250 Richmond Street West is a studio complex in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The building now serves as the headquarters of

iHeartRadio Canada Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc.. The company owns stations across the countr ...

's national radio operations of

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

, and as the studios of the company's Toronto radio stations,

CHUM-FM CHUM-FM (104.5 FM) is a Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned by Bell Media, the station airs a hot adult contemporary format. CHUM-FM's studios are located at 250 Richmond Street West in the Entertainment District, while it ...

(CHUM 104.5),

CFRB CFRB (1010 AM) is a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West. One of the oldes ...

(Newstalk 1010) and

CKFM-FM CKFM-FM (99.9 FM ''99.9 Virgin Radio'') is a Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned by Bell Media. The station airs a contemporary hit radio format, and is the flagship of Canada's "Virgin Radio" stations. CKFM's ...

(99.9 Virgin Radio). The building previously served as the home of the Go Gos, Whiskey Saigon and Joe nightclubs. The building is located at the corner of Richmond and Duncan Streets and is connected with

299 Queen Street West 299 Queen Street West, also known as Bell Media Queen Street or Bell Media Studios, is the headquarters of the television/radio broadcast hub of Bell Canada's media unit, Bell Media, and is located at the intersection of Queen Street West and J ...

via offices at 260 Richmond Street West (former Tip Top Tailors warehouse, c 1914). The building is likely part of the 1924 addition to 260 Richmond. This complex is where Bell Media's speciality television channels such as the television operations of Much as well as BNN,

CTV Drama Channel CTV Drama Channel is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts Drama (film and television), drama series and films. The channel ...

, E! and

CTV Sci-Fi Channel CTV Sci-Fi Channel is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Bell Media subsidairy of BCE Inc.. The channel primarily broadcasts speculative fiction and related programming. The network was launched on October 17 ...

are based as well as select CTV programming. CHUM and CHUM-FM's previous headquarters were located at 1331 Yonge Street until CTV announced it would sell the building to developer Aspen Ridge Homes for $21.5 million in July 2008. CTV also announced it would move the CHUM neon sign to the new complex, the sign was unveiled at its new location on June 15, 2009, and the company's Toronto radio stations officially moved into the new complex on August 19, 2009.Theresa Boyle
"CHUM site slated for luxury condos"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', July 29, 2008. The building also briefly served as home to rhythmic and

classic hip hop Classic hip hop is a music radio format focusing primarily on hip hop music from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early to mid-2000s. Although stations with such a format date back as far as 2004, the format was first popularized in October 2014, after ...

station Flow 93.5 from February 2011 until after their sale to Newcap Radio on March 31, 2014. When

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

acquired

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 ...

they were required by the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

to divest a number of certain assets. As a media company in Canada cannot own more than two FM and two AM English radio stations in any one market, Flow 93.5 was subsequently sold while NewsTalk 1010 and Virgin 99.9 were kept through the purchase of Astral. The studios for CFRB and CKFM-FM were previously located at 2 St. Clair Avenue at Yonge and St. Clair until these stations moved to the complex on May 10, 2014. Until 2010, the building was also home to CHUM FM sister station, CHUM AM, both during its time as ''CP24 Radio 1050'' and briefly in 2010 during the first few months operating as ''TSN 1050''. Now, CHUM AM is primarily based at the 9 Channel Nine Court complex in the Agincourt neighbourhood of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, so its radio programs can be

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on TSN's television network.

References

External links

Bell Media
{{Coord, 43.6496, -79.3894, type:landmark_region:CA-ON_source:googlemaps, display=title Buildings and structures in Toronto Bell Media Radio studios in Canada