Fiktiv Canada - CFRA 580

CFRA is a news/talk radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts at 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in the ByWard Market, while its 4-tower transmitter array is located near Manotick.

Frank Ryan founded the station, which began broadcasting with a 1,000-watt transmitter at 560 kHz on May 3, 1947. The first studios were located at the Ottawa Auditorium on O'Connor Street, where the station spent its first ten years. In 1962, the station moved to its present 580 and increased its daytime power to 50 kW, and nighttime power to 10 kW.

After Ryan's death in 1965, ownership of the station passed to his wife Kathleen, who subsequently sold CFRA and sister station CFMO-FM to CHUM Limited in 1968.

Between 1980 and 1984 on Saturday afternoons from 2 to 5pm; CFRA had once held an Oldies Show by Satellite that was hosted by American comedian Gary Owens, formerly of the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In TV show; it was entitled Soundtrack Of The Sixties, where song requests were offered by postcard to the station as an entry towards the yearly-end prize.

CFRA played pop music until the mid-1980s as Ottawa's leading Top 40 music station, known in the late '70s and early '80s for its hugely popular and controversial evening host Mark Elliott. So popular was Elliott at his peak that he was tapped to be a presenter at the Juno Awards in 1985. Much of Elliott's wildness on the air could be attributed to the fact that he was suffering from drug and alcohol addictions at the time. One of Elliott's most eyebrow-raising behaviors came in 1986 when he quit on the air after a switch to an oldies-based format was announced. After a short time at competitor CFGO (where his addictions and erratic behaviour cost him his job), Elliott went into rehab and managed to kick his addictions; he later became the host of a talk show for people recovering from addictions on Toronto radio.

On August 18, 1986, CFRA changed formats to "Favourites of Yesterday and Today," describing itself as a gold-based adult contemporary station (and mirroring a similar change from Top 40 to gold-based AC that same year at sister station CHUM in Toronto). In 1991, CFRA changed the format again to an all-oldies station, before changing to the current news/talk format in June 1993. Many believe that CJMJ-FM's launch in 1991 (co-owned with CFRA since 1999) led to the demise of CFRA's adult contemporary format. In 2002, CFRA's slogan became "left on the dial, right on the issues", as a tribute to its conservative talk radio political leanings. The current studios have been located at CHUM's downtown Market Media Mall since 2000. In 2007, CFRA, along with the other CHUM stations, were sold to CTVglobemedia.

In January 2012, Bell Media applied to increase nighttime power to 30 kW noting that co-channel stations in Antigonish (CJFX-FM), Baie-Comeau (CHLC-FM) and Thunder Bay (CKPR-FM) have all switched to the FM band. On September 26, 2012, Bell Media's application received CRTC approval to increase CFRA's night-time power from 10 to 30 kW and by modifying its antenna pattern (improving reception towards Montreal), resulting in changes to its authorized contours. All other technical parameters would remain unchanged. CFRA would remain on 580 kHz.

Notable personalities include Bill Carroll, Evan Solomon, John Counsell and Dahlia Kurtz. CFRA also broadcasts syndicated talk radio shows such as Coast to Coast AM and Viewpoints with Todd van der Heyden overnight and on weekends.

CFRA 580 is home to Ottawa’s 24-hour local news centre. Talk hosts and guests of all political and social persuasions offer lively debate on the hottest local and national issues of the day. As Eastern Ontario's only CNN affiliate, only 580 CFRA gets you to the scene of world news, from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, from London to Zurich. 580 CFRA features in-depth news on the hour and half-hour with extended breaking news coverage as it happens.