CFGO is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, broadcasting on 1200

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

. It is owned by

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

and broadcasts a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format, using the brand name '' TSN 1200 Ottawa''. The

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

s and offices are in the Bell Media Building on George Street in

Downtown Ottawa Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, ...

ByWard Market The ByWard Market (), is a retail and entertainment district in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located east of the government and business district. The Market district includes the market buildings and open-air market alo ...

. CFGO features local Ottawa sports shows most of the day, with programming from

TSN Radio TSN Radio is a semi-national sports radio brand and part-time network in Canada carried on AM radio stations owned by Bell Media.ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

and

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

nights and weekends. CFGO is the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

for the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

team. CFGO transmits 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum for Canadian AM stations. Because 1200 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A WOAI

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, CFGO must use a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

to protect WOAI from interference. CFGO has a six-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

on Moodie Drive at Barnsdale Road in

Barrhaven, Ontario Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10 ...

. CFGO audio streaming is also available through

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

History

Music format

On June 7, 1964, Confederation Broadcasting

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

CKPM on 1440 AM. CKPM aired a middle of the road (MOR) format with popular adult music and a heavy local news commitment. In 1970, the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

revoked Confederation's licence, alleging that the company had failed to live up to its financial and management obligations. Confederation appealed to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

, who ruled in April 1971 that Confederation had not had a fair hearing before the CRTC. In 1972, majority interest in the station was sold to Baton Broadcasting. The station also adopted its current CFGO

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

that year and moved to a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

music format to compete with top-rated

CFRA CFRA is a news/ talk formatted radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts on the assigned frequency of 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in Downtown Ottaw ...

Frequency and format changes

On November 15, 1984, CFGO Radio Ltd. received approval from the CRTC to change CFGO's frequency to 1200 kHz with power remaining at 50,000

s day and night. The station moved to AM 1200 on January 5, 1986, improving its signal. It was sold to

Rawlco Communications Rawlco Radio Ltd. is a media company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is the sole proprietor of seven radio stations in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Rawlco Radio Corporate Office is just south of Downtown Sas ...

the following year. Playing

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 1 ...

's "

We Built This City "We Built This City" is the debut single by American rock band Starship, from their 1985 debut album '' Knee Deep in the Hoopla''. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Los Angeles at the time ...

" as the inaugural song on the new 1200 AM frequency, Rawlco transitioned the station from Top 40 to

adult contemporary music 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

as "Adult Rock, Go 1200" at the same time as the frequency switch, with local actress Abby Hagyard (of ''

You Can't Do That on Television ''You Can't Do That on Television'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to A ...

'' fame) serving as morning co-host. However, following CFRA's move from contemporary hits to an AC/

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

mix in August 1986, CFGO switched back to its previous all-hit presentation within a month. On March 8, 1988, Rawlco relaunched the

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

format, with the station downplaying its callsigns in favour of the name ''Energy 1200'', and the station began broadcasting 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 in ...

AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...

. The station changed its call sign to CJBZ and its brand name to ''The Buzz'' in August 1997, with a focus on more

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

and

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

All-sports format

On September 9, 1998, at 7:30 a.m., the station switched to its current all-

format, using the brand name ''OSR1200 - Ottawa Sports Radio''. It was acquired the following year by

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM (AM), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...

, reverting to its CFGO call sign. In 1999, the station adopted the ''Team 1200'' brand name. On May 7, 2001, the station formed the basis for CHUM's short-lived national sports radio network The Team, which adopted the Ottawa station's brand identity. The station retained its format and brand when CHUM subsequently folded the network. On June 22, 2007, CFGO along with the other CHUM stations were sold to CTVglobemedia (now known as

). On September 30, 2013, CFGO re-branded as ''TSN Radio 1200''.

Programming

TSN 1200 broadcasts a wide variety of sports programming, as well as news and weather, and the station streams

and

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

at night. As the official radio station of the

, it broadcasts every Ottawa Senators game live. The station also broadcasts

Ottawa 67's The Ottawa 67's are a major junior ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that plays in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Established during Canada's centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67's currently play thei ...

games,

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

games,

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History F ...

games, Ottawa Blackjacks games, and formerly broadcast

Ottawa Lynx The Ottawa Lynx were a Minor League Baseball team that competed in the Triple-A International League (IL) from 1993 to 2007. The team's home field was Lynx Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. Over 15 seasons, the team was an affiliate of the Montreal Exp ...

games. Notable programs include TSN Mornings, In the Box, The Drive, Offside With Eric Macramalla, Sens Pre/Post-game Shows, RedBlacks Radio Show, Junior Hockey Magazine, among several others.

Live sports

TSN Radio 1200 is the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

station for the following teams' radio broadcasts: *

(

hockey) *

( OHL hockey) *

(

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

football) *

( CPL soccer) * Ottawa Blackjacks ( CEBL basketball) TSN Radio 1200 also features live coverage of the following: *

NFL Football The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

(select games) *

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

(select games) *

Belleville Senators The Belleville Senators (colloquially known as the B-Sens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Belleville, Ontario. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ottawa Senators. The Senators pl ...

(select games) * World Juniors *

NBA Basketball The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(select games)

Podcasts

* TSN Mornings * In the Box * The Drive * Sens Pre-Game Show * Sens Post-Game Show * Offside With Eric Macramalla * TSN Weekend * RedBlacks Radio Show * CFL Weekly * The TSN MMA Show * She’s Got Game * Tee It Up * Corner Kicks Soccer Show * This is Wrestling * 3 in the Key

References

External links

*
CFGO-AM
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

* {{Bell Media FGO FGO FGO Sport in Ottawa 1964 establishments in Ontario Radio stations established in 1964 ESPN Radio stations Fox Sports Radio stations