CINW-AM (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CINW-AM** is an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. The station currently operates an all-news radio format under the brand name CINW News 600. Owned and operated by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts on 600 kHz with daytime power of 10,000 watts and nighttime power of 5,000 watts.

## History

As with most early broadcasting stations, some of the station's earliest activities are poorly documented. In Listening In, a 1992 history of early Canadian radio, author Mary Vipond noted that "Several different versions of the gradual transformation of XWA from an experimenter in radio telephony to a regular broadcaster (with the call letters CFCF) exist" and "the precise date on which XWA/CFCF began regular programming may be impossible to determine". This uncertainty was evident when, in 1928, the station manager wrote to the Radio Branch in Ottawa asking "would you kindly let us know the date of our first broadcast", to which the reply was "We do not have the exact details of this on our files, but find that test programmes were carried out by your Company in Montreal during the winter evenings of 1919, and regular organized programs were commenced in December, 1920, by your Experimental Station, 'XWA' on a wavelength of 1200 metres [250 kHz]."

### XWA / 9AM (1919-1922)

CINW's history was generally said to have begun with experimental station XWA, licensed to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada, Ltd. ("Canadian Marconi"), which was a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd. ("British Marconi"). XWA's first licence was granted sometime between April 1, 1914 and March 31, 1915, in conjunction with a training school on Rodney Street, and it was one of the few radio stations allowed to operate in Canada during World War I, when it was used to conduct military research.

XWA's transmissions were initially limited to Morse code "dots-and-dashes" produced by spark transmitters. However, during the war vacuum-tube transmitters were developed which made audio transmissions practical. In spring 1919 Canadian Marconi's Arthur Runciman began voice transmission tests in downtown Montreal and in the Montreal harbor using a "Captain Round" type vacuum-tube powered by a 500 volt battery, as the government lifted the restrictions imposed during the war on the use of radio by non-military personnel or organizations. In March 1919 Canadian Marconi announced that it was planning to "install the new wireless telephone at important points in and around Montreal in the near future", in order that "the public will be able to test for themselves the latest development in long distance communication". There were also plans to install one of the devices in the Transportation Building office of J. N. Greenshields, president of the Montreal Board of Trade, which "will enable brokers to talk with Kingston, Ottawa, Three Rivers and Quebec".

In early 1919, British Marconi shipped a bulky combination desk and 500-watt transmitter, shaped like an upright piano, to the Canadian Marconi building in Montreal at 173 William Street (later re-numbered as 1017). The set, capable of two-way radiotelephone and longer-range radiotelegraph operation, had been developed during World War One, but with the end of the war was now surplus. The parent company hoped there might be commercial interest within the Canadian paper and pulp industry in using transmitters like this for communication between their mills and offices. It was installed on the building's top floor, and operated under the XWA call sign.

The earliest tests and demonstrations focused more on using the transmitter for point-to-point communication than for broadcasting. This required engineers to repeatedly speak simple phrases, with pauses to listen if there were any replies. As was common at a number of early stations, the engineers soon tired of their repetitive talking, and began to play phonograph records to provide test signals. This in turn drew the attention of interested local amateur radio enthusiasts, who enjoyed hearing music instead of the usual telegraphic code used almost universally for radio communication at this time. In addition, during the fall of 1919 Canadian Marconi formed a separate company, Scientific Experimenter, Ltd., to sell equipment to radio amateurs. By December 1919, the company was using the XWA radio broadcasts of music in order to interest people in purchasing receiving sets, thus introducing a whole new industry to Canada, although at first persons operating radio receivers were required to hold an "Amateur Experimental Station" licence, as well as pass the exam needed to receive an "Amateur Experimental Certificate of Proficiency", which required the ability to send and receive Morse code at five words a minute. In January 1922 the government lowered the barrier for individuals merely interested in receiving broadcasts, by introducing a new licence category, Private Receiving Station, that removed the need to qualify for an amateur radio licence. Initially these licences cost $1 and had to be renewed each year.

The first documented broadcast of entertainment by XWA to a general audience occurred on the evening of May 20, 1920, when a concert was prepared for a Royal Society of Canada audience listening 110 miles (175 kilometres) away at the Château Laurier in the capital city of Ottawa. This was part of a demonstration of the longrange capabilities of radiotelephony arranged by Dr. A. S. Eve of the Royal Society, who was giving a lecture reviewing "Some Inventions of the Great War". In Montreal, Canadian Marconi's chief engineer J. O. G. Cann opened the broadcast with a series of announcements, including reading a sealed message previously sent by Dr. R. F. Ruttan, which was followed by the playing of phonograph records, beginning with "Dear Old Pal of Mine". Also included was live entertainment featuring Dorothy Lutton, who sang "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms" and "Merrily Shall I Live". A Naval Radio Service station in Ottawa also participated, with officer E. Hawken singing "Annie Laurie", along with the playing of phonograph records. The Ottawa transmissions were well heard at the Château Laurier, but had difficulty being received in Montreal. At the time these broadcasts received little publicity beyond a few local newspaper reports, in contrast to a similar broadcast made a month later by the Marconi station near London at Chelmsford in Essex, featuring Dame Nellie Melba, which garnered broad international attention. In May 2020 the Canadian Post issued two commemorative stamps marking the centennial of this broadcast.

XWA eventually began operating on a regular schedule in order to promote radio receiver sales, and at first the station was almost single-handedly run by Darby Coats. (Coats went on to have a long broadcasting career.) A phonograph player and records were provided by a Sainte Catherines West music store in return for on-air acknowledgments. Performers weren't paid, so live entertainment was provided by song pluggers promoting sheet music sales, amateurs (sometimes with more enthusiasm than talent), and the occasional professional looking for publicity or intrigued by the new technology. By June 1921 interest in broadcasting had increased to the point that Canadian Marconi began publishing the Canadian Wireless Magazine, with Coats as the editor, initially just four pages long, but, reflecting the rapidly growing interest in radio, expanding to twenty pages a year later.

The chronology is not completely clear, but by 1921 the station's experimental call sign was changed to "9AM", reflecting a call sign policy change implemented in 1919 in conjunction with the restoration of civilian radio stations. (Broadcasting licences did not exist at this time.) A short notice in the November 1921 issue of QST magazine reported that the station, now using 9AM, was broadcasting once a week on Tuesdays starting at 8 p.m., using a wavelength of 1200 metres (250 kHz).

### CFCF (1922-1991)

In April 1922 the Canadian government began issuing the first licences specifically for "radio-telephone broadcasting stations". Initially all these stations received four-letter call signs starting with "CF", "CH", "CJ" or "CK", plus one additional "C" as the third or fourth letter. Included in the first group of twenty-three stations was a Montreal grant for Canadian Marconi, assigned a transmitting wavelength of 440 metres (682 kHz) and the call letters CFCF. The slogan "Canada's First, Canada's Finest" was later adopted based on the new call sign.

After numerous frequency changes, followed by a three-year period from 1925 to 1928 when it shared time with CKAC on 730 kHz, CFCF began operating full-time at 600 kHz in 1933, which would remain the station's transmitting frequency until 1999. CFCF was an affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Dominion Network from 1944 to 1962; and also carried some programs from the U.S. NBC-Blue Network, at least as of 1939.

In 1968, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) required that all broadcasting outlets be 80% Canadian owned. Canadian Marconi's British parent had been acquired by the UK's General Electric Company plc earlier that year. Canadian Marconi was thus forced to put its entire broadcasting division—CFCF-TV, CFCF (AM), CFQR-FM and CFCX—on the market. A deal to sell the stations to Ernie Bushnell, owner of CJOH-DT in Ottawa, collapsed in the spring of 1971 when Bushnell was unable to secure the necessary financing. Later in 1971, Canadian Marconi agreed to sell the stations to computer and telecommunications company Multiple Access Ltd., owned by the Bronfman family.

### CIQC (1991-1999)

In September 1991, CFCF and its FM sister CFQR (now CKBE) were sold to Mount Royal Broadcasting (later Métromédia). The historic CFCF call letters were retained by TV station CFCF-TV so, just short of 70 years after it had been first assigned, CFCF changed its call letters to CIQC. At the same time, the station launched an ill-fated country music format as "Country 600", which only lasted until March 1993, at which point there was a further switch to news/talk programming, with on-air personalities including Howard Galganov.

During 1997-99, CIQC was the home station for "The Travel World Radio Show", hosted by veteran travel broadcasters Stephen Pickford and Willem Bagchus, which became the first Montreal radio show to be carried in U.S. syndication when it was picked up in August 1999 for simulcasting by the Westminster, Maryland-based Liberty Works Radio Network. The program was profiled in the October 15, 2000 edition of L'Actualite magazine for its efforts in promoting Canadian and Quebec tourism to an American audience.

### CINW (1999-)

On December 14, 1999, the station dropped its talk programming and switched to its present all-news format employing the call sign of CKNN, however this had been done improperly, as the station was denied permission to use the CKNN call letters. CIQC instead became CINW. A sister station, CINF "Info 850", provides French-language all-news programming.

## Description

Read it tomorrow, watch it tonight, or hear it now... Only Montreal's CINW News 600 gives you breaking news as it happens, 24 hours a day. News any sooner we'd have to be psychic.

We have Montreal's Best Traffic every ten minutes around the clock. The most accurate Weather forecasts - we guarantee it - and we are the only station for business news, live around the world exclusively with Bloomberg News.

With over 80 anchors, reporters, editors, writers and exclusive access to CNN's correspondents around the world, Montreal's CINW News 600 is dedicated to giving you the news first. It takes a big commitment from a lot of people; and we are extremely proud of the staff we've assembled.

In just the first year of operation, Montreal's CINW News 600 already became the most important news voice of Montreal!

## Program Schedule

* News: 24 hours every day, Montreal's CINW News 600 covers Montreal and the world from our city's largest broadcast Newsroom. Always first with Breaking News and continuous team coverage, nothing is more important to us than being first to you with the News as it happens. Montreal's CINW News 600 is Quebec's only affiliate of CNN worldwide.

* Traffic & Weather: Every 10 minutes, around the clock, the Montreal's CINW News 600 Traffic & Weather Centre reports "on the ones" at :01, 11, 21, 31, 41, 51 past the hour. Because Montreal traffic is always a problem, you'll always need Montreal's CINW News 600. You can trust the view from our 60-plus Jam Cams.

* Sports: Montreal's CINW News 600 reports on Sports at :15 and :45 past the hour seven days a week. Want to know the score? Punch us on!

* Business: Money and Business ... we're addicted. That's why we report on it 4 times every hour during the business day - at :26 and :56 past the hour, plus The Market Minute at :13 and :43 past the hour. Only Montreal's CINW News 600 has continuous coverage of breaking news from the world's major stock markets. Montreal's CINW News 600 also offers exclusive reports live from Hong Kong, London, New York and around the clock with Bloomberg News.

* Features: From Monday to Sunday, we keep listeners well informed on trends in: Computers, Internet, medical issues, entertainment, travel destinations, and more... at :39 past the hour.