CBME-FM is an

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

located in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

Owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate, ...

by the government-owned

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...

, it broadcasts on 88.5 MHz using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performan ...

with an average

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 ...

of 11,510

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 ...

s and a peak effective radiated power of 25,000 watts ( class B) from a

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

atop

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...

. The station has a commercial-free news/

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

and is part of the

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of ...

network which operates across Canada. Like all CBC Radio One stations, but unlike most FM stations, it broadcasts in mono. Some local shows and newscasts produced at CBME-FM are also heard on a chain of stations across Quebec. Its studios and offices, along with those of

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 ...

CBM-FM CBM-FM (93.5 MHz) is a public non-commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec. It carries the English-language CBC Music network. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBM-FM is a Class C1 station. It ...

, CBF-FM and

CBFX-FM CBFX-FM (100.7 MHz) is a public non-commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec. It is the flagship station of the Ici Musique Network and broadcasts in French. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Fre ...

are located at

Maison Radio-Canada Maison Radio-Canada (English: ''CBC House'') is the broadcast headquarters, studios and master control for all French-language radio and television services of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as ''Société Radio-Canada''/S ...

at 1400

René Lévesque Boulevard René Lévesque Boulevard (french: Boulevard René-Lévesque), previously named Dorchester Boulevard () is one of the main streets in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a main east–west thoroughfare passing through the downtown core in the borou ...

East.

Master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swit ...

is at the

Canadian Broadcasting Centre The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corpor ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

History

The station was launched in 1933 on 1050 AM and was originally known as CRCM, operated by the

Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), also referred to as the Canadian Radio Commission (CRC), was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Origins The CRBC was establi ...

. When ownership was transferred to the CBC in 1937, the station

call sign 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 assig ...

became CBM and the frequency was changed to 960. On March 29, 1941, like most radio stations in North America, CBM moved to 940. Originally 5,000 watts, CBM's power was increased to 50,000 watts, the maximum power permitted by the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

for AM stations. Prior to 1978, CBM broadcast from a transmitter site near Marieville. In 1978 the CBC consolidated its two AM transmitters for Montreal at a site in

Brossard Brossard (, , ) is a municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal area. According to the 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with the urban agglomeration of Longueuil ...

, on the south shore of Montreal. The AM transmitter allowed CBM to be heard across most of the eastern half of North America at night, including much of

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrad ...

. However, it was difficult to hear in some parts of Montreal during the day. To solve the problem, CBM got permission to move to 88.5 FM on July 4, 1997.Decision CRTC 97-294
/ref> The FM transmitter went on the air in 1998, and the AM transmitter was shut down in May 1999, four months after

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...

sister station CBF, which got permission to move to FM at the same time and which shared CBM's transmitter site in Brossard, shut down its own AM transmitter on 690 kHz. The 940 outlet is a Class A

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

which is nulled slightly in the direction of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

to protect the other Class A station on 940,

XEQ-AM XEQ-AM (940 kHz) is a commercial class A clear channel AM radio station in Mexico City. The concession is held by Cadena Radiodifusora Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. and is operated by Radiópolis. XEQ-AM broadcasts from a transmitter located at Los ...

. There are plans to return it to service, offering

commercial programming. The call sign change to CBME-FM occurred in order to distinguish the station from

Local programming

The station's local programs are ''

Daybreak Montreal ''Daybreak Montreal'' is a daily, early morning, English-language Canada, Canadian radio program, broadcast by CBME-FM, the CBC Radio One station in Montreal, Quebec. In 2006, Dave Bronstetter stepped down after hosting the program for 11 year ...

'' (hosted by Sean Henry) in the morning and ''Let's Go'' (hosted by Sabrina Marandola) in the afternoon. The station also produces the Quebec edition of '' Radio Noon'', which airs on all Radio One transmitters throughout the province. The station also broadcasts ''All in a Weekend'' on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and ''Cinq à Six'' on Saturdays.

Transmitters

CBM once operated a large network of

repeaters ''Repeaters'' is a 2010 Canadian thriller film directed by Carl Bessai, written by Arne Olsen, and starring Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, and Richard de Klerk as young drug addicts who find themselves stuck in a time loop. Plot Kyle, Sonia, and ...

across the eastern two-thirds of Quebec. However, most of those repeaters were transferred to the license of CBVE-FM in