December 21, 1962 marked the birth of CFMB, North America’s first multilingual radio station. Rapidly, CFMB gathered a faithful audience that was in constant expansion, the cultural communities of the Greater Montreal area.

From its inception, CFMB has been autonomous and has not required subsidies or grants from the governments. It has relied solely on advertising revenue to produce quality programming for multiple generations of immigrants. CFMB’s quintessence as an institution for Montreal’s ethnic communities is quantified by its remarkable longevity as a private broadcast enterprise.

Over the years, CFMB has effectively remained the most direct, efficient and economical method to reach the cultural communities of Montreal. Although the ethnic sponsors have used CFMB from its beginning, recently, more and more mainstream advertisers and agencies have discovered CFMB and its full potential to reach the ethnic markets.

You might want to consider the following premise:

You find yourself in the heart of South America during:  the Ice Storm of 1998, the Referendum, or the Stanley Cup playoffs... or, you are simply nostalgic, you would want to obtain news from Québec; hence, if a radio station similar to CFMB were available with regular programming, complete with news of Québec, would you be listening?

CFMB broadcasts in sixteen languages, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and reaches one in four Montrealers.

CFMB has also developed programming that tailors to segmented cultures, such as Latino-American, Caribbean, etc...

As one would expect, CFMB’s programming schedule is a demographic function of the communities served, reflecting the scale and the outlook of those communities. Nonetheless, CFMB’s programming grid is very stable, allowing for its ethnic audience to expect their program at set times during the week.

Some facts

Here are some facts supporting CFMB’s resolve to satisfy the expectations of its audience.

• CFMB features news bulletins in all its programs, tailored to the specific ethnic audience with local and international reports.  CFMB has amassed a large contingency of collaborators, from international news agencies like BBC and RAI to a network of worldwide correspondents who, by satellite or the Internet, report events as they occur. This diligence in dynamic reporting demonstrates CFMB’s commitment to the communities it serves.

As spokesperson for Montreal’s cultural communities, CFMB broadcasts a minimum of two communiqués per week. Whether announcing a social, cultural or religious event, a concert, a festival, or a last minute fund raiser, CFMB is an integral part of the lives of the ethnic communities.

• Over the last five decades, CFMB has assembled an enormous library of international musical content and is the uncontested leader in Montreal’s international “Hit Parade”. This musical content echoes the beats of the planet and the great concerts featured “live” on CFMB, such as the perennial San Remo Festival.

• CFMB also features live broadcasts of numerous sporting events exhibited in the countries of origin of its listeners. During the important soccer tournaments, CFMB is the sports broadcaster with the largest listenership in Montreal.

A mark of excellence

CFMB is three times winner of the prestigious “Station of the Year” award, bestowed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), in addition to numerous honours, medals and trophies rendering CFMB the most decorated radio station in Montreal for its excellence in programming.

CFMB 1280 AM

100 Passionate Professionals

CFMB defines itself as a professional broadcaster, recruiting only highly qualified collaborators recognized for their technical competence, their ability to communicate and their status in their respective communities.

Thirty fulltime employees are complemented by seventy associates performing their duties as producers, animators and researchers. Generally, there are three associates for each of the ethnic communities served.

In addition to producing quality programming, producers and announcers at CFMB play a very active role within their respective communities and are fully supported as representatives of management.

Keeping up with the new interactive trends in broadcasting, CFMB has remodelled its website and became Web 2.0 friendly with representation on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm and has doubled its telephone capacity.

CFMB 1280 AM

Key in Hand Service and Beneficial Rates

CFMB offers its clientele a “Key in Hand” service.

To negotiate a contract with CFMB is to take advantage of affordablerates where all services are included.

Effectively, CFMB includes all fees linked to the conception and production of their commercial announcements in their very competitive pricing list; this, while respecting the traditions and customs of the ethnic communities. The package deals are all inclusive; the talent fees, the studio time, and all copyright/production costs.

CFMB also makes it a point to be very accommodating when it comes to serving its clients.

Customers may avail themselves of the particular ethnic groups represented on CFMB or choose to target all sixteen languages. CFMB is in a position to quickly customize, at no extra charge, publicity campaigns that require frequent modifications to the commercial scripts. CFMB will also successfully organize remote broadcasts to promote advertiser products and services.

In addition to all the above, CFMB offers competent and skilled services... from consulting services to expertise in serving the ethnic markets,  effectively helping the advertiser to reach out to this important demographic of Montreal, all the while, respecting the clients’ budgets.