Fiktiv Canada - CFMJ 640

CFMJ (640 kHz; Global News Radio 640 Toronto) is a news/talk AM radio station, licensed to Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Corus Entertainment with studios and offices in the Corus Quay Building at 25 Dockside Drive in Toronto. The station airs a news talk radio format targeted to the Greater Toronto Area.

Although it is licensed to a suburban community north of the city in Richmond Hill, its transmitter is about 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of Toronto. CFMJ's eight-tower directional antenna is in the town of Lincoln, in Niagara Region, near the southeast corner of Greenlane and Merritt Road. This location allows the station's signal to cover a large part of Southern Ontario beyond Greater Toronto, as well as Western New York state during the day and at night. CFMJ is licensed to broadcast at 50,000 watts, the maximum power permitted for Canadian AM stations. Because AM 640 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A KFI Los Angeles, CFMJ must restrict its signal over the U.S. border.

On July 1, 1957, CJRH first signed on. It was a 500-watt station broadcasting at 1300 kHz. The last two letters in the call sign referred to its city of license, Richmond Hill. It moved to AM 1310 in 1959, and changed its call letters to CFGM in 1961. The station adopted a country music format in 1964. A few years later, it became Canada's first 24-hour country station. Don Daynard, longtime personality on CHFI-FM, was a host on CFGM in the 1960s.

The station moved to AM 1320 in 1978, and to 640 kHz on September 16, 1988.

On June 29, 1990, at 5 p.m., the station changed its format and call letters, broadcasting a rock-leaning CHR/Top 40 format as 640 The Hog, CHOG (which would later shift towards a more mainstream direction in September 1991). In June 1992, the station rebranded as AM 640 The Beat Of Toronto. The station adjusted its format to Rhythmic CHR.

Several notable radio personalities were associated with the station during this era, including John Gallagher, Tarzan Dan (Freeman), Pat Cochrane, Adrian Bell, Tony Monaco, Deanna Nason, Randy Taylor, Eric Hollo, Kenny 'The Hitman' Caughlin, Roger Kelly and the Toronto radio team of Jesse and Gene. After CFTR moved from contemporary hits to all-news in 1993, AM 640 (still with the calls CHOG) was the last Top 40 station in the Toronto radio market until CISS-FM adopted the format in February 1999. Talk shows would later come to take up a substantial part of the station's schedule, particularly during midday periods when many of the station's hit music listeners might normally be in school.

On October 10, 1995, at 10 p.m., the station changed to a full-time talk radio format. As Talk 640, the station aired syndicated shows such as Joy Browne, Rhona Raskin, Dr. Laura and Live Audio Wrestling, along with local programming hosted by personalities such as Gene Valaitis, Jane Hawtin, Bill Carroll, Shelley Klinck, Marsha Lederman, Karen Horsman, Michael Coren, Dave Chalk, Spaceman Gary Bell and Roger Kelly.

Despite regular adjustments, the station received low ratings. During this period, the station adopted the call letters CFYI. The weekend programming was a hit with "The Touch of Health" a show that started with just a half hour in 1997 to a two-hour nationally syndicated show airing 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Hosted, produced and managed by Christine McPhee, other weekend shows were the "Pet Show" with Mitch Levitsky, a "Cruise Show", a "Law Show", a "Beauty Show", and the "Small Canada Business Show".

In 2000, the station was acquired by Corus Entertainment. On April 23, 2001, at 6:40 a.m., the station re-launched as Mojo Radio, a hot talk radio format aimed at the male demographic. The station also changed its call letters the same day to the current CFMJ.

The new format featured programs hosted by Humble and Fred, John Derringer, Phil Hendrie, Mike Stafford, Andrew Krystal, Spider Jones, and the syndicated Coast to Coast AM. Later on, John Oakley replaced Scruff Connors who had taken over from Humble and Fred; the latter pair left for hot adult contemporary station Mix 99.9 in July 2003. Krystal moved to part-time work at CFRB and CKTB before moving to CJNI-FM in Halifax. Derringer's Mojo show was later discontinued as he concentrated on his marquee morning show on co-owned Q107.

In 2004, due to low ratings (MOJO was typically hovering around a 1.4 share), the station moved away from the male-oriented imaging to a more general news and talk format as AM640 Toronto Radio. Oakley and Stafford continued to host the major morning and afternoon drive programs. Craig Bromell joined the station as co-host of a new late morning program, The Beat (later rebranded as Bromell! in 2006), and in 2005, Charles Adler's nationally syndicated radio show was added to mid-afternoons. Award-winning journalist Arlene Bynon was added to the ranks in 2006 to host the Saturday afternoon Toronto Weekend program, which expanded to include a Sunday edition as well.

One of the station's biggest draws was that it was the radio broadcaster of the Toronto Maple Leafs, which it networked into other markets. Its play-by-play announcers were Joe Bowen, Dennis Beyak, Jim Ralph and Dan Dunleavy. Dennis Beyak left in the fall of 2011 to do the play-by-play for the Winnipeg Jets on TSN regional television and on TSN Radio 1290 CFRW. AM640's 7-year contract for the rights to Toronto Maple Leafs radio broadcasts concluded before the start of the 2012-13 NHL season—Leafs broadcasts are now split between CHUM and CJCL.

CFMJ's studios were in Suite 1600 at 1 Dundas Street West in Toronto, Ontario until Corus moved all of its Toronto-based radio, television and other assets into Corus Quay upon its completion in the summer of 2010. On September 8, 2015, CFMJ began simulcasting on co-owned CING-FM's HD-2 sub-channel.

CFMJ, along with several other Corus's news/talk radio stations across Canada were relaunched under the new national Global News Radio brand between November and December 2017. The new moniker matches the Global News brand which is already used for the newscasts on Global Television's owned-and-operated stations, including CFMJ's sister station, CIII-DT, which was acquired by Corus Entertainment as part of its acquisition of the Shaw Communications media unit. The official changeover to Global News Radio 640 Toronto occurred on December 1, 2017, with CFMJ maintaining its talk format and on-air roster.

Canada's #1 station for news/talk radio - Global News Radio 640 Toronto reaches more listeners than any other commercial talk radio station in Canada and is home to Toronto’s best lineup of talk radio personalities headlined by Mike Stafford and Supriya Dwivedi in the morning and John Oakley in the afternoon.

Global News Radio 640 Toronto is proud to employ the most experienced radio news team in Greater Toronto and prides itself in being the area’s "first choice" for radio news. Our experienced anchors deliver up-to-the-minute information from the streets of our community, from across the country and around the world every 30 minutes.

Sports is an integral part of Global News Radio 640 Toronto, and we broadcast key sports information you need every half hour during key "drive" times in the morning and afternoon (5am-9am & 4pm-7pm) and deliver the latest news from the world of sports, as it’s "breaking" throughout the rest of the day.

For the latest information on the busy commute or the latest traffic snarl due to an accident on a city street, you can turn to Global News Radio 640 Toronto for current traffic information. Immediacy is radio's strength and our team of traffic reporters is in constant contact with drivers on the road who use a free tip line from any cellular phone.

The Global News Radio 640 Weather Centre provides reliable and accurate weather forecasts for our listening area utilizing the resources of Environment Canada, Global Toronto meteorologists and the latest radar images. During morning and afternoon drive times we deliver weather and traffic every 6 minutes. In winter, turn to the Global News Radio 640 Snow Team for the latest weather forecasts and school closure and cancellation information.