Speaking of CFTR, it was around that same time (May 1983) that the station was involved in an incident with a Rochester, N.Y. counterpart. In another story I have to say I never heard about, it's the reason why an American station so close to the border is allowed to broadcast on what is supposed to be a Canadian clear channel frequency. WDCX remains on the air in that city at 990 AM to this day. 

I was just a kid here in Rochester, but I remember what a big deal it was here when WNYR went from being the only daytimer in town to fulltime status. At the time, WNYR was the only country station in town and was a pretty significant ratings player despite being daytime-only and just 250 watts. In addition to CFTR, it was also hemmed in by WINR in Binghamton with 2500 daytime watts on 680. 

WNYR had good reason to be upset with Canada for granting CFTR's move to Mississauga and power increase. It had been on 680 since 1947, while CFTR had only been on the channel since the late 60s. And so WNYR and the FCC leaned hard on Rogers (or so I've heard) to make things right. 

WNYR actually got to move to 990 under STA in the summer of 1979. If memory serves, it turned on the 990 night signal for two nights while staying on 680 by day, and then on July 4 it went fulltime on 990. But it wasn't at a permanent site yet - instead, it had (at Rogers expense) a temporary three-tower array at the site on the west side of Rochester where it had been operating non-DA on 680. 

The 1983 affirmation of WNYR's right to stay on 990 cleared the way for Rogers to pay for a new permanent site for the 990. It went from 1000 day/250 night at the temporary site to 5000/2500 at the new six-tower site on a huge piece of land about 17 miles west of Rochester. That new DA allowed WNYR to protect the 990s in Winnipeg and Philadelphia while putting a strong east-west signal everywhere from Niagara Falls to Syracuse. (I used to hear it at night in Boston!)

Unfortunately, it was already a little too late for AM. WNYR had a few more good years, but then in 1987 WBEE hit the air with FM country on 92.5 and the audience moved over there and never came back. 990 went through several formats and owners before landing with Crawford and finding a niche doing religion. 

After WNYR left 680, my recollection is that the CFTR DA was always very tightly nulled and we never really heard the signal here. Something must have changed in the last 10 years or so, because now I can usually get CFTR here with a weak signal. Maybe all that new construction in Grimsby has messed up the pattern?

Thanks as always Mr. Fybush. Another side of the story I never heard before. Always interesting to learn about what happened. As it turns out, WNYR wasn't the only one inconvenienced by Rogers' rush to claim 680. Considering how much trouble it caused, I'm surprised they were allowed to do it. 

My records indicate it's from July 1963, so it fits the timeline you refer to.