CKKS-FM

On March 20, the CRTC approved the applications by Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd. for broadcasting licences for an English-language joint FM radio station at Chilliwack on the frequency 107.5 MHz (channel 298A) with an effective radiated power of 640 watts, and for a rebroadcaster of this station in Abbotsford on frequency 104.9 MHz (channel 285B) with an effective radiated power of 16,000 watts. The Commission issued licences expiring September 30, 1990. The Commission denied the application by Mountain FM Radio Ltd. for a licence to operate an English-language FM radio station at North Vancouver on the frequency 104.9 MHz. This application was technically mutually exclusive with Fraser Valley’s application to serve Abbotsford. In selecting Fraser Valley, the Commission took into consideration the applicant’s long-standing local broadcasting experience, as licensee of CHWK Chilliwack and CFVR Abbotsford, and the extensive amount of local news and public affairs programming proposed. The licensee emphasized that its proposal was not designed to serve listeners in Vancouver, but “to serve people who live in the Fraser Valley” with a locally-oriented FM service. It also examined the results of a market study submitted by the applicant which indicated that there was a demand in the area for programming aimed at listeners 35 and over, and that the necessary resources existed to support such a service. Fraser Valley’s committed to broadcast 15 hours and 22 minutes per week of Enrichment material, in such presentations as “Fraser Valley Forum” a 90-minute weekday magazine-style program and “The Report”, a 30-minute weekday feature. It would also present 4 hours 55 minutes of News programming per week from fully operational newsrooms in both Chilliwack and Abbotsford. Fraser Valley indicated that it would be employing two full-time and one part-time news staff for the FM operations which would be supported by the 8 full-time and 3 part-time employees already in place for its AM operations. 

CKSR-FM Chilliwack and CFSR-FM Abbotsford signed on the air on October 1 with an adult contemporary/easy listening mix, identifying as “STAR-FM”.  For the new FM stations, Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd. operated under the name STAR-FM Radio Inc.

On July 15, the CRTC approved application by STAR-FM Radio Inc. to relocate its Abbotsford transmitter to the CBC tower at Mount Seymour (Vancouver) and to reduce effective radiated power from 16,000 to 15,000 watts; and by adding a small fill-in transmitter at the current Abbotsford site operating with an effective radiated power of 890 watts.  Both transmitters were to operate on 104.9 MHz.

On June 18, CFSR-FM-1 Abbotsford was granted a change of frequency from 104.9 to 92.5 MHz.  The Vancouver (Mt. Seymour) transmitter was to remain on 104.9.  On August 18, “STAR-FM” Vancouver began broadcasting from Mt. Seymour on 104.9 (CFSR-FM) and from Abbotsford on 92.5 (CFSR-FM-1).

Rogers Broadcasting moved to acquire Bill Coombes’ Fraser Valley Radio Group (CHWK/CKSR-FM Chilliwack, CKGO Hope, and CKMA Abbotsford). While the AM’s were geared to a local presence, STAR-FM (CKSR) had three transmitters that had the potential of reaching two million people in the lower mainland. Coombes said he was delighted with the sale and that Rogers was a perfect fit.

In August, Rogers Radio (British Columbia) Ltd. (division of Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.) acquired STAR-FM Radio Inc., and Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd.

On December 17, CFSR-FM Vancouver was granted a power decrease, from 15,000 to 14,000 watts (31,000 watts peak).

On December 31 at 5:00 p.m., “STAR-FM” became “X-FM” with a New Rock Alternative format.

In January, to conform to its new “X-FM” branding, CKSR-FM Chilliwack, CFSR-FM Vancouver and CFSR-FM-1 Abbotsford became CKVX-FM Chilliwack, CKVX-FM-1 Abbotsford and CKVX-FM-2 Vancouver.

On November 20, the CRTC approved the application to delete CKVX-FM’s condition of licence requiring that all of the station’s permanent studio facilities be located outside of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The station had originally been licensed to offer a locally oriented radio service to audiences in the Fraser Valley.  As the majority of its listeners were tuned to the 104.9 Vancouver rebroadcaster, the station used “104.9” in most of its on-air identifications.

On August 31 Rogers’ Fraser Valley AM stations (CHWK Chilliwack, CFVR Abbotsford and CKIS Hope) moved to the FM dial as CKSR-FM 98.3 Chilliwack, CFSR-FM 107.1 Abbotsford and rebroadcaster CKIS-FM 100.5 Hope, using the old “STAR-FM” name previously used by CKVX-FM before its call letter and format change.

On September 4, CKVX-FM Chilliwack was given approval to decrease effective radiated power from 640 to 303 watts with a change to a directional antenna.  The resultant peak ERP remained the same at 640 watts.  The change was made in mid December.

On October 29, CKVX-FM-1 Abbotsford was granted a power increase, from 290 to 540 watts (2600 watts peak) with a change to a directional antenna.

Rogers’ Abbotsford stations CKVX-FM-1 “X-FM” and CFSR-FM “STAR-FM” swapped frequencies at the end of April putting CKVX-FM-1 on 107.1 and CFSR-FM on 92.5.   On June 20 the two stations returned to their previous frequencies.

On May 7, Rogers Radio (British Columbia) Ltd. was given approval to relocate its transmitter CKVX-FM-2 Vancouver to the Rogers Tower from the CBC Tower on Mount Seymour and increase effective radiated power from 14,000 to 14,100 watts (31,000 watts peak).

The corporate name changed from Rogers Radio (British Columbia) Ltd. to Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.

On November 19 at 11:30 a.m., CKVX-FM Chilliwack, along with its Abbotsford and Vancouver transmitters dropped its modern rock format to become “Christmas FM” with an all-Christmas music format amidst rumours of a format change to come at the end of the holiday season.
 
On December 26 at noon, “Christmas FM” became “104.9 Clear FM”.  The format changed to a mix of light adult contemporary and smooth jazz.

In early April, CKVX-FM 107.5 Chilliwack became CKCL-FM (the CL in the calls for “Clear”) with rebroadcasters CKCL-FM-1 92.5 Abbotsford and CKCL-FM-2 104.9 Vancouver.  As before, the station continued to identify on-air with the Vancouver rebroadcaster’s 104.9 frequency.

On May 27 the CRTC approved application to change the authorized contours of CKCL-FM-2 Vancouver, by increasing the average effective radiated power from 14,100 watts to 16,100 watts.  The licensee indicated that the increase in power was the result of technical changes to the antenna system to improve its service in the downtown core of Vancouver.

On August 31, the station announced that after a seven-year hiatus, Fred Latremouille and Cathy Baldazzi were returning to the city’s morning radio waves effective Tuesday, September 5 at 5:30 a.m.  The duo had been very popular hosting mornings at sister station “KISS-FM” CKKS-FM (later “JACK” CKLG-FM) during most of the 1990s, with Latremouille’s Vancouver broadcast history dating back to the early 1960s.  CKCL-FM’s mix of light jazz and adult contemporary music, which had been running since late 2003, came to an end with the Labour Day weekend of uninterrupted “Favourites of Yesterday and Today” featuring Adult Contemporary Hits from 1960s-2000s.  With the format change, the station continued to identify as “104.9, Clear-FM”. 

On May 5, 2007 the CRTC approved the licence renewal for CKCL-FM expiring August 31, 2011 with some specific conditions.  They included a station ID which made specific reference to the frequency and location of the Chilliwack transmitter once every half hour; refraining from identifying on a basis that included exclusive reference to Vancouver; coverage of local news, sports and events of direct and particular relevance to the Fraser Valley, in particular Chilliwack, and inclusion in each traffic and weather report of a specific reference to the areas the station was licensed to serve.  The renewal conditions were in response to the Commission receiving a number of complaints alleging that Rogers had altered the orientation of the Chilliwack station, to focus exclusively on the Vancouver market.

At 2 p.m. on September 26, CKCL-FM made another positioning and format flip from “Clear FM” to “FM 104.9 – The Greatest Hits of All Time”. Program Director David Larsen stated the new format was, “Very familiar, very up tempo, a sing-along, fun kind of station and the music will be familiar immediately.” He added that there would be hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s from artists such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes and Earth Wind and Fire. The last song played was “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan, followed by promotions for the new format and “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles and “The Loco-Motion” by Grand Funk Railroad.

Early on the morning of December 2nd, Ted Rogers, founder and former Chief Executive of Rogers Communications, owners of CKCL-FM, died at his home in Toronto, after having suffered from congestive heart failure for some time.

On August 28, the CRTC renewed the transitional digital radio licence of CKCL-DR-1.

Former CHUM & Newcap program director Murray Brookshaw was now the PD at Rogers’ 104.9 FM (CKCL) and JACK FM Vancouver.

In November, CKCL (fm 104.9) adopted a new name and logo. The station was now known as FUN FM, Vancouver’s Greatest Hits. On air staff included Scott Miller 6am-noon, Kelly Latremouille noon-6pm and Red Robinson Sundays 8am-2pm.

Phil Evans was the new Promotion Director at Rogers Radio Vancouver (96.9 Jack FM/News 1130/104.9 FunFM). Also at Vancouver cluster, News Director Jacquie Donaldson was no longer with the stations.

In late November CKCL-FM 104.9 was assigned the call sign CFUN-FM by Industry Canada. CKCL started identifying as Fun FM on November 12, but did not change the call letters until a few weeks later. For many years the CFUN call letters had been used by AM 1410 in Vancouver which was now assigned the CFTE calls. CKCL-FM-1 (92.5 MHz) Abbotsford became CFUN-FM-1 and CKCL-FM-2 (104.9 MHz) Vancouver became CFUN-FM-2. 

Kelly Latremouille & Pam Stevens were named the new morning team for 104.9 FUN FM, starting August 16. 

Diana Davies was the new Retail Sales Manager at Jack/fun FM.

Tarzan Dan (Freeman) returned to Vancouver as afternoon drive host on CFUN-FM (104.9 FUN FM). He had been with CHSU-FM in Kelowna.

Tarzan Dan, Red Robinson, Kelly Latremouille and Pam Stevens also left the station. The moves were the result of the station’s August 17 (8:35 a.m.) change in format from Oldies/Greatest Hits (FUN FM) to Top 40/ Contemporary Hits (SONiC 107.5 Chilliwack, 92.5 Abbotsford, 104.9 Vancouver). Although the studios in Vancouver serve all three stations, the originating station was, for CRTC purposes, 107.5 Chilliwack. The launch was followed by four to six weeks featuring 10,000 songs in a row, with no commercials. 

Tarzan Dan, who got caught in the format flip at Rogers CFUN, from Greatest Hits to SONiC (Top 40), remained with the company. This time as morning host at Jack FM Victoria. Red Robinson wasn’t out of work long after the FUN-FM rebranding. Astral Media’s AM 650, which aired ’50s, ’60s and ’70s Rock, brought him back. Robinson was the station’s morning show host from 1993 to 2000. His weekly show began on CISL Sunday, September 4. Jeremy “DJ NoLuv” Slattery joined SONiC as Music Director and Assistant Program Director. Most recently, Slattery was MD/APD at Z103 Halifax.

On August 31, the CRTC renewed the licence for CFUN-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CFUN-FM-1 Abbotsford and CFUN-FM-2 Vancouver to August 31, 2012. The Commission also issued mandatory orders requiring the licensee to comply with its conditions of licence relating to local programming. The Commission denied the licensee’s request to amend its condition of licence relating to local coverage. Monitoring of CFUN-FM’s programming by Commission staff revealed that the station identifications including specific reference to the location of the Chilliwack transmitter were not broadcast at least once every half hour for some segments during the period examined, namely from 18 to 24 April 2010. This monitoring also showed that the principal identification slogan for the station, used several times every hour, was referring to its Vancouver transmitter (e.g. ‘‘104.9 FUN-FM Vancouver’s greatest hits” and ‘‘From the greatest city in the world this is CFUN-FM Vancouver’s greatest hits 104.9 FUN-FM”). Monitoring for the period examined revealed that one local item relating to Abbotsford was broadcast during each of the five weekly morning news bulletins. No such news was broadcast during the weekend. Further, on Monday, 19 April 2010, no coverage of any sports or other local events of direct and particular relevance to Chilliwack or the neighbouring areas of the Fraser Valley, other than an entertainment event taking place in Langley, was broadcast. Commission monitoring revealed that the weather reports aired after 10 a.m. referred exclusively to Vancouver. The Commission noted that the reasons provided by Rogers to explain its non-compliance with its conditions of licence consisted of a mix of computer issues, human error and apparent misunderstanding of its conditions of licence. The Commission considered that the conditions of licence imposed as part of the station’s last renewal in 2007 and the intention behind them were very clear. By not respecting the above-noted conditions of licence during the current licence term, the Commission is of the view that Rogers has again failed to demonstrate that CFUN-FM’s programming is mainly directed to Chilliwack and the Fraser valley, not Vancouver.

On August 31, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CFUN-DR-1 Vancouver to April 30, 2012. 

The on-air line-up for SONiC Nation was completed: Ryder, from WIRED 96.3 FM Saskatoon was the morning show host. Kenny Jones, formerly of Country 107.1 Abbotsford, was the afternoon drive host. Red was doing middays and weekends, moving from Flow 93.5 Toronto. Meredith Geddes, also middays and weekends, joined from Free FM London. Jeremy “DJ NoLuv” Slattery was SONiC’s Music Director and Club Specialist. He had been with Z103 Halifax. Adam Milne, a.k.a. DJ Trouble rounded out the team in the evenings. He had been with The Bounce Edmonton.

Dean Fox, chief engineer at Rogers Radio Victoria, was named regional engineering manager for B.C. and moved to Vancouver at the beginning of July. With Rogers since 1996, Fox succeeded Rick Dal Farra who moved to Rogers Radio Toronto at the beginning of June. 

On June 22, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CFUN-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CFUN-FM-1 Abbotsford and CFUN-FM-2 Vancouver, until November 30, 2012.

Ryder left SONiC 107.5 to become morning show host at HOT 107 Edmonton.

In September, SONiC (107.5 FM in Chilliwack, 92.5 FM in Abbotsford, 104.9 FM Vancouver) launched its highly anticipated new morning show, The Kid Carson Show. At the helm was one of Vancouver’s most popular radio hosts, Kid Carson, along with co-hosts Randi Chase, Chelsea Hobbis, and Andrew Sosa (a.k.a. Andrew the Intern). The Kid Carson Show was heard weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. 

On October 22, the CRTC renewed the licence of CFUN-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CFUN-FM-1 Abbotsford and CFUN-FM-2 Vancouver to August 31, 2019. The Commission denied the licensee’s request to amend its condition of licence relating to local coverage, but approved the licensee’s request to amend its condition of licence relating to station identification.

Melanie Last was no longer creative director at Rogers Radio Vancouver. While a successor had yet to be determined, the new creative services director would oversee all Rogers writing and production staffs in B.C.

John Masecar became creative services manager for the Rogers BC radio stations April 1. Most recently, he was with Astral Radio Vancouver and, before that, Astral/Standard Radio Toronto.

CFUN, CFUN-FM-1 and CFUN-FM-2 changed branding from SONIC FM to KISS RADIO. 

In March, CFUN Chilliwack became CKKS, CFUN-FM-1 Abbottsford became CKKS-FM-1 and CFUN-FM-2 Vancouver became CKKS-FM-2.

On April 29, the CRTC approved CFUN’s application to relocate the transmitter ofCIPN-FM Pender Harbour, and decrease EHAAT from 297.0 to 268.1 metres.

In the fall, CKKS-FM proclaimed itself the first fully interactive radio station in the country, giving listeners the power to choose what songs go to air through a new online voting system via the station’s website and mobile app. Songs on the playlist could be pushed up and down in real time through user votes, with the most popular songs going to air.