CIRX-FM

CJCI 620 opened its FM station (94.3 MHz) on October 1.

The station was granted a rebroadcast transmitter at Vanderhoof.

Cariboo Central Interior Radio Inc. was given approval to relocate  CIBC-FM’s transmitter from Tabor Minor, east of Prince George, to Airport Hill, west of Prince George Airport.

CIBC-FM-1 Vanderhoof was granted an increase in power, from 229 to 1,000 watts. 

CIBC-FM and CIBC-FM-1 became CIRX-FM and CIRX-FM-1.

On October 19, CIRX was authorized to add a transmitter at Fort St. James, operating on 94.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 43 watts.

On February 25, Cariboo Central Interior Radio Inc. was authorized to provide some local programming and advertising (33 hours and 30 minutes per week) on CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof. CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James would rebroadcast Vanderhoof fully. 

Sean Leslie was news director at CIRX / CJCI.

On September 12, CIRX became known as 94X.

Sister station CJCI-AM moved to the FM band as CJCI-FM. 

On July 18, the CRTC renewed the licence for Cariboo Central Interior Radio’s CIRX-FM. The new licence is in effect until 31 August 2010. 

In early August it was announced that Cariboo Central Interior Radio Inc., owners of CKBX 100 Mile House, CFLD Burns Lake, CJCI-FM and CIRX-FM Prince George, CKCQ-FM Quesnel, CFBV Smithers, CIVH Vanderhoof, CKWL and CFFM-FM Williams Lake and numerous re-broadcast stations in northern B.C. had been purchased by a Calgary group, headed by Margot Micallef.  On September 1, The CRTC announced approval of the sale to 1126144 Alberta Ltd., a company affiliated with Vista Broadcast Group Inc.

On August 24, the CRTC renewed the licence for CIRX-FM from 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2014. The short-term licence renewal would enable the Commission to review, at an earlier date, the licensee’s compliance with the Radio Regulations, 1986 and its conditions of licence.

On August 31, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof and its transmitter CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James until March 31, 2012.

Program director Gary Long left 94X CIRX for 103.9 The Juice – CJUI – in Kelowna. Vista Radio Prince George News Director Lindsay Andreza resigned (left the business). She was succeeded by Christina Doll who was promoted from within.

As of January 9, Kevin Cotter became program director of 94X, replacing Gary Long, now with sister station The Juice in Kelowna. Cotter had been assistant program director. He would continue to host the morning show. 

On March 20, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof and its transmitter CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James to August 31, 2012.

Kevin Cotter, assistant program director and morning host at 94X was promoted to
program director. Gary Long, who had previously been program director at 94X in Prince George and assistant PD / mornings at 103.9 The Juice in Kelowna, headed to the Cariboo region of BC to take on the role of General Manager for The Rush and The Wolf in Quesnel, Williams Lake, and 100 Mile House. 

It was announced that Vista President Terry Coles would move into retirement at the end of 2012 and immediately into a consulting role with the company. His successor would be CEO Margot Micallef who would handle the dual roles of President/CEO. Bryan Edwards moves to Senior VP of Business Development. Vista Kelowna General Manager/General Sales Manager Ross Hawse would become the Director Western Operations. Gary Russell, Vista’s Director of Systems and GM of Vista Prince George, would integrate Haliburton and Vista in Ontario as the Director of Integration and Operations, Vista East. Co-Founder/ Executive VP Paul Mann would add Senior VP of Sales and Training and Development to his duties. Assisting him would be Tracey Gard, the GM/GSM of the Cariboo Group of Vista stations, as Director Vista Sales, West and based in Courtenay. The former finance executive at Corus and Telemedia, Chris Lecomte joined Vista as Senior VP/CFO, based in Toronto. 

On August 28, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof and its transmitter CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James to December 31, 2012. 

The CRTC approved a change to the effective control of Vista Radio Ltd. from a control exercised by its board of directors to a control exercised by Westerkirk Capital Inc., a corporation controlled by Thomson Investments Limited. Vista Radio Ltd. was the licensee of radio programming undertakings located in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

News Director Christina Doll left Vista Radio Prince George on October 31. She had been with the company for five years, the last year and a-half as News Director.

On December 21, the CRTC renewed the licence of CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof and its transmitter CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James to August 31, 2018.

94X rebranded as 94.3 The Goat.

Gary Russell announced his retirement after a 35-year career in Prince George. He started out on the graveyard shift, moved up to mornings on 94X, then PD and eventually ended up as Regional Cluster GM/GSM for all 10 Vista stations in Northern BC. His last day was to be June 29.

On August 15, the CRTC renewed the licence of CIRX-FM-1 Vanderhoof and its transmitter CIRX-FM-2 Fort St. James, to August 31, 2023. The short-term renewal would allow for an earlier review of the licensee’s compliance with regulatory requirements relating to Canadian content development contributions and the filing of annual returns. In a separate application, the Commission approved Vista’s request to revoke the licence for CIVH Vanderhoof. Vista committed to increasing the level of local programming on CIRX-FM-1 from 3 hours 30 minutes to 126 hours to make up for the loss of CIVH.

CIRX-FM-1 changed format from Mainstream Rock (The Goat) to local based Country (Valley Country) to replace CIVH-AM which had gone dark.