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CFAJ (1220
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 ...
) 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 ...
AM
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 ...
in
St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It is owned by Radio Dhun and it broadcasts a Classic Hits
radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
. The station was
off the air In broadcasting, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not even transmit a ...
from 2010 to 2020. CFAJ broadcasts at 10,000
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 using 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 ...
with a nine-
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 ...
to prevent co-channel interference with
WHKW WHKW (1220 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, featuring a Christian radio format known as "AM 1220 The Word". Owned by Salem Media Group, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio region. WHKW ...
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, as well as 1230
WECK WECK (1230 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cheektowaga, New York and serving the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area. The station airs a locally produced and locally hosted oldies music format. The studios, offices a ...
in
Cheektowaga Cheektowaga (; ) is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is t ...
, forty miles to the east. CFAJ can be heard as far north as parts of
cottage country Cottage country is a common name in Ontario, New Brunswick, and other regions of Canada for areas that are popular locations for recreational properties such as cottages and summer homes. In the Greater Toronto Area, cottage country traffic r ...
and west beyond
Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...
. The
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is off Turner Road in
Thorold Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. The Welland Canal passes through the city, featuring lock 7 and the Twin Flight Locks. History The first surv ...
, near the
Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, and part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses the Niagara Peninsula between Port Weller, Ontario, Port Weller on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lak ...
.


History

In 1967, the station
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 ...
the air as CHSC. It was owned by Radio Station CHSC Ltd., which also launched CHSC-FM at the same time. The station was acquired by Coultis Broadcasting in 1990. CHSC had a full service
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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
radio format, with some
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 ...
along with a bit of
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
, typically attracting audiences ages 30 and up, both male and female. CHSC played a mix of 50 per cent gold and 50 per cent current/recurrent of which 45 per cent on average consisted of
Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (inclu ...
during the broadcast week of Sunday to Saturday. Listeners could also find talk shows in both English and
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
. The station's regular English programming was branded as 1220 CHSC, and its Italian programming was branded as Radio Uno. Spoken word programming consisted largely of news updates at the top of each hour from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. on weekdays, and the ''It's Your Call Sports Show'' on Monday nights. Italian-language programming branded as Radio Uno consisted of Italian-language music weekday afternoons, but also had the entirety of the broadcasting day from 9am Saturdays and ran right through till 6am Monday morning when programming reverted to English. CHSC also experimented with other third-language programming. During about three months of 2008 ''South-Asian Dhoom'' (Hindu music and chat) aired weekdays in the last couple of hours before noon and at the supper hour for about three hours. ''Caribbean Connection'', a mix of
soca music Soca music, or the "soul of calypso", is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1970s. It is considered an offshoot of Calypso music, calypso, with influences from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadian a ...
and English-language chat aired on Saturdays and Sundays during the supper hour for three hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday. Both ''South-Asian Dhoom'' and ''Caribbean Connection'' were eventually cancelled. In 1997, the station entered into a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
(LMA) with CJRN and CKEY in
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
. The station subsequently applied to move to FM in 2001, but withdrew the application. Coultis went into
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...
in 2002, and the station was acquired by Pellpropco Inc.


2008 problems

In the summer 2008, the Queenston Street building, which housed CHSC's studio and offices since its founding, were seized by
bailiffs A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...
and all of the contents were auctioned off. This was allegedly due either to large sums of unpaid rent and taxes; to physical deterioration, according to documents filed by the station owner with the CRTC; or both. The CRTC announced a January 2009 hearing to inquire into format violations, missing financial statements, logger tapes, the loss of the studio, and the station's allegedly being operated from Woodbridge, a suburb of
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, rather than St. Catharines. CHSC's web site is a mere welcome message and a link to the online streaming. On June 30, 2009, the CRTC issued a number of mandatory orders to Pellpropco regarding the management of the station.


2010 shutdown

On July 30, 2010, the CRTC issued a decision that it would not renew the station's license, requiring the station to cease broadcasting at the end of the broadcast day of August 31.CRTC Decision 2010-533
The CRTC cited numerous failures to comply with regulations and with commission orders, and the doubtfulness of the station management's promises to comply in the future. According to CRTC media relations, Pellpropco filed a motion on August 25 with the Federal Court of Canada, and a stay was issued on August 31. This allowed CHSC to remain on the air, legally, pending a decision by that court. CHSC was noted on-air the afternoon of September 1 with regular programming (Radio Uno at that time). The court declined to allow an appeal on September 30, effectively putting an end to the station for good; by October 2, CHSC was off the air. In January 2015, the former CHSC studios at 36 Queenston Street in St. Catharines waere demolished. The land was used for a four-storey apartment building.


2012: Rejected application for 1220

On July 10, 2012, 8045313 Canada Inc. (a
numbered company A numbered company is a corporation given a generic name based on its sequentially assigned registration number. For instance, an entity incorporated under the '' Canada Business Corporations Act'' and assigned the corporation number 1234567 would ...
unrelated to Pellpropco Inc.) applied for a new radio station which would broadcast a music format that would consist of a mix of past, present and emerging artists. If it had been approved, the new station would have operated at 1220 kHz (AM), the former frequency used by CHSC until its shutdown in late 2010. The application was denied by the CRTC on January 30, 2013. The 1220 frequency remained silent during this time.


2015: New application for 1220

On October 21, 2015, Sivanesarajah Kandiah submitted an application for 1220 kHz, which would operate with 10,000 watts full-time and would utilize the transmitting equipment previously used by CHSC. The station was proposed to have a classic hits format under the branding "Grapevine Radio". This application was approved on April 20, 2016. After several years of construction and planning, 1220 returned to the air in 2020 with the new
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 ...
CFAJ.


References


External links


CFAJ
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 ...
*
Federal Court of Appeal docket - Aug-Sep 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cfaj (Am) FAJ FAJ Radio stations established in 1967 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Internet radio stations in Canada 1967 establishments in Ontario 2010 disestablishments in Ontario 2020 establishments in Ontario Radio stations established in 2020