CHAM (820
AM) is a
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
Hamilton,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. 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 ...
, the station broadcasts a
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
format branded on-air as ''Funny 820'', consisting of blocks of
stand-up comedy bits and comedic
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
s. CHAM's studios are located on Upper Wentworth Street near
Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton, while its 6-tower array is located near
Binbrook
Binbrook is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the B1203 road, and north-east from Market Rasen.
Previously a larger market town,Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 64 ...
.
History
CHAM began operations in November 1959 as a 5,000-watt station at the 1280 AM frequency under the CHIQ
call letters
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 assigne ...
. Initially the station broadcast a
classical music format but rock and roll was featured later in the 1960s, with Canadian radio personality
David Marsden
David Charles Marsden (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian radio broadcaster. Initially operating under the on-air name of Dave Mickie, with much fast-talking patter, he was a notable Toronto DJ of the 1960s who attracted critical attention fr ...
among the station's DJ roster. In 1965, the power was increased to 10,000 watts day/5,000 watts night (the station went full-time 10 kW in 1968). The station was purchased from CHIQ, Ltd. in 1967 by
(Ted) Rogers Broadcasting Ltd., which received approval from the CRTC to change the call letters to CHAM. Under Rogers' ownership and management by Dancy Broadcasting, Ltd., CHAM launched a "
Middle of the road" music format on November 1, 1967.
By 1970, CHAM switched to
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 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. "Top 40" or "cont ...
format, directly competing with
CKOC
CKOC (1150 AM) is a radio station in Hamilton, Ontario. Owned by Bell Media, it broadcasts a business news format. CKOC is a 50,000-watt, Class B station operating on a Regional (not clear-channel) broadcast frequency, with transmitters locate ...
(a future sister station of CHAM's in the 2000s) and including in its playlist many records that didn't receive exposure elsewhere in the market. Some of the personalities who worked at CHAM during this time period included Paul Godfrey, Dick Joseph (who worked there twice - the second time under their next call letters), Gil Harris, Rockin' Ron Baptist, Ravin' Dave Mitchell, Don Collins, Bob Wood (later program/operations manager of WBEN-AM-FM in
Buffalo), Ike Isaac, Ken Packham, Skip Dewling, Wayne Dion, J.J.Clarke, Don West, Len Robinson, Dave Fisher Ted Michaels, and newscaster Glen Darling. CHAM published a weekly Top 30 poster approximately between 1971 and 1974. In an unusual move, CHAM's broadcasting facilities were located inside a shopping mall called Terminal Towers, from which passers by could peer into the station's glass walls and watch the announcers work.
In 1976, CHAM was sold to
Keith Dancy
Keith Jules Dancy (June 30, 1929 – May 6, 2001) was a Canadian hockey announcer.
Dancy's broadcasting career began in 1945 when he was hired as an announcer at CFRB in Toronto, Ontario. Later, he became the play-by-play man for the Montreal Cana ...
and the station adopted a "
gold and great" format under the CJJD call sign. Soon afterward, the station's facilities were moved out of Terminal Towers (and the public eye) and up a few blocks to
Lloyd D. Jackson Square. For one year in 1978, the station held the radio broadcast rights to the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats football team; between the team's creation in 1950 and 2014, it was the only year in which the Tiger-Cats were not heard on longtime broadcaster
CHML
CHML is a radio station, broadcasting at 900 AM in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. CHML's transmitter power is 50,000 watts using an eight-tower directional antenna array with a signal oriented largely west-northwest to east-southeast, covering the ...
(Tiger-Cats broadcasts, along with all other sports broadcasts in Hamilton, were acquired by
TSN Radio 1150 in 2015).
In 1981, Moffat Communications, Ltd. acquired CJJD and immediately upgraded the station's facilities, expanded its news staff, and included some talk programming in the lineup. Moffat changed the station call sign back to CHAM in 1982, and in July 1983, changed format to
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
, broadcasting in
AM stereo. In August 1985, CHAM moved to a stronger frequency at 820 AM, increasing power to 50,000 watts daytime and 10,000 watts at night.
As a pioneering
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
station, ''820 CHAM'' would earn its greatest fame and following, having had a good run for 2+ decades under various management and ownership, including
Golden West Broadcasting (who acquired the station in 1993), Affinity Radio Group (1997), and
Telemedia
Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing.
The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, when he purchased CKAC in Montreal from Power Corporation of Canada. CKA ...
(2000). CHAM was honoured as
Canadian Country Music Association
The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The groundwork for the association began on June 3rd, 1973 when a gr ...
Station of the Year in 1989, the same year the
Country Music Association bestowed Medium Market Station honours.
In 2002,
Standard Broadcasting Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object t ...
acquired CHAM and its sister stations (
CKOC
CKOC (1150 AM) is a radio station in Hamilton, Ontario. Owned by Bell Media, it broadcasts a business news format. CKOC is a 50,000-watt, Class B station operating on a Regional (not clear-channel) broadcast frequency, with transmitters locate ...
and
CKLH), and on January 31, 2005, at 8:20am, with contemporary country listeners having gravitated to the FM dial, adjusted CHAM's format to become "All Time Country Favourites: 820 CHAM - The Legend", with the station concentrating on
classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades.
Repertoire
The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...
music (though a few current songs would later be included on a limited basis).
In October 2007,
Astral Media acquired Standard Broadcasting's terrestrial radio and television assets, including CHAM. On August 29, 2008, the station began
stunting with all-
Christmas music, teasing listeners that on September 2, 2008, there would be "ten thousand reasons to tune in at 8:20am." On September 2, CHAM's new format was revealed — a
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...
/
talk radio format as ''Talk 820''. CHAM's talk schedule would include local talk shows hosted by Mike Nabuurs, Becky Coles, Jason Farr, Jodi Gaskell, Dave Shuttleworth, and
Mike Bullard, along with syndicated shows including
Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
. The new CHAM format included live sports coverage, including
Hamilton Bulldogs
The Hamilton Bulldogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League that began to play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the Bulldogs play their home games at FirstOntario Centre. They were purcha ...
hockey,
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) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
baseball, and
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
broadcasts from
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming.
The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...
.
The "Talk" format of CHAM did not provide the total numbers that Astral was looking for, with the station lagging behind longtime Hamilton
talk stalwart
CHML
CHML is a radio station, broadcasting at 900 AM in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. CHML's transmitter power is 50,000 watts using an eight-tower directional antenna array with a signal oriented largely west-northwest to east-southeast, covering the ...
. Seeing an opportunity to fill a country void in the Hamilton market left by
CING-FM
CING-FM (''Energy 95.3'') is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 95.3 FM in Hamilton, Ontario. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format. CING's studios are located on Main Street West in Hamilton, while its transmitter is loc ...
's changeover to
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...
in 2009, and taking advantage of a staff restructuring at the Astral Hamilton station cluster, CHAM reverted to an all-
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
format (and the "820 CHAM" branding) on July 22, 2010 at Noon. The playlist concentrated on both current country and hits from the past 20 years, with a greater than usual focus on
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 (includ ...
. The station would keep many of the sports commitments it adopted during its talk format, many of which it had already held prior to the talk format's debut.
By August
2011, CHAM gained
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
competition when
CHKX-FM flipped formats from
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...
to country. CHKX and its clearer-sounding FM signal would eventually surpass CHAM in the ratings,
["No kidding: Hamilton radio station CHAM goes all comedy,"]
from ''The Hamilton Spectator'', 8/20/2012 leading to speculation that CHAM would drop country a second time. On August 20, 2012, Astral Media would confirm that CHAM would change to an all-
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
format;
[ at 8:20 a.m. the next morning (August 21, 2012), after playing "]Here Comes Goodbye
"Here Comes Goodbye" is a song written by ''American Idol'' season 6 finalist Chris Sligh and Clint Lagerberg and recorded by American country music group Rascal Flatts, who released it in January 2009 as the first single from their album '' Unstop ...
" by Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cou ...
and "Sideways
''Sideways'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama road film directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, ''Sideways'' follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymo ...
" by Dierks Bentley
Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to Capitol Nashville and released his eponymous debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's '' Modern Day Drifter'', a ...
, the station became ''Funny 820'', Astral's second full-time comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
station (after London's CKSL
CKSL was a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 1410 AM in London, Ontario, Canada. The station aired a comedy radio format branded as ''Funny 1410''. The station broadcast with a power of 10,000 watts from its transmitter site located on Sco ...
). The content on "Funny" relies heavily on vintage and archived stand-up
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
and improvisational comedy
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...
bits provided by 24/7 Comedy Radio, a US-based service to which Astral owns exclusive Canadian broadcast rights. Local content is currently limited to voiceovers and traffic and entertainment updates provided by Mike Nabuurs, the "Funny 820 Ambassador of Funny" and the only on-air talent carried over from "820 CHAM", although spotlights on local comedy talent have not been ruled out in the future.[
In early 2013, the station added Astral's new late night ]Humble & Fred
''Humble & Fred'' is a Toronto-based Canadian podcast, featuring co-hosts "Humble" Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson.
Available as a podcast since October 2011, the daily comedy-talk presentation was first launched over two decades earlier as ...
show.["Humble And Fred Return To Radio Via Astral Media, CFRB". '']Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
'', January 14, 2013. Most recently, for the 2013-2014 hockey season, the station is airing Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
games in addition to their usual comedic fare.
24/7 Comedy ceased terrestrial distribution in August 2014. The station has continued to air stand-up comedy since the closure, one of only two remaining stations in Canada to carry the format. It remains the second least-listened-to station in the market, with, in the latest report from Numeris
Numeris (formerly the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, or BBM Canada) is a Canadian audience measurement organization. Established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Numeris is the primary provider of viewers ...
in fall 2018, 15,400 listeners (a 0.7% market share), ahead of only TSN Radio 1150.
Logos
References
External links
Funny 820
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cham
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
Radio stations established in 1959
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
1959 establishments in Ontario
Comedy radio stations in Canada