Saul wrote:

Think that's what I heard. Weak and mixing with Peterborough. Noted while checking for skip late tonight (there were brief surges into FM but nothing identified).

How long until they have to shut down the AM?
 

They don’t have to leave it on for the amount of time they’ve been given, but in this case they probably should. There are radios rusted on to 560 around there.

mace wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

They don’t have to leave it on for the amount of time they’ve been given, but in this case they probably should. There are radios rusted on to 560 around there.

Probably one of those models that had only two knobs. CFOS and OFF.  My parents had a similar type of radio in the 60's. Its two knobs were CFRB and OFF.

Once retired, my father would frequent the garage and yard sales looking for cheap table radios, the type where you could look through the back and see the tubes glowing.  I think he wanted a radio in every room.  Many had a pitifully small tuning knob, and he would take a sharp pencil and mark on the knob the stations he favoured.

Brash teenager me: "Why is that radio humming?"
Father: "AC interference.  It's old, and it was cheap."
Brash teenager me: "No, it doesn't know the words."

From Radio Station Lounge's FaceBook page: 
"Coming August 1st"

No longer the "The Oldies You Want, The Info You Need" tag line.

I wonder if they keep the existing format?

Last edited by darcyh (July 6, 2025 10:27 am)

I will miss hearing it from long distances on 560...I have had it on even east of Toronto
But I often listen to Remember When on line in the evenings

Is there any information about when CFCO will make the change 
I am assuming that they are shutting down 92.9, but I wonder what their range will be with the Port Huron station being on the same frequency

Unless they are in a rush... they should likely take the full 3 months.... once down to the last 30 days, run a loop to direct any leftover listeners to the new FM home.   Habit is a hard thing to break... and if they do it too fast, people will assume 560 just left the air... and not go looking for them.   Any of these moves typically go well with a transition period and looped audio to push listeners over. 

I grew up near Owen Sound, within sight of their towers.

I recall when they moved from 1470 to 560. They gave notice of the change over the air for a few weeks. Then, on the day of the switch, they did it in the middle of the day and made a ceremony of it.

mace wrote:

CFOS  moved from 1470 to 560 in 1958. CHOW in Welland signed on to 1470 in 1957. For that year, I imagine both stations had directional signals.

When they were on 1470 they were at really low power (I seem to recall about 200 W)
Long before CFOS even planned to move down the dial to 560 my parent's radio and many other radios around Owen Sound could already hear it on 560. It was some kind of image
455 KHZ IF X 2 = 910 KHZ. 1470 minus 910 = 560.
 

Saul wrote:

I think it's normally 3 months, if all goes to plan. I think I heard Aug 1.  But for all I know it's the first of another month.
 

It is indeed this coming Friday, August 1st, right after the 8 AM news, according to Bayshore Broadcasting. The two will simulcast on both AM and FM until the end of October. Following that, after 85 years on the AM band, 560 will fall silent. 

And as for the format? According to the P.D., it will mostly stay the same - the greatest hits from the 60s until around 2001. But references to oldies will not be a part of their future sloganeering. 

“For a long time we have said, ‘The oldies you want the info you need on CFOS,’ and certainly we’ve lived by that, but the positioning statement that we are using going forward —and we put a lot of thought into this and everybody at the company had some input on it—- is ‘Putting Grey Bruce first.’

The station explains that while 560 could be heard in places like Toronto and even the U.S., it didn't always propagate so well to the local area after pattern change at night. That will no longer be the case with the FM signal. 

After 85 Years, 560 CFOS Flipping From The AM Waves To FM

darcy wrote:

I also expect over time there will be a program shift away from oldies / news. It always seems to happen when a successful AM staion shifts to FM.

 

They said it in the article without saying the words, but they’re moving to Classic Hits. Expect a LOT of 80s

turkeytop wrote:

I grew up near Owen Sound, within sight of their towers.

I recall when they moved from 1470 to 560. They gave notice of the change over the air for a few weeks. Then, on the day of the switch, they did it in the middle of the day and made a ceremony of it.

Reading the thread, I was moved to listen in over the web to the broadcast of the station.  There's something both reassuring and charming about the ads for local businesses that small town radio stations bring.  I hope that this aspect of radio in small towns will always be around.

Too bad - the golf cart and its only AM radio is set to 560 at my property in the Midland Ontario area and it comes in clear.  Now what... its all talk radio on AM. 

Maybe it was the conditions today, but I was getting the new CFOS at 89.3 clearly between Mount Forest and Durham on hwy 6.  In fact I was pulling in the station reasonably well in Mount Forest.  Also CFOS-FM came in clearly in Harriston.  I know at their power they wouldn't penetrate buildings in these communities, but in the car with the atmospheric conditions today, they were coming in pretty good.  My car has a  good FM tuner as well.   

Last edited by paterson1 (July 30, 2025 7:02 am)

Good to hear - I wonder how it will be in Barrie?  Their AM signal reaches decently but I think the escarpment of Blue Mountain will block the low power FM.   Why so low power?  A station like that with its coverage and history should have atleast been 20,000 watts lets say on FM.