CIMX-FM(88.7MHz,Pure Country89) is acommercialradio stationinWindsor,Ontario,Canada. It primarily servesEssex County,but has a signal that reaches the entireDetroit-Windsormetropolitan area. It is owned byBell Mediaand airs acountryformat.CIMX'sstudiosand offices are located on Ouellette Avenue in Windsor.
 | |
| Broadcast area | Southwestern Ontario Detroit–Windsor |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 88.7MHz(FM) |
| Branding | Pure Country89 |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Country |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| CIDR-FM,CKLW | |
| History | |
First air date | July 10, 1967 |
Former call signs |
|
Call signmeaning | Station formerly branded as "Mix" |
| Technical information | |
| Class | C1 |
| ERP | 78,200wattsaverage 100,000 watts peak |
| HAAT | 188.5 meters (618 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°10′14.88″N82°59′29.01″W/ 42.1708000°N 82.9913917°W |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | iheartradio.ca/purecountry/windsor |
CIMX has aneffective radiated power(ERP) of 78,200watts,with a maximum of 100,000 watts. Thetransmitteris located off South Industrial Drive inAmherstburg.[1]
History
editCKWW-FM
editWhat is now CIMX firstsigned onthe air on July 10, 1967, asCKWW-FM.[2]It was co-owned withCKWWbut was separately programmed. The stations shared studios and offices at 1150 Ouellette Avenue.
CKWW-FM had anMOR/easy listeningformat. The station added eveningprogressive rockprogramming in the fall of 1970.
Om FM
editThe following April, the station changed itscall signtoCJOM-FMand the progressive format went full-time.Om FM(pronounced "Ohm FM" ) distinguished itself from its Detroit competitorsWRIF,WWWWandWABXby emphasizing Canadian talent.
By 1976, thealbum rocksounds of "Om FM" had faded away and the station was again programmingMORandeasy listeningmusic.
Top 40 Era
editIn 1982, CJOM and CKWW were acquired byGeoff Stirling's company, Stirling Communications International, which also ownedCKGMinMontreal,QuebecandCHOZ-FMinSt. John's,Newfoundland and Labrador.CJOM made an abrupt switch to aCHR/Top 40format. In the evening hours, 1983-85, DJ Karen Evans played more alternative music with an introduction of British new wave music to the market. In the late 1980s, the station went by the moniker "Laser Rock," a reference to becoming one of the first radio stations in the Detroit area to program music solely fromcompact discs.
CJOM ran afoul of theCRTCin the summer of 1983 for its format change toCHR/Top 40.Then as now, all radio station format changes in Canada must be approved by the CRTC. CJOM had been approved for a "contemporaryMOR"(a.k.a.adult contemporary) format, but analyses of the station's programming in May 1983 showed that almost all of the music being played was rock-oriented, that the station was playing 78% "hit" music rather than the allowed <50%, and that the station was not meeting its licence commitments for "foreground", "mosaic", spoken word, ornewsprogramming.
Stirling maintained that the station was "experimenting" with its programming and that such a format was necessary in order to make the station competitive with Detroit-based broadcasters.[1]Stirling and the CRTC finally reached a compromise in August 1985. CJOM was granted an "experimental" licence which would enable the station to play more harder-edgedrockandpop musicwith higher repetition, although a proposal to reduce the station's Canadian Content quotient to 5% from 15% was denied.[2]
Under this experimental licence, CJOM remained aCHR-formatted radio station for most of the rest of the decade. Mostrocksongs played wereTop 40based like songs fromDef LeppardandBilly Squieror Canadian artists such asPlatinum Blonde,Haywire,andGino Vannelli.CJOM would occasionally include several songs by one artist in a "star set" during the day. On Sunday evenings, CJOM would broadcast an "album countdown" in which the station would play several songs from the same album in the countdown.
Studios and tower
editIn 1987, CJOM increased its transmitting power to 100,000 watts from a tower inMcGregor.Before this, the station's signal did not extend much further than the Detroit/Windsor area and the station's Detroit area ratings were minimal.
The station's studios changed a few times in the years. It was originally located in the Macabee's Building next to the Wandalyn Viscount Hotel on Ouellette Avenue between Erie Street and Giles Boulevard. In late 1982, CJOM andCKNWmoved to the Bob Pedler Building, located on Cabana Road East near Howard Avenue in the southern part of Windsor. Eventually, the station relocated to the former "Big 8" CKLW building, at the corner of Ouellette Avenue and Tecumseh Road West when CHUM Limited purchased the station.
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Station logo circa 1982, on employees' jackets -
Station public promo decal mid-1980s -
Rear of employees' jackets, while Stirling owned the station
The Mix to 89X
editCJOM-FM becameCIMX-FMin 1990. CIMX was first known asThe Mixwith anadult contemporaryformat, butdisc jockeyGreg St. James began playingmodern rockon his evening show (8 to midnight) beginning in September 1990. This program was called "The Cutting Edge" and was eventually hosted by four different DJs, Greg St. James, Darren Revell, Michelle Denomme and Mr. Vertical.[3]
On May 13, 1991, themodern rockformat went full-time and89Xwas born. The first (and ultimately, the last) song on "89X" was "Stop!"byJane's Addiction.CIMX-FM immediately took away many listeners from other youth-oriented stations in Detroit, particularlyWHYTandWDFX,and may have been at least partially responsible for WHYT's decision to switch to an alternative format a few years later.
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This decal shows the station's updated logo after its change toModern Rockin 1991. -
CIMX-FM's long-running logo from 1999 to 2018 -
89X logo from 2018 to 2020
CIMX had been owned by Canada'sCHUM Limitedsince the late 1980s, but was sold along with the rest of CHUM's radio stations to CTVglobemedia in 2007. Its sister station,CIDR-FM,adopted anadult album alternativeformat in2006,thus forcing CIMX to add moreactive rocksongs to itsplaylistand go up againstWRIF.Throughout the 2000s, the format has moved betweenalternative rockand active rock, with the station playing moremetal rockthan might be found on other alternative stations.
In the February 29, 2012, issue ofReal Detroit Weekly,89X was rated the best radio station inDetroit.Real Detroit Weeklyalso crowned 89X's own Jay Hudson the best DJ in Detroit for the fourth consecutive year.[4]
On March 30, 2017, Bell Media announced that it would close its US-based sales office inBingham Farms,canceled CIMX's morning show "Cal & Co.", and laid off around a dozen people as part of a restructuring of its Windsor cluster.[5][6]After the changes, CIMX began to once again experience more of an active rock lean.[7]On April 3, 2017, CIMX debuted their new morning showThe Morning X,hosted by long-time personality and music director Mark McKenzie.
Pure Country 89
editOn November 18, 2020, Bell announced on the 89X website that CIMX would adopt a new format the next day at noon; concurrently, the station's on air staff was let go.[8]At that time, CIMX flipped tocountryasPure Country89,launching with 10,000 songs in a row commercial free. In anticipation of the format change,Entercomflipped its Detroit stationWDZHfromsoft adult contemporaryto modern rock asAlt 98.7almost immediately afterward.[9][10]The current format competes locally withCJWF-FM,as well as with Detroit'sWYCD.In other nearby markets, it competes withWWWWin Ann Arbor.
The station carries networked programming shared with otherPure Country-branded stations,[10]includingThe Bobby Bones Show.Unlike the other Pure Country stations (which air it in the evening), CIMX also clearsBobby Bonesin its normal timeslot in lieu of producing a local morning show.[11]
Live events
editIn addition to the various annual shows, the station holds many acoustic "Live-X" events when bands come to town. The acoustic renditions have even been used by many of the bands, includingSoundgarden's re-release ofKing Animal,"King Animal Plus," when the band performed their song "Halfway There."[12]
89X celebrated its first birthday in May 1992 by holding two X-Fest shows. Peter Murphy, the Nymphs, Senseless Things were a few of the bands that played X-Fest. Then in 1993, 89X held a birthday show at Chene Park featuring the Tragically Hip. The next year, 1994, 89X started throwing annual "Birthday Bash" shows. The Birthday Bash in 1994 was held at the Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater during the World Cup competitions in Pontiac. The Afghan Whigs, Beck, and the Odds were some of the bands that played.
References
edit- ^FCCdata.org/CIMX-FM
- ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1969 page B-201
- ^"The End of the Cutting Edge".The Vertical Files.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-02-14.
- ^"Best Media".Real Detroit Weekly.Archived fromthe originalon 30 August 2012.Retrieved27 April2018.
- ^"89X closes American office, cuts morning show".Detroit News.Archivedfrom the original on 2017-03-31.Retrieved2017-03-30.
- ^"89X And 93.9 The River Windsor/Detroit Promoting Thursday Format Change".RadioInsight.Retrieved2020-11-18.
- ^"Final Listen 89X, CIDR; First Listen, Alt 98.7, Virgin Radio".RadioInsight.Retrieved2020-11-21.
- ^Bell Media Launches Pure Country 89 & Virgin Radio 93.9 In Windsor/Detroit
- ^"Entercom Launches Alt 98.7 Detroit".RadioInsight.Retrieved2020-11-20.
- ^ab"Nationalization Takes Hold In Two Nations: Looking At Today's Three Station Format Shuffle In Detroit/Windsor".RadioInsight.Retrieved2020-11-20.
- ^"Bobby Bones Show Added For Mornings At Pure Country 89 Windsor/Detroit".RadioInsight.Retrieved2020-12-13.
- ^King Animal#Track listing
External links
edit- Pure Country 89
- CIMX-FMat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by theCanadian Communications Foundation
- Radio-Locator information on CIMX-FM
- CIMX-FMin the REC Canadian station database