CJME

CJME was founded and signed on the air on November 25, 1959 by a group of businessmen led by J. Marsh Ellis, a former radio salesman. Its original format was easy listening, but the station was not successful until it began playing top 40 music in 1963.

In 1967, CJME was purchased by the Rawlinson family, owners of CKBI radio and CKBI-TV in Prince Albert. Their company later came to be called Rawlco Communications.

Continuing its successful top 40 format, the station was renamed as "CJME Power 13" in early 1987.

During its 25th anniversary of being a top 40 station on April 7, 1988; a random mix of former songs from the 60's, 70's, and 80's started to mix in for a short time, although still continued to air a strong top 40 focus.

By the 1990s the station's format had evolved from Top 40 to oldies.

In 1998 CJME relaunched as 'News Talk CJME', forming a network with Saskatoon station CKOM, then known as NTR.

At Midnight on September 7, 1998, the last song played on CJME was "American Pie" by Don McLean, then the station stunted a loop recording of "a new station is coming" for an entire day. At 5:30AM on September 8, 1998 CJME was relaunched as a news/talk radio station.

In 2001 CJME moved from their longtime position at 1300 kHz to the 980 kHz frequency. On September 11, 2006, the station changed its on-air brand from 980 CJME to News Talk 980.

In late 2008, the station added the CJME call letters back to its on-air brand, becoming known as 'News Talk 980 CJME'.

On September 29, 2009, CJME applied to add new FM rebroadcasters to extend its coverage into south Saskatchewan. The new transmitters would be located at Gravelbourg (107.1 MHz), Swift Current (101.7 MHz) and Warmley (107.3 MHz), all with the ERP of 100,000 watts.[1] This application received CRTC approval on February 26, 2010.[2][3][4][5]

Programming

Most of CJME's weekday lineup is shared with its Saskatoon sister station CKOM, aside from a local morning show (hosted on CJME by Greg Morgan, with news anchor Kevin Martel). Its daytime lineup consists of Gormley, which is followed by Saskatchewan Afternoon from 12:30-2. It's a comprehensive look at the day's stories so far and features some of the best of the day's programming.

The Green Zone with Jamie and Wheels" airs from 2-6, a daily Sports Talk show. Award winning sports person Jamie Nye and co-host Wheels are joined regularly by former Rider star and TSN analyst Glen Suitor, former NHL coach and hockey analyst Drew Remenda, and some of the biggest names in sports in Saskatchewan and beyond.

At 6PM, it's "The Day in Review," an in-depth wrap on the day's biggest stories, as well as business, and the best of the day's shows.

CJME has won dozens of national and regional awards, including multiple Best Radio Newscast awards, as well as recognition for Breaking News coverage, Feature Reporting, Ongoing Coverage, Investigative Reporting, Special Event coverage and Commentary.

The station devotes a significant amount of coverage to the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders, which includes coverage preceding and following each game.

• John Gormley
• Jamie Nye
• Wheels
• Murray Wood
• Sarah Mills
• Greg Morgan
• Glen Suitor
• Stu Jeffries
• Drew Remenda
• Dave Arnold
• Harry Dekker
• Darren Lamb
• Hart Kirsch

• News Talk 980 CJME
• CJME AM history – Canadian Communications Foundation
• CJME in the REC Canadian station database