CBU Moves from 1130 to 690

Bits and Pieces of BC Radio History

CBU Moves from 1130 to 690

Postby radiofan » Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:34 am

On January 25 1952, Vancouver's CBC outlet CBR 1130 moved down the dial and became CBU 690.

From the January 25, 1952 Vancouver Sun ...


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From the RadioWest/BC Radio History archives
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: CBU Moves from 1130 to 690

Postby jon » Sat Jan 24, 2015 5:39 pm

As mentioned in this post, the 690 transmitter actually began simulcasting 1130 at 7:00 a.m. that morning.

The official switch in call letters and such undoubtedly occurred, as advertised, at 8:30 p.m. that evening, since the 1130 transmitter was at a different site and likely remained on the air for the standard 90 days that is still allowed today for most frequency changes.

It would be five and a half years before CKWX occupied the 1130 frequency. As the above referenced post mentions, CKNW also wanted the frequency.
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Re: CBU Moves from 1130 to 690

Postby cart_machine » Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:50 pm

The move to 690 was not altogether popular. If you read Dick Diespecker's radio column in the Province at the time, there were howls by people who couldn't listen to KIRO any more.

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Re: CBU Moves from 1130 to 690

Postby jon » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:09 pm

The Sun even did an Editorial on the subject, and it wasn't just KIRO that people were suddenly missing:
CBU's new 690 kilocycle frequency is blotting out Seattle's KIRO on many city receivers, and also blocking KNBC, San Francisco.

KNBC was actually listed in the Radio Schedules in the Vancouver Sun before CBU showed up on 690. It is KNBR-680 today, and the station's pattern gives it a lot better signal into Vancouver than KGO if CBU is off the air.

With KOMO-1000 so close to CKWX-980, I suspect a lot of people preferred to listen to KNBC-680 for their NBC programs without a lot of slop from CKWX. CBU-690 put an end to that, no matter how good your radio was back then.
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