toronto radio station branded tsn radio 1050 since april 13 2011 . for the national radio network see tsn radio . chum city toronto ontario branding tsn radio 1050 slogan the evolution of sports radio home of the hockey experts frequency 1050 khz am first air date 1945 format sports language s english power 50 000 watts class b transmitter coordinates 43 29 14.00 n 79 37 15.00 w 43.4872222 n 79.6208333 w 43.4872222 ; 79.6208333 callsign meaning chum limited former owner affiliations tsn radio owner bell media sister stations radio cfrb chum fm ckfm fm tv tsn tsn2 cp24 cfto dt ckvr dt webcast listen live website tsn radio 1050 chum branded as tsn radio 1050 broadcasting at 1050 khz in the am band is a canadian radio station licensed to toronto ontario . the station is owned and operated by bell media . chum s studios are co located with tsn at 9 channel nine court in the agincourt neighbourhood of scarborough with auxiliary studios located at 250 richmond street west in the entertainment district of downtown toronto with its transmitter array located in the clarkson neighbourhood of mississauga near cfrb s own transmitter array . long known as 1050 chum the station played top 40 hits from the late 1950s to the mid 1980s . chum then carried an oldies format featuring music from that period between 1989 and 2009 except for a brief stint as a sports radio station the team 1050 from 2001 2002 . in march 2009 chum switched to a news format known as cp24 radio 1050 which operated primarily as an audio simulcast of cp24 . 1 2 in april 2011 chum reverted to a sports format as tsn radio 1050 . contents 1 station history 1.1 the full service era 1945 1957 1.2 the top 40 era 1957 1986 1.3 from top 40 to gold based ac 1986 1989 1.4 the first oldies era 1989 2001 1.5 the team 1050 2001 2002 1.6 the second oldies era 2002 2009 1.6.1 move from the chum radio building 1.7 cp24 radio 1050 2009 2011 1.7.1 criticism 1.7.2 ratings 1.8 tsn radio 1050 2011 present 1.8.1 studios 1.8.1.1 weekday programming 1.8.1.2 weekend programming 1.8.1.3 live sports programming 1.8.2 on air staff 1.8.3 initial reception 2 home of chum am 3 references 4 external links station history edit chum am has been broadcasting continuously since 1945 through a variety of format changes . the station s history can be broken into eight distinct eras as follows era start date format brand and or slogan 1 28 october 1945 full service music news sports . station only on air from sun up to sundown through most of this era . 1050 chum 2 27 may 1957 top 50 hits . later reduced to top 30 as of august 1968 1050 chum 3 6 june 1986 adult contemporary 1050 chum am favourites of yesterday and today 4 1 sep 1989 oldies . some sports coverage including broadcasts of toronto argonauts games and from 1998 on toronto blue jays games . 1050 chum good times and great oldies 5 7 may 2001 sports and sports talk . the team 1050 6 27 august 2002 oldies . 1050 chum toronto s greatest hits 7 26 march 2009 news talk radio straight rebroadcast of audio feed of all news tv station cp24 . cp24 radio 1050 8 13 april 2011 sports and sports talk . tsn radio 1050 the full service era 1945 1957 edit the second 50 kw chum transmitter installed in 1978 in clarkson mississauga . chum am was founded by four toronto businessmen including al leary a former sportscaster who had been the station manager at ckcl for 14 years . 3 chum received its licence in late november 1944 to operate a station with 1000 watts . 4 chum launched as a dawn to dusk radio station on 28 october 1945 5 with john h.q. jack part an entrepreneur in the business of patent medicines as its president . the station then operating from studios in the mutual street arena broadcast a format typical of the late 1940s with a combination of information music and sports . when chum was about to debut leary told the press that the new station would be known for community service and in depth news in addition to live talent and the most popular phonograph records . 6 chum was taken over in december 1954 by allan waters a salesman from part s patent medicine business . waters first major move was to secure a licence for 24 hour a day broadcasting for chum along with a power increase to 5 000 watts . the top 40 era 1957 1986 edit the chum radio building at 1331 yonge street was the home of 1050 chum from 1959 until 2009 less than three years after waters acquired the station and soon after bringing the new full time transmitter online a major programming change was made . on may 27 1957 at 6 am waters switched the station to a top 50 format that had proven itself popular in some u.s. cities ; elvis presley s all shook up was the first song played . 1050 chum pioneered rock and roll radio in toronto and was noteworthy for hosting many noteworthy rock concerts including among others visits to maple leaf gardens by elvis presley 1957 and the beatles 1964 1965 and 1966 . while the station was rising to the top of the popularity ratings in toronto in the late 1950s and early 1960s it also built yet another new transmitter in mississauga ontario a few miles west of the current toronto city line along the lake ontario shoreline and raised its power once again to its current 50 000 watts around the clock . a photograph of a billboard displaying the chum radio one slogan in the late 1950s chum was calling itself radio one as its ratings continued to increase . an important part of chum s success was the station s unpredictable morning man al boliska who joined chum in october 1957 after working at station cklc in kingston ontario . 7 by 1959 boliska had made a name for himself as a disc jockey who got listeners talking . he also made them laugh and became known for telling what he called the world s worst jokes . 8 boliska also did a number of stunts such as taking part in a professional wrestling match with whipper billy watson . when he lost that led to another stunt where boliska stayed away from his show for several days saying he was now too discouraged by the loss to do his show . a hypnotist was called in and boliska s self esteem was restored . 9 boliska left chum in late 1963 to go across the street to ckey . he was replaced by wkbw buffalo radio & tv personality jay nelson popularly known as jungle jay from his role as host of a children s show on buffalo s channel 7 which was also popular among toronto youngsters . he would be followed by housewives jock john spragge ; singer dj mike darow ; pete nordheimer replaced in 1961 by bob mcadorey teen dj dave johnson and all night dj bob laine . later additions to the chum dj lineup included duff roman and brian skinner both of whom came from rival toronto rocker ckey then owned by jack kent cooke . in the late 1960s and early 1970s chum djs included duke roberts also known as gary duke for a time johnny mitchell better known today as sonny fox j. michael wilson tom rivers scott carpenter jim van horne john rode don reagan john majhor mike cooper daryl b terry steele mike holland and current chum fm morning man roger ashby . among their later night time hosts was j. d. roberts who joined chum for a time in 1977 eventually becoming known across north america as white house correspondent for cbs news then the co anchor of cnn s morning program american morning . rick moranis later famous for his work on sctv and ghostbusters was briefly a late night chum dj in the mid seventies under the name rick allan . chum became well known who for its zany contests . in the 1950s and 1960s it was contests such as the walking man where listeners had to spot chum s mystery walking man using only clues given out on the air . the 1970s i listen to chum promotion had djs dialing phone numbers at random and awarding 1 000 to anyone who answered the phone with that phrase . in 1976 there was the chum starsign promotion . listeners wore a button featuring their astrological sign . if chum s starsign spotter saw you wearing your starsign you won prizes such as money or concert tickets to major events . the chum chart was for many years the most influential weekly top 40 chart in canada and has been hailed as the longest running continuously published radio station record survey in north america . 10 this claim is disputed by hamilton s ckoc which published weekly charts from 1962 1992 . the first chum chart was released on may 27 1957 with elvis presley s all shook up the first number 1 song . from top 40 to gold based ac 1986 1989 edit logo of 1050 chum used in 1998 featuring the toronto blue jays foreshadowing a shift towards an all sports format . the slogan good times and great oldies is also featured . by the mid 1980s chum had lost ground in the toronto ratings to competing top 40 station cftr 11 and fm based music stations . on june 6 1986 at 3 pm after the playing of starship s we built this city chum dropped its top 40 format for a gold based adult contemporary format favourites of yesterday and today . the first song after the relaunch was beginnings by chicago . the change also discontinued the chum chart which ended the week of june 14 1986 with madonna s live to tell as the final number 1 song . by 1988 the station had evolved into a brighter ac format toronto s soft rock focusing on pop hits from the past decade and dropping much of the older music . the first oldies era 1989 2001 edit beginning the weekend of labour day 1989 chum adopted an oldies format drawing heavily on its previous top 40 reputation to cater to the fans of that era s music . during the 1990s the on air lineup included daryl b bob magee kori skinner andy k russ mcleod roger kelly marc chambers and dan michaels . in 1989 the station acquired the broadcast rights for the toronto argonauts . led by play by play man marc charbonneau and colour commentator peter martin the chum broadcast team helped to celebrate the team s grey cup victory in 1991 in winnipeg . by 1997 much of the airstaff was replaced with voicetracking . only the morning show was live . in 1998 chum obtained the radio broadcast rights to toronto blue jays baseball resulting in a shift towards sports programming on the station . the team 1050 2001 2002 edit team 1050 logo see also the team radio network in 2001 chum s owners announced the launch of a national sports radio network titled the team with chum serving as the network s flagship to be called team 1050 . as part of the synergy toronto blue jays broadcasts were available nationwide on the team radio network . this also meant the end of music on 1050 chum which occurred on may 7 2001 . duff roman and bob laine hosted a farewell party ending with elvis presley s all shook up the station s first song as a