Station History
The station first aired in 1951 as AM 1400 CKFH, a news and sports station owned by legendary Canadian broadcaster Foster Hewitt (the "FH" of the call sign). The station moved to the 1430 AM frequency in 1960, increasing power first to 5,000, then 10,000 and finally 50,000 watts. CKFH would begin playing Top 40 music in 1966, then move to a country music format in 1975.
The station was subsequently sold to Telemedia in 1981, when it adopted its current CJCL call sign and switched to an adult contemporary format. In 1983, the station briefly adopted talk radio programming, but returned to its music format within a few months, with increased emphasis on oldies. CJCL was flagship of the Telemedia network, and as such broadcast Toronto Blue Jays baseball games (with Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth calling the action) followed by hours of talk after the game. As the 1980s progressed and the winning Blue Jays became more popular, the sports features became CJCL's profit centre. Encouraged by the newfound success of sports radio in the United States, in 1992, the year the Blue Jays won their first World Series, CJCL would drop non-sports programming altogether on September 4, and become "The Fan 1430", becoming the first all-sports station in Canada. The station's nickname may have been inspired by WFAN in New York City, the first sports radio station in the world that led to the creation of sports radio stations everywhere.
In 1994, Telemedia acquired CKYC from Rogers Communications, and on February 6, 1995, at noon, the two stations switched frequencies, with "The Fan" moving to 590 AM (subsequently becoming "The Fan 590") and CKYC moving to 1430 AM (where it operates today as multilingual station CHKT). CJCL was itself acquired by Rogers Communications in 2002.
In January 2011, CJCL became known as "Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590", the move coming as part of a co-branding initiative with its television counterpart Rogers Sportsnet, amid indications that rival TSN was preparing to launch a competing sports radio station, TSN Radio 1050. The station's on air identity was then changed to "Sportsnet 590 The Fan" in August 2011.
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