The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » CFRB transmitter site up for sale?

andysradio · January 24, 2026 10:47 am

According to a contributor to this weeks World of Radio, the CFRB transmitter site is up for sale:

https://www.rmrc.de/media/com_podcastmanager/WOR/wor2331.mp3

5:20 into the program

http://www.worldofradio.com/

So what about CHUM?

Last edited by andysradio (January 24, 2026 10:47 am)

Radiowiz · January 24, 2026 11:50 am

andysradio wrote:
So what about CHUM?

Is it possible to put the 1050 and 1010 towers together on the same land?
If so, maybe that's the plan?

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 · January 24, 2026 11:57 am

If not, then sadly, another am station is off the air.
They nead a full-power signal for a talk powerhouse like 1010.
I guess, a solusion is to only have the talk on hd because if they cant put 1010 on the same site, the am signal would be off the air and they have 2 highly rated music stations on fm so they should not change the format.
Asspecialy for chum which had the same hot AC format for years, since I was born in the late 90s.
When I was a kid and in my early teens, chum's slogen was today's best music.
They maybe could change virgin's format to talk and put virgin online or on hd only.
I don't think many virgin listeners would cair.

Calhame · January 24, 2026 6:39 pm

Listing here ....https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/29113546/2226-royal-windsor-drive-mississauga-southdown-southdown

Radio.Intern · January 24, 2026 6:42 pm

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
If not, then sadly, another am station is off the air.
They nead a full-power signal for a talk powerhouse like 1010.
I guess, a solusion is to only have the talk on hd because if they cant put 1010 on the same site, the am signal would be off the air and they have 2 highly rated music stations on fm so they should not change the format.
Asspecialy for chum which had the same hot AC format for years, since I was born in the late 90s.
When I was a kid and in my early teens, chum's slogen was today's best music.

They maybe could change virgin's format to talk and put virgin online or on hd only.
I don't think many virgin listeners would cair.

Bell wouldn’t move Virgin like that. Yes, listeners would notice and care. Virgin Toronto is their flagship station for the brand. If anything goes, it’s 1010 or 1050. Not their music stations.

67GreenRambler · January 24, 2026 8:22 pm

If I read this article correct Bell doesn't own the land.

https://www.insauga.com/363m-in-debt-leads-to-receivership-for-developer-of-3-development-properties-in-mississauga/

The landowner wanted to rezone from industrial to residential but couldn't see it through. (The Palleta and Guglietti families could have told him these things sometimes take decades).

The listing also says 1 hour drive to the U.S. border. Hah! It's often 1 hour from Mississauga to Burlington. And that's why Ford Motor Co. is spending hundreds of millions on a stamping plant in Oakville because the current Buffalo (Blasdell) plant cannot reliably feed sheetmetal to Oakville due to hwy over-capacity and lengthy OPP closures.

Evuguy · January 25, 2026 8:31 pm

Maybe Bell plans to diplex CFRB on the nearby CHUM antenna array? Need to keep an eye on the CRTC website to see if Bell has filed an application for a technical change. I'd like to think it's not the end of 1010 on AM just yet.

Hansa · January 26, 2026 9:20 am

I doubt Bell would just scrap 1010 - if they don't want it it should still be possible to sell it. If they are relocating the transmitter though I doubt they'll bother saving CFRX.

Davenet · January 26, 2026 4:00 pm

If Bell ends up having to abandon the 1010 transmitter site, the simplest solution might be to move programming over to 1050. Either share with TSN (e.g. news-talk during the day and sports-talk at night) or lose the sports altogether. Neither station has any significant ratings.

markow202 · January 26, 2026 4:39 pm

What about those whip antennas like the 960 AM station in Mississauga just of higher power? Cant even notice it, dont need acres of land and coverage is decent.

Evuguy · January 26, 2026 8:54 pm

Those monopoles can't handle 50kW of power. Also, 1010 needs to be directional to protect other stations. So, if they went with that type of ND antenna, they would have to reduce their power significantly, escpecially at night.
Actually, that idea of CFRB and CHUM sharing one transmitter may not be a bad idea. I would think overnight ratings for 1010 are very low, so putting sports up at night could be a good way to get some nighttime ears. As I can't imagine "CFRB 1050", I'm guessing the CHUM antenna array would be retuned to work at 1010. So, we would potentially have "TSN 1010" at night.

Last edited by Evuguy (January 26, 2026 8:56 pm)

turkeytop · January 26, 2026 8:57 pm

Sad. CFRB was once, one of Canada's greatest radio stations.

RadioActive · January 26, 2026 8:59 pm

Evuguy wrote:
As I can't imagine "CFRB 1050", I'm guessing the CHUM antenna array would be retuned to work at 1010. So, we would potentially have "TSN 1010" at night.

And irony of ironies, if 1050 were to go silent, that would open the way for WEPN - the ESPN affiliate in New York City on that same frequency. Not sure if it would come in here, given the night direction pattern, but you might not even notice TSN 1050 is gone!

RadioAaron · January 26, 2026 9:04 pm

TSN may be more beneficial to Bell than RB. Neither can sell on ratings, but TSN adds more to the overall offering, Sports usually sells above or regardless of ratings. They obviously don't care about the numbers since Overdrive is also on TV, YouTube, and podcasting, killing any chance for the radio version to rate. Some form of TSN "radio" may well outlive RB.

torontostan · January 26, 2026 11:41 pm

CFIQ AM 640's land has also been for sale for a long time....
https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/28150309/4136-greenlane-road-lincoln-lincoln-lake-981-lincoln-lake

Evuguy · January 27, 2026 9:22 pm

It would seem then that the only thing keeping 640 on the air is our sluggish real estate market. If that land had sold months ago, 640 may already be gone. As with both 640 and 1010, I guess the new owners will have to pay to have the towers toppled and removed, plus dig up the network of ground radials underneath. Probably some decent scrap value there.

RadioActive · January 28, 2026 12:21 pm

Hansa wrote:
I doubt Bell would just scrap 1010 - if they don't want it it should still be possible to sell it. If they are relocating the transmitter though I doubt they'll bother saving CFRX.

Speaking of CFRX, I wondered how many other Canadian shortwave stations there were. Wikipedia lists 12 of them, although most have long since fallen silent and a few have been off the air for decades.

The only ones I've ever been able to receive over the years were CFRX, CHNS, Radio Canada International and of course CHU, the station that still broadcasts all time, all the time.

Canadian Shortwave Radio Stations

Hrick · January 28, 2026 3:27 pm

I don't think 1010 and 1050 could be diplexed on 1050 as the frequencies are too close togather.

torontostan · January 28, 2026 6:26 pm

Hrick wrote:
I don't think 1010 and 1050 could be diplexed on 1050 as the frequencies are too close togather.

My guess is they’ll switch with CKOC to solve that issue. They’d rather be 1050 chum anyways I’d think

Ida Spencer · January 28, 2026 10:00 pm

torontostan wrote:
Hrick wrote:
I don't think 1010 and 1050 could be diplexed on 1050 as the frequencies are too close togather.

My guess is they’ll switch with CKOC to solve that issue. They’d rather be 1050 chum anyways I’d think

For that to happen Bell would have to buy 1150 back from Neeti Ray