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CJCL (590 AM, Sportsnet 590 The Fan) is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toronto, while its transmitters are located near Grimsby atop the Niagara Escarpment. It is the flagship station for the Toronto Blue Jays,[1] and also airs games from the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Bisons and Buffalo Bills. CJCL is a CBS Sports Radio affiliate.[2]
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| Broadcast area | Greater Toronto Area Southern Ontario |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 590 kHz |
| Branding | Sportsnet 590 The Fan |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Sports |
| Affiliations | Sportsnet Ontario Toronto Raptors Radio Network Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Network Toronto Blue Jays Radio Network Buffalo Bisons Radio Network Buffalo Bills Radio Network CBS Sports Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| CFTR, CHFI-FM, CKIS-FM, CFMT-DT, CITY-DT, CJMT-DT | |
| History | |
First air date | February 21, 1951 |
Former call signs | CKFH (1951–1981) |
Former frequencies | 1400 kHz (1951–1960) 1430 kHz (1960–1995) |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| Class | B |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 43°9′10″N 79°32′3″W |
| Repeater(s) | 92.5 CKIS-HD3 (Toronto) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | sportsnet.ca/590 |
The station was originally owned by longtime sportscaster Foster Hewitt and began broadcasting on February 21, 1951, as CKFH 1400 before moving to 1430 AM in 1960. Telemedia acquired the station in 1981 and relaunched it as CJCL. During its early life, the station aired news and sports, Top 40, country music, adult contemporary and talk radio formats. It adopted the current sports format on September 4, 1992, as The Fan 1430 as Canada's first all-sports radio station before swapping frequencies with CKYC 590, acquired in 1994 by Telemedia, on February 6, 1995, adopting The Fan 590 branding. After Telemedia was sold to Standard Broadcasting, Rogers acquired CJCL in 2002.
Due to its location near the top of the AM dial, as well as its transmitter power and height, CJCL covers most of southern Ontario during the day. The station's signal is directional from north to south to protect various lower-powered radio stations east and west of the station. CJCL is simulcast across Canada on Bell Satellite TV channel 959,[3] and on Shaw Direct channel 868.[4] It is also carried on the 3rd HD digital subchannel of CKIS-FM.
The station first aired on February 21, 1951, as CKFH; operating at 1400 kHz. It was a news and sports station owned by legendary Canadian broadcaster Foster Hewitt (the "FH" of the call sign), who was best known as the first and long-time play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Maple Leafs on what became Hockey Night in Canada.[5] The station moved to the 1430 AM frequency in 1960, increasing power first to 5,000, then 10,000 and finally 50,000 watts. In its first years, CKFH was a full service station with news, drama, and variety programs, but specialized in sports broadcasting away games of the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as "reconstructed" play-by-play broadcasts of the Brooklyn Dodgers.[6] The station also carried a number of foreign-language programs produced by ethnic broadcasters such as Sam Yuchtman's Yiddish-language Jewish Hour and Italian-language programs produced by Johnny Lombardi until Lombardi launched his own station, CHIN, in 1966. CKFH adopted a Top 40 format that same year. It then moved to a country format in 1975.
The station was subsequently sold to Telemedia in 1981 when it adopted its current CJCL call sign and switched to an adult contemporary format.[7] In 1983, the station briefly adopted talk programming, but returned to its music format within a few months, with increased emphasis on oldies.[8] CJCL was the flagship of the Telemedia network, and as such, broadcast Toronto Blue Jays baseball games (with Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth calling the action) followed by hours of talk after the game. The station has been flagship radio station of the Blue Jays for most of their history since their inception in 1977 (with exception of a hiatus when CHUM was the flagship from 1998 to 2002). As the 1980s progressed, and the winning Blue Jays became more popular, the sports features became CJCL's profit centre. Encouraged by the newfound success of sports radio in the United States, in 1992, the year the Blue Jays won their first World Series, CJCL would drop non-sports programming altogether on September 4, and became The Fan 1430, the first all-sports station in Canada. The station's nickname may have been inspired by WFAN in New York City, the first sports radio station in the world that led to the creation of sports radio stations everywhere.[9][10][11]
In 1994, Telemedia acquired CKYC from Rogers, and on February 6, 1995, at noon, the two stations switched frequencies, with "The Fan" moving to 590 AM (subsequently becoming The Fan 590) and CKYC moving to 1430 AM (where it operates today as multilingual station CHKT).[12][13] Telemedia was acquired in 2002 by Standard Broadcasting, who resold CJCL to Rogers Media.
In January 2011, CJCL became known as Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590, the move coming as part of a co-branding initiative with its television counterpart Sportsnet,[14] amid indications that rival TSN was preparing to launch a competing sports radio station, TSN Radio 1050.[15] The station's on air identity was then changed to Sportsnet 590 The Fan in October 2011.
The station also provides sports news updates for its sister station, all-news radio CFTR.
CJCL is the flagship station for the following teams' radio broadcasts:
- Toronto Blue Jays (MLB baseball)
- Toronto Raptors (NBA basketball)♠
- Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL hockey)♠
♠-In case of conflicts with other sports broadcasts, one of the games will air on another station in the Toronto area. As Rogers owns the Blue Jays outright but only shares ownership (through Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment) of the Raptors and Maple Leafs, the Blue Jays games have first priority on CJCL. CHUM shares rights to the other two teams, including all games that are played at the same time as the Blue Jays. In contrast, because of an exclusive CFL-wide multimedia deal with TSN that ensures all Toronto Argonauts games air on CHUM, any Raptors or Maple Leaf games that conflict with the Argonauts will air on CJCL. The two stations split the broadcasts of games that do not conflict with each other.
Roughly 11 Buffalo Bisons games (as of 2018) air on evening dates between June and August that do not conflict with Blue Jays games. The Bisons are the Triple-A East affiliate of the Blue Jays, and broadcasts originate from Buffalo-based WWKB.[16][17]
The Fan 590 also features live coverage of the following:
- Buffalo Bills (NFL football)
- NBA All-Star Game
- Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio (Sunday nights, All-Star Game & postseason; when not conflicting with Blue Jays games & weekday afternoon sports talk radio programming)
- Memorial Cup hockey (championship game)
- NFL Football (Sunday afternoons)
Previous live sports events on CJCL included:
- Toronto Argonauts (CFL football) (2000–2001, 2007–2010)
- Toronto FC (MLS soccer)
- Ice Hockey World Championships (Team Canada games)
- IIHF World Junior Championship (Team Canada games)
- Toronto Rock (NLL lacrosse) (2006)[18]
- OHL All-Star Classic (OHL hockey) (2007)[19]
- International Bowl (NCAA college football) (2007–2010)
- Premier League (soccer) (Saturday mornings, 2007–2010)
- Grey Cup (CFL football) (2007–2009)
- Toronto Marlies (AHL hockey) (2008–2010)
- 2009 World Baseball Classic (All Canada national baseball team games and the final four)
- Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament (All Team Canada games, plus the quarter-final game determining Team Canada's semi-final opponent, both semi-finals, and both the bronze medal and gold medal games)
- Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament (gold medal game)
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Current
Former
- Sandy Annunziata
- Jack Armstrong
- Alan Ashby (Blue Jays)
- Bill Berg
- Howard Berger
- Dean Blundell
- Greg Brady
- Tom Cheek
- Don Cherry
- Damien Cox
- Ken Daniels[20]
- John Derringer
- Cal Gardner (Leafs 1970s).[21]
- Dirk Hayhurst
- Mike Hogan
- Jerry Howarth (Blue Jays)
- Jim Hunt
- Rob Iarusci
- Mike Inglis[20]
- Peter Irvine
- Spider Jones[22]
- Jim Kelley
- Andrew Krystal
- Nick Kypreos
- Don Landry
- Jim Lang
- Johnny Lombardi
- Jeff Lumby
- Jeff Marek
- Pat Marsden
- Doug MacLean
- Bob McCown
- Daren Millard
- Rick Moranis (using the stage name Rick Allan)
- Jack Morris (Blue Jays)
- Mark Osborne
- Steve Paikin[20]
- Dan Pollard
- Elliott Price
- Paul Rimstead
- Jim Richards[20]
- Mike Richards
- Greg Sansone[20]
- Chris Schultz
- John Shannon
- James Sharman
- Joe Siddall (Blue Jays; moved to Sportsnet television coverage)
- Steve Simmons
- Chuck Swirsky[20]
- Mike Toth
- Ben Wagner (Blue Jays)
- Bob Weeks
- John Wells
- Brian Williams
- Mike Wilner
- Sam Yuchtman
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