CFCW 60th Birthday

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CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby Rocky » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:25 pm

As noted on Radio West, this past weekend marked CFCW's 60th Anniversay.

From You Tube, here's a video put together by the folks at CFCW. What a ton of great memories. I've been a CFCW listener since I was 'kmee high to a grasshopper'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2oz2ywxDY

And thanks also to Radio West for the numerous CFCW jingle montages throughout this year. more great memories

Rocky
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:56 pm

Greetings,
I like CFCW too. I have a music survey from them in my collection which I acquired in the past year for 1230 khz. dated January 1961. Nice navy blue letterhead with Camrose and Stettler locations. I also have copies of the 790 music charts they put out in much later years. Had a great tour of CFCW when Lindy Olsen was chief engineer there. Great guy and enjoyed talking to him about loop antennas too. Lindy passed away a year or two ago. Radiofan and I really enjoyed our visit to CFCW and Camrose. I like Camrose quite a lot too, its a nice town!

73s Take Care from Eldon (By the way on 1230 khz. in the early 60s they were only 1000 watts of power fulltime)
Bye . . Mr. CFAY "Frequently On The Frequency"
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby radiofan » Tue Nov 04, 2014 10:08 pm

I spent some time in Central Alberta in the Summer of 1966. On a visit to Camrose, I stopped by CFCW to pick up a few music surveys and any other goodies they might have.

As I recall, the studios were in downtown Camrose above a bakery. In the files here, I still have a 1967 CFCW cash calendar.

Nice to see they are still a force throughout rural Alberta.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby albertaboy4life » Wed Nov 05, 2014 7:58 am

CFCW's decision to play country & western music 24 hours a day made the pages of Billboard magazine on February 27, 1961 -

Image

Interesting to note that the CFCW program director of the time says CFCW is the first all country & western station in western Canada, but the article doesn't elaborate on who was the first in all of Canada. An all night show on CJRH Richmond Hill hardly counts.

Happy Birthday CFCW! :hello1: :occasion4:
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby 45 RPM » Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:47 am

I believe the CW in the call letters stood for Camrose-Wetaskiwin.

Had the station started out in 1954 playing C&W music, Canada's First Country Western would have worked well.

Somewhere I have some pics of me standing beside the Mr. 79 standup at a late 1960's gas station CFCW remote.
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby jon » Wed Nov 05, 2014 9:00 am

Never researched it. Just remember reading about it in the official CKNW history book. But I'll ask the question anyway.

Wouldn't CKNW count as a Country station when Hal Yerxa was doing mornings, as well as before and after, for some period of time?
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby radiofan » Wed Nov 05, 2014 9:52 am

jon wrote:Never researched it. Just remember reading about it in the official CKNW history book. But I'll ask the question anyway.

Wouldn't CKNW count as a Country station when Hal Yerxa was doing mornings, as well as before and after, for some period of time?


Good point. The "Hillbilly" music on NW wasn't full time though. There was always the element of variety from day one on NW. Well worth checking out though.

Some years after Hal Yerxa left NW to be involved with the sign on of CKRD in Red Deer and then CFCW, Joe Chesney left NW to start CJJC in Langley (also a country station).
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby jon » Wed Nov 05, 2014 7:09 pm

Some background on the power increases of CFCW after original signon in 1954 (when they were 250 watts on 1230 KHz) from a newspaper article as they were switching to 790 KHz in February 1961.

"...approval was granted to increase to 1,000 watts daytime...The next step forward for the Company was the commencement of twenty-four hour operation, in November of 1960...It was found out by RCA and CFCW officials that an increase to 10,000 watts on 1230 would not be desirable due to the many restrictions and interference level at [t]his frequency. The station's consulting engineers, the RCA Victor Company, searched all frequencies and found that 790 was clear in this part of Alberta and would let the station broadcast 10,000 watts day and night."

In the U.S. "lower 48", 1230 KHz is a Local Channel, a so-called "graveyarder", originally restricted to 250 watts full-time, but increased to 1,000 watts in the daytime only beginning in the late 1950s; 1000 watts at night came much later (1980s?).

On the other hand, CFYK in Yellowknife was granted 1000 watts full-time in 1965. Which begs the question: was CFCW far enough North to see them granted 10,000 watts full-time back then, assuming they were willing to use a directional pattern that would eliminate any intrusion into the U.S.?

The other question is why RCA didn't notice the strong night-time signal from KNEW-790 in Spokane in certain areas that CFCW today considers its coverage area. Which is the reason they were contemplating a move to 840.

Speaking of which, I just read where the North Las Vegas station on 840 has finally got their transmitter construction completed, with their new directional pattern that points almost directly at CFCW.
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Re: CFCW 60th Birthday

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Thu Nov 06, 2014 2:39 am

Greetings,
Thanks for the additional technical information about CFCW in Camrose, Alberta , Jon! Good information. Yes it was 1000 watts daytime and 250 watts nights back in the 50s to 1961 as 1230 is known as a local or graveyard channel . Occupied over the years by many different AM stations across the USA and Canada at different locations. Yes kind of amazed that they did move to 790 AM in 1961 with the Spokane station on 790 khz. too. Also after all these years I am still wondering what the plan is for moving to 840 khz. AM which I think would be better than 790 khz. for them. My country music chart is dated January 1961 for CFCW and mentions 1000 watts on 1230 khz. in printed letterhead form. Nothing is mentioned about a move to 790 on the chart in January 1961. Would love to see any information about the actual move to 790 from 1230 in 1961 and how much fanfare or celebration there was on this. I have a cassette aircheck of CJJC in Langley complete with owner Joe Chesney signing on 800 khz. with higher power from 850 khz. in the very early 1970s. Wonder if anyone has anything about going to 790 from 1230??? Yes I suppose its possible they might have been able to operate with higher power on 1230 from Camrose if it was far enough north. However I would think they probably would have chosen another frequency that might have been better at night even if 790 had not been chosen.

Thanks again Jon for the technical details back in those early years about CFCW, much appreciated.

73s,, Take Care, Eldon
Bye . . Mr. CFAY "Frequently On The Frequency"
The CFAY Website: http://cfayradio.wordpress.com
CFAY Radio: http://tinyurl.com/l9qqmh
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