Corus Shuts Down AM940 And Info690/Montreal

Two Stations Go Dark

CORUS ENTERTAINMENT is pulling the plug on two big AM signals in MONTREAL, shutting down Oldies CINW (AM940 MONTREAL'S GREATEST HITS) and French News CINF (INFO690) as of tonight at 7p ET.  The company plans to turn the licenses back to the CRTC.

A statement at the stations' website reads, "Despite the excellence and dedication of station employees, INFO690 and AM940 are unprofitable. CORUS QUÉBEC and its employees worked to grow audience and revenues on both these stations while operating them as efficiently as possible. It is clear that these two AM stations are not viable, particularly in the current economic climate.

"This decision affects 10 positions, including eight positions at INFO690: three journalist positions, two traffic reporter positions and three operations positions. At AM940 MONTREAL'S GREATEST HITS, two positions were affected: one on-air host position and one technician position.

"The INFO690 MONTRÉAL newsroom, known as CORUSNOUVELLES, will continue its activities as part of 98,5 FM MONTRÉAL. CORUSNOUVELLES will continue to invest in providing news content to the entire CORUS QUÉBEC network and its clients. The majority of journalist positions from the INFO690 newsroom (five of eight journalist positions along with three of five traffic reporter positions) will be retained.

"'We put tremendous effort into trying to find the right format and content to grow our audience base and operate profitably, but after years of effort it is clear these AM stations are not viable," CORUS VP MARIO CECCHINI said ."'We would like to thank the employees affected by this decision for their hard work. We would also like to acknowledge the support of listeners and advertising clients of INFO690 MONTRÉAL and AM940 MONTREAL’S GREATEST HITS.'"

AM940 originated as the station formerly at 600 AM as experimental XWA (1919-20), CFCF (1920-1991, CANADA's first regular commercial radio station), and CIQC (1991-2000), moving to the 940 AM frequency formerly occupied by the CBC's CBM-A (which moved to FM) in 1999 with a four-month simulcast.  CINF sarted as French Talk CKVL-A on 850 AM (1946-99), moving to the 690 AM slot left vacant by CBC RADIO-CANADA's CBF-A moving to FM in 1999.

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