But the first CBW has an interesting history. It began life as CRCW on February 14, 1935, at 8:00 p.m., on 600 KHz with 1000 watts day and 500 watts night. Launched by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, the predecessor of the CBC, the station was, in fact, partially owned by Windsor competitor CKLW! The CBC was formed in 1936, changed the call letters to CBW at 4:00 p.m. on October 3, 1937, and shut the station down completely a few months later, today in history in 1938.
But the story doesn't end there. On July 1, 1950, the CBC signed on CBE Windsor on 1550 KHz with 10,000 watts. They were one of the few Ontario stations heard often by DX'ers in Vancouver in the 1960s. In 1970, CBEF Windsor signed on to 540 KHz with 2500 watts day and 5000 watts at night, utilizing the same four tower directional pattern. CBEF aired programming from Radio-Canada, the CBC French language network. That same year, the CBC bought a 25% interest in CKLW-TV, acquiring 100% on September 1, 1975, and changing the call letters to CBET-TV. Meanwhile, CBEFT-TV signed on in 1974, in French. CBEE-FM Chatham and CBEG-FM Sarnia were added as CBE rebroadcasters on November 27, 1977. And CBE-FM launched on October 15, 1978. CBEF-1-FM Leamington signed on as a CBEF repeater on May 19, 1982.
In yet another strange move, CBEE-FM and CBEG-FM both changed frequencies and decreased power from 35,500 watts to 1430 watts, and 50,000 watts to 1800 watts, respectively, on March 10, 1986. The cost of those changes must have far outweighed any savings on the CBC power bill. In 2001, the CBC reported to the CRTC that CBE broadcast 25 hours per week of local programming from Windsor.
