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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,904 posts)
Sat Aug 24, 2019, 04:03 PM Aug 2019

Cee Eff Zed Emm -- CFZM

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2019, 07:34 PM - Edit history (7)

It's a radio station in Toronto. How it escaped my notice until now, I'll never know.

I have tinnitus. Like may people with tinnitus, I keep a radio running at night to mask the tinnitus. Until a few days ago, I kept the radio tuned to WTOP, an all-news station in DC. The problem was, those stories recycle endlessly. That gets old fast. Also, one of the sponsors is "1-877-Kars4Kids." That commercial is so damn annoying that it rouses me from sleep, and I have to reach over to shut the radio off. Yes, really.

WTOP is an FM station. On the AM side, the radio, a Soundesign multiband (AM-FM-two shortwave bands_ affair from the early 1970s, perhaps, had problems. It could barely get George Noory. One of the components in the AM section was not giving me the gain I needed to hear stations well. It's so old, that I'm disinclined to go troubleshooting.

A few days ago, I swapped it out for another radio, a 1968-vintage (maybe) Panasonic RF-757 that I had found thrown out in the trash earlier this spring. The replacement radio is far better at AM reception than what it replaced. I started looking around on AM. I found this station that played music all night long. That's a rarity anymore. I couldn't make out the ID, as they hardly ever give one. I knew it was Canadian, specifically in Toronto. With the help of Google and Wikipedia, I found that the station was CFZM. According to Wikipedia, clear channel stations that play music really are rare. There are only two of them, CFZM and WSM.

CFZM

CFZM is a Canadian Class A clear-channel radio station, licensed in Toronto, Ontario, which airs at 740 kHz and in downtown Toronto at 96.7 FM. The station airs an oldies format branded as Zoomer Radio, with the slogan "Zoomer Hits". Its studios are located in the Liberty Village neighbourhood, while its transmitter is located in Hornby.

CFZM is the only remaining adult standards-formatted station in North America that broadcasts a 50,000-watt clear channel signal. Like most clear channels in this region, CFZM's nighttime signal can be heard in all of the eastern half of North America, dependent on atmospheric conditions. CFZM and WSM are the only two remaining clear channel stations that primarily broadcast music.

CFZM's daytime signal can be heard in most of the Ontario Peninsula, as far west as the Michigan Thumb, and as far east as Syracuse, New York. Its signal strength allows it to have an audience in nearby cities such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York, where local standards stations have gone defunct.The nighttime signal can reach as far west as Minneapolis and Winnipeg, and as far south as New Orleans.

History

On September 18, 2007, Prime Time Radio announced a deal to sell the station to Moses Znaimer, under whom it would become a sister station to Toronto's classical music station, CFMZ. The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 31, 2008. Znaimer also moved the station's studios and city of licence to Toronto, and changed the station's call sign to CFZM on July 22, 2008.

Under Znaimer's ownership, the station's program schedule now includes a daily talk show, airing from 12pm to 1pm, originally hosted by consumer advocacy journalist Dale Goldhawk and now hosted by Libby Znaimer. The station played a "traditional" nostalgia music weekday evenings on the show Sentimental Journey and on some weekend specialty shows, and caters principally to listeners over 40 years of age. Other personalities associated with the station have included television and radio sportscaster John Gallagher and former MuchMusic VJ Ziggy Lorenc.

Monday through Thursday nights, CFZM carries three late-night speciality programs: Theatre of the Mind (10PM to 11PM Eastern time), rebroadcasting in their entirety classic shows from the "Golden Age of Radio"; Stardust (11PM to 12AM Eastern time), an hour of romantic music; and Midnight Blue (12AM to 1AM), an hour of "raunchy" music that CFZM promotes as "the only X-Rated radio show" ( in truth, some of the lyrics are raunchy and suggestive, but most listeners would not consider them "X-Rated" ).

CFZM also carries two weekly shows featuring 1950s/1960s oldies music, Friday Night Bandstand (7PM to 1AM Eastern time, focusing more on the 1950s and early 1960s, with fewer post-1964 songs) and The Heart and Soul of Rock 'n Roll (7PM to 1AM Eastern time on Saturday nights, focusing more on music from 1964 to the early 1970s, although some 1950s and early 1960s hits are heard).

Weekends on AM740 are an eclectic mix of informative programming and specialty music shows. A complete list of programs with descriptions can be found on the shows page of the website.
....

I've recognized just about every song I've heard them play. They weren't always my favorites, but I could see recording the broadcasts to have something to listen to in my car or a portable music device. That could be in the form of tapes in a Walkman-type player, or on an SD card in an MP3 device.

If you think you can get them, give them a try. You might like them. it's like the old days: at night, those far away stations come in. Sometimes they come in as if they're right across the street. Other times they fade away and don't come back for a few minutes.

Best of all, there are no ads for 1-877-Kars4Kids.

The RF-757 is a standout performer at picking out stations in a crowd. It resolves them channel by channel. There's a nearby radio station on 730 kHz that would drown out CFZM on most AM radios:

WTNT (730 AM) is a Spanish hits radio station licensed to Alexandria, Virginia and serving the Washington metro area. WTNT is owned and operated by Metro Radio. 730 kHz is a Canadian and Mexican clear-channel frequency.

The RF-757 manages to separate them. From CFZM, I can go up a channel to WSB in Atlanta, up a channel to WJR in Detroit, up a channel to WABC in New York.... It's like old times.

Some friends just found a Zenith Trans-Oceanic 1000D that had been thrown out. They took it home and plugged it in, and it fired right up. The first transmission they heard was that of a Cubs-Pittsburgh game. The father said that it was like going back in time. I'm envious; I'd love to find one of those. I told them about CFZM.

CFZM Website: Zoomer Radio

CFZM Twitter account: ZoomerRadio

As for the Soundesign, after a short TDY in the kitchen, it's now running in a hallway, where all it has to do is pick up WTOP.
6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Cee Eff Zed Emm -- CFZM (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2019 OP
There is an app (but I'll be darned if I can remember what it's called) Haggis for Breakfast Aug 2019 #1
Two comments LastDemocratInSC Aug 2019 #2
Are you an old 304X4? The Polack MSgt Aug 2019 #3
No. I had to look that up. mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2019 #4
The way you wrote that post made me think The Polack MSgt Aug 2019 #5
Actually, a TD. It's long gone. They got rolled into ATs or something like that. mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2019 #6

Haggis for Breakfast

(6,831 posts)
1. There is an app (but I'll be darned if I can remember what it's called)
Sat Aug 24, 2019, 04:53 PM
Aug 2019

In Canada, that allows you to listen to ANY radio station in Canada, from PEI to BC and all points in between.

I, too, have tinnitus, and at night I listen to the sound of ocean waves on a device that has a number of different back ground (white noise) sounds - rainfall, birds chirping, waterfalls, etc. I love it.

One of the Canadian stations I put on in the daytime as a background sound is French talk-radio. I don't speak French, but the sound of low chatter in the background soothes my ears. Every now and then, I'll hear "trump" from one of the speakers. I laugh because it's the only time I hear that name without having to groan over something he's done.

LastDemocratInSC

(3,625 posts)
2. Two comments
Sat Aug 24, 2019, 06:15 PM
Aug 2019

The cars 4 kids advertisement is intended to be annoying. That makes it hard to forget. It's the equivalent to getting food poisoning at a restaurant: you'll never forget where you got it.

And, good selectivity in an AM receiver is due to a well tuned IF section. And, that requires the attention of a trained person.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,904 posts)
6. Actually, a TD. It's long gone. They got rolled into ATs or something like that.
Wed Aug 28, 2019, 02:10 PM
Aug 2019

Last edited Wed Aug 28, 2019, 04:14 PM - Edit history (2)

{edited}

I don't see it here: Examples of discontinued and changed ratings (1990–present)

I don't see anything about it here either, but I think that's what it got swept up into: Aviation electronics technician (United States Navy)

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