Fiktiv Canada - CFRB 1010

CFRB is an AM radio clear-channel station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, broadcasting a news/talk at 1010 kHz, with a shortwave radio simulcast on CFRX at 6.07 MHz on the 49m band. CFRB's studios are located in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West, a building which is adjacent to 299 Queen Street West, while its 4-tower transmitter array is located in the Clarkson neighbourhood of Mississauga. CFRB 1010 is simulcast across Canada on Bell Satellite TV satellite channel 964.

It is currently the third most listened-to private station in the market tied with Zoomer Media's classical station CFMX.

Founded in 1927, CFRB was not Toronto's very first broadcaster, but it is the city's oldest broadcaster still operating today. It has also retained its original call letters since 1927. (CKYC was on the air from to 1925 to 1996, but only adopted those call letters in 1991 having previously used CKCL and CKEY; its frequency is now occupied by a completely different station, CHKT.)

CFRB was founded by the Rogers Vacuum Tube Company (the precursor of Rogers Communications) to promote Edward S. Rogers Sr.'s invention of a batteryless radio receiver that could be operated using alternating current and therefore did not need the cumbersome battery that had previously been required. The station itself was a demonstration of Rogers' application of his invention to radio transmitters as well as receivers, a development that allowed for a signal that reproduced voices and music more clearly. The new type of transmitter also made CFRB the world's first all-electric radio station. The letters "RB" in the station's callsign stand for "Rogers' Batteryless". The station began transmitting on an experimental basis in January 1927 as 9RB, before being converted to commercial operation a few weeks later, on February 19, with the transmission of a live symphony orchestra concert conducted by Jack Arthur.

During its first years, CFRB leased time to two phantom stations: CNRX, owned by Canadian National Railways and providing programs of Canada's first radio network, and CPRY, owned by the CNR's rival, the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CNR's network was discontinued in 1933, with many of its assets eventually passing to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the CPR's radio service was discontinued in 1935.

CFRB's first studios were in a mansion on Jarvis Street north of Wellesley Street, built by the family of Hart Massey. In 1929, the station moved to purpose-built studios at 37 Bloor Street West. In the same year, the station became a network affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

In 1932, CFRB began airing the General Motors Hockey Broadcast, which had originated on the CNR's network. This program eventually became Hockey Night in Canada, and continued to be aired by CFRB for many years, despite also airing on the CBC's flagship station CBL, and continues to this day on CBC Television.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, CFRB was the radio broadcaster for the Toronto Santa Claus Parade.

In 1937, CFRB began to simulcast on shortwave station CFRX at 6070 kHz.

Following the sudden death of Edward S. Rogers, Sr. in 1939, Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited was sold in 1941 and became Standard Radio Limited. In turn, the company was acquired by Argus Corporation in 1946.

On November 1, 1946, Wally Crouter joined CFRB. He eventually became its morning drive time host, a position he would hold until his retirement on November 1, 1996, after exactly fifty years at the station.

CFRB and CJBC, owned by the CBC, made a frequency switch on September 1, 1948. CFRB moved to 1010 while CJBC took over the Class I-A clear-channel frequency at 860, previously used by CFRB. The CBC wanted its stations in major cities to be on Class I-A frequencies. But CFRB, which had been running at 20,000 watts, was boosted to 50,000 watts, giving it wide coverage over Southern Ontario.

A long-lasting show, Calling All Britons featuring news, sports scores and music from Britain, began in 1965. It was hosted by Ray Sonin until his death in 1991.

In 1965, CFRB moved its studios from 37 Bloor Street West to 2 St. Clair Avenue West (at Yonge Street). At around the same time, Standard Radio Limited was renamed Standard Broadcasting.

In 1978, Argus Corporation was acquired by Conrad Black and his brother Montegu, thus also giving them ownership of Standard Broadcasting. In November 1985, Slaight Broadcasting acquired Standard from the Blacks. In October 2007, Slaight sold Standard to Astral Media.

CFRB was the number one station in the Toronto market for many decades according to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement's ratings. However, it has declined in recent years and in 2006 was rated fifth.

Ted Rogers, the communications mogul and son of CFRB's founder, had vowed to re-acquire the station that his family had lost after his father's death, and considered his failure to do so his greatest disappointment. Reports indicate that he continued to attempt to re-acquire CFRB right up until his death in December 2008.

In July 2013, CFRB was acquired by Bell Media, a subsidiary of Bell Canada (the company which already owns CTV) as a result of a buyout of Astral Media. Shortly after the purchase, Bell announced that it would move the studios and offices of CFRB and sister station CKFM-FM from their long-time headquarters at St. Clair and Yonge, to 250 Richmond Street West at Richmond and Duncan (which already houses the operations of sister radio stations, CHUM and CHUM-FM) a building which is adjacent to 299 Queen Street West located at Queen and John streets (which already houses the operations of several Bell Media specialty television channels including CP24 and MuchMusic). The move took place on May 10, 2014.

The transmitting antennas for CFRB are a prominent landmark along Toronto's waterfront and are visible from over 100 km away. They are used as a landmark for navigation by pilots, on approach to Toronto Pearson International Airport, or to Toronto Island Airport. The antenna array consists of 4 vertical masts, 550 feet in height. Shortwave radio station CFRX, which is affiliated with CFRB, broadcasts at a frequency of 6.07 MHz and is operated on the north end of the same site beside the main building.

CFRB was one of few to broadcast in AM stereo, starting in 1984. However, since AM stereo never achieved wide acceptance, the station deactivated its stereo broadcasting system in the mid-1990s.

The transmitter is located on Royal Windsor Drive, 200 meters west of the intersection of Lakeshore Road West (former King's Highway 2) and Southdown Road, in the Clarkson area of Mississauga, Ontario.

Unlike most stations in Canada, CFRB's talk schedule, even in overnights and weekends, is entirely Canadian, and the station has no American syndicated programming on its schedule at all.

Newstalk 1010 takes an in-depth look into the news and social issues that impact our listeners. Newstalk 1010’s audience trusts and respects the opinions of our on-air personalities. They tune in to our station to get the information they need, and to stay well-informed on issues that affect their lives. Newstalk 1010 produces current, local, exclusive stories that our listeners are concerned about.

Newstalk 1010 is Toronto's first choice for in-depth news coverage 24 hours a day. Broadcasting live from Canada's largest radio newsroom, Newstalk 1010's award-winning news team strategically utilizes the worldwide resources of CBS, to go beyond the headlines and to deliver in-depth news coverage from in and around Toronto, across the country and all over the world. Recognized again and again for excellence in radio news coverage, Newstalk 1010 is reliable, credible and broadcasts news as it happens. CFRB delivers the news every 30 minutes with bulletins at once.

Newstalk 1010 Sports delivers the scores first and fast as they happen. With resources of our sister station TSN Radio 1050, we've got all the bases covered. From centre court to centre ice coverage and from the pitching mound to the end zone, Newstalk 1010 Sports lets you score all the goods from the wide world of sports!

You're only minutes away from traffic updates on Newstalk 1010. We are the first radio station in Toronto to join forces with Waze, one of world's best known traffic apps. Our listeners get information from Newstalk 1010's traffic reporters that is more accurate, comes in more quickly, and truly captures the real-time picture of the drive. Newstalk 1010 Timesaver Traffic airs every 15 minutes around the clock at :00, :15, :30 and :45 past, with breaking updates as conditions change.