In 1964, Confederation Broadcasting signed on CKPM at 1440 AM. CKPM aired a middle of the road (MOR) format with popular adult music and a heavy local news commitment.
In 1970, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission revoked Confederation's licence, alleging that the company had failed to live up to its financial and management obligations. Confederation appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, who ruled in April 1971 that Confederation had not had a fair hearing before the CRTC.
In 1972, majority interest in the station was sold to Baton Broadcasting. The station also adopted its current CFGO call sign that year and moved to a Top 40 music format to compete with top-rated CFRA.
Frequency and format changes
On November 15, 1984, CFGO Radio Ltd. received approval from the CRTC to change CFGO's frequency to 1200 kHz with power remaining at 50,000 watts day and night.[2] The station moved to its AM 1200 on January 5, 1986, improving its signal. [3] It was sold to Rawlco Communications the following year.[4]
Playing Starship's "We Built This City" as the inaugural song on the new 1200 AM frequency, Rawlco transitioned the station from Top 40 to adult contemporary music as "Adult Rock, Go 1200" at the same time as the frequency switch, with local actress Abby Hagyard (of You Can't Do That on Television fame) serving as morning co-host. However, following CFRA's move from contemporary hits to an AC/oldies mix in August 1986, CFGO switched back to its previous all-hit presentation within a month. On March 8, 1988, Rawlco relaunched the contemporary hit radio format, with the station downplaying its callsigns in favour of the name Energy 1200. The station changed its call sign to CJBZ and its brand name to The Buzz in late 1997, with a focus on more alternative rock and modern rock.
All-sports format
On September 9, 1998, at 7:30 a.m., the station switched to its current all-sports radio format, using the brand name OSR1200 - Ottawa Sports Radio. It was acquired the following year by CHUM Limited, reverting to its CFGO call sign. In 1999, the station adopted the Team 1200 brand name.
On May 7, 2001, the station formed the basis for CHUM's short-lived national sports radio network The Team, which adopted the Ottawa station's brand identity. The station retained its format and brand when CHUM subsequently folded the network.
On June 22, 2007, CFGO along with the other CHUM stations were sold to CTVglobemedia (now known as Bell Media). On September 30, 2013, CFGO re-branded as TSN Radio 1200.
Notable programs include TSN Mornings, In the Box, The Drive, Offside With Eric Macramalla, Sens Pre/Post-game Shows, RedBlacks Radio Show, Junior Hockey Magazine, among several others.
Live sports
TSN Radio 1200 is the flagship station for the following teams' radio broadcasts: