80 years later, AM radio institution CJAD is the enduring 'voice of Montreal'

Eighty years ago today, on December 8, 1945, a radio station signed on in Montreal with call letters borrowed from its founder's name: J. Arthur Dupont stamped his initials onto the city's airwaves and launched CJAD from studios on Mountain Street, in a building that's now home to O'Sullivan College.

What started as a middle-of-the-road music station in the post-war era evolved into Montreal's go-to for news, talk, and local coverage. CJAD has been there for Quebec's defining moments: the Oka Crisis, the 1989 Polytechnique massacre, both referendums, the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. For decades, it was also the English voice of the Montreal Canadiens, a role it held until 2010.