CFMG-FM - History

History

Early years and EZ Rock The station launched in 1978 playing "oldies" from offices and studios just north of Edmonton in St. Albert. The original frequency was 1070 kHz (AM) with the callsign CKST.

In 1988, CKST received approval to move from 1070 to 1200 AM and changed callsigns to CHMG the same year. CHMG received approval move from AM to FM in 1994.

In 1995, CHMG changed to its current callsign, CFMG. At the same time, the station shifted to an adult contemporary format, branded as EZ Rock. Programmed by longtime broadcaster Tammy Cole, EZ Rock was a station designed to appeal to office work environments. Music was slanted towards female listeners 25–54 years old.

On September 28, 2007, the CRTC approved the sale of CFMG and all Standard Radio assets to Astral Media.

Edmonton was the largest market in Canada with only one AC station from the Spring & Summer of 2008, when Vancouver reduced its AC stations down to only one.

Astral changed the logo of the station in September 2010; however, the adult contemporary format is unchanged while continuing to say the decimal point on the station ID. In addition, most of the classic hits were dropped.

Virgin Radio 104-9

On February 4, 2011, the station dropped adult contemporary and became contemporary hit radio as 104.9 Virgin Radio. EZ Rock's last song was The Boys Of Summer by Don Henley, bringing Edmonton its first contemporary hit radio battle between two stations—CFMG-FM & CHBN-FM. It left Edmonton with no adult contemporary station for 51 days, similar to markets where an adult contemporary station would play Christmas music from November/December, until CKEA-FM dropped adult album alternative for adult contemporary.

CFMG-FM, during its final adult contemporary week, did list its contemporary hit radio adds on Mediabase's Canadian adult contemporary panel. A week after the station flipped formats, the station was delisted from Mediabase's station adds. As of March 2011, CFMG-FM joined CHBN-FM on the Mediabase contemporary hit radio panel.

CFMG-FM is the first Virgin Radio station in Canada to not keep its existing format after being rebranded to Virgin Radio. In addition, CFMG-FM is the third Virgin Radio station in Canada to have a mainstream top 40 format, the first being at Calgary's CIBK-FM the year before, and in Toronto at CKFM-FM by 2009.

Each November, along with sister stations CFBR and The Team 1260, 1049 Virgin Radio broadcasts live for 2 days from the Stollery Children’s Hospital. In year one, $300,000 was raised for the Pediatric Oncology Unit; in year two, EZ Rock and her sister stations raised $500,000 for Research. The station was also known for the "EZ Rock Christmas Party for Single Parent Families" where families in need are treated to a very special Christmas.