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CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1944 as York Broadcasters Limited, launching CHUM-AM 1050 the next year. It was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHUM expanded to and owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division (now Bell Media Radio) and also owned other radio stations.
The company also operated full or joint control of 15 local television stations under the CTV Atlantic, Citytv (acquired in 1981) and A-Channel (formerly NewNet, now CTV 2) brands, one CBC Television affiliate, one provincial educational channel, Atlantic Satellite Network in Atlantic Canada, and 20 branded specialty television channels, most notably MuchMusic and its various spin-offs that were launched under Moses Znaimer, the co-founder of CITY-DT, targeting younger audiences.
In July 2006, one year after the death of Waters, CHUM agreed to merge with CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media), owner of the CTV Television Network. The merger was completed on June 22, 2007; regulatory approval was made conditional on the sale of CHUM's five Citytv stations to Rogers Communications. The company itself was renamed CTV Limited (now CTV Inc.) and continues as a subsidiary of Bell Media. Its Toronto radio stations TSN RADIO 1050 and CHUM-FM continue to use "CHUM" as their . The headquarters were located at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, the famous CHUM-City Building, which currently serves as Bell Media's headquarters.
With the sale of CTVglobemedia to Bell Canada as announced in September 2010, Bell took control of most of CHUM's former assets for the first time. CTVglobemedia was subsequently renamed Bell Media on April 1, 2011, after the deal to purchase the stations was finalized and the CHUM name was completely phased out from its new entity, with the exception of radio stations CHUM-AM and CHUM-FM in Toronto.
Allan Waters, a salesman from Part's patent medicine business took control of CHUM-AM in 1954. Waters' first major move was to secure a licence for 24-hour-a-day broadcasting for CHUM, along with a power increase to 5,000 watts. On April 17, 1959, the name York Broadcasters was changed to CHUM 1050 Radio Ltd.. The CHUM studios were moved from 250 Adelaide Street West to 1331 Yonge Street, Toronto, where their iconic neon sign was erected for the first time. CHUM-FM would begin broadcasting in 1963 under a Classical Music/Fine Arts format. Alex Forbes, whose accounting firm Ewin & Forbes had been CHUM's auditor since 1952, joined CHUM 1050 Radio Ltd. as Secretary-Treasurer. He would play a pivotal role in the company's development.
On May 12, 1967, under the corporate name CHUM Limited, Allan Waters took the rapidly expanding company public. At the same time, Alex Forbes was appointed to the Board of Directors of CHUM Limited, while it received approval to acquire Ottawa's Radio CFRA Limited and control of two key stations in the market: CFRA-AM and CFMO-FM. CHUM-AM launched the CHUM Christmas Wish, evolving out of The CHUM Kids Crusade, and operating in conjunction with The CHUM Charitable Foundation. This would become an annual event for over forty years under the CHUM-City Christmas Wish, and currently, the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish.
CITY-DT – the Toronto UHF station launched with great flair and style in 1972 by Moses Znaimer – ran into financial debt by 1975. Multiple Access Ltd. (the owners of CFCF-DT in Montreal) purchased 45% of the station in 1977, and sold its stake to CHUM Limited three years later. CITY was purchased outright by CHUM in 1981 with the sale of Moses Znaimer's interest in the station. Znaimer steps down as president of CHUM TV , Broadcaster Magazine, April 27, 2003. In 1987, CITY and the other CHUM-owned television stations moved to the CHUM-City Building at 299 Queen Street West, which became one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city. The CHUM Radio Building at 1331 Yonge Street remained CHUM Limited's corporate headquarters.
The experiment was successful enough that CHUM replicated CKVR's format on several stations it had acquired from Baton Broadcasting in 1997, including CHRO-TV in Pembroke, CFPL-DT in London, CKNX-TV in Wingham, and CHWI-DT in Windsor. Most of these stations were also former CBC affiliates, and all were in markets where CKVR's sister station, CITY-TV, were already available on basic cable. CIVI-DT in Victoria, British Columbia was added into the system by CHUM at its launch in October 2001. A month prior, CHUM bought CKVU-DT from Canwest and it became Citytv Vancouver on July 22, 2002. Prior to CHUM's acquisition of CKVU, some Citytv programming was syndicated to KVOS-TV in nearby Bellingham, Washington.
On December 1, 2004, CHUM purchased Craig Media Inc., which owned five local TV stations, mainly in the Prairies, and three digital specialty services, for $265 million Canadian dollar. While Craig's three largest stations were integrated into Citytv, Craig's Toronto station CKXT-DT (then branded "Toronto 1", now Sun TV) was sold to Quebecor. In addition to its own stations, CHUM was one of several sources (alongside Canwest's CH / E! and Global TV) providing syndicated programming to independently owned CBC Television and CTV affiliates.
CHUM announced in February 2005 that the NewNet stations would be relaunched under the A-Channel brand by that fall; the rebrand took place on August 2, 2005, the same date when the former A-Channel stations in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary, recently acquired by CHUM from Craig Media, were relaunched under the Citytv brand. CHUM Announcement – Local Stations Being Renamed as A-Channel At the same time, CHUM announced plans to consolidate the master control departments for CKVR, CFPL, CHRO, CHWI and CKNX at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, as well as the traffic and programming departments at CFPL, resulting in the loss of approximately nine staff members from CKVR. The switch occurred on June 3, 2005.
Allan Waters stepped down from the CHUM Limited Board of Directors in October and became an honorary director. On December 3, 2005, Waters died in Toronto at the age of 84. Following tributes from across Canada, more than 2,000 attended a celebration of his life at Toronto's Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre.
CTVgm's takeover bid was completed on October 30, although CHUM was immediately in a blind trust under lawyer John McKellar. CHUM trustee to take on starring role in takeover , Grant Robertson and Beppi Crosariol, The Globe and Mail, August 2, 2006; copy of article hosted by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Immediately following the announcement, CHUM separately announced 281 layoffs, primarily at its local stations in western Canada; local newscasts (other than Breakfast Television and the Noon News in Calgary and Edmonton) at all Citytv stations in the region were immediately pulled. CHUM claims the layoffs were part of an ongoing process to streamline its operations and not directly related to the takeover.
On June 8, 2007, the CRTC approved the CTV takeover of CHUM. However, the CRTC made the deal conditional on CTV divesting itself of Citytv rather than A-Channel. This consequently voided the Rogers deal; on June 11, 2007, Rogers announced that it has agreed to buy the Citytv stations. CTV said it would keep all other assets, except CHUM's interest in MusiquePlus/MusiMax, and potentially CKX-TV and CLT.
The sale of the CHUM Limited properties to CTVglobemedia was completed on June 22, 2007 with CTVgm as the sole owner of CHUM. The Citytv stations remained under blind trust awaiting sale to Rogers Media (see below).
Following the takeover less than a month, Richard Gray was named head of news for the A-Channel stations and CKX-TV (another station in the CHUM acquisition). Gray reports directly to the CTVgm corporate group instead of CTV News to preserve independent news presentation and management. Gray now oversees CKVR and the other news departments; CHRO, CFPL, CKNX, CHWI, CIVI and CKX-TV. CTVglobemedia
For Citytv, the transaction was worth over $375 million. Media analysts have suggested that with a more powerful media conglomerate such as Rogers behind them the Citytv stations will effectively become Canada's fourth full-fledged commercial television network, in effect if not immediately in name. The Citytv transaction was approved by the CRTC on September 28, 2007, and Rogers officially became Citytv's new owner on October 31. Rogers subsequently purchased 33 Dundas Street East, the former Olympic Spirit building, located at the edge of Dundas Square for the use of its Toronto television stations, and CITY-TV moved out from 299 Queen Street West into the new facility on September 8, 2009. In 2010, CP24 extended their 5:00pm newscast after the announcement regarding their massive firings taking place at Rogers Media's Citytv stations across Canada including the cancellation of Citytv Toronto's CityNews at Five. That same year, Corus relaunched CLT as "Viva", then OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network on March 1, 2011. As well, Star! will be relaunched as E! on November 29, 2010 after CTV announced it had signed a multi-year deal with Comcast. CHUM eventually acquired CFXJ-FM from Milestone Radio that same year since the sale to CTVgm.
As Shaw Communications purchasing the Global Television Network and the Canwest television properties, Vidéotron launching its wireless telephone network with video content as a key selling point, and the enormous popularity of wireless and Internet video and other media streams at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Bell once again sought to bring a content provider into its portfolio. It was announced to re-acquire 100% of the company's broadcasting arm in September 2010, including CTV Limited. Under the deal, Woodbridge, Torstar, and Teachers' received $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE will also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge will simultaneously regain majority control of The Globe and Mail, with Bell retaining a 15% interest. The deal is expected to close by mid-2011 pending CRTC approval. CTVglobemedia officially became Bell Media when the deal was finalized on April 1, 2011. At the same time, CHUM Limited / CTV Limited became CTV Inc. (now Bell Media Inc.). and CHUM Radio became Bell Media Radio.
| Brockville | CJPT-FM | FM 103.7 | "Bob FM" adult hits |
| CFJR-FM | FM 104.9 | "CFJR-FM" adult contemporary | |
| Calgary | CKCE-FM | FM 101.5 | "CKCE-FM" hot adult contemporary |
| Edmonton | CHBN-FM | FM 91.7 | "CHBN" rhythmic top 40 (Co-owned with Milestone Radio) |
| Halifax | CJCH-FM | AM 920 | oldies |
| CIOO-FM | FM 100.1 | "C100" hot adult contemporary | |
| Kingston | CKLC-FM | AM 1380 | oldies |
| CFLY-FM | FM 98.3 | "FLY-FM" hot adult contemporary | |
| Kawartha Lakes | CKLY-FM | FM 91.9 | "Bob FM" adult hits |
| London | CHST-FM | FM 102.3 | "Bob FM" adult hits |
| Montreal | CKGM | AM 990 | "The Team 990" Sports radio |
| Ottawa | CFRA | AM 580 | news/Talk radio |
| CFGO | AM 1200 | "The Team 1200" Sports radio | |
| CKKL-FM | FM 93.9 | "Bob FM" adult hits | |
| CJMJ-FM | FM 100.3 | "Majic 100" adult contemporary | |
| Peterborough | CKPT-FM | AM 1420 | "1420 Memories" oldies |
| CKQM-FM | FM 105.1 | "Country 105" country music | |
| Toronto | CHUM | AM 1050 | oldies |
| CHUM-FM | FM 104.5 | "CHUM-FM" hot adult contemporary | |
| Vancouver | CKST | AM 1040 | "The Team 1040" sports |
| CFTE | AM 1410 | news/Talk radio | |
| CHQM-FM | FM 103.5 | "QMFM" adult contemporary | |
| Victoria | CFAX | AM 1070 | news/Talk radio |
| CHBE-FM | FM 107.3 | "Kool FM" hot adult contemporary | |
| Waterloo | CKKW-FM | AM 1090 | "Oldies 1090" |
| CFCA-FM | FM 105.3 | "Kool FM" hot adult contemporary | |
| Windsor | CKWW | AM 580 | "Motor City Favorites" oldies |
| CKLW | AM 800 | news/Talk radio | |
| CIMX-FM | FM 88.7 | "89X" modern rock | |
| CIDR-FM | FM 93.9 | "939 The River" adult album alternative | |
| Winnipeg | CFRW | AM 1290 | oldies |
| CHIQ-FM | FM 94.3 | "CURVE 94.3" hot adult contemporary | |
| CFWM-FM | FM 99.9 | "Bob FM" adult hits |
In November, 2004, CHUM and Astral Media filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a subscription radio service in Canada. That application, along with two satellite radio services, were approved by the CRTC on June 16, 2005. While the two satellite services launched soon after the decision, CHUM did not implement its service, the authority for which expired on June 16, 2007 (two years after licensing).
| Barrie | CKVR-DT | 1969 | CBC Television / NewNet / A-Channel | Flagship CTV 2 O&O |
| Brandon | CKX-TV | 2004 | CBC Television | Closed on October 2, 2009 |
| Calgary | CKAL-DT | 2004 | A-Channel / Citytv | Citytv O&O owned by Rogers Media |
| Edmonton | CKEM-DT | 2004 | A-Channel / Citytv | Citytv O&O owned by Rogers Media |
| Halifax | CJCH-DT | 1970 | CTV Atlantic | CTV O&O |
| London | CFPL-DT | 1997 | NewNet / A-Channel | CTV 2 O&O |
| Moncton/Charlottetown | CKCW-DT | 1972 | CTV Atlantic | CTV O&O |
| Ottawa/Pembroke | CHRO-TV | 1997 | NewNet / A-Channel | CTV 2 O&O |
| Saint John | CKLT-DT | 1972 | CTV Atlantic | CTV O&O |
| Sydney | CJCB-TV | 1971 | CTV Atlantic | CTV O&O |
| Toronto | CITY-DT | 1981 | Citytv | Flagship Citytv O&O owned by Rogers Media |
| Vancouver | CKVU-DT | 2001 | Citytv | Citytv O&O owned by Rogers Media |
| Victoria | CIVI-DT | 2001 | NewNet / A-Channel | CTV 2 O&O |
| Wheatley/Windsor | CHWI-DT | 1997 | NewNet / A-Channel | CTV 2 O&O |
| Wingham | CKNX-TV | 1997 | NewNet / A-Channel | Closed in 2009, now as a repeater of CFPL |
| Winnipeg | CHMI-DT | 2004 | A-Channel / Citytv | Citytv O&O owned by Rogers Media |
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