CBHA-FM

The CBC opened CBH in September.

CBC Trans-Canada Basic stations: CJCB, CBH, CBA, CHSJ, CFNB, CBO, CKWS, CBL, CKSO, CFCH, CJKL, CKGB, CKPR, CBM, CKY, CBK, CJCA, CFAC, CJOC, CFJC, CKOV, CJAT, CBR. Stephen Appleby (recently discharged from the RCAF) and Betty Taylor (or CHSJ) joined the program department of CBH. G.R. Young was manager.

The CBC announced plans to increase CBH’s power from 100 to 5,000 watts. Byron MacMillan returned to the CBH newsroom after being discharged from the RCAF.

CBH was operating on 1240 kHz with 100 watts of power. The station was affiliated with the CBC Trans-Canada network. Studios were at the United Service Building, 100 Sackville Street. The transmitting antenna was on the roof of that building. CBH was on the air from 7:30 a.m. to midnight, 9 a.m. to midnight Sundays. W.E.S. Briggs was manager.

S.R. Kennedy was manager.

By this time, CBH was on 1330 kHz with 100 watts.

CBHT Television signed on the air.

CBH moved to 1340 kHz with 100 watts of power.

Ad: In the Maritimes CBC Radio reaches the whole market with one buy! Radio Stations CBI – Sydney, CBH – Halifax, CBA – Sackville.

CBH had applied to the BBG to change frequency from 1340 to 1330 kHz but later in the year, received approval to move to 790 kHz and increase power to 10,000 watts, using a new transmitter site. Separate directional patterns would be used for day and night operation, through the use of a two tower array. Sydney Kennedy was appointed CBC director for the Maritimes, succeeding Capt. W.E.S. Briggs. Kennedy had been program director for the Maritime region since 1952. He started in broadcasting in 1937 at CFCY and joined CBC Halifax in May of 1941 as an operator. He later became an announcer in Sackville, moved back to Halifax in 1942 as chief announcer, became a producer in 1944 and then station manager in 1948. Briggs started in radio in 1935. He moved to CBC Ottawa in 1937, as special events producer, actuality commentator and subsequently station manager. In 1938, he became assistant manager for the Maritimes and manager for that region in 1945. In 1948, he opened CBI, CBAF and CBHT in 1954, CBHT’s three satellites in 1958, and CBAFT in 1959. The CBC planned to build an addition to its Halifax TV building on Bell Road and to buy city-owned land for the project. This would consolidate Radio and TV under one roof. Radio was now in a privately-owned office building, a block from the proposed site. Ad: In the Atlantic Provinces…CBC Radio delivers the BIG PLUS. No ifs, buts or maybes! Your regional radio buy of CBC Stations CBH Halifax, CBI Sydney and CBA Sackville, delivers the greatest audience at the lowest cost!

The Trans-Canada and Dominion networks of the CBC were merged in to a single service. CBH had been the Trans-Canada station while privately owned CHNS was the Dominion affiliate. After the merger, CHNS became an independent while network service continued to air over CBH.

CBH moved to 860 kHz. Power remained 10,000 watts and a directional pattern was used at night, from two towers. CBC Radio added an all-night service in June.

CBC Radio’s all-night service, started in 1963, came to an end on March 1. When the service started it was primarily intended as a national information and warning system to be used in emergencies. Even though the service had now ended, the CBC said it would maintain a stand-by procedure through the night and broadcasts would begin immediately in the event of an emergency. W.G. Allen was news supervisor.

CBH was authorized to add a transmitter at Lockport, operating on 740 kHz with power of 40 watts.

When CBH had its licence renewed, the following rebraodcast transmitters were also renewed (this list may not represent all of CBH’s transmitters as some licences may have been renewed on other dates): CBAC Barrington, CBAR Canso, CBAU Larry’s River, CBHD Lockport, CBAV Sable River, CBAZ Sheet Harbour, and CBAP Shelburne.

CBH-FM Stereo signed on the air.

CBH was authorized to use FM frequency 90.5 at Halifax to rebroadcast CBH-AM as a temporary measure because of severe deficiencies in the night-time coverage pattern of AM 860.

The CBH Frequency Modulation rebroadcast transmitter (90.5 MHz) in Halifax began operations on June 1.

CBHM-FM Middleton commenced operations on April 21.

CBHC-FM Truro was launched on November 14.

CBHN-FM New Glasgow was opened on January 15. On May 14, CBHA-FM signed on the air at Liverpool. CBHB-FM Mulgrave began operations on November 1. On November 18, CBH received approval to operate a transmitter at Amherst/Springhill.

CBHY-FM was opened at Yarmouth on March 1.

On July 9, CBH was authorized to add a transmitter at Sheet Harbour. It would operate on 97.3 MHz with an average effective radiated power of 5,800 watts using a directional antenna. The existing 40 watt AM transmitter, CBAZ, would be replaced by the new FM rebroadcaster, which would provide service to approximately 20 additional communities in the area surrounding Sheet Harbour with a total population, according to the CBC, of some 5,400 persons. 

On August 6, CBH had its licence renewed. For a number of years, the CRTC had been concerned with the CBC’s use of both an AM and an FM frequency for its main English radio service at Halifax. When the FM transmitter was licenced in 1977, it was meant to be a short-term remedy to the CBH signal problems. The Commission felt it unfortunate that the CBC had not embarked upon a meaningful campaign to inform Halifax area listeners of the availability of its basic radio service on FM. Such promotion could have changed listening habits, as has happened in other areas of the country where the CBC has moved its AM service to FM frequencies, and might well have altered the current situation. The Commission considers that it is also unfortunate that the CBC has not submitted any practical proposals for an early and reasonable solution to these difficulties. The engineering solutions to the duplication problem presented by the CBC, namely retaining CBH, closing CBHA-FM and upgrading CBC stations in adjacent communities were inordinately costly at a time when the Corporation’s budget was subject to serious restraint. Consequently, notwithstanding the Commission’s serious concerns about this matter and because of the strong representations received from the communities involved, it was prepared to grant an exemption to its policy for a further interim period of three years in order to allow the CBC, in concert with the CRTC and the DOC, to find a practical and reasonable solution to this problem that would ensure that listeners in the Halifax/Dartmouth area receive complete and adequate signal coverage of the CBC basic radio service. The Commission gave serious consideration to renewing the licence term of CBH for a one-year period only, but decided that such a solution would not be in the public interest. Accordingly, by majority decision, the Commission renewed the licence for CBH Halifax until 30 September 1989. W. Graham Allen died October 31 at age 77. After working in the newspaper business, he joined CBC Halifax in 1957 as news supervisor for the Maritimes. Allen later served two terms as president of RTNDA Canada. Even though he retired in 1975, Allen continued as editor of CBC Radio’s regional “Neighbourly News”.

Don “Trigger” Tremaine retired. He had been the morning personality at CBC Nova Scotia. Don was known nationally as the host of “Don messer’s Jubilee” on CBC Television.

On September 16, CBH received approval for an FM station at Shelburne on the frequency 100.3 MHz, with an effective radiated power of 1,250 watts. CBAP Shelburne, CBHD Lockeport and CBAV Sable River were now offering CBH programming to the communities of Shelburne, Lockeport and Sable River, respectively. CBAP would be shut down after the new FM station was on the air. CBHD and CBAV would be closed down, after it was determined that these regions were being adequately served by the new transmitter at Shelburne. 

CBAP-FM Shelburne opened on April 3. On October 1, CBH ceased operations on AM 860. CBC service was now provided to the Halifax area on FM via CBHA at 90.5 MHz with 100,000 watts effective radiated power.

At licence renewal, the CRTC noted that transmitters CBAZ-FM Sheet Harbour and CBHS-FM Amherst/Springhill were still not on the air more than four years after the original licences were granted.

CBAZ Sheet Harbour signed on the air on January 28.

On March 19, the licence for rebroadcaster CBHS-FM Amherst/Springhill was renewed even though it was not yet on the air. The CBC stated that it expected resources for implementation to become available in the near future. Susan Mitton was named director of CBC Radio for Nova Scotia, succeeding Rick Alexander.

On January 13, the CRTC approved the applications to amend the licences of CBAF-FM-5, CBHA-FM and CBH-FM Halifax by decreasing the effective radiated power from 100,000 watts to 91,000 watts for CBAF-FM-5 and CBHA-FM; and from 100,000 watts to 92,000 watts for CBH-FM. CBC Radio added overnight programming to its schedule on May 1, with “CBC Radio Overnight”. The programming started out on certain CBC stations and was expanded to all of its stations by September. The program aired between 1:00 and 6:00 a.m. (local time) and offered reports from public broadcasters in 25 countries, with Canadian news on the hour. The program service was provided by the World Radio Network in London, England.

Co-host Liz Logan and producer Ron Sherrard left “Information Morning”. Both were victims of cutbacks. The CBC Radio network (CBC Radio) was renamed “CBC Radio One” on September 1.

CBHA-FM operated the following transmitters: CBHL-FM Liverpool, CBHM-FM Middleton, CBHB-FM Mulgrave, CBHN-FM New Glasgow, CBAZ-FM Sheet Harbour, CBAP-FM Shelburne, CBHC-FM Truro, and CBHY-FM Yarmouth. CBHA-FM broadcasts approximately 25 hours of local programming each week from Halifax.

On May 12 the CRTC renewed CBHA-FM’s licence. The renewal included the following rebroadcast transmitters: CBAP-FM Shelburne, CBAZ-FM Sheet Harbour, CBHB-FM Mulgrave, CBHC-FM Truro, CBHL-FM Liverpool, CBHM-FM Middleton, CBHN-FM New Glasgow and CBHY-FM Yarmouth.

CBC decided to sell its landmark building on Sackville Street in downtown Halifax and house all of its radio and TV operations under one roof on Bell Road. The building on Bell Road would be upgraded and expanded to include an extra 35,000 square feet. The work was expected to be done by December of 2013. Costas Halavrezos, after 23 years as host of Maritime Noon, took early retirement. The 62-year-old began working at CBC as a freelancer in the mid 1970s and later served as a producer before becoming an on-air host in 1982. On August 9, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CBHA-FM (and its transmitters) to August 31, 2011.

On August 25, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CBHA-FM and its transmitters to March 1, 2013.

On February 22, the CRTC administratively renewed the licences for CBHA-FM Halifax and its transmitters to August 31, 2013. On May 28, the CRTC renewed the licence of CBHA-FM Halifax and its transmitters CBAP-FM Shelburne, CBAZ-FM Sheet Harbour, CBHB-FM Mulgrave, CBHC-FM Truro, CBHL-FM Liverpool, CBHM-FM Middleton, CBHN-FM New Glasgow and CBHY-FM Yarmouth, for a five year term to August 31, 2018.

Broadcast journalist Rob North of CBC Radio Halifax, retired after 35 years.  All CBC Halifax operations were now working out of the same building – for the first time. The move from TV studio on Bell Road to new facilities on Chebucto Road took place in November. 

In March the CRTC approved the CBC’s application to decrease the ERP of CBHB-FM Mulgrave from 93,400 to 40,180 watts, increase EHAAT and the circularly polarized antenna would be replaced by an elliptically polarized antenna. The CBC received CRTC approval to decrease ERP for CBHB Mulgrave from 93,400 to 40,180 watts (93,400 to 100,000 watts Max. ERP), and to raise antenna height. The CBC received CRTC approval to lower the antenna height for CBHM-FM Middleton.

In the spring, the old CBC Radio building at 5600 Sackville Street was being torn down. The CBC took over the building in 1944 and rented it until purchasing it in 1981. In 2014, CBC sold the building and moved into new headquarters on Chebucto Road in the city’s West end.

Late in the year, Don Connolly announced he would retire from the CBC in January, after 42 years with the public broadcaster. Before joining the CBC, Connolly, worked for CKBC Bathurst, CHNS Halifax and CFGO Ottawa. He joined Information Morning in April 1976 and planned to do his last show on January 26, 2018.

In March, the CRTC approved a decrease in ERP for CBHL 97.1 Liverpool from 6,400 to 5,984 watts. Antenna height would be raised from 186 to 192.3 metres.

On May 23, the CBC received CRTC approval to change the authorized contours of CBHC-FM Truro, by decreasing the ERP from 1,170 to 1,150 watts and the EHAAT from 138.5 to 137.74 metres.

Norma Lee MacLeod retired from CBC Halifax on August 31. MacLeod had been with CBC since 1984 and host of Maritime Noon since 2011.

On December 10, the CRTC approved the CBC’s application to add a transmitter for CBHA at Dibgy. It would operate  at 107.1 MHz with an ERP of 420 watts (non-directional).

On July 8, the CBC received CRTC approval to increase ERP for CBHY Yarmouth from 94,300 to 100,000 watts. EHAAT would be raised from 145.5 to 186.2 metres. The changes would permit the CBC to combine its ICI Radio-Canada Première, Radio One, and ICI Musique services on a single antenna to optimize operating costs.