The station began broadcasting at 8 p.m. on November 14, 1932 as VONF, broadcasting at 1195 kHz, and was owned and operated by the Dominion Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Avalon Telephone Company. In 1934, it merged with a former competitor, VOGY 840, which had also launched in 1932. The VONF call sign was retained. On March 13, 1939, the Dominion Broadcasting Company was absorbed by the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland, the pre-Confederation public broadcaster, as its first radio station. The frequency was eventually changed to its current 640 AM. BCN was absorbed by the CBC on March 31, 1949 when Newfoundland joined Canada. The call sign was then changed to CBN. CBN used to operate 10,000-watt rebroadcaster CBNM in Marystown on 740 AM, but this station was converted to 90.3 FM in the 1980s. CBN is currently the largest Radio One station in eastern Canada that is still located on the AM band, along with CBY in Corner Brook, which also operates at 10,000 watts and has clear channel designation. CBN's daytime signal covers much of the Avalon Peninsula, at night, it reaches much of the eastern half of North America. Until April 27, 2007, CBN's operations were located on 342 Duckworth Street. Those operations are currently located on 95 University Avenue, where the television operations are also based.
Local programming
The station's local shows include The St. John's Morning Show with Krissy Holmes and Ramraajh Sharvendiran, Cross Talk with Ramona Dearing, On The Go with Ted Blades, The Fisheries Broadcast with Jane Adey, and Weekend AM with Heather Barrett. For all intents and purposes, the province's other five Radio One stations are semi-satellites of CBN, simulcasting most of CBN's local programming during Radio One's local programming blocks. One of the station's most popular shows in the 1930s and 1940s was The Barrelman, hosted by future Premier Joey Smallwood.
Shortwave relay
By 1940, VONF operated a shortwave relay for remote areas of Newfoundland using the call sign VONG and operating on a frequency of 9.47 MHz. A second frequency of 5.98 MHz was launched using the call sign VONH. Eventually, VONG left the air and only VONH remained. The call sign changed to CBNX in 1949 when the AM station became CBN. The frequency was changed to 6.16 MHz in 1963. In 1965, the call sign was changed to CKZN, recognizing that, technically, the CB call sign prefix was assigned to Chile on an international basis. In 1989, the shortwave relay began to rebroadcast CFGB-FM in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, part-time as well as CBN. Eventually, in 1994, the station no longer relayed CBN, and became a full-time rebroadcaster of CFGB-FM. Most of Newfoundland had reliable AM or FM reception by that time, so the relay's main use was now limited to the remote areas of Labrador.
Rebroadcasters
CBN has the following rebroadcasters: CIBB-FM rebroadcasts programming of CBN, although it is owned by the Burgeo Broadcasting System. In March 2016, The CBC made the decision to put a nested rebroadcaster in St. John's. It would broadcast at 88.5 MHz with an ERP of 3,612 Watts. On July 5, 2016, the station went on-air for testing. On August 1, 2016, the CRTC approved the decision to put a nested rebroadcaster in St. John's. CBN-1-FM began broadcasting on October 28, 2016.
