down; 14 staff let go: Broadcasters McKeachie, McConnell leaving as radio station turns to traffic format,"] "The Vancouver Sun", May 31, 2006.
*McLellan, Wendy. [http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=67513367-6dae-404d-b9b1-205279d7d85f "Vancouver loses its MOJO: Station never took off with sports; hopes listeners want traffic reports,"] "The Vancouver Province", May 31, 2006.
*Pap, Elliot. [http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/specials/gameon/story.html?id=72bd6b8e-536c-4d13-b23e-b9dca678c40f "Sports radio stations brimming with hockey coverage,"] "The Vancouver Sun", September 23, 2005.
*Schecter, Brian. [http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2004/04/19/Radios_Jock_Talk_Wars/ "Radio's Jock Talk Wars,"] "The Tyee", April 19, 2004.
*Yu, Karl. [http://www.vancourier.com/issues05/042205/news/042205nn1.html "Jock Talk,"] "Vancouver Courier", April 14, 2005.

ee also

*CFMJ, a radio station in Toronto that also used the MOJO format

External links

* [http://www.am730traffic.com AM730]
*RecnetCanada|CHMJ
* [http://www.LG73.com/ LG73]
* [http://members.shaw.ca/LG73/ The Ultimate LG73 Tribute!]