watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
(directional at night)
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 radi ...
in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...
,
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 ...
. CFRN is unusual in that it is a Class A (protected nighttime skywave) AM station on a regional frequency. Owned by
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
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, ...
format, branded as ''
TSN
TSN may refer to:
Science and technology
* Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function
* Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* The Science Netwo ...
1260 Edmonton''. The station's studios are located at 18520 Stony Plain Road in Edmonton, where it shares studio space with its
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
, CFRN-DT.
As of February 28, 2021, CFRN is the 17th-most-listened-to radio station in the Edmonton market according to a PPM data report released by Numeris.
History
Early History
In 1927, the Christian and Missionary Alliance launched the original station as CHMA at 580
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...
. In 1934, CHMA became CFTP after Taylor & Pearson Ltd. took over the station in an agreement that allowed the Christian and Missionary Alliance to maintain airtime on Sundays.
On November 1, 1934, the first license for the CFRN call letters was issued to Dr. G. R. A. "Dick" Rice" and his company, Sunwapta Broadcasting Co. Ltd., who had recently purchased CFTP from Taylor and Pearson Ltd. after financial troubles. CFRN began broadcasting on November 3, 1934 at the 1260 kHz frequency. On September 13, 1936, the station moved to 960 kHz and remained there until 1941 when they returned to 1260 kHz, a frequency they still occupy today.
In 1944 station became a
network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
of
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
's
Dominion Network
The Dominion Network was the second English-language radio network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from January 1, 1944 to 1962.
It consisted of the CBC-owned CJBC radio station in Toronto and a series of 34 privately owned affiliates ...
. It remained an affiliate of the main CBC Radio network until 1964 when CBR launched.
FM simulcast began in 1951 on CFRN-FM which lasted until 1964 when the FM network began offering its own content. CFRN-FM became fully separate from CFRN in 1979. Sunwapta brought television to Edmonton in 1954 when CFRN-TV signed on.
According to the 1976 B.B.M. Weekly Reach survey, CFRN was the 4th-most-listened-to radio station in Edmonton.
Sunwapta merged with Electrohome in 1988. Electrohome exited radio in 1996, selling CFRN to Standard Broadcasting.
On July 1, 1998, CFRN flipped from adult standards to
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 wel ...
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
, delivered via Anik satellite. The new oldies network replaced the former Satellite Radio Network service.
Switch to sports radio
In June 2002, CFRN flipped to
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 comedy ...
as ''The Team 1260'', as an affiliate of CHUM Radio's The Team network. However, the network folded shortly afterwards. CFRN would maintain its branding as ''The Team'' as a locally programmed format, while adding syndicated programs such as '' Prime Time Sports'' and '' The Jim Rome Show''. In 2007, Standard Radio was acquired by
Astral Media
Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channel ...
. In turn, Astral Media was acquired by
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
on July 5, 2013—the acquisition re-united CFRN with its television sister, and with The Team's former owned-and-operated stations.
On September 30, 2013, CFRN was re-branded as a part of Bell's
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.
* The Mark Spector Show - Hosted by Mark Spector
* Cracker-Cats Show - Hosted by Al Coates
* Sports-Xtra - Hosted by Tony Fiorello and Ron Rimer
* Edmonton Cracker-Cats live play-by-play - Games were carried on the Team 1260 during the first two years of the franchise. Al Coates handled the play by play
* Total Sports - Hosted by Bob Stauffer; featuring the 'Total Sports Dream Team' of co-hosts
* What's Going On - Hosted by Jason Jones, Corey Graham and Nadine Woudstra
* Sports Talk - Hosted by John Short
* More on Sports - featuring play-by-play veteran Bryn Griffiths and Jake Daniels (the "voice of the fan").
* Way Offside - Hosted by Jake Daniels
* The Pipeline Show - Hockey program hosted by Global Edmonton's Dean Millard and columnist Guy Flaming
* The Ultimate Soccer Show - 3 hour Soccer program hosted by "Soccersteve" Steve O'Boyle
AJHL
The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The r ...
hockey (select games)
*
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
Golden Bears football and hockey games (select games)