CFRU-FM

Radio Gryphon was started by the students at the Univeristy of Guelph. It was a weekly show focusing on student life, broadcast over local commercial station CJOY 1460.

Frank Ryan, a philanthropist and founder of CFRA Radio in Ottawa, served on the original board of governors at the Univeristy of Guelph. When he died in 1965, he left a bequest of $25,000 to the University to start a campus radio station.

On July 31, the University of Guelph was authorized to operate a carrier current station.

Thanks to Mr. Ryan’s gift, CFRU went on the air as a low-power carrier current (AM) station, serving the University campus. The “FR” in the call letters stood for Frank Ryan. An additional honour was to name one of the station’s studios after Ryan. The studios were located at University Centre.

On August 9, Ian S. McDiarmid, on behalf of a company to be incorporated, received approval to operate a new campus FM station at Guelph. It would broadcast on a frequency of 93.3 MHz with effective radiated power of 50 watts.

CFRU-FM 93.3 began broadcasting on January 28 as an over the air, licenced station. The station could now be heard in other parts of the city and not just on the university  campus. . Equipment for the new station included a McMartin B-950T transmitter, Phelps Dodge two-bay antenna, McMartin audio mixers, Revox B77 tape machines and Sennheiser MD421 microfphones.

On January 29, a power increase from 50 to 250 watts (ERP) was approved for CFRU. The increase took place later in the year, extending the signal to reach Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Aberfoyle, Rockwood and Fergus. 

On January 11, the CRTC renewed CFRU-FM’s licence until September 30, 1985.

On January 29, the CRTC approved the application to amend the licence for CFRU-FM by increasing the effective radiated power from 50 watts to 250 watts. The applicant indicated that this power increase would not significantly change CFRU-FM’s coverage and that it would improve service to Guelph and vicinity.

CFRU’s power increase took place later in the year. The change extended the signal to reach Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Aberfoyle, Rockwood and Fergus.

On July 12 the CRTC renewed CFRU-FM’s licence until August 31, 2011. When the licence was last renewed in 2001, the Commission found that the logger tapes for programming broadcast by CFRU-FM were incomplete. A short term renewal was given at that time. The Commission reviewed the licensee’s performance over the last licence term and was satisfied that the licensee had met the requirements of the regulations.

On August 31, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CFRU-FM to December 31, 2011.

On August 28, CFRU-FM had its licence administratively renewed by the CRTC until December 31, 2012. On December 21, the licence was renewed to August 31, 2016.