[2][3] Owned and operated by Corus Quebec, it broadcast on 940 kHz with a full-time power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel, Class A station, using a slightly directional antenna designed to improve reception in downtown Montreal.

This uncertainty was evident when, in 1928, the station manager wrote to the Radio Branch in Ottawa asking "would you kindly let us know the date of our first broadcast", to which the reply was "We do not have the exact details of this on our files, but find that test programmes were carried out by your Company in Montreal during the winter evenings of 1919, and regular organized programs were commenced in December, 1920, by your Experimental Station, 'XWA' on a wavelength of 1200 metres [250 kHz].

XWA's first licence was granted sometime between April 1, 1914 and March 31, 1915,[6] in conjunction with a training school on Rodney Street,[7] and it was one of the few radio stations allowed to operate in Canada during World War I, when it was used to conduct military research.

[9] In March 1919 Canadian Marconi announced that it was planning to "install the new wireless telephone at important points in and around Montreal in the near future", in order that "the public will be able to test for themselves the latest development in long distance communication".

There were also plans to install one of the devices in the Transportation Building office of J. N. Greenshields, president of the Montreal Board of Trade,[10] which "will enable brokers to talk with Kingston, Ottawa, Three Rivers and Quebec".

[13] As was common at a number of early stations, the engineers soon tired of their repetitive talking, and began to play phonograph records to provide test signals.

This was part of a demonstration of the longrange capabilities of radiotelephony arranged by Dr. A. S. Eve of the Royal Society, who was giving a lecture reviewing "Some Inventions of the Great War".

[20][21] In Montreal, Canadian Marconi's chief engineer J. O. G. Cann opened the broadcast with a series of announcements, including reading a sealed message previously sent by Dr. R. F. Ruttan,[20] which was followed by the playing of phonograph records, beginning with "Dear Old Pal of Mine".

[21] A Naval Radio Service station in Ottawa also participated, with officer E. Hawken singing "Annie Laurie", along with the playing of phonograph records.

[24] XWA eventually began operating on a regular schedule in order to promote radio receiver sales, and at first the station was almost single-handedly run by Darby Coats.

Performers weren't paid, so live entertainment was provided by song pluggers promoting sheet music sales, amateurs (sometimes with more enthusiasm than talent), and the occasional professional looking for publicity or intrigued by the new technology.

A short notice in the November 1921 issue of QST magazine reported that the station, now using 9AM, was broadcasting once a week on Tuesdays starting at 8 p.m., using a wavelength of 1200 metres (250 kHz).

Initially all these stations received four-letter call signs starting with "CF", "CH", "CJ" or "CK", plus one additional "C" as the third or fourth letter.

Included in the first group of twenty-three stations was a Montreal grant for Canadian Marconi, assigned a transmitting wavelength of 440 metres (682 kHz) and the call letters CFCF.

[33] CIQC received permission from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to move to 940 kHz, the former frequency of CBC owned and operated station CBM (now CBME-FM).

[38] Broadcasting abruptly ceased — the loop announcement was cut off in mid-sentence, foregoing any official sign-off — at 7:02 p.m., ending 90 years on the air under various call signs and formats.

[40] Later that year, Cogeco acquired Corus' Quebec station assets; the sale included the transmitter sites and equipment in Kahnawake used for CINF and CINW, but not the cancelled operating licences.

The De Forest Radio Telephone and Telegraph Company's station, 2XG in New York City, also conducted regular broadcasts from October 1916 to April 1917, which were resumed in the fall of 1919.