CFMB was founded by Casimir Stanczykowski in 1962. From its inception on December 21, 1962 until September 29, 1997, the station broadcast on 1410 kHz. Its move to 1280 kHz was somewhat controversial, as that frequency was previously (until 1994) home to the now-defunct CJMS, a French-language station. Some individuals claimed that this move resulted from an attempt to prevent new competition to CKAC and CKVL, as 1280 kHz was the best AM frequency available in the Montreal area. Others claimed that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) used the opportunity to promote multiculturalism at the expense of integration of immigrants to the French language. Supporters of the decision note that CFMB was due to lose its transmitter site and had already bought the old CJMS site, and that the only other application to use the 1280 kHz frequency was for a station with only 10,000 watts of power.