CFMB (AM)
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| CFMB (AM) | |
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| City of license | Montreal, Quebec |
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| Branding | CFMB Radio Montréal 1280 |
| Slogan | Montreal's only Multilingual Radio Broadcast Station |
| Frequency | 1280 kHz (AM) |
| First air date | 1962 |
| Format | multilingual |
| Power | 50 kW |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Canada's First Multilingual Broadcaster |
| Owner | CFMB Ltd. |
| Website | CFMB 1280 AM |
CFMB is a multilingual Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec.
It broadcasts on 1280 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts fulltime as a class B station, using a directional antenna with different patterns day and night (the nighttime pattern being significantly tighter).
The station has a variety format targeting ethnic minorities and broadcasts programming in 23 different languages. Use of French or English is rare and is heavily limited per the station's conditions of licence, although vanity programming and infomercials at night (between midnight and 6 a.m.) are typically in English. (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations related to languages used on the air do not apply during that time period.) CFMB was founded in 1962 by Casimir Stanczykowski and was the first licensed multilingual station in Canada. In 1975, Stanczykowski established a second station, CKJS in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
CFMB used to be on 1410 kHz from its inception in November 1962 until September 1997. Its move to 1280 kHz was somewhat controversial, as that frequency was previously (until 1994) home to the now-defunct CJMS, a French-language station. Some individuals claimed that this move resulted from a conspiracy to prevent new competition to CKAC and CKVL, as 1280 kHz was the best AM frequency available in the Montreal area. Others claimed that the CRTC used the opportunity to promote multiculturalism at the expense of integration of immigrants to the French language. Supporters of the decision note that CFMB was due to lose its transmitter site and had already bought the old CJMS site, and that the only other application to use the 1280 kHz frequency was for a station with only 10,000 watts of power.
The 1410 kHz transmitter was briefly reactivated in 1998 when the station lent it to CJAD, which lost all four of its towers in the 1998 Ice Storm.
According to the station, the CFMB call sign refers to the fact that the station is Canada's First Multilingual Broadcaster. However it has been reported that the call sign originally meant "Canada's Finest, Montreal's Best" or "Created For Magnificent Broadcasting".
[edit] Programming
CFMB currently broadcasts programming in the following languages: Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Greek, Haitian, Italian, Jewish, Latin American, Laotian, Lithuanian, Moroccan, Pakistani, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Tunisian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
[edit] External links
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