What station broadcasts in French on 860 AM?

[David67]

I was scanning the AM dial before I went to work and heard French on 860 AM. Has anyone heard this station? It had a really strong signal at night.

 

[YEKIMI]

well where do you live? If in the northeast or midwest part of the country it could be a station out of Canada, Quebec province probably.

 

[David67]

well where do you live? If in the northeast or midwest part of the country it could be a station out of Canada, Quebec province probably.

I live in NW Georgia about 40 miles from Chattanooga,Tennessee

 

[DX]

This is an easy call: CJBC, the CBC / Radio-Canada owned-and-operated French-language station from Toronto... 50,000 watts... with a heck of a signal... one of the few remaining CBC full-power A.M. radio stations. Used to pick up CJBC most nights - often booming in -- from the Mid-South!

 

[YEKIMI]

Sacre Bleu! Well I have never picked them up probably due to the fact that I live in NE Ohio and 850 AM bleeds over and drowns them out. And even if I could have picked them up I doubt if I would have hung around long enough for a station ID since I don't speak French.

 

[gr8oldies]

Isn't that station privately owned now, along with the former CBL (then CHWO forget the calls now)?

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Its the quebec station, it booms into Indiana every night.

 

[fybush]

Isn't that station privately owned now, along with the former CBL (then CHWO forget the calls now)?

CFZM, now - "Zoomer Radio."

860 stayed in the CBC's hands, along with the transmitter site in Hornby, Ontario that's still shared by both AMs. There was no available space on the FM dial in Toronto to move CJBC, so it stayed put on AM. It's one of the last big Radio-Canada signals still on AM - the flagship signals in Montreal and Quebec City moved to FM a decade ago.

 

[wkbam1690]

Isn't that station privately owned now, along with the former CBL (then CHWO forget the calls now)?

CFZM, now - "Zoomer Radio."

860 stayed in the CBC's hands, along with the transmitter site in Hornby, Ontario that's still shared by both AMs. There was no available space on the FM dial in Toronto to move CJBC, so it stayed put on AM. It's one of the last big Radio-Canada signals still on AM - the flagship signals in Montreal and Quebec City moved to FM a decade ago.

I think CBW 990 in Winnipeg is still programming CBC English.

 

[w9wi]

Its the quebec station, it booms into Indiana every night.

Nope, there are no stations in Quebec on 860.

There are three French-language stations in Canada on 860. Assuming the OP is east of the Mississippi, the one he heard is almost certainly Toronto. There is also a 10kw French station on 860 in Saskatoon. The third is a 40-watter in Manitoba.

_________________________________________________
I don't speak French either, but the pronunciation of call letters seems to be close enough to English that when I hear a call-letter ID, I can usually understand it. French-Canadian stations seem a bit more likely to actually use call letters than English-Canadian stations, but that isn't saying much.

_________________________________________________

I think CBW 990 in Winnipeg is still programming CBC English.

Yes.

By my count there are five 50kw CBC English stations left and one French. The French station is of course CJBC-860 Toronto; the English outlets are CBU-690 Vancouver; CBR-1010 Calgary; CBX-740 Edmonton; CBK-540 Watrous/Regina; and CBW-990 Winnipeg.

 

[BRNout]

When I was in Wyoming, I was getting a pretty good signal from the CBC French station in Saskatoon and thought I was pulling in Toronto. Wrong, as 740 from TO was totally absent. It was Saskatoon. By the time I traveled to western South Dakota, I was getting both 860s (fading in and out with the EXACT same programming from SRC) plus a weak but audible signal from CFZM Toronto.

It's easy to assume that CJBC is from Montreal because of the French language programming, but that is incorrect. However, there are three 50 kw AM signals from Montreal that you can try for: CINF 690 (formerly CBF, an SRC affiliate) which is all news in French; CINW 940 which is classic hits in English; and, CKAC 730 which is talk in French. I can pick up weak signals from 690 and 940 (which are co owned, by the way) here in Chicago, 730 is nulled slightly toward the east and northeast and is a very tough catch here. However, in parts of New England, CKAC is actually the strongest of the three.

 

[4dude]

I hear that French 860 station as well every night just about

 

[lurker77]

There have discussions on radio-info message boards about wasted 50KW signals.
860 CJBC is the clear title-holder for over 40 years and nobody is even close!
They consistently grab a 0.1 rating or less, given that Toronto does not have a significant French population (1 percent or less).
Without getting too political, the only reason for their existence is to appease pro-French government bureaucrats, but I won't rant further on that topic.