CKCV-AM

CKCV received a commercial radio licence and began operations on July 5, operating on a frequency of 880 kHz with 50 watts of power.

CKCV switched to 600 kHz with 50 watts.

CKCV changed back to 880 kHz with 50 watts. The owner was G.A. Vandry.

CKCV switched again from 880 to 1310 kHz. 

CKCV was listed as operating on 1310 kHz with power of 100 watts. It was owned by CKCV Ltd., affiliated with the CBC, and had studios at 142 St. John.

The Association of Independent Stations of the Province of Quebec was formed at the end of January, with CKAC, CHLP and CFCF Montreal; CHRC and CKCV Quebec; CKCH Hull; CJBR Rimouski; CHNC New Carlisle; CHLT Sherbrooke; CHLN Trois-Rivieres; and CKRN Rouyn as members. Phil Lalonde of CKAC was elected president; Narcisse Thivierge, CHRC, vice-president; Alex Dupont, CKCH and Marcel Lefebvre, CHLP, directors.

Leon Baldwin left CKCV for the engineering department at CBV.

Under the Havana Treaty, CKCV moved from 1310 to 1340 kHz (Class IV) on March 29. Power was 100 watts.

CKCV called itself “The Voice of French Canada”.

On May 15, CKCV began providing newscasts from material supplied by a newly installed Press News teletype.

CBC Trans-Canada Supplementary stations: CKCV, CKOC, CKLW, CJIC, CKCK, CFAR, CFGP, CKLN Nelson. CBC Dominion Supplementary Stations: CKCV, CKTB, CHML, CKLW, CKPC, CKCR, CKNX, CJCS, CFOS. On June 4 Press News inaugurated a radio news service in French to stations in Quebec and Ontario (including CKCV). The service was based on the regular PN English service, translated and then transmitted from the Canadian Press bureau in Montreal. Paul LaPage was manager and Lucien Bernier was commercial manager.

The CKCV transmitter was on St. Louis Road in Ste. Foye. Studios were at 142 St. John. Owner was CKCV Ltd. and the station was noted as being affiliated with the CBC Trans-Canada network. Schedule: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., 10 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sundays. CKCV was now operating with a thousand watts on 1280 kHz. The station was non-directional during the day but used a directional antenna pattern at night to cover the St. Lawrence Valley.

CKCV applied for an FM licence and received approval for such. CKCV applied for a 250 watt AM station at Quebec City to operate in English. Goodwill Broadcasters applied for the same thing. The Goodwill application was approved.

Paul LePage was manager and St. Georges Cote was commercial manager.

CKCV 1280 kHz (1,000 watts) was noted operating with a night-time directional pattern. In the past, the CBC Board had approved the formation of a second French radio network – the French Radio Association Ltd. The six stations in the network were now (late 1950) broadcasting commercials for a dozen national sponsors. The stations were CKVL Verdun, CKCV Quebec, CHLT Sherbrooke, CHEF Granby, CJSO Sorel and CHLN Trois-Rivieres. There were also two supplementary stations – CHRL Roberval and CHGB La Pocatiere. The network signed its first commercial contract in October of 1948. In 1949, the group broadcast 44 hours of commercial programming and 132 1/2 hours of sustaining programs.

Slogan: The most progressive station in Quebec City.

Slogan: CKCV listeners have buying power. A joint application by Famous Players Canadian Corp. and radio stations CHRC, CJNT and CKCV, for a television station at Quebec City was filed. The CBC Board of Governors approved the application. Ben Nadeau left CKCV for CJQC. Approval was given for the transfer of 15 common shares in CKCV Ltee.

NABET was certified as bargaining agent for the employess of CHRC and CKCV. Rene Collard was in the news department.

Marcel Leboeuf was Program Director of CKCV.

By this time, CKCV had increased power to 5,000 watts and was operating with a single directional pattern (day and night). It was now noted as being a Supplementary B CBC Dominion affiliate. CKCV Ltee. was owned at this time by G. Pratte 42.2%, H. Baribeau 28.1%, P. LePage 8.4%, 3 Shareholders 21.3%. Gaston Pratte was president of the company and Paul Lepage was CKCV’s manager. Jean Pouliot was sports director. CKCV was a member of the French Radio Association.

Print ad relating to power increase: More power, coverage, listeners. Now 5000 watts. The station that means more business for you. CKCV Quebec City.

Ad: CKCV opens the doors to modern Old Quebec. Population: 425,000. Radius: 25 miles. The Board of Broadcast Governors deferred CKCV’s application for a power boost to 10,000 watts.

The CBC’s Trans-Canada and Dominion networks were consolidated into a single service. CKCV had been a Supplementary B affiliate of the Dominion network while CFOM was the Trans-Canada station. Following the network merger, CFOM remained the CBC English station in Quebec City. CKCV became an independent.

CKCV 1280 was now operating with a power of 10,000 day and 5,000 watts night. Three towers were used and CKCV had different directional patterns for day and night operation. CKCV Ltee. now had studios and offices at 978 John Street.

Gaston Pratte was president of what was now CKCV (Quebec) Ltee. Magella Alain was CKCV’s manager.

Marcel Roussell was on-air.

On November 1, The Service des Nouvelles Sonores de Telemedia (SNS) began providing French language voice service to CKAC, CKCV, CKCH, CHLN and CHLT. Stations were joined together by CN-CP Broadband.

On March 25, CKCV had its licence renewed to March 31, 1973. There were concerns over common ownership with CHRC, and it was noted that the association of the shareholders of CHRC in CKCV started in the 1930s when the station was in financial difficulties. Programming and management of both stations had been separate. However, the ownership policy opposed the granting of two AM licences to the same interests in the same market and same language.

Approval was granted December 14 for the transfer of shares in CKCV Ltee from Belleau, Auger Ltee and Gaston Pratte to Claude Pratte. The corporate name would now be CKCV (Quebec) Ltee.

On March 22, approval was given for the transfer of shares in CKCV (Quebec) Ltee from Baribeau & Fils Inc., Claude Pratte, the estate of Paul Lepage and Jacques Dionne to Richard Drouin, Benoit Roberge, Jocelyne Grimard Roberge and Marthe Roberge Drouin. There would no longer be common ownership with CHRC.

On November 21, the sale of CKCV (Quebec) Ltee from Richard Drouin, Benoit Roberge, Jocelyne Roberge and Marthe Drouin to Telmed Ltee (Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien) was approved.

On March 1, CKCV (Quebec) Ltee. was denied an FM licence.

On May 16, Telmed Ltee, CKCV (Quebec) Ltee, CKAC Ltee, CHLT Radio Sherbrooke Ltee, Metro-Media Communications (1977) Ltee and Telemedia Communications Ltee received approval to amalgamate under the name of Telemedia Communications Ltee., a wholly owned subsidiary of Beaudem Ltee. Telemedia would then become the direct licensee of the six AM and three FM stations it already controlled in Quebec.

CKCV was authorized to move its antenna site from Saint-David to Saint-Augustin and to increase power to 50,000 watts full-time, from 10,000 watts day and 5,000 watts night. Six towers would be used at the new site with different day and night directional patterns.

Telemedia opened CITF-FM.

In June, due to numerous complaints about interference in its high intensity coverage areas, CKCV was forced to reduce its power to 10,000 watts.

CKCV was still operating at 10,000 watts rather than the authorized 50,000. The station was granted the power increase in 1980. It built a new 50,000 watt antenna site. The increase to 50,000 watts resulted in numerous complaints about interference. Even with the power reduced to 10,000 watts, the nearby town of Cap-Rouge told the CRTC it wanted CKCV’s antenna to be dismantled altogether. CKCV was now assessing alternative antenna sites to allow for operation at 50,000 watts.

On February 18, the CRTC approved the application for authority for Les Entreprises Télémédia Inc. to acquire the assets of CKCV Quebec from Télémédia Communications Inc. The licence would expire December 31, 1987. The Commission noted that this application followed an inter-corporate transaction between two wholly-owned subsidiaries of La Corporation Télémédia and that approval of this application did not involve any change of control. The new licensee, as the former one, was a company controlled indirectly by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien and his family. The Commission also approved the application to relocate the transmitter from Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures to Saint-David, Quebec, and to reduce the power from 50,000 watts to 10,000 watts (daytime) and 5,000 watts (night-time). This application followed Decision CRTC 85-1118 in which the Commission renewed the licence for CKCV to December 31, 1987 and requested the licensee to continue to work with the Department of Communications to find a solution to the interference problems resulting from the relocation of its antenna to Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures and an increase in the station’s power to 50,000 watts, following which it was to submit an application to amend its licence accordingly. The Commission noted that, with respect to the application at hand, DOC had notified the CRTC of its intent to issue a technical certificate. The Commission noted the intervention submitted by the Town of Cap-Rouge requesting that the relocation of the antenna site be completed no later than July 1, 1987. The Commission had considered the arguments put forward by the licensee in its reply to the intervention, and expected the licensee to take all the necessary steps to ensure that the antenna site was relocated as quickly as possible. CKCV’s licence was renewed to August 31, 1993. The CRTC ruled the station was in compliance with Canadian content and French-language vocal requirements and would no longer be required to submit weekly reports.

On April 26, the CRTC approved the application by Télémédia Communications Inc. for authority to acquire the assets of CKCV Quebec City from Télémédia Enterprises Inc. The licence would expire August 31, 1993. In approving this application, the Commission took into account the fact that both Télémédia Enterprises Inc. and Télémédia Communications Inc. were wholly-owned subsidiaries of Télémédia Corporation. The Commission noted that this application consisted of an inter-company reorganization which did not entail any change in the control, programming or management of the station. Telemedia Communications announced plans to close CKCV so the company could acquire competitor CHRC. Jacques Duhamel, president and CEO of CHRC, and his partners, would retain ownership of CHOI-FM. Telemedia would keep CITF-FM. Claude Beaudoin, president of Telemedia, said his company had pumped at least $12 million into CKCV over the last ten years in an attempt to return the 64 year old station to profitability. Telemedia closed CKCV in November (some say September 21) upon striking the deal for CHRC. (In 1992, the CRTC turned down Telemedia’s application for the purchase of CHRC)