The station's current local programs are Les matins d'ici, heard weekday mornings from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., and Sur le vif airing on weekday afternoons, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The early morning program from 5 a.m. to 5:30 a.m., Info matin, originates from CBF-FMMontreal and is also heard in Quebec City. CBOF-FM's Saturday morning local program is Les malins, heard from 7:00 a.m. to 11 a.m.
History
The station signed on in 1964 as CBOF. It was originally on the AM band at 1250 kHz, with 10,000 watts day and night. Before then, Radio-Canada relied on privately owned AM 970 CKCH in nearby Hull, Quebec, as well as the 50,000-watt signal of Montreal's AM 690 CBF, to serve Ottawa's francophones.
On January 15, 1975 the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved the CBC's application to increase CBOF's signal from 10,000 watts to 50,000 watts day and night at 1250 kHz.[2] In the 1980s, the CBC made the decision to begin moving many of its English and French-language AM stations to the FM dial.
The CRTC approved the CBC's application to convert CBOF from the AM band to the FM band, on November 9, 1989.[3] CBOF moved to its current frequency on 90.7 MHz on January 7, 1991 as CBOF-FM. After a period of simulcasting on both AM and FM, the AM transmitter was shut down. Its sister station on 102.5, on the Radio-Canada Musique network, which used the CBOF-FM call sign before that date, is now known as CBOX-FM.
CBOF-FM, like all Première network stations but unlike most FM stations, broadcasts in mono. While still on the AM dial, CBOF experimented with AM stereo broadcasts between 1984 and 1987, testing all four AM stereo systems (C-QUAM, Kahn-Hazeltine, Harris and Magnavox) proposed at the time.
The two AM repeaters in Rolphton, Ontario and Maniwaki, Quebec were the last two remaining CBOF repeaters that operated on the AM band. The AM transmitters of CBOF-1 990 and CBOF-4 1400 were converted to the FM band. On March 17, 2022, the CBC submitted an application to move CBOF-1 990 to 94.3 MHz.[4] The CRTC approved the CBC's applications to move both CBOF-1 and CBOM Maniwaki to the FM band on June 1, 2022.[5]
On September 20, 2022, the CBC submitted an application to convert CBOF-4 1400 to 98.5 MHz [6] which was approved on November 28, 2022.[7]
Former repeaters
Former CBOF repeaters that have been silent since the 1980s and 1990s:
Mattawa - CBOF-5 1090 AM - This was a former repeater of CBOF Ottawa [8] which still remains on the air (in 2024 at 1090 kHz) as CBON-12, a repeater of CBON-FMSudbury
Renfrew - CBOF-FM-8 98.7 - This was a former FM repeater in Renfrew, Ontario that was deleted when CBOF-FM signed on in Ottawa in the early 1990s. The 98.7 FM frequency is now currently occupied by CJHR-FM in Renfrew, while the two former AM frequencies that were used by CBOF as repeaters in Petawawa and Deep River were never reactivated for any other future broadcasting.
