CFTR (AM)

History

Early years

The station launched on August 8, 1962. Its original frequency was 1540 kHz, using the call sign CHFI, simulcasting the beautiful music of sister station CHFI-FM, one of Canada's first FM radio stations. Because 1540 is a clear-channel frequency assigned to stations in the United States and the Bahamas, CHFI was authorized to broadcast only during the daytime. In 1963, it sought to pay CHLO in St. Thomas, Ontario to move from 680 to another frequency, to free up 680 for CHFI's use. No deal was finalized, but, by 1966, the stations reached an agreement to share 680, and CHFI moved to 24-hour operation at that frequency.

In 1971, so as to distinguish itself from CHFI-FM, the station changed its callsign to CFTR; the "TR" being a tribute to Ted Rogers, Sr., radio pioneer and father of controlling shareholder Ted Rogers.

In 1972, CFTR abandoned the beautiful music simulcast of CHFI and adopted a Top 40 format. For many years, it was the primary competition to Toronto's original Top 40 station, CHUM.

In 1973, programmer Chuck Camroux upped the ante in the Toronto radio "Rock and Roll Wars" by tweaking CFTR's notoriously bad signal, adding some reverb, and hiring new morning man Jim Brady to rival CHUM's Jay Nelson. Both stations hovered near one million listeners per week. Although Brady finally topped Nelson in the ratings in 1979, over-all, CFTR did not surpass CHUM in the Toronto BBM ratings until 1984. Once CFTR gained ratings supremacy, CHUM dropped Top 40 in favour of an adult contemporary music format in 1986.

CFTR also hired John Records Landecker from WLS in Chicago in 1981. Landecker spent two years at the station before returning to Chicago to work at WLUP. In 1983, CFTR began broadcasting in AM stereo using the Kahn-Hazeltine independent sideband system, and then switched to the Motorola system.

All-news era

Through the 1980s and 1990s, music listeners switched to FM, prompting AM stations like CFTR to find non-music formats. On June 1, 1993, at 10 a.m., CFTR announced it would be discontinuing the Top 40 format, and began broadcasting a countdown of "the top 500 songs of the (then) past 25 years" titled "The CFTR Story". At 6 a.m. on June 7, after playing Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" (which was the #1 song in the countdown) and Starship's "We Built This City" (which also ended CHUM's Top 40 era in 1986), and the station stopped broadcasting in AM stereo, CFTR adopted its present all-news radio format as "680 News". It was the first all-news radio station in Canada since the end of the former CKO network in 1989.

The station offers listeners a "weather guarantee" jackpot, which is drawn from a pool of listeners who enter the contest.

In June 2021, Rogers announced that it would rebrand its news radio stations under the CityNews brand to create a shared identity with local news on Citytv television stations and their corresponding smartphone app and website. The rebranding took effect on October 18, 2021, with the station rebranding as CityNews 680.

On March 25, 2024, as part of a reimaging of the CityNews brand, CFTR rebranded as 680 NewsRadio Toronto.

Notable staff

• Bob McAdorey (1970–1976), formerly CHUM, later Global News entertainment editor and co-anchor
• Arlene Bynon - news (1980–1984) hosted Sunday, Sunday newsmagazine, moved to CHFI-FM and later hosted talk shows on the Global Television Network, AM 640, and Sirius XM Canada's Canada Talks channel
• John Records Landecker - morning man (1981–1983)
• Jesse and Gene - (Jesse Dylan and Gene Valaitis) (1989–1993), first in afternoon drive, moved to morning drive in 1991
• Chris Mavridis - reporter (1997–2000)
• Rick Moranis (using the stage name Rick Allen) - ()
• Stephanie Smyth - news director and anchor (1993–2005), now a Liberal MPP in the Ontario legislature

References

References

1. "Contact CityNews Toronto".
2. Rossiter, Eric. (September 3, 1979). "CFTR Move Gets Approval".
3. "None".
4. [[Broadcasting & Cable. Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-249]]
5. "CFTR-AM".
6. Van Hasselt, Caroline. (2010). "High Wire Act: Ted Rogers and the Empire that Debt Built". John Wiley & Sons.
7. Mietkiewicz, Henry. (June 6, 1986). "Rock image fades as CHUM goes upmarket". The Toronto Star.
8. Mietkiewicz, Henry. (June 7, 1986). "CHUM ends teen rock image to woo baby boomers". The Toronto Star.
9. (June 13, 1986). "CHUM (AM) Switches to AC". Radio & Records.
10. "Offenders of the Faith".
11. Quill, Greg. (June 2, 1993). "CFTR dumps pop music to launch day-long news". The Toronto Star.
12. Van Alphen, Tony. (November 11, 1989). "CKO forced to close due to red ink". The Toronto Star.
13. Quill, Greg. (November 11, 1989). "Writing had been on the wall for closedown of CKO Radio". The Toronto Star.
14. (1994). "1994-BC-YB".
15. . (June 4, 2021). ["Rogers extends CityNews brand to five more of its news radio stations"](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/06/04/rogers-extends-citynews-brand-to-five-more-of-its-news-radio-stations/). *CityNews*.
16. "CityNews".
17. "CityNews".
18. (March 28, 2024). "The Weekly Briefing". Broadcast Dialogue.
19. (February 24, 2008). "Bob McAdorey, 69: DJ led heady days at CHUM".
20. "CFMJ-AM".
21. "Rick Moranis".
22. "CFTR-AM".