Thursday, July 29

[Russ_Byth]

[jon]

In 1939, CBK-540 signed on with 50,000 watts from a single 460 foot tower in Watrous, Saskatchewan. At the time, it was the only CBC outlet between Winnipeg and Vancouver. The site, (lowest possible) frequency and (highest permitted) power were chosen to ensure adequate coverage of both Regina and Saskatoon, as well as much of the rest of the province of Saskatchewan. But it was not until 1954 that studios and offices were opened in Regina, although some early broadcasting in English and French originated from studios located at the Watrous transmitter site. The "K" in the CBK call letters honoured Henry Kelsey, the first European to set his eyes on the Canadian Prairies.

In 1974, CFAC-TV Channel 2 Calgary was approved to disaffiliate from the CBC effective September 1975, to coincide with the launch of CBRT-TV. CFAC-TV began on October 8, 1954, as CHCT-TV. Call letters changed to CFAC-TV in 1968 when purchased by Selkirk Broadcasting, who also owned CFAC-AM. In March 1990, the call letters were changed to CKKX-TV. And on September 7, 1993, the station became CICT-TV. It has been owned by CanWest since 2000.

In 1996, CHKG-FM Vancouver and CHKF-FM Calgary were licensed by the CRTC, to each be equally owned by Thomas Fung (CJVB) and Roger Charest (O.K. Radio Group). The Vancouver station signed on 96.1 MHz with 40,000 watts on September 6, 1997, as the first multilingual FM station in Western Canada. The Calgary station signed on in November 1998 with 53,000 watts on 94.7 MHz.

In 1997, CBL-AM Toronto was approved to move to FM, on 99.1 MHz with 25,200 watts. To ensure continuing coverage, Kitchener was approved for an FM repeater on 89.1 MHz. And the Orillia repeater, CBCO-FM on 91.3 MHz, was approved for a power increase. CBL-AM's approval to move to FM undoubtedly led to the renaming, just 5 weeks later, of the CBC AM network to CBC Radio One. And the FM network to CBC Radio Two.

In 2005, CKCK-FM Regina became Jack-FM. The station originally signed on August 9, 2002, with a commercial-free preview weekend. Official launch was August 12th.

[radiofan]

CKLG Vancouver - Boss 30 - July 29, 1967

[radiofan]

CHED Edmonton, AB - Top 30 - July 29, 1986