CFLT-FM

CFLT-FM

City of license	Dartmouth, NS
Broadcast area	Halifax Regional Municipality
Branding	Lite 92.9
Slogan	Today's Lite Rock
Frequency	92.9 MHz
First air date	December 5, 1962 (AM) August 7, 2009 (official launch on FM)
Format	Adult Contemporary
Language(s)	English
ERP	63,000 watts
Class	225c
Callsign meaning	C F LiTe
Former callsigns	CFDR (AM)
Former frequencies	680AM, 780 AM, 790AM
Owner	Rogers Radio
Sister stations	CJNI-FM
Webcast	Listen live
Website	Lite 92.9

CFLT-FM is an FM radio station licensed to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and serving the Halifax area. The station is owned by Rogers Radio and broadcasts at 92.9 MHz.

The station is the successor to Newcap-owned AM station CFDR (780 kHz), which signed off on July 27, 2009, eleven days before the FM station's official launch.

History

CFDR

CFDR had made its home at various locations on the dial, first at 790 kHz, moving to 680 kHz in 1978, then to 780 kHz in 1991.

Originally owned and operated by Patterson Broadcasters Ltd. (President the late C.A. "Arnie" Patterson, Senior Vice-President/National Sales Director the late W.L. (Bill) Patterson and Vice-President/Chief Engineer the late Jack Hutchison), CFDR (the "DR" standing for "Dartmouth Radio"), also known as "CF Big 'D' R", first hit the AM dial in 1962. The studios were originally located at 66 Ochterloney St. Dartmouth and moved to 12 Queen St. in 1971 until the decision was made in 1981 to occupy half of the 18th floor and the entire penthouse (19th floor) of the Queen Square building which commanded an excellent view of Halifax Harbour. CFDR and CFRQ (Q104) moved their broadcasting facilities to the CIEZ building in Bedford, NS in 1995.

CFDR's final logo as an AM station

The station's transmitter used to be located on Kearney Lake Rd, Bedford, NS. At the same time the frequency changed from 680 kHz to 780 kHz, the transmitter was moved to St. Margaret's Bay Road in the HRM community of Lakeside.

CFDR was an easy listening station until 1987, when it changed its format to contemporary hit radio (CHR); around the same time it also began broadcasting in Motorola C-QUAM AM stereo. The format change to CHR was protested vehemently by fans of the Easy Listening format in the Halifax area. It generated many complaints to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), and to the station itself, but the format change stood until it switched to the country format in December 1993. Ultimately the station became known as "Classic Country 780 KIXX", differentiating itself from Halifax's more popular contemporary country station CHFX-FM.

Conversion to FM and sale

After CHNS moved to an FM frequency in July 2006, only two Halifax stations, CFDR and CJCH, remained on the AM dial in a market with over a dozen FM stations. In October 2006, Newcap applied to the CRTC to move CFDR to the FM band at 88.9 MHz. It was to drop its country format in favour of alternative rock, since CHFX would continue to air a country format. The station was to be branded "LIVE 88.9", patterned after Newcap's Ottawa station "LIVE 88.5". The move was approved in 2007, on condition that Newcap sell its 50% interest in CKUL-FM (Kool FM). With Newcap also owning CFRQ-FM (Q104), as well as 50% of Kool FM, converting CFDR to FM would have put Newcap in violation of CRTC regulations on radio station ownership, which limits a single company to two AM and two FM stations per market.

After CTVglobemedia announced plans to convert CJCH to FM as well, it was required to divest its own 50% share of Kool FM to proceed with the conversion (as it also owned CIOO-FM). Newcap then elected in early 2008 to acquire full control of Kool FM, negating its own conversion plans in the process.

However, this left CFDR as the last remaining AM station in the market, with Newcap unable to move the station to FM. Thus later in the year, the company announced it would trade CFDR to Rogers Radio in exchange for Rogers' Sudbury station CIGM, with both stations applying to move to FM following the trade. CIGM's situation paralleled that of CFDR: it was the last AM station remaining in the Sudbury market, where Rogers already owned two FM stations, and hence it would not be permitted to convert to FM under Rogers ownership. Rogers later announced it would move CFDR to 92.9 MHz rather than the previously-approved 88.9. The applications were approved by the CRTC on November 24, 2008.

780 CFDR went off the air permanently on July 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM ADT, coinciding with the final consummation of the Rogers-Newcap swap. The last songs played were "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" by George Jones and "Happy Trails" by Dale Evans and Roy Rogers. A farewell message was posted by the morning hosts Frank Lowe & Stephanie Woodin on 780 Kixx's former (now defunct) website 780kixx.ca.

CFDR was the last remaining AM station in the Halifax area prior to the shutdown. Its classic country format was one of a few in Canada. CFDR was also the most powerful AM station in the province during the day at 50,000 watts At night, power was reduced to 15,000 watts. Competing AM stations CJCH and CHNS left the air in 2008 and 2006, respectively.

As Lite 92.9

Rogers initially indicated that it would follow through with Newcap's plan to air alternative rock on the relaunched station. However, they ended up adopting a soft adult contemporary format, known as Lite 92.9, patterned after Rogers-owned CHFM-FM in Calgary.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff include the morning team of Jamie Paterson (formerly of CKUL-FM) and Lisa Blackburn (formerly of CFRQ-FM), and Katey Day, who is the afternoon drive host. The John Tesh Radio Show is broadcast weeknights from 7 p.m. until midnight.

Popular disc jockeys during CFDR's flagship easy listening era just before the changeover to Contemporary Hit Radio included avuncular morning man Gerry Parsons (with his signature "March Around the Breakfast Table"), smooth-voiced Tony Beech (of Sunday night's "Candlelight and Wine" renown), Jack Hutchison's "Tartan Hour" on Saturday mornings, Program Director Gail Rice (mid-days), Clary Stubbert (afternoon drive), midnights with Dave Tramley and Paul Meagher, traffic reporter.

Other popular former DJs and announcers include Colleen Jones, "Graveyard Shifter" Ron Roberts, Andrew Boyle, Cam Allen, Dale Schwartz, John Cunningham and John Kyte. The station's last morning hosts under its country format were Frank Lowe and Stephanie Woodin.

External links

• Lite 92.9
• CFLT-FM history at Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CFLT-FM