CFCO (630 AM) is a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

located in

Chatham–Kent Chatham-Kent (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,316)Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The station, owned by

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Ontario-based

Blackburn Radio Blackburn Radio, Inc. is a Canadian radio broadcasting group, which owns several radio stations in Southwestern Ontario. Headquartered in London, Ontario, the company is owned by 2061302 Ontario Limited, which is majority owned by Cogent Investme ...

, features a heavy local news commitment. CFCO is one of the few dedicated

stations on the AM dial in North America, as well as one of the few to do so in

C-QUAM C-QUAM (Compatible QUadrature Amplitude Modulation) is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published i ...

AM Stereo.

History

Classic Gold 630

The AM radio station has been on the air since 1926. CFCO, which stands for "Coming From Chatham Ontario", featured middle of the road and

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

formats through much of its history, moving to an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format around 1992, as Classic Gold 630. The station made several upgrades during this period under the ownership of Bea-Ver Broadcasting, including an increase in nighttime power from 1,000 to 6,000 watts (the station broadcasts with 10,000 watts by day). The high quality of the AM stereo audio of CFCO was for a time even featured on a tuner manufacturer's website.

CFCO-1-FM

In 2000, the station added its FM signal at 92.9 (CFCO-1-FM) to improve reception of the station's programming in office buildings in Chatham. The FM simulcasts the AM 100% and initially broadcast with only 50 watts of power
Decision CRTC 2000-253
/ref> (later quintupled to 250 watts).

Country 92.9 & AM 630

On March 3, 2008 at 9AM, after sixteen years as an oldies station, ''Classic Gold 630'' came to an end with the song "

The Beat Goes On The Beat Goes On, or variants, may refer to: Music Albums * ''The Beat Goes On'' (Herbie Mann album), 1967 * ''The Beat Goes On!'' (Sonny Criss album), 1968 * ''The Beat Goes On'' (Vanilla Fudge album), 1968 * '' The Beat Goes On: The Best of ...

" by

Sonny and Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

, after which CFCO signed on the new

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

format with "

Play Something Country "Play Something Country" is a song recorded by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn, co-written by Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride. It was released in June 2005, as the first single from the duo's album '' Hillbilly Deluxe''. In September of t ...

" by

Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo ...

. Opening the station was 32-year CFCO vet George Brooks. This is the first time Chatham-Kent has had its own

station, although now-sister station

CHYR-FM CHYR-FM (96.7 MHz, ''Mix 96.7'') is a commercial Canadian radio station in Leamington, Ontario, serving the Southwestern Ontario market. It is owned by Blackburn Radio and airs a hot adult contemporary format branded as ''Mix 96.7''. History 71 ...

in nearby Leamington was a country station for most of the 1990s and sister station

CJSP-FM CJSP-FM (92.7 FM, ''Windsor's Country 95.9 & 92.7'') is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 92.7 MHz in Leamington, Ontario. CJSP is owned and operated by Blackburn Radio. The station features a country format and simulcasts its morni ...

, also in Leamington, debuted its own country format prior to CFCO's change. Besides CFCO and CJSP, other country stations owned by Blackburn Radio are

CHOK CHOK (1070 AM) is a Canadian radio station, licensed to Sarnia, Ontario and owned by Blackburn Radio. The station broadcasts a country format with local news, talk and sports. CHOK also has an FM translator, CHOK-1-FM, broadcasting at 103.9&nb ...

in Sarnia-Lambton,

CJWF-FM CJWF-FM, branded as ''Windsor's Country 95.9 & 92.7'', is a Windsor, Ontario radio station. owned and operated by Blackburn Radio. CJWF broadcasts a country format at 95.9 FM, with limited simulcasting in Leamington, Ontario at 92.7FM. Histo ...

in Windsor, and CKNX in Wingham. In March 2011, CFCO began referring the station as ''Country 92-9 FM CFCO'' with no mention of 630 AM. By 2015, it would include 630 AM once more.

References

External links

Country 92.9
*
Radio Locator information for CFCO
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cfco Fco Fco Fco Radio stations established in 1926 1926 establishments in Ontario