CFMG-FM (104.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a Canadian

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

, broadcasting from

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Branded as ''104.9

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio is a branding of radio stations broadcast in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. As of April 2024, there were over 40 stations globally. The stations ...

'', the station airs a Top 40/CHR

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 informatio ...

History

Early years and EZ Rock

St. Albert Broadcasting Ltd. launched the station in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

playing "

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

" from offices and studios just north of Edmonton in St. Albert. The original frequency was 1070

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

with the callsign CKST. Undated, Balsa Broadcasting Corporation acquired St. Albert Broadcasting Ltd. In

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, Balsa Broadcasting Corporation received approval to change CKST's AM frequency from 1070 kHz to 1200 kHz and changed callsigns to CHMG the same year. Balsa Broadcasting Corporation received approval move CHMG from AM 1200 kHz to its current FM frequency at 104.9 MHz in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, CHMG changed to its current callsign, CFMG-FM. At the same time, the station shifted to an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format, branded as ''104.9

EZ Rock EZ Rock was a brand of adult contemporary radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its AC stations, and based on the call sign of its former Toronto flagship CJEZ-FM (now ...

''. Programmed by longtime broadcaster Tammy Cole, "EZ Rock" was a station designed to appeal to office work environments. Music was slanted towards female listeners 25–54 years old. On August 2, 1996, the CRTC approved the application for authority to acquire the assets of the radio programming undertaking CFMG-FM St. Albert from Balsa Broadcasting Corp to Telemedia Communications Inc. On April 19, 2002, the CRTC approved the applications by Standard Radio Inc. (Standard) to acquire from Telemedia Radio Inc. On September 28,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

approved the sale of CFMG and all Standard Radio assets to

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 ...

. Astral changed the logo of the station in September

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

; however, the

format is unchanged while continuing to say the decimal point on the station ID. In addition, most of the classic hits were dropped. On June 27, 2013, the CRTC approved an application by Astral Media inc. (Astral) and its licensed broadcasting subsidiaries for authority to change the effective control of Astral’s broadcasting undertakings to BCE Inc. (

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 ...

Virgin Radio (2011–present)

On February 4,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, CFMG flipped to Top 40/CHR as ''104.9

''. The last song on "EZ Rock" was " The Boys Of Summer' by

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician who is a founding member of the rock band the Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and co-lead vocalist, as well as its sole continuous member. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles ...

, while the first song on "Virgin" was "

Firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

" by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

. This left Edmonton with no

station for 51 days until

CKEA-FM CKEA-FM (95.7 MHz, ''95.7 Cruz FM'') is a radio station serving Edmonton, Alberta. Owned by Harvard Media, it broadcasts a mainstream rock format. CKEA's studios are located on Calgary Trail in Edmonton, while its transmitter is located at Eller ...

dropped

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

for AC (which has since shifted to adult hits). CFMG, during its final

week, did list its

CHR CHR or chr may refer to: Organisations * Canadians for Health Research, a national not-for-profit organisation * Centre for Human Rights, an organisation promoting human rights in Africa * Christ Church Secondary School, a government-aided school ...

adds on

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 ...

's Canadian adult contemporary panel. A week after the station flipped formats, the station was delisted from Mediabase's station adds. As of March 2011, CFMG joined

CHBN-FM CHBN-FM (91.7 MHz) is a Top 40/CHR radio station based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The station, which is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media, operates with an ERP of 96 kWs. CHBN's studios are located on Gateway Bouleva ...

on the

panel. CFMG is the third "Virgin" station in Canada to have a mainstream

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

format, the first being at

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

CIBK-FM CIBK-FM (''98.5 Virgin Radio'') is a Top 40/CHR radio station based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Bell Media outlet operates at 98.5 FM with an effective radiated power of 100 kW from a transmitter located at the intersection of Old Ban ...

the year before, and in

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 ...

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Every year for one week, along with sister stations

CFBR-FM CFBR-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting an active rock format at 100.3 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station uses its on-air brand name ''100.3 The Bear'' and is owned by Bell Media. History The station was launched in 1951 by Sunwapt ...

and CFRN, CFMG presents, Stollery Week, a week long fundraiser for the

Stollery Children's Hospital The Stollery Children's Hospital is a 218 bed children's hospital that opened in October 2001. It is a "hospital within a hospital," being situated within the University of Alberta Hospital and co-located with Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute ...

. In past years all three stations had broadcast live for 2 days from the Stollery Children's Hospital. In year one, $300,000 was raised for the Pediatric Oncology Unit; in year two, EZ Rock and her sister stations raised $500,000 for Research.

Ratings

The last ratings period when CFMG was an

station (October/10 - January/11) placed the station at #4 with a 7.4 share. In the first ratings period as "Virgin" (February - May/11), the station plummeted to #14 and with a 2.6 share. The Fall 2011 BBM Canada ratings book has the station up to #11 with a 4.9 share. As of February 28, 2021, CFMG is the 15th-most-listened-to radio station in the Edmonton market according to a PPM data report released by

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 sole provider of viewership ...

References

External links

104.9 Virgin Radio

CFMG-FM
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cfmg-Fm Fmg Fmg Fmg Virgin Radio Radio stations established in 1978 1978 establishments in Alberta