Chom fm

CHOM-FMFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchCHOM City of license Montreal, Quebec Broadcast area Greater Montreal area Branding "CHOM 97.7" Slogan "The Spirit of Rock" Frequency 97.7 MHz First air date 1963 Format classic rock ERP 41,200 watts Class C1 Callsign meaning Arbitrary coinage Owner Astral Media Sister stations CFEI, CFZZ, CHOM, CITE, CJAD, CJFM, CKMF Website CHOM 97.7 (official website) CHOM-FM is an English language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Owned and operated by Astral Media, it broadcasts on 97.7 MHz from the Mount Royal candelabra tower, with an effective radiated power of 41,200 watts (class C1) using an omnidirectional antenna.The station has a classic rock format since 2002 and has had some type of rock format since 1969. It uses the brand name CHOM, pronounced as if it were a French word (that is, "shoam", IPA: /ˈʃoʊm/, rather than "tchahm" /ˈtʃɒm/). HistoryCKGM-FM, as the station was originally known, was founded by Geoff Sterling as a sister station to AM station CKGM and opened on July 16, 1963. After a few weeks as a simulcast of CKGM, CKGM-FM launched a beautiful music format on September 1, 1963.On October 28, 1969, CKGM-FM changed its format to album-oriented rock. The first song played after the format switch was Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra followed by The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun. The station would change its call sign to CHOM-FM only two years later on October 19, 1971.In 1974, CHOM-FM proposed to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) a plan in which the station would become bilingual (English/French). The CRTC accepted this plan but only on an experimental basis that would last three years; it also blocked a plan to implement quadraphonic broadcasting. In 1977, the station was forced by the CRTC to opt between the two languages, and after considering becoming a French-language station, it finally reverted back to English fulltime. Promotional bumper sticker distributed in the 1990s by CHOM-FM with its previously used logo.CHOM-FM became increasingly popular, and in 1979 surpassed sister station CKGM in Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings. Both stations were sold to CHUM Limited on August 20, 1985.The 1993 loss of popular morning man Terry DiMonte to CJFM-FM (Mix 96), combined with new competition from American modern rock station WBTZ (better known as 99.9 The Buzz) starting in 1996, resulted in a decline in ratings which the station tried to stop by acquiring rights to the syndicated show of shock jock Howard Stern. Stern made his debut on CHOM-FM on September 2, 1997 amid much controversy as he launched himself on his very first show heard in Montreal in an anti-Francophone/anti-French tirade. His show was dumped a year later, on August 27,

1998, after numerous complaints to the CRTC about politically incorrect remarks interpreted by complainants as "sexist" and "homophobic", despite the fact that the show ran on a delay with more controversial comments being censored, which sometimes resulted in minutes of dead air. While the CRTC did not take any actions against CHOM-FM, it is generally believed that owner CHUM Limited feared other projects could be hampered by them having such a controversial host on one of their stations.The station was sold to Standard Broadcasting, which already owned CJAD and CJFM-FM in Montreal, effective in January 2002 in exchange for Standard's CFWM-FM in Winnipeg, now Bob FM and now owned by CTVglobemedia. This ownership change was promptly followed in February by a format change to classic rock and the return of DiMonte as morning man, which resulted in ratings improvements.Ownership changed hands again when on October 29, 2007, Astral Media took control of Standard Broadcasting and its assets.On November 21, 2007, CHOM announced in a statement that Terry DiMonte would be leaving the radio station to pursue a career outside of Quebec, at the Calgary classic rock station Q107. His final broadcast was on November 23, 2007. DiMonte will be replaced by Rob Kemp as of November 26, 2007. DiMonte's final words were, "Au revoir et merci Montreal".CHOM weekly line-upTed, Kim & Kemp in the Morning (5:30 am–10:00 am) CHOM's Midday Show with Sharon Hyland(10:00 am–3:00 pm) Electric Lunch Hour with Sharon Hyland (12:00 am–1:00 pm) CHOM's Midday Show with Sharon Hyland (1:00 pm–3:00 pm) The Pete Marier Show (3:00 pm–5:00 pm) CHOM's Drive at Five with Pete Marier (5:00 pm–6:00 pm) Six O'Clock Road Block Show (6:00 pm–7:00 pm) Evenings with Bilal (7:00 pm–12 am) Overnights Rock (12:00 am–5:30 am) CHOM weekend line-upSaturdayThe Metal File (12:00 am–1:00 am) CHOM ROCKS with Allison (1:00 am–6:00 am) Pete Marier Weekend Show (6:00 am–9:00 am) Best of Ted, Kim & Kemp (9:00 am–12:00 pm) Tootall Weekend Show (12:00 pm–6:00 pm) Randy Renaud Show (6:00 pm–8:00 pm) CHOM's That 80's Show (8:00 pm–11:00 pm) Randy Renaud Show (11:00 pm–12:00 am) SundayCHOM ROCKS with Allison (12:00 am–6:00 am) Sharon Hyland Show (6:00 am–10:00 am) The Deep End with Nick Michaels (10 am–12:00 pm) Tootall Weekend Show (12:00 pm–6:00 pm) Randy Renaud (6:00 pm–7:00 pm) CHOM's Black Cat Alley Show (7:00 pm–9:00 pm) Made in Canada (9:00 pm–10:00 pm) Little Steven’s Underground Garage (10:00 pm–12:00 am) CHOM hostsTerry DiMonte (formerly, now at Q-107 in Calgary, AB) Robert Kemp Ted Bird Kim Rossi Sharon Hyland Pete Marier Randy Renaud Allison Van Rassel Nick Michaels Tootall Brandon Craddock Steven Van Zandt Mike Metal (Mike Babins- Also the Producer of various CJAD Talk Shows) Bilal Serge "Would You Believe"

Hit with music fans in the city. Pringle kicked things off at CKGM-FM that fateful evening of Oct. 28, 1969 with the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun, and he never looked back. “The reaction was instantaneous and huge,” he said. “This wasn’t just music that wasn’t being heard — this was music by the rock equivalent of Mozart and Beethoven. We’re talking about Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan. Album tracks from the Beatles. Album tracks from the Rolling Stones. Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin. There was a 20-year period there where rock music was throwing up great artists of the calibre of Leonardo da Vinci and Monet and van Gogh.” And the music knew no linguistic boundaries. From the moment CKGM-FM began blasting tunes by Joplin and Hendrix and all the others, the audience was around two-thirds francophone, according to Pringle. And he was happy to encourage that audience. “It seemed to me that it made total sense that I hire a French-Canadian announcer,” said Pringle. “So I hired André Rheaume. Then it just kind of snowballed, and throughout our history we hired more French-Canadian announcers. “The French-Canadian audience was a huge influence on CHOM,” he said. “We started playing French-Canadian artists. For an English-licensed radio station to play French-language music was unheard of. Acts like Harmonium, Beau Dommage and Robert Charlebois, they were absolutely key ingredients of what we were doing. It just seemed totally natural to be playing those artists.” Many anglos growing up in Montreal in the ’70s had their first exposure to Québécois musical culture via CHOM, and the artists themselves took notice. Edward Gajdel This was the golden age of free-form FM radio, when the DJs themselves picked the songs they played. They’d play album tracks, or whole sides of albums. They’d talk about whatever they felt like, and in the early days of CHOM, that was often spirituality — something near and dear to Pringle’s heart, and a passion shared by Stirling. In fact, the two went on a pilgrimage to India in the early ’70s. And when CKGM was renamed CHOM on Oct. 19, 1971, the call letters were chosen as an homage to the sacred spiritual mantra “om.” Pringle ran the station and did his daily show, usually between 10 a.m. and 2 or 3 p.m. Stirling kept asking him to do the morning show — the most important show on any