50th anniversary of Rogers station CHFI

TORONTO, Ont. – It was 50 years ago Thursday the late Ted Rogers purchased his first radio station, CHFI FM.

That led to the creation of Rogers Communications, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.

Ted Rogers bought CHFI on Sept. 30, 1960, for only $85,000. It was the first FM band radio station in Canada.

CHFI went on-air in February of 1957 at 13 Adelaide St. E. with only 17 employees. It became the first station in Canada to broadcast in stereo.

Rogers’ wife Loretta recalls that only five per cent of Toronto homes had FM band receivers.

“So Ted started having them manufactured and selling them so people could hear his radio station,” Loretta told 680News.

Neither Ted or Loretta foresaw the growth and diversification the company would go through over the next five decades.

“I certainly didn’t, and I know he didn’t have any idea [that] this little station would be the start of such a large company,” Loretta said.

“When Ted bought CHFI, there wasn’t cable, and no one had heard of cellular phones, that’s for sure.”

But Ted was always on the leading edge of innovations.

“That was the area he loved really, developing new things, and he [was] very successful at that,” Loretta said.

CHFI is now one of Canada’s most popular radio stations.

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