CFFR (660
AM) is a Canadian AM radio station broadcasting at 660
kHz in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, and began broadcasting on January 10, 1984. As of April 3, 2006, it operates in an
all-news
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
format, branded as ''
CityNews
''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone l ...
660''. It is a Class B, 50,000 watt station broadcasting on the
clear-channel
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...
frequency of 660 AM. CFFR's studios are located on 7th Avenue Southwest in
downtown Calgary, while its transmitters are located near
Okotoks
Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a populati ...
.
Previously, CFFR had operated a gold-based
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, quiet ...
station entitled ''66 CFR''. "CFR" initially stood for "Calgary Family Radio" (with the additional "F" in the call sign being incidental), and later for "
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are the third major professional ice hockey tea ...
Radio", although game coverage moved to sister station
CFAC upon its relaunch as all-sports. The first song they played was at 7:16 am, was "
A Hard Day's Night" by
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
after signing on with the station
stunting with a sound of a clock ticking, CFFR's announcements with the same early 1980's jingles as
CFTR in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
, and various number 1 songs from 1964 to 1983; and it was an ode to the work they had done just to get the station up and running. "66 CFR" during its early years played various hits from the late 1950s to the 1980s. The last song played before the format change was "
We Built This City" by
Starship
A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems.
The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...
. The announcement of 66 CFR leaving the air was accompanied by the closing chord of the Beatles' "
A Day in the Life", which had also been the first sound heard at the start of the production piece introducing the station.
As of winter 2020, CFFR is the 11th-most-listened-to radio station in the Calgary market according to a PPM data report released by
Numeris.
In June 2021, Rogers announced that it would rebrand CFFR and its other all-news and news/talk radio stations under the ''
CityNews
''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone l ...
'' brand beginning October 18, 2021.
The radio station's website is co-branded with CityNews and includes reporting from
Citytv Calgary's newscasts.
Past station logos
File:660 News logo.png
File:660 News Calgary logo.png
References
External links
660 NewsCFFR history-
Canadian Communications Foundation
The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) is a Canadian nonprofit organization which documents the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television. Since 1995, the organization has distributed its collection via an intern ...
*
FFR
FFR
FFR
Radio stations established in 1984
1984 establishments in Alberta
{{Alberta-radio-station-stub