CHUM (1050 kHz) is a Canadian AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned and operated by Bell Media. CHUM's studios are co-located with TSN at 9 Channel Nine Court in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Scarborough (with auxiliary studios located at 250 Richmond Street West in the Entertainment District of downtown Toronto), with its transmitter array located in the Clarkson neighbourhood of Mississauga (near CFRB's own transmitter array). TSN 1050 is simulcast on Bell Satellite TV channel 989, and on Shaw Direct channel 867. The station is also carried on the 3rd HD digital subchannel of CKFM-FM.
Station history CHUM AM has been broadcasting continuously since 1945, through a variety of format changes. The station's history can be broken into eight distinct eras, as follows:
EraStart dateFormatBrand and/or slogan1October 28, 1945"Full service"—music, news, sports. Station only on air from sun-up to sundown through most of this era1050 CHUM2May 27, 1957Top 50 hits (Later reduced to Top 30 as of August 1968)1050 CHUM3June 6, 1986Adult Contemporary1050 CHUM-AM: Favourites Of Yesterday and Today (1986-89); 1050 CHUM: Toronto's Soft Rock (1989)4September 1, 1989Oldies (Some sports coverage, including broadcasts of Toronto Argonauts games, and from 1998 on, Toronto Blue Jays games)1050 CHUM: Good Times and Great Oldies5May 7, 2001Sports and sports talkThe Team 10506August 27, 2002Oldies1050 CHUM: Toronto's Greatest Hits7March 26, 2009All-news (almost all rebroadcast of audio feed of all-news TV station CP24)CP24 Radio 10508April 13, 2011Sports and sports talkTSN Radio 1050
The "full service" era: 1945-1957
CHUM was founded by York Broadcasters Limited (later CHUM Limited), four Toronto businessmen, including Al Leary, a former sportscaster, who had been the station manager at CKCL for 14 years."Leary to Manage New Radio Station," Toronto Globe & Mail,18 November 1944, p. 25 CHUM received its licence in late November 1944 to operate a station with 1,000 watts."Announcing a New Radio Station in Toronto", Toronto Globe & Mail, 20 November 1944, p. 2 CHUM launched as a dawn-to-dusk radio station on October 28, 1945,Frank Chamberlain, "Radio Column", Toronto Globe & Mail, 27 October 1945, p. 13 with John H.Q. "Jack" Part, an entrepreneur in the business of patent medicines, as its president. The station, operating from 1947 in studios at 225 Mutual St.,Torontoist, September 14, 2010 broadcast a format typical of the late 1940s, with a combination of information, music, and sports. When CHUM was about to debut, Leary told the press that the new station would be known for community service and in-depth news, in addition to live talent and the most popular phonograph records.Frank Chamberlain, "Radio Column," Toronto Globe & Mail, 30 August 1945, p. 11
CHUM was taken over in December 1954 by Allan Waters, a salesman from Part's patent medicine business. 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.
The Top 40 era: 1957-1986
Less than three years after Waters acquired the station, and soon after bringing the new full-time transmitter online, a major programming change was made. On May 27, 1957, at 6 AM, Waters switched the station to a "Top 50" format that had proven itself popular in some U.S. cities and issued the first CHUM Chart that day. Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" was the first song played. 1050 CHUM pioneered rock and roll radio in Toronto, and was noteworthy for hosting many noteworthy rock concerts including, among others, visits to Maple Leaf Gardens by Presley (1957) and the Beatles (1964, 1965, and 1966).
The station rose in popularity in Toronto in the late 1950s and early 1960s; though it never supplanted perennial Toronto ratings champ CFRB at the top of the ratings chart, it was still a major broadcasting powerhouse with a particular appeal to the teen market. As the station became more successful, it also built yet another new transmitter in Mississauga, Ontario (a few miles west of the current Toronto city line) along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and raised its power once again to its current 50,000 watts around the clock.
In the late 1950s, CHUM was calling itself "Radio One", as its ratings continued to increase. An important part of CHUM's success was the station's unpredictable morning man Al Boliska, who joined CHUM in October 1957, after working at station CKLC in Kingston, Ontario.["Gordon Sinclair's Radio, TV", Toronto Star, 29 October 1957, p. 22 By 1959, Boliska had made a name for himself as a disc jockey who got listeners talking. He also made them laugh, and became known for telling what he called the "World's Worst Jokes"."Radio and TV Personality Al Boliska Dead at 39", Toronto Star, 8 April 1972, p. 2 Boliska also did a number of stunts, such as taking part in a professional wrestling match with Whipper Billy Watson. When he lost, that led to another stunt, where Boliska stayed away from his show for several days, saying he was now too discouraged by the loss to do his show. A hypnotist was called in, and Boliska's self-esteem was restored.Dennis Braithwaite, "Here's What Makes CHUM Hum", Toronto Star, 26 December 1959, p. 24 Boliska left CHUM in late 1963 to go 'across the street' to CKEY. He was replaced by WKBW Buffalo radio and TV personality Jay Nelson, popularly known as "Jungle Jay" from his role as host of a children's show on Buffalo's Channel 7 which was also popular among Toronto youngsters. He would be followed by housewives' jock John Spragge; singer/DJ Mike Darow; Pete Nordheimer, replaced in 1961 by Bob McAdorey, teen DJ Dave Johnson, and all night DJ Bob Laine. Later additions to the CHUM DJ lineup included Duff Roman and Brian Skinner, both of whom came from rival Toronto rocker CKEY (then owned by Jack Kent Cooke).
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CHUM DJs included Duke Roberts (also known as Gary Duke for a time), Johnny Mitchell (better known today as Sonny Fox), J. Michael Wilson, Tom Rivers, Scott Carpenter, Jim Van Horne, John Rode, Don Reagan, John Majhor, Mike Cooper, Daryl B, Terry Steele, Mike Holland and morning man Roger Ashby. Among their later night-time hosts was J. D. Roberts, who joined CHUM for a time in 1977, eventually becoming known across North America as White House correspondent for CBS News, then was co-anchor of CNN's morning program American Morning and is currently a co-anchor again now with Fox News. Rick Moranis, later famous for his work on SCTV and Ghostbusters, was briefly a late-night CHUM DJ in the mid-seventies under the name "Rick Allan".
CHUM began to have zany contests. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was contests such as 'The Walking Man', where listeners had to spot CHUM's mystery walking man using only clues given out on the air. The 1970s' "I Listen to CHUM" promotion had DJs dialing phone numbers at random and awarding $1,000 to anyone who answered the phone with that phrase. In 1976, there was the CHUM Starsign promotion. Listeners wore a button featuring their astrological sign. If CHUM's 'Starsign spotter' saw a person wearing his or her Starsign, that person won prizes such as money or concert tickets to major events.
The CHUM Chart was, for many years, the most influential weekly Top 40 chart in Canada and, at the time of its retirement in 1986, was hailed as the longest-running continuously published radio station record survey in North America."Happy 50th birthday old CHUM". Toronto Star, May 26, 2007. (This was later surpassed by Hamilton's CKOC, which published weekly charts from 1960-1992.) The first CHUM Chart was released on May 27, 1957, with Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" the first Number 1 song.
RPM Magazine paid tribute to CHUM's 11th anniversary with their May 25, 1968, issue.
From top 40 to gold-based AC: 1986–1989
By the mid-1980s, CHUM had lost ground in the Toronto ratings to competing Top 40 station CFTR and FM-based music stations. On June 6, 1986, at 3 p.m., after playing Starship's "We Built This City", CHUM dropped its Top 40 format for a gold-based adult contemporary format ("Favourites of Yesterday and Today"). The first song after the relaunch was "Beginnings" by Chicago. The change also discontinued the CHUM Chart, which ended the week of June 14, 1986, with Madonna's "Live to Tell" as the final Number 1 song. By January 1989, the station had evolved into a brighter adult contemporary format ("Toronto's Soft Rock"), focusing on pop hits from the past decade and dropping much of the older music. While the adult contemporary format started off with modest ratings, CHUM began to slip further over the next few years; in the September 1989 ratings book, CHUM was ranked 11th and held a 2.9 share of the Toronto market.
The first "Oldies" era: 1989–2001 On September 1, 1989, at 5 p.m., CHUM adopted an oldies format, drawing heavily on its previous Top 40 reputation to cater to the fans of that era's music.
During the 1990s, the on-air lineup included Daryl B, Bob Magee, Kori Skinner, Andy K, Russ McLeod, Roger Kelly (Roger Kettyls), Marc Chambers and Dan Michaels. In 1989, the station acquired the broadcast rights for the Toronto Argonauts. Led by play-by-play man Marc Charbonneau and colour commentator Peter Martin, the CHUM broadcast team helped to celebrate the team's Grey Cup victory in 1991 in Winnipeg. In 1992, the Argonauts broadcast rights would return to CFRB. By 1997, much of the airstaff was replaced with voicetracking, while the morning show remained live.
In November 1997, CHUM obtained the radio broadcast rights to Toronto Blue Jays baseball from CJCL beginning in the 1998 season, resulting in a shift towards sports programming on the station.
The Team 1050: 2001–2002
On January 23, 2001, CHUM Limited announced the launch of a national sports radio network, titled "The Team", with CHUM serving as the network's flagship (to be called "Team 1050").Chris Zelkovich, "CHUM's "Team 1050" all ready to play?," The Toronto Star, January 19, 2001.Chris Zelkovich, "All-sports station to sound end of the 1050 CHUM beat," The Toronto Star, January 23, 2001.Chris Zelkovich, "CHUM was the sound of boomer Toronto," The Toronto Star, January 23, 2001.Chris Zelkovich, "U.S. talk show anchors CHUM sports launch," The Toronto Star, January 23, 2001.Chris Zelkovich, "Radio stations go to war to win over sports fans," The Toronto Star, May 1, 2001. As part of the synergy, Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts were available nationwide on the Team Radio Network. This also meant the end of music on 1050 CHUM, which occurred on May 7, 2001.Peter Goddard, "End of an era for four decades of T.O. radio fans," The Toronto Star, May 5, 2001. Duff Roman and Bob Laine hosted a farewell show, ending with Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" (the station's first song as a Top 40 station in 1957) and an audio montage of CHUM memories. Then, at 3 p.m., "The Team Radio Network" was launched on CHUM and CHUM-owned stations across Canada. Noted Canadian sportscaster Jim Van Horne, who had recently left TSN, was the network's marquee host. (In the 1970s, before he turned to sports broadcasting, Van Horne had been a rock jock on 1050 CHUM.) The Team 1050 morning show was made up of former TSN host Paul Romanuk, longtime CHUM sportscaster Brian 'Henny' Henderson and Mike Richards. While the station retained the CHUM call letters, on air the station was not referred to as 1050 CHUM, but rather as "The Team 1050." Nevertheless, "1050 CHUM" wasn't entirely put to rest, as the oldies format continued on a 24-hour webcast at the 1050chum.com website.