CJCS-FM

Amateur station 10AK began broadcasting on 250 metres.

10AK changed to 1200 kHz with 15 watts of power.

Roy H. Thomson purchased the station.

The call letters changed to CJCS.

CJCS is listed as being on 1210 kHz with 50 watts owned by M.I. Higgens, at 151 Ontario Street.

F. M. Squires left CJCS to become manager of CKWX Vancouver. Stan Tapley, assistant manager of CJCS was appointed manager of the station, replacing Squires. A going away party was held for Squires in Toronto on January 17. Squires returned to CJCS later in the year.

Under the Havana Treaty, CJCS moved from 1210 to 1240 kHz (Class IV) on March 29. Power was 50 watts.

CJCS is listed at 1240 kHz, 50 watts owned by Frank M. Squires. 

CBC Dominion Supplementary Stations: CKCV, CKTB, CHML, CKLW, CKPC, CKCR, CKNX, CJCS, CFOS.

S.E. Tapley was manager. Jack Stauffer, CJCS’s engineer, returned from overseas.

CJCS increased power to 100 watts.

On May 25, the station’s application to increase power to 1,000 watts was deferred.

CJCS 1240 kHz, power increased to 250 watts. CBC Dominion network affiliate, studios in the Windsor Hotel. Transmitter with one 132foot tower. Schedule: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.

Rod Clark left CJCS to become chief operator at the new CKOX in Woodstock.

Ken Dougan and Jim Essex left CJCS for CKBW in Bridgewater. Dougan became that station’s commercial manager and Essex took up the position of chief engineer.

CJCS received approval to operate an FM station.

Announcer Harold Wordell left CJCS for the new CFCA-FM in Kitchener. Frank Squires was manager and Stan Tapley was commercial manager.

Slogan: CJCS Sells in Stratford.

Future CBC-TV and CTV news anchor Lloyd Robertson began his broadcasting career at CJCS. Stratford was his hometown.

The station was purchased in March by Countryside Holdings (G. N. MacKenzie, A. Rogers & Group) 

Bill Inkol did sports at CJCS. Alex Smith was a newscaster. 

Ownership of CJCS Limited: F. M. Squires, Sr. 66.6%, F. M. Squires, Jr. 33.3%, Carol E. Squires 0.1%.

Frank M. Squires was president of the company. Stan E. Tapley was manager and commercial manager of CJCS. Bill Inkol was program and sports director. Bruce Schulthies was news director.

CJCS moved to 125 Ontario St., the transmitter remaining at the same site, southeast corner of Lot 2, Concession 4, Downie Township, Perth County. 

CJCS increased power to 500 watts day / 250 watts night (full-time, non-directional) using one 132 foot tower at the same site.

CJCS increased daytime power to 500 watts. Night-time power remained at 250 watts. Non-directional operation continued from the same tower. 

The Trans-Canada and Dominion networks were merged in to a single CBC radio service. After the consolidation, CJCS remained a CBC affiliate.

The station was purchased in March by Eastern Broadcasting co. Ltd. (Jack W. Schoone, J. Irving Zucker and Gerald W. Kennedy, , R.S. Engle)

G. N. Mackenzie was president of the company. Stan E. Tapley was manager and commercial manager. Brian Thomas was program and news director. Jack Jacobs was chief announcer and morning man. He was also sports and farm director.

Countryside Stations slogan: Home town radio – specializing in home town reporting, home town entertaining, home town interest, home town buying.

Eastern Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (85%) and Gordon V. Marratto (15%) received approval to acquire CKOX Woodstock (100%), CJCS Stratford (100%), CFOR Orillia (100%), CKAR Huntsville and Parry Sound (87.9%) and CKMP Midland (51%) from Countryside Holdings Ltd. and T. G. Ferris. Eastern owns stations in the Maritimes and has a major interest in the Northern Broadcasting group in northern Ontario. Eastern Broadcasting Co. Ltd. is owned by Jack W. Schoone, J. Irving Zucker, and Gerald W. Kennedy. The CRTC noted that the new owners are to improve the technical quality and overall performance of the stations, appointing at least one local director for each. The sations would continue to operate under the Countryside banner. CJCS had operated under the CJCS Ltd. name.

Telemedia Communications Ontario Inc. purchased CJCS from Countryside (Eastern) in March.

CJCS was given approval to disaffiliate from the CBC.

On February 28, approval was given for the transfer of CJCS Ltd. (CJCS Stratford), Midland-Penetang Broadcasting Ltd. (CKMP Midland), and Orillia Broadcasting Ltd. (CFOR Orillia) by Ranger Communications Ltd., and for the transfer of CKGB/CFTI-FM (Timmins Broadcasting Ltd.) Timmins and CFCH/CKAT-FM (Northern Ontario Broadcasting Ltd.) North Bay by Northern Broadcast Management Ltd. (owned by Eastern Broadcasting), to 93238 Canada Inc. 93238 was indirectly controlled by Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien. He controlled Telemedia Communications. Other shareholders in 93238 Canada Inc. were Ralph Burford (20%) and Keith Campbell (15%). Five per-cent of the shares were issued to senior officers. Keith Campbell was president of the new company, which promised to upgrade news service on the stations and make use of a Telemedia mobile unit to record local talent. Ranger also sold CKDK Woodstock to Gordon V. Marratto. 

Announcers included, Dave Kuskoff, Rob Wreford, Gord Tate, Norm Borg, and Doug Pearn.

Following the purchase by Telemedia of Foster Hewitt’s CKFH, and its renaming to CJCL, the Toronto station began feeding newscasts four times a day to the other Telemedia Ontario stations, while exchanging news with the company’s Quebec network.

With the addition of the Ontario stations, Telemedia claimed to be the world’s largest privately-owned broadcast group. President of the Ontario group of stations was John Van de Kamer. Leslie Sole was vice president of programming (Ontario), and Gary Hooper was in charge of engineering for Telemedia Ontario.

On February 13, the CRTC approved the application by Telemedia Communications Inc. for a licence for an English-language radio network that included CJCS, for the purpose of broadcasting the hockey games of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1983-84 season of the National Hockey League. 

Paul Hill was heard on CJCS.

Doug Lester was news director at CJCS.

Mark Wiskin was morning man.

Doug Ackhurst was promoted to group vice-president responsible for CJCS Stratford, CKSL-CIQM London and CJCL Toronto. Gord Hume was appointed vice-president. 

Lynn Rotell was on-air at the station.

On May 11, Telemedia was unsuccessful in its bid to convert CJCS to the FM band. The proposal would have had CJCS operating with a Group 1 pop/soft rock format on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and effective radiated power of 3,000 watts. CJCS told the CRTC that its 1240 kHz frequency was saddled with severe technical limitations, especially at night, and that a switch to FM was the best solution. The Commission noted that since 1988 the station had increased audience share from 8% to 12% and continued to operate at a profit. The CRTC also said that the frequency chosen would be underutilized and that another channel should be considered. 

Doug Lester was named news director of the year by the 26-station Telemedia radio group. He had been news director at CJCS for twelve years.

At the end of November, Telemedia Inc. ended its first quarter – its best first quarter in its history. The company noted that its only profitable AM station in Ontario was CJCS.

On June 25, the CRTC approved the sale of 80.1% of CJCS from Telemedia Communications Inc. to Radio Inc. (General Manager, Steven Rae). Telemedia continued to hold a 19.9% interest. 

Kori Skinner was at CJCS. 

Jim Craig joined CJCS as program director/morning Show host. He succeeded Mark Philbin who moved to CJOJ-FM Belleville as program director. Eddie Matthews became new PD and morning show host. He’d been with CJBK in London. 

CJCS celebrated its 75th anniversary. Some of the “names” that had worked at the station over the years: CTV anchor Lloyd Robertson and BCTV Vancouver anchor Tony Parsons.

CJCS began broadcasting to the world in April, via the internet.

On December 20, Rae Communications Inc. was given approval to purchase the remaining 19.9% interest in Raedio Inc. (CJCS) still held by Telemedia Communications.  Raedio Inc. was now 100% owned by Steve & Carolyn Rae.

On August 8 the CRTC renewed CJCS’s licence until August 31. 2010. The licence will be subject to the conditions set out in New licence form for commercial radio stations, Public Notice CRTC 1999-137, 24 August 1999, as well as to the following condition of licence: The licensee shall, as an exception to the percentage of Canadian musical selections set out in sections 2.2(8) and 2.2(9) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), in any broadcast week where at least 90% of musical selections from content category 2 that it broadcasts are selections released before 1 January 1981: in that broadcast week, devote 30% or more of its musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety; and between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., in the period beginning on Monday of that week and ending on Friday of the same broadcast week, devote 30% or more of its musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety.

On November 30, the CRTC renewed CJCS’s licence until August 31, 2017.

On February 21, the CRTC approved the application by Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. for authority to acquire, from Raedio Inc., the assets of CJCS and CHGK-FM Stratford. Haliburton was controlled by Christopher Grossman through his ownership and control of Beaumaris Group Inc., Haliburton’s controlling shareholder.

Braden Doerr was the new general manager at CJCS and CHGK-FM, recently aquired byHaliburton Broadcasting. Doerr had been general manager of Astral Media Radio London, most recently. He began his career over 30 years ago at CJCS. News director Kirk Dickson was released upon Haiburton’s purchase closing.

On October 19, the CRTC approved the application by Vista Radio Ltd. for authority to acquire from Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. the assets of Haliburton’s AM and FM radio stations and their transmitters located in Bancroft, Barry’s Bay, Bolton, Bracebridge, Caledon, Cochrane, Elliot Lake, Espanola, Fort Erie, Haldimand, Haliburton, Hearst, Huntsville, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Kemptville, Niagara Falls, North Bay, Parry Sound, Prescott, St. Catharines, Stratford, Sturgeon Falls and Timmins. Vista was a corporation controlled by Westerkirk Capital Inc., in turn controlled by Thompson Investments Limited. CJCS was among the stations acquired by Vista.

Braden Doerr, the General Manager of CJCS/FM 107.7 retired at the end of March. The new GM/General Sales Manager was Alex Stephens, formerly with Astral Radio Toronto where he was in sales. Doerr’s career ended where it began, at CJCS, where he was an announcer. From there, he moved to be Program Director at CFOR Orillia, GM at CFCH North Bay, and the launch of CFBG Bracebridge before moving to Telemedia London where he was market manager for CJBK/BX93/Q97.5 as well as continuing as VP/GM of regional broadcasting and GM at CICX-FM Orillia. A little later, he became responsible for Telemedia’s London, Hamilton, and St. Catharines stations. He retired from that position at the end of February, 2009 and took a couple of years off before returning, in 2011, to Stratford where he became GM of Haliburton Broadcasting’s recent acquisition, CJCS/CHGK-FM, now owned by Vista Radio. 

Vista Radio received CRTC approval on August 10 to move CJCS from AM to FM, operating on 107.1 MHz with average ERP of 900 watts (maximum of 4,000 watts and EHAAT of 32.6 meteres). The licence would expire on August 31, 2021. Vista proposed to change the format from Oldies to Rock music for male listeners aged 25 and older. CJCS-FM would broadcast 126 hours of programming each broadcast week, including at least 100 hours of local programming. At least 5 hours and 30 minutes each broadcast week would be devoted to newscasts, including 55 minutes each weekday and 28 minutes on Saturday and Sunday of news, weather, sports and traffic information. The station would also provide information on local community events and activities and daily agricultural reports, as well as support emerging rock artists by means of interviews, live in-studio performances, on-air promotions and the station’s website.

George Barr died August 24 at age 83. He worked at CFCH North Bay and was VP of sales for CFRB for 21 years. He then became GM of CJCS for 12 years, retiring in October of 1992.

Juice FM (CJCS) launched August 3. The station’s branding was: 107.1 Juice FM – Stratford’s Greatest Hits.

CJCS-AM 1240 left the air at 1:00 p.m., November 8, having been replaced by an FM signal.

In January, Eddie Matthews retired from 107.1 Juice FM after 20 years with the station. He left to become GM of the Stratford and District Chamber of Commerce. Matthews had been in radio for 40 years, having also worked at CHGK Stratford, CJBK and CFPL-FM London.