CFAC
Sports radio station in Calgary
CFAC (960 AM) was a sports radio station serving Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media, and was branded as Sportsnet 960 The Fan, co-branded with the Sportsnet television channel also owned by Rogers. Its studios were located on 7th Avenue Southwest in downtown Calgary, in the same building as Rogers' other Calgary stations, CFFR, CHFM-FM and CJAQ-FM.
CFAC operated with a power of 50,000 watts 24 hours a day on the regional frequency of 960 AM. The daytime signal was omnidirectional, and the nighttime signal was directional using a three-tower array located on Rainbow Road just east of the Calgary city limits.
History
Organized radio broadcasting began to gain prominence in Canada in early 1922. Initially there wasn't a formal licence category for stations providing entertainment broadcasts intended for the general public, so the earliest stations operated under a mixture of Experimental, Amateur, and governmental authorizations. One of the most prominent pioneer broadcasters was William Walter Westover Grant, who during this time installed radio communication equipment for the Canadian Air Board's Forestry patrol. In 1921 these operations were established at the High River Air Station in southern Alberta. Grant constructed government station VAW at this site, and, in addition to the forestry work, began to make a series of experimental entertainment broadcasts, believed to be the first in western Canada, that were audible approximately 50 miles (80 km) away in Calgary. (In May 1922 Grant founded CFCN (now CKMX) in Calgary.)
In the spring of 1922 the Calgary Herald began to publicize the topic of radio, including Grant's broadcasts. In late April the newspaper installed what it called "the most complete receiving set in Western Canada" at its headquarters, and reported that it had successfully picked up High River concerts on April 27 and April 28.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “CFAC” as sports radio station in Calgary. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as sports radio station in Calgary. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5010410. Authority coordinates are 50.989, -113.840. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922 and 1921.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “CFAC”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow CFAC primary sources, CFAC archive and CFAC research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “CFAC”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “CFAC” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.