Many years ago, when I lived in southern Chatham-Kent, Cleveland’s 1260 and Erie’s 1260 would clobber one another, with Cleveland winning on points. 

1220 St Catherines  and 1220 Cleveland also are close...daytime in Toronto 1220 comes in fairly ok, but at night it often disappears and 1220 comes through.........also  610 St Catherines and 610 Columbus...
speaking of 610, I hope after the change, they find a way to keep Karl Dockstader....with his Sunday am show and the Indigenous show on Saturdays,  which has run on CKLW 800 Windsor  (it used to be on 1150, before the sale)   by the way I enjoy CKOC,  I sure hope they can get some ads to keep going

CKWW Windsor does  have some commercials  and I hope it does well

Interesting that two stations so close were on the same channel / frequency; both directional and fairly significant power too (5 & 10 KW) I could never copy either station very well in London.

One time Cleveland's 105.7 FM ran a 1260 WIXI tribute weekend where they recreated 1260's top 40 format and jingles. It was fun to listen to. Radio locator shows both stations should have covered their town of licence quite well with the transmitter south of the city and the majority of the power radiating north, but I cannot confirm this.

In addition to low ratings usually brought on by programming cuts I am guessing the transmitter facility is ageing out and would need significant cash. Assuming the land is owned it is probably worth more than the station. Sad.

What station(s) in Ontario are next?

It would not necessarily be a bad thing to see the heard thinned; and allow programming to be improved on the stations that survive, but we know that is not likely to happen.
 

Last edited by darcyh (March 18, 2025 8:35 pm)

darcyh wrote:

What station(s) in Ontario are next?
 

There are so few AMs left to begin with!

I'll go with 600 North Bay. After that, 1200 Ottawa and 1580 Oshawa. 

Locally, 1050 and 680. (with 680's format moving to a combo of 590/FM)

Last edited by RadioAaron (March 18, 2025 8:49 pm)

We still have Guelph's 1460 CJOY, with rumours it could close soon.  570 CKGL in K/W all news/sports/talk.

CFOS Owen Sound will be moving to FM in the weeks ahead, and CKNX 920 in Wingham hoping to shift as well. CFCO in Chatham still broadcasting on AM but also looking to move.

1250 CJYE from Oakville and CKOC and CHAM in Hamilton are still operating as is CKWW and CKLW in Windsor.  Mississauga has ethnic CINA 1650, CKNT News/Talk 960 and 1320 CJMR.  980 CFPL London is the only AM in that city.
 
CFRA in Ottawa on 580 is hanging in, as is CFGO 1200 TSN Sports, CKDO 1580 Oshawa, CJBQ in Belleville,  Brampton has two with 530 CHLO and 1350 CIRF. St. Catharines also two AM's with 610 CKTB and CFAJ 1220.

Believe it or not, Toronto still has 12 AM stations on frequencies 590, 640, 680, 740, 860, 1010, 1050, 1280, 1430, 1540, 1610 and 1690.  Technically 640 isn't licensed to Toronto but is a de facto Toronto station.

I would imagine CBC/Radio Canada still has some AM repeater stations for a few english and french outlets likely in Northern Ontario.
 
Could have missed one or two but this gives a rough idea on the AM stations still broadcasting in Ontario.  Looks like around 36 altogether which is sort of surprising.   

   

Last edited by paterson1 (March 19, 2025 5:50 pm)

When I got my first transistor radio in the mid 1960's, I discovered if the radio was laying north/south CHSC was dominant. Turned east/west it was all WGAR. I later discovered WKYC [now WTAM] which was as clear as CHUM no matter which way my radio was turned.

Thanks WindsorWatcher regarding CBEF.  I found another in Northern Ontario with 1090 CBON a low power AM repeater in Mattawa for Radio-Canada.  There may be one or two community AM stations that we don't know about.

So 36 frequencies and stations on the AM dial in Ontario with at least 3 planning to move to FM later this year.  Still surprising that Toronto has 12 AM stations in 2025. 

I think WABC still does quite well.

You probably won't consider this ratings that matter, but in this list it's #9 out of all the 54 stations available and the only AM in the Top10. I'd say given the current state of the band, that's not terrible.

NYC Jan. Radio Ratings

And, Lord, don't we know what billionaire's with soap boxes are doing to society.

Add Sarnia's CHOK at 1070 to the list of existing AM stations. It also can be heard on FM. 

gch wrote:

It's interesting to note that CFCO will be celebrating 100 years in 2026  & CHOK will be celebrating 80 years in 2026.
    CHOK has 103.9 as a repeater, but again, with limited range.  Does CHOK have any plans to shut down 1070...

 

CHOK on 103.9, as mentioned has a very limited signal range so to shut down the AM would be a bad move. The station would lose a sizeable chunk of its coverage area.

RadioAaron wrote:

darcyh wrote:

What station(s) in Ontario are next? 

There are so few AMs left to begin with!

I'll go with 600 North Bay. After that, 1200 Ottawa and 1580 Oshawa. 

Locally, 1050 and 680. (with 680's format moving to a combo of 590/FM)

Disagree. The 590 signal will shut down before 680. 680 will be the last english AM station standing in Toronto. I give the rest of them (640, 740, 1010, 1050) 5 years. It will go 1050, then 640, 740, 1010, and finish with 680 in about 10 years tops. 

Last edited by torontostan (March 26, 2025 10:46 pm)

torontostan wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

darcyh wrote:

What station(s) in Ontario are next? 

There are so few AMs left to begin with!

I'll go with 600 North Bay. After that, 1200 Ottawa and 1580 Oshawa. 

Locally, 1050 and 680. (with 680's format moving to a combo of 590/FM)

Disagree. The 590 signal will shut down before 680. 680 will be the last english AM station standing in Toronto. I give the rest of them (640, 740, 1010, 1050) 5 years. It will go 1050, then 640, 740, 1010, and finish with 680 in about 10 years tops. 

Yes, I have the 680 format moving to 590. In an earlier thread, someone pointed out that the 680tx sits on much more valuable land than 590's