CHUM Limited
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CHUM Limited

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CHUM Limited

CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1944 as York Broadcasters Limited, launching CHUM-AM 1050 the next year. It was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHUM expanded to and owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division (now Bell Media Radio) and also owned other radio stations.

The company also operated full or joint control of 15 local television stations under the ATV, Citytv (acquired in 1981) and A-Channel (formerly NewNet, now CTV 2) brands, one CBC Television affiliate, one provincial educational channel, Atlantic Satellite Network in Atlantic Canada, and 20 branded specialty television channels, most notably MuchMusic and its various spin-offs that were launched under Moses Znaimer, the co-founder of CITY-TV, targeting younger audiences.

In July 2006, one year after the death of Waters, CHUM agreed to merge with CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media), owner of the CTV Television Network. The merger was completed on June 22, 2007; regulatory approval was made conditional on the sale of CHUM's five Citytv stations to Rogers Communications. The company itself was renamed CTV Limited (now CTV Inc.) and continues as a subsidiary of Bell Media. Its Toronto radio stations TSN RADIO 1050 and CHUM 104.5 continue to use "CHUM" as their call signs. The headquarters were located at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, the famous CHUM-City Building, which currently serves as Bell Media's headquarters.

With the sale of CTVglobemedia to Bell Canada as announced in September 2010, Bell took control of most of CHUM's former assets for the first time. CTVglobemedia was subsequently renamed Bell Media on April 1, 2011, after the deal to purchase the stations was finalized and the CHUM name was completely phased out from its new entity, with the exception of radio stations CHUM-AM and CHUM-FM in Toronto.

CHUM Limited began operations when CHUM-AM was founded in 1945 by four Toronto businessmen, including Al Leary, a former sportscaster, who had been the station manager at CKCL for 14 years. CHUM received its licence in late November 1944 to operate a station with 1000 watts. CHUM launched as a dawn-to-dusk radio station under York Broadcasters Limited on 28 October 1945, 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.

Allan Waters, a salesman from Part's patent medicine business took control of CHUM-AM in 1954. 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. On April 17, 1959, the name York Broadcasters was changed to CHUM 1050 Radio Ltd.. The CHUM studios were moved from 250 Adelaide Street West to 1331 Yonge Street, Toronto, where their iconic neon sign was erected for the first time. CHUM-FM would begin broadcasting in 1963 under a Classical Music/Fine Arts format. Alex Forbes, whose accounting firm Ewin & Forbes had been CHUM's auditor since 1952, joined CHUM 1050 Radio Ltd. as Secretary-Treasurer. He would play a pivotal role in the company's development.

The company expanded into television holdings for the first time when it gained a one-third interest in CBC affiliate CKVR-TV, a station founded by Ralph Snelgrove (whose first initial and that of his wife, Valerie, form part of the station's callsign), in Barrie. It acquired a second one-third share in 1968, and eventually gained full control in 1970.

On May 12, 1967, under the corporate name CHUM Limited, Allan Waters took the rapidly expanding company public. At the same time, Alex Forbes was appointed to the Board of Directors of CHUM Limited, while it received approval to acquire Ottawa's Radio CFRA Limited and control of two key stations in the market: CFRA-AM and CFMO-FM. CHUM-AM launched the CHUM Christmas Wish, evolving out of The CHUM Kids Crusade, and operating in conjunction with The CHUM Charitable Foundation. This would become an annual event for over forty years under the CHUM-City Christmas Wish, and currently, the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish.

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