CJRT-FM (91.1

MHz 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 he ...

) is a Canadian public radio station and charitable arts organization in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, known as JAZZ.FM91. The studios are on Pardee Avenue in the

Liberty Village Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered to the north by King Street West, to the west by Dufferin Street, to the south by the Gardiner Expressway, to the east by Strachan Avenue, and to the northeast by the ...

neighbourhood of Toronto. The station describes itself as Canada's only 24-hour all-

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

radio station, with evening and weekend specialty shows devoted to jazz-influenced R&B, blues,

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

and

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

. It has a professional staff of on-air hosts, with more than 90 volunteers assisting. It is listener-supported and holds periodic on-air fundraisers, seeking donations to support the station. CJRT-FM has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

(ERP) of 40,000 watts. Its transmitter is atop the

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

. The station is simulcast on

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...

channel 960, Rogers NextBox channel 933, and

Shaw Direct Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two commu ...

channel 869. JAZZ.FM91 is a registered charity that provides youth programs, workshops, internships and scholarships in partnership with educational institutions and other arts organizations.

History

Origins

In 1949,

Ryerson Institute of Technology Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

(now Toronto Metropolitan University) received CBC approval to operate an educational FM station in Toronto (88.3 MHz - 3,000 watts). On April 6, 1964, the licensee name was changed to The Board of Governors of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (as it was then known), and CJRT-FM became a professionally staffed radio service, with the broadcast schedule increased from 7am to midnight seven days a week. There was still some student training but that ended a few years later. Future Station Manager Cam Finley joined the station in December. It played classical,

, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, with educational and public affairs programming, children's shows, and comedy from the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Independence

Ontario Premier

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

provincial legislature

On November 29, CJRT-FM INC. was incorporated by Ontario Letters Patent and CJRT-FM was transferred from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute to the new non-profit corporation. The station received money from the Ontario government and from companies and listeners through fundraising. Cam Finley was appointed Acting Manager in 1973, General Manager in 1974 and President and GM in 1979. John Valentyn launched a weekly blues program. Bud Riley joined CJRT as news and public affairs director. In co-operation with Ryerson and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

's Atkinson College, CJRT offered several on-air Open College courses from 1971 to 2003. In 2003, the service was transferred to Ryerson's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, which offers

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

through the internet, print, and recorded media rather than on radio. In its last years, Open College broadcasts aired Sunday mornings from 6am to 8am. Following Ryerson's loss of ownership of CJRT in 1974,

CKLN-FM CKLN-FM was a community radio station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1983 to 2011, CKLN Radio Inc. was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as a campus-community FM radio station affiliated with R ...

was licensed as Ryerson's campus radio station from 1983 to 2011 followed by

CJRU CJRU, branded as ''CJRU.ca'' and originally branded as ''The Scope at Ryerson'', is a low-powered AM campus and community radio station, owned and operated by Radio Ryerson Incorporated at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson Unive ...

since 2016. In 1975, Glen Woodcock began hosting ''The Big Band Show'', which is still running more than 45 years later.

New format

In January 2001, the station quietly switched to an all-jazz format and rebranded as JAZZ.FM91. In 2004 Ross Porter, whose weeknight jazz programs on

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 ...

had made him a national name, and who later helped CanWest launch COOL-TV and Cool.FM radio, was hired to replace Chuck Camroux in July, as President and CEO Two years later, after nearly 14 years occupying Ryerson property at 150 Mutual Street, CJRT moved to its current street-front facilities at 4 Pardee Ave. in the Liberty Village neighbourhood of Toronto. By this point, the station had added several more on-air personalities including Terry McElligott, Ralph Benmergui, Heather Bambrick, Bill King, Jaymz Bee, Walter Venafro, Reiner Schwarz, Amanda Martinez, many remain with the station to this day.

Leadership change

Then-president and CEO Ross Porter stepped down as CEO in June of 2018, following an investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct and creating a toxic work environment. Charles Cutts, former president and CEO of the Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, was appointed interim CEO. A short time later, the station cut four hosts - Jaymz Bee, Mark Wigmore, Walter Venafro and David Basskin. David Wall, director of community outreach and education, and two other employees were also affected. There was also a shake up at the boardroom level. Chair Renah Persofsky was replaced by David McGown.In December of 2018 long time Midday host Terry McElligott resigned his position at the station. The turmoil resulted in the departure of a number of on-air staff and a decline in donations to the station. At the end of 2018 a group of JAZZ.FM91 donors formed a group called “Save JAZZFM” and launched a campaign to hold an extraordinary meeting of the charity’s membership. Following a Ontario Court ruling granting access to the membership contact information to the Save JAZZFM under the leadership of Brian Hemming. A sufficient proportion of the membership signed a petition requiring the Board of Directors to call the extraordinary meeting to overturn the station's board of directors. A general meeting of the membership held on February 15, 2019, succeeded in removing the board by a vote of 446 to 435, electing a new board composed of the dissident group. Lorie Russell, Vice President and Managing Director of JAZZ.FM91 announced in September 2020 that she would be leaving the station in mid-December. Former JAZZ.FM Director of Sales and Marketing Dana Wigle returned to the station as General Manager., Under new management, JAZZ.FM91 won several broadcasting awards and expanded its digital presence with the addition of podcasts, specialty channels and virtual concerts.

Awards and honors

* Silver award, ''The Sound of Jazz'', New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2018 * Silver award, ''Music to Listen to Jazz By'' with Ross Porter, New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2018 * Gold award, ''The Journey to Jazz and Human Rights,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2020 * Winner, Campus or Community Station of the Year, Canadian Radio Awards, 2021 * Winner, Sound of Success Award, Canadian Radio Awards, 2021 * Finalist, Music Director of the Year, Canadian Radio Awards, 2021 * Finalist, ''Black History Month Vignettes,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2021 * Finalist, ''The View From L.A.,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2021 * Winner, Best Radio Station, NOW Readers' Choice Poll, 2021 * Finalist, Best Radio Personality, NOW Readers' Choice Poll, 2021 * Gold award, Best Jazz Format, New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2022 * Finalist, ''Black History Month Vignettes,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2022 * Finalist, ''Caribbean Christmas Mixtape,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2022 * Finalist, ''In the Land of the Misty Giant,'' New York Festivals Radio Awards, 2022

References

External links

JAZZ.FM91
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cjrt-Fm Jrt Jrt Public radio in Canada Toronto Metropolitan University Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Ontario