CJKR-FM is a Canadian
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
broadcasting on the assigned frequency of 97.5
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
. It airs an
active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
format with the on-air brand name ''Power 97''. The station is owned and operated by
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...
, which also owns sister stations
CJOB
CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, have ...
and
CFPG-FM
CFPG-FM (99.1 FM, ''Peggy @ 99.1'') is a radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts an adult contemporary format. Its transmitter is located in Duff Roblin Provincial Park, while its studios are loc ...
. The studios and offices are located at
201 Portage
201 Portage (formerly TD Centre, Canwest Place, and CanWest Global Place) is an office tower at the northwest intersection of Portage and Main in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the 2nd tallest building in Winnipeg and in the province of Manito ...
Avenue in
downtown Winnipeg
Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the seat of Manitoba's provincial government, a ...
, while its transmitter is located on Brady Road in south Winnipeg.
CJKR is the most powerful FM radio station in Canada, operating with 310,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s. Most FM stations in Canada and the United States run 100,000 watts or less. Because CJKR-FM is one of the oldest FM stations in Canada, it was
grandfathered
A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...
with a much higher power. (In Winnipeg,
CBW-FM
CBW-FM (98.3 MHz) is a public non-commercial radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The station airs the CBC Music Network, a mix of adult album alternative, classical music and other genres. Its studi ...
also operates with an unusually high power, 160,000 watts). Power 97 is simulcast on
Shaw Direct
Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two communic ...
channel 860.
History
The station first
signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...
the air on May 27, 1948 as CJOB-FM, an FM
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
of
CJOB
CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, have ...
. The station applied to the
Board of Broadcast Governors
The Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) was an arms-length Government of Canada agency. It was created in 1958 by amending the ''Broadcast Act'' to regulate television and radio broadcasting, originally taking over that function from the CBC.
...
(BBG) to move its broadcast frequency from 103.1 MHz to the current 97.5 MHz. It began airing distinct programming in 1962, featured a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
format as CHMM-FM in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then changed its format to
soft rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
and its
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
to CKIS-FM in 1984. In the late 1980s, CKIS moved to a
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
format, which was not in compliance with its licence at that time. Eventually, the station was allowed to amend its licence, stick with the rock format, and changed its call letters to CJKR-FM in 1991. In the late 2000s, the station moved from
mainstream rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
to
active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
by reducing the
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
in its playlist, aiming at a youthful male audience.
Changing owners and studios
In 2000,
Western International Communications
WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Can ...
sold its Winnipeg stations to Corus Entertainment. In April 2010, Corus Radio Winnipeg announced the relocation of its radio broadcast facility to 1440 Rapelje Avenue (since renamed ''Jack Blick Avenue''), as part of a lease agreement between Corus Entertainment and Cadillac Fairview. The relocation to
Polo Park
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaban ...
was scheduled for January 2011. CJOB, CJGV-FM and CJKR-FM would become the anchor tenants. Corus Radio Winnipeg planned to occupy the second floor of the three-storey building, expanding its radio, production and business operations to . At the time, general manager Garth Buchko said the stations had outgrown their 930 Portage Avenue facility. With the move, Corus Radio Winnipeg would also upgrade to state-of-the-art, fully digital on-air systems. At the end of February 2011, CJKR-FM completed the move to its new location at 1440 Jack Blick Avenue.
As of April 2021, the three stations are again back in downtown Winnipeg at 201 Portage Avenue. It is unknown when they were moved to this current location.
Flip to Classic Rock
At Noon on January 29, 2015, after playing "
Fade to Black" by
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
, CJKR began
stunting with liners promoting that Winnipeg would be getting "bigger" the following day at 8 a.m., interspersed between 5-second clips of songs with the word "big" in them. At that time, CJKR flipped to a
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
format as ''97.5 Big FM'', putting it in direct competition with long-time classic rock station
CITI-FM
CITI-FM (92.1 MHz) is a commercial Canadian FM radio station broadcasting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Owned by Rogers Sports & Media, the station broadcasts a mainstream rock format branded as ''92.1 CITI''. Its studios are located on Osborne Street ...
(although that station still plays current
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
songs describing itself as
mainstream rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
). The first song on "Big" was "
Big Time" by
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
. The new format was being described as a "homage to Winnipeg's rock heritage", with a playlist that is "familiar, and less predictable and has rock credibility".
In November 2015, veteran broadcaster Shadoe Davis was hired for "The Shadoe Davis Show" from 6-10am weekdays. In March, he was joined by another veteran Winnipeg broadcaster, Joe Aiello. "Shadoe & Joe" can now be heard together with traffic reports from Randy Parker and news with Kathy Kennedy.
Return to Active rock
On August 12, 2016, at Noon, after playing "
Free Bird
"Free Bird", also spelled "Freebird", is a song written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant and performed by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song featured on the band's debut album in 1973.
Released as a single in November 1974, "F ...
" by
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
, CJKR rebranded back to ''Power 97'', and returned to its
active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
format. The first song on the newly relaunched "Power" was "
Give It Away" by
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...
.
On October 5, 2020, it was announced that CJKR will serve as FM co-flagship of the
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
under a seven-year deal with Corus, with games airing in simulcast with sister AM station
CJOB
CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, have ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cjkr-Fm
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Radio stations established in 1948
1948 establishments in Manitoba