CKWX (1130
kHz
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 on ...
) is a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
AM 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 ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. Owned by
Rogers Sports & Media
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...
, it broadcasts an
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
branded as ''
CityNews
''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...
1130''. CKWX's studios and offices are located at 2440 Ash Street in the
Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver.
CKWX is a
Class A clear-channel station
A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...
, broadcasting at 50,000
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. CKWX broadcasts with a
directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...
at all times, using a two-
tower array
A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower a ...
. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
is located at North 6 Road at Blundell Road on
Lulu Island
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies mos ...
in
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
. CKWX's daytime signal covers Southwest British Columbia and Northwest
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. At night, CKWX can be heard around
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada†...
and the
Northwestern United States
The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...
. CKWX is also heard on the second
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
subchannel of
CJAX-FM
CJAX-FM is a Canadian radio station in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. Owned by Rogers Sports & Media, it broadcasts an adult hits format branded as ''Jack 96.9''. It broadcasts at 96.9 MHz on the FM band with an effect ...
.
History
Early years
On April 1, 1923, 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. Its original
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
was
Nanaimo
Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, 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 ...
was CFDC. It was owned by Arthur "Sparks" Holstead (1890-1971), operator of an automotive battery business. The station broadcast on 430
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
s (670 kHz) with 10 watts of power (later increased to 50 watts).
In 1925, the station switched frequencies to 730 kHz and cut its power back to 10 watts to share time with Vancouver stations CFCQ, CKCD, and CJKC.
Holstead had a branch business at 1220 Seymour Street in Vancouver and decided to relocate CFDC there. The station was regularly on the air in its new locale by September 20, 1925, according to the radio listings in the ''
Victoria Daily Colonist.'' The
Department of Marine and Fisheries
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...
(which then regulated broadcasting in Canada) had not authorized CFDC's move to Vancouver and revoked the station's license as a result, but listener complaints led to the department granting a new license to the station.
By October 1926, the station was broadcasting sponsored programmes for the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
. It was on the air daily except Wednesday, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Other advertisers included the Kelly-Douglas Company, Dominion Battery Company, Canadian National Carbon Company and Moorite Products of Canada. H.W. Paulson was the announcer and R. Burgess the sales representative. The station transmitted through an 80-foot-high aerial on 411 metres at 10 watts. The station's final broadcast from Nanaimo appears to have been a special programme on April 1, 1927, which was claimed at the time of having established a world record for the furthest distance of a transmission over a submarine telephone cable. Holstead asked
Nanaimo City Council The Nanaimo City Council is the governing body for the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. The council consists of the mayor and eight councillors.
The councillors are councillors-at-large elected for the entire city.
Municipal elections ar ...
to bear part of the $125 cost of any similar broadcasts because of the publicity to the city.
CKWX
The station first used the call letters CKWX on August 1, 1927, in conjunction with the opening of its new studios. The official opening wasn't until August 19, and was marked by a four-hour all-star programme, including the band of the H. M. S. Colombo. Other local stations remained off the air as a courtesy. The station was operating from the Hotel Georgia, 801 West Georgia Street, and sharing air time at 411 metres (730 kilocycles) with
CFCQ and CKCD, then with CHLS, CKFC and CKMO in 1929. The station was permitted to use a special wave-length of 340.7 metres for a speech by M.P. Henri Bourassa for one occasion in 1927.
Harold William Paulson, who had been a storage battery engineer in the U.S. before coming to British Columbia, left CKWX by 1933 and eventually became commercial manager at the CBC Vancouver.
In 1933, CKWX moved to 1010 kHz, then to 950 kHz in 1938. It moved to 980 kHz in 1941 following the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), which took effect on March 27 that year to settle problems with
AM radio
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transm ...
interference. Arthur Halstead later sold a 40% share of the station to Taylor, Pearson & Carson, which took over station management, moved the studios to Seymour Street and increased its transmitting power to 1,000 watts. By 1947, CKWX's power further increased to 5,000 watts and it became a
network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
of the
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
, while its transmitter was moved to
Lulu Island
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies mos ...
(now part of
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
).
Move to 1130 kHz
CKWX went to 24-hour operation on January 1, 1954, at 12:30 a.m., with a program called "Concert Under the Stars." In 1956, the studios moved to 1275
Burrard Street
Burrard Street is a major thoroughfare in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is the central street of Downtown Vancouver and the Financial District. The street is named for Burrard Inlet, located at its northern terminus, which in turn is ...
, and on August 15, 1957, CKWX switched from 980 kHz (soon taken by
CKNW
CKNW is a news/talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a region ...
) to its present 1130 kHz. The station adopted a
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
music format in the same year when
Red Robinson
Robert "Red" Robinson Order of British Columbia, OBC (born March 30, 1937 in Comox, British Columbia) is a Canadian disc jockey. He was the first disc jockey to play rock and roll music, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Honours
*In July 2016, Ro ...
joined the station's on-air staff. CKWX was, in fact, the first Vancouver radio station to use the all-hit format full-time. In 1958, CKWX became the first non-
CBC station in Western Canada to operate with 50,000 watts.
Harold Carson, one-third of the Taylor, Pearson & Carson firm that owned CKWX, died in 1959. The firm changed its name to
Selkirk Holdings Ltd. later in the year. CKWX switched formats from Top 40 to
MOR music with some talk shows in 1962, and Red Robinson left the station at that time to join
CFUN. Selkirk became a publicly traded company in 1965, and it purchased 100% ownership of CKWX (with approval from 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.
...
) on October 10, 1966.
Country era
On March 7, 1973, CKWX underwent a major change as it dropped its mix of MOR music and talk and switched to
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 ...
, keeping that format for the next 23 years. On February 13, 1979, the CRTC granted CKWX parent Selkirk Holdings a license for an FM station with a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
format. Selkirk originally wanted 93.7 MHz, but were advised to find a different frequency. CJAZ would sign on at 92.1 MHz on March 1, 1980, as the first Canadian station playing all
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. CJAZ later moved to 96.9, then switched call letters and formats in 1985 as it became
CKKS, playing
adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
. The 92.1 frequency is now used by
CBU-FM-1 in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
CKWX and CKKS moved to new studios on 2440 Ash Street on June 17, 1988, with the official opening on July 20. On September 28, 1988, Maclean-Hunter Ltd. purchased Selkirk Communications and its stations (including CKWX and CKKS) and also received approval from the CRTC to transfer the former Selkirk stations to
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
.
All-news
![CKWX NEWS1130 logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/CKWX_NEWS1130_logo.png)
On February 8, 1996, at 8 a.m., after playing "
For the Good Times" by
Ray Price, CKWX ended its country music format after almost 23 years and switched to its present
all-news
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
format. Tom Mark was the first announcer under the new format. Other anchors when the station went on the air were Brian Decker, Dianne Newman, Kevin Rothwell, Andrea Ring, Terri Theodore and Jack Marion, who was also the morning newsman at CKKS. Field reporters included Jim Goddard and Treena Wood, with Garry Raible as sports director, Russell Byth and Herb Hamm as the business editors, and Bruce Williams and Kim Larsson reporting on traffic. Brian Brenn, Ted Schellenberg and Eric Westra joined the station within the first year as anchors, shortly followed by Jim Bennie and veteran Andy Walsh.
In 2003, CKKS switched formats again and became
CKLG-FM, playing
adult hits under the "
Jack FM
Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits format, in most cases not using DJs.
Format characteristics
Stations ...
" branding.
A fairly extensive personnel shuffle took place at CKWX on September 2, 2003. Program Director George Gordon replaced Andrew Dawson as morning co-anchor, joining Kenya Anderson, while Dianne Newman moved to the midday slot joining Brian Brenn. That same day, Jim Bennie joined Joanna Mileos to co-anchor the p.m. drive. In 2006, Don Lehn would rotate in middays with Brian Brenn and Andy Walsh until 2010. Pamela McCall became the newest afternoon anchor, replacing Joanna Mileos, in the Spring of 2007. McCall would later leave the station and be replaced by Karen Thomson in 2008. Following the departure of Kenya Anderson in 2005, Treena Wood and Tammy Moyer alternated in the anchor chair only to be replaced by Dianne Newman in 2006. Ben Wilson was named permanent evening anchor with Tom Bricker in November 2007. That same month, Brian Brenn took early retirement and was replaced in the midday anchor chair by Reaon Ford. George Gordon was terminated July 15, 2009. Reaon Ford was promoted from midday anchor to morning anchor in August 2009.
An editorial commentary segment, titled ''A Minute with Bill Good'' was introduced on September 8 2015 with host
Bill Good
Bill Good Jr. (born 1945) is a Canadian television personality and host of talk radio shows, all in the province of British Columbia. After 21 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, first doing radio before moving to Television news, ...
.
On June 23, 2016, CKWX began simulcasting on the
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
subchannel of
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
CJAX-FM
CJAX-FM is a Canadian radio station in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. Owned by Rogers Sports & Media, it broadcasts an adult hits format branded as ''Jack 96.9''. It broadcasts at 96.9 MHz on the FM band with an effect ...
-
HD2.
In June 2021, Rogers announced that it would rebrand CKWX and its other all-news radio stations under the
CityNews
''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...
brand beginning October 18, 2021. The radio station's website is co-branded with CityNews, and includes reporting from
Citytv Vancouver's newscasts.
As of mid-2021, the host line-up is Terry Schintz and Amanda Wawryk (mornings), Tim James and Kurtis Doering (middays), John Ackermann and Ria Renouf (afternoons), and Ben Wilson and Bailey Nicholson (evenings).
Shortwave CKFX
For listeners in remote areas of British Columbia and the
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
, CKWX rebroadcast on a 10-watt
shortwave radio
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
transmitter at 6.08 MHz. The license for CKFX was deleted on June 8, 2007, after an extended
silence
Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...
.
CRTC broadcasting decision 2007-171
deleting silent shortwave transmitter CKFX at licensee's request The CKFX call letters are now on an FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
station in North Bay.
The shortwave service had been in operation since 1929 and had been inherited from CKFC. The shortwave outlet was intended to serve coastal communities that had no existing AM service, in particular Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...
and upper Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
. A 10-watt transmitter (output power) and new antenna sent the CKFX signal in a north westerly direction. CKFX operated in the 49-metre band at 6.08 MHz.
References
External links
*
CKWX Top 40 surveys - 1957-1962
*
Radio Locator information for CKWX
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ckwx
Kwx
Kwx
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Radio stations established in 1923
1923 establishments in British Columbia
Clear-channel radio stations