The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Power-ful Question: What Is AM640's Actual Wattage?

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 3:06 pm

Corus' AM640 is running a promotion designed to give free advertising time to women entrepreneurs. They'll create an ad campaign for the winning female-led business and those spots will air on the station for free. Fair enough and a worthwhile cause.

But on the announcement they're running to promote this thing, there's a statement that has me wondering if I heard it right. I've just listened to it a second time and they did say what I first thought.

In announcing this prize, a woman reading the copy says "AM 640 has a 25,000 watt microphone for your business," or something like that.

Wait a second, isn't CFIQ a 50,000 watt station? If so, why would the copy cut its power in half? Have they reduced their output at some point? Everything I've read indicates the station is at a full 50,000, the highest you can get on AM in North America. Did it change, and if so when? And if not, why would they phrase it that way? It's not like they're planning to cut the power in half when these eventual spots run.

Can anyone explain this power-ful discrepancy?

**Posted by torontostan** February 19, 2025 3:43 pm

My guess is their writer is not their engineer.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 3:47 pm

You'd figure someone would either check the copy or at least re-record it after the fact. Or maybe they just don't care because only radio geeks would even notice. (That last one has my vote!)

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 19, 2025 3:52 pm

It's also running on several stations across the province. Probably some copy+paste action there.

Last edited by RadioAaron (February 19, 2025 3:52 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 4:02 pm

Are any of those stations actually 25,000 watts? Seems like an odd number to pick at random.

**Posted by Chrisphen** February 19, 2025 4:39 pm

25,000 WATTS!!

(just not in a row...)

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 4:52 pm

Watt's Going On - Marvin Gaye.

**Posted by mace** February 19, 2025 8:20 pm

RadioActive wrote:
You'd figure someone would either check the copy or at least re-record it after the fact. Or maybe they just don't care because only radio geeks would even notice. (That last one has my vote!)

Yes. The average person wouldn't have a clue about radio station transmitting power. As a radio geek, I always looked forward to pattern change time. CFRB had one of the smoothest and cleanest.

**Posted by Skywave** February 19, 2025 8:32 pm

AM640 is definitely licensed for 50,000 watts DA-1, same pattern day and night. 25,000 watts may not be that common, but it is a normally licensed power level - CJRJ in Vancouver as an example. CKOC is now 50,000 watts day, 20,000 watts night, same pattern.
Back in the day of its venerable RCA 50F tube transmitter, CFRB's pattern change took little more than a second. It was triggered manually by the control room operator during a pause in the programming. The changes are always on a quarter-hour, so it was easy to orchestrate.
It's probably more noticeable now because the solid state transmitters ramp up slowly, and being clock-controlled, they can occur in the middle of any content, including commercials.