CFCA-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 105.3 FM broadcasting in Kitchener, Ontario. The station currently plays a Top 40/CHR radio format branded as 105.3 Virgin Radio and is owned by Bell Media.
CFCA's studios and offices are located in Waterloo, and their transmitter is on Baden Hill (also known as the Baden Tower), just west of the Kitchener city limits.
History
CFCA was first launched on 106.1
FM broadcasting in 1949 by local broadcaster
Carl Pollock. It was the first FM radio station in Canada to operate independently, without an AM sister station. Due to the limited audience reach of FM radio at the time, however, the station left the air in 1951. Pollock subsequently launched television station
CKCO-DT in 1954 and AM radio station
CKKW-FM in 1959, and then relaunched CFCA in 1967 as an
easy listening station. Pollock's broadcast holdings became part of
Electrohome in 1970.
CFCA and CKKW were tentatively sold in 1992 to a local consortium consisting of Jack Schoone, a former local radio announcer, and Irving Zucker, a former owner of competing stations CKGL and CHYM-FM, but the deal fell through and the stations were instead acquired by CHUM Limited in 1993. By then the station had migrated from its beautiful music/easy listening sound to a brighter adult contemporary format.
Kool FM (1994–2016)
On August 12, 1994 at Noon, CFCA flipped to
classic rock as
105.3 Kool FM.
During the early 2000s, the station added
Pop music/
Rock music songs into their
playlist, and shifted towards
Hot AC, but retained the rock lean and the "Kool FM" moniker.
CTVglobemedia became the stations' owner when it acquired CHUM Radio in 2007, and is currently owned by
Bell Media since 2011.
In 2012, CFCA was slightly rebranded as
Kool 105.3, with a new logo and a new slogan "Today's Best Variety".
Virgin Radio (2016–present)
On July 26, 2016, CFCA began stunting with
Christmas music, while teasing a change to come that Friday (July 29) at Noon. At that time, CFCA flipped to Top 40/CHR, branded as
105.3 Virgin Radio, making CFCA the 8th station in Canada to utilize the "Virgin Radio" branding. (At the same time as CFCA's flip,
CJCH-FM in Halifax rebranded to "Virgin".)
The first song on "Virgin" (as well as Halifax's "Virgin") was "This Is What You Came For" by
Calvin Harris and
Rihanna.
External links
