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CHMB is a Canadian
AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...
station, broadcasting from
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
on 1320 kHz. The station broadcasts a Multilingual language programming. CHMB's studios and transmitter towers are located in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
. CHMB and
CJMR CJMR is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts multicultural programming at AM 1320. Although officially licensed to Mississauga, Ontario, it currently broadcasts from studios in Oakville. CJMR's studios are located on Church Street in down ...
(no relationship) are the only stations in Canada which broadcast on 1320 kHz. CHMB is owned and operated by Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation, whose owner is Vancouver businessman James Ho. It started in 1973 as Overseas Chinese Voice (OCV). In 1993, OCV programming was incorporated into the multicultural AM radio station, Mainstream Broadcasting Corp. CHMB AM 1320, which serves the Vancouver Lower Mainland's multicultural communities. In February 2002, after competing with Toronto based Rogers Media and four other applicants, the CRTC granted an over the air multicultural television license to a group of prominent local entrepreneurs led by James Ho / CHMB / Mainstream. In addition to James Ho the other founders included; Joe Segal, Robert Lee, Geoffrey Lau and Doug Holtby. The television station, called Channel M (Multivan Broadcast Corp. or MVBC), was launched on June 2003 to serve more than 800,000 ethnic residents around the Vancouver Lower Mainland. Channel M was sold to Rogers Media in May 2008 and it is currently a part of Omni Television, a Canada's multilingual and multicultural television network. CHMB is licensed by CRTC to broadcast 12 languages, however, it currently broadcasts in 14 languages: Portuguese, Brazilian, Filipino, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Cantonese and Mandarin speaking community.


History

CHMB began as an English-language station that was called CHQM. It signed on the air on December 10, 1959, as an
easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
station under the ownership of Vancouver Broadcast Associates Ltd. with 10 kW of power. CHQM's sister station, CHQM-FM, first aired on August 10, 1960 as a simulcast of the AM station, airing 19 hours a day. CHQM and CHQM-FM went to 24-hour broadcasting on September 1, 1962. In November 1966, CHQM increased its transmission power to 50 kW. On August 23, 1969, corporate parent Vancouver Broadcast Associates changed its name to Q Broadcasting Ltd. Jack Stark, who had co-founded the company with Bill Bellman, became the sole owner in 1979. In September 1984, CHQM began airing the "
Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...
" format from 6 p.m. to midnight daily while retaining its main easy listening format for the balance of its broadcast day. On January 1, 1990, CHQM dropped its longtime easy listening format for 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 and began using the on-air brand ''Lite 1320''. CHQM and CHQM-FM were purchased by
CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM (AM), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...
on October 17 that year, but due to
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission 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 ...
(CRTC) regulations of the time (which allowed ownership of only one AM and one FM station in the same market), CHUM had to sell either CHQM or its other Vancouver AM outlet, CFUN; CHUM chose to sell CHQM. On February 20, 1991, CHQM switched formats again to
adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...
of the 1930s to the 1960s with the new station brand ''Q 1320''. The station began airing Chinese-language programming on January 23, 1993, from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, then moved the start time for Chinese shows to 9 p.m. three weeks later. On December 14, 1993, the CRTC approved CHUM's sale of CHQM to Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation. On February 9, 1994 (on which the
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
fell that year), CHQM signed off for the final time at 9 p.m. with
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
's "Thanks for the Memories" as the farewell song, and was replaced moments later by CHMB. Original station co-owner Jack Stark died on October 30, 2001, at age 83.


Programming

CHMB's programming is primarily Chinese (Overseas Chinese Voice) (
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
&
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
), aired from Monday to Friday and share the time slots with Portuguese, Danish, Filipino,
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, Icelandic, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish,
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...
, Ukrainian and Vietnamese programming on weekends.


Awards

Mainstream Broadcasting Corp., CHMB AM 1320 winner of the 2015 Jack Webster Award - Best Reporting Chinese Language.


References


External links


AM1320 CHMB

CHMB
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:Chmb Chinese-Canadian culture in Vancouver
Hmb HMB may refer to: Compounds * β-Hydroxy β-methylbutyric acid, , a metabolite of the essential amino acid leucine, synthesized in the human body * Human Melanoma Black, a monoclonal antibody Languages * Humburi Senni language, spoken in Burki ...
Richmond, British Columbia Chinese-language mass media in Canada
Hmb HMB may refer to: Compounds * β-Hydroxy β-methylbutyric acid, , a metabolite of the essential amino acid leucine, synthesized in the human body * Human Melanoma Black, a monoclonal antibody Languages * Humburi Senni language, spoken in Burki ...
Radio stations established in 1959 1959 establishments in British Columbia Jack Webster award recipients