CFAC
CFAC is an AM radio station serving Calgary, Alberta. Owned by Rogers Media, the station broadcasts a sports talk format branded as Sportsnet 960 The Fan — co-branded with the Sportsnet television channel also owned by Rogers. Its studios are located on 7th Avenue Southwest in downtown Calgary, in the same building as Rogers' other Calgary stations, CFFR, CHFM and CJAQ.
CFAC broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts 24 hours a day on the regional frequency of 960 AM. The daytime signal is non-directional, and the nighttime signal is directional using a three-tower array located on Rainbow Road just east of the Calgary city limits. CFAC is currently the only Canadian station broadcasting on 960 AM, although the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has approved a new station on 960 AM in Mississauga, Ontario.
Programming
CFAC is the radio flagship for broadcasts of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League and the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. It also features live coverage of Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays and select games of the National Football League.History
Organized radio broadcasting began to gain prominence in Canada in early 1922. Initially there wasn't a formal licence category for stations providing entertainment broadcasts intended for the general public, so the earliest stations operated under a mixture of Experimental, Amateur, and governmental authorizations. One of the most prominent pioneer broadcasters was William Walter Westover Grant, who during this time installed radio communication equipment for the Canadian Air Board's Forestry patrol. In 1921 these operations were established at the High River Air Station in southern Alberta. Grant constructed government station VAW at this site, and, in addition to the forestry work, began to make a series of experimental entertainment broadcasts, believed to be the first in western Canada, that were audible approximately 50 miles away in Calgary.In the spring of 1922 the Calgary Herald began to publicize the topic of radio, including Grant's broadcasts. In late April the newspaper installed what it called "the most complete receiving set in Western Canada" at its headquarters, and reported that it had successfully picked up High River concerts on April 27 and April 28. During this same time the Canadian government announced the formal creation of a radio broadcast service, which included the establishment of a "Private Commercial Broadcasting" licence. In late April 1922 an initial group of twenty-three commercial broadcasting station licences was announced, including one issued to the Herald for operation on 400 meters, with the randomly assigned call letters of CHCQ.
CHCQ's transmitter and studio were located in room 1006 on the tenth floor of The Herald Building. The primary technical work was performed by G. J. J. Jermain and S. H. Sturrork, assisted by W. W. Grant at the High River station. The first test transmission began at 2 o'clock on May 1, after the transmitter vacuum tubes had arrived that morning, and the next day's paper reported that "very gratifying success was obtained". Programming included phonograph records plus singing and the playing of a violin by Margaret King of the Palace theatre orchestra.. The Herald announced the formal station opening would take place at 8:30 the evening of May 2nd, beginning with a speech by Frank Freeze, president of the Calgary Board of Trade. This formal debut closed with Margaret King singing "God Save the King".
The April 1922 initial list of commercial broadcasting station grants had also included a second Calgary station, licenced to George M. Bell and transmitting on 430 meters, with the randomly assigned call sign of CFAC. On August 26 it was announced that the Herald was taking over operation of CFAC as a second, more powerful station. This was in addition to CHCQ, as the announcement noted "The set used during the past four months will not be discarded but is bring installed in the new quarters and will be used in case of accident with the larger machine, thus assuring a continuity of service."
CFAC's broadcast debut under Herald oversight took place at 7.45 p.m. on August 29. Charles Logwood, radio engineer of the Canadian Independent Telephone Co. of Toronto, was credited with installing the CFAC transmitter for the Radio Corporation of Calgary and the Herald..
The Herald commonly posted its daily broadcasting schedule on its front page. Until December 13, 1922 both CFAC and CHCQ were listed, but beginning the next day only CFAC appeared. Information on CHCQ's fate is limited, although one later review stated that the station closed sometime in 1924. On May 1, 1923 the Herald presented a special program "in celebration of the first anniversary of CFAC", and its historical review combined the earlier broadcasts of CHCQ with those of CFAC that started in August, with a sidebar noting "Before the present radio station of The Herald was built, this set, that was known then as CHCQ, was use to entertain the fans."
Taylor, Pearson & Carson, a company which would eventually become Selkirk Communications, became a minority partner in CFAC in 1934. The station was a private affiliate of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, which became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1936. The station lost its CBC affiliation in 1948, when the CBC launched CBX to serve both Edmonton and Calgary from a Lacombe transmitter site. Selkirk became the station's sole owner in 1971, and was acquired by Maclean-Hunter in 1989, which in turn was bought out by Rogers Radio in 1994.
Like most early radio stations, CFAC changed frequencies a number of times. Under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement it moved to its current frequency assignment of 960 kHz in early 1941.
In 1983, CFAC launched CFHC in Canmore to re-broadcast its programs, a practice that continued until 1992. In 2001, CFAC dropped the country music format which had been the station's staple for decades and adopted its current sports format, initially as an affiliate of CHUM Limited's The Team sports network. When the Team network was discontinued in 2002, CFAC retained sports programming but was rebranded as The Fan.
Mike Richards in the Morning, running from 6am-10am local time weekdays, was one of the most popular shows on Calgary radio. It often featured fake phone calls, skits and songs from or about local and international sports celebrities. As of 2010, according to BBM's recently introduced PPM ratings, the program became the highest rated sports morning show in the country. However, in January 2011 Richards left The Fan to pursue a job as morning host with TSN Radio 1050 back in his native Ontario. His program was replaced with a show co-hosted by ex-Calgary Flames player Rhett Warrener.
As of August 2008, The Fan was ranked 15th among Calgary radio stations with only a %1.9 share of the audience, arguably due to the niche market of the all-sports AM format. As of the Fall 2011 BBM Radio PPM Data, CFAC was still ranked #15, but increased its share to 3.1.
On March 17, 2009 it was announced on "The Big Show" that The Fan 960 would be dropping the ESPN Radio affiliation and picking up the market's Fox Sports Radio affiliation, which occurred the week of March 23, 2009, although the station later returned to ESPN.
In January 2011, CFAC became known as "Sportsnet Radio Fan 960", the move came as part of a co-branding initiative with its television counterpart Rogers Sportsnet, amid indications that rival TSN was preparing to launch a competing sports radio network, which launched shortly after in Toronto. The station's on-air identity was then changed to "Sportsnet 960 The Fan" in October 2011.