CKQQ-FM

George Dunn, Bobby Johnston, Harry Blakeborough and James William Bromley Browne formed the Kelowna Amateur Radio Club, which was granted a non-commercial licence with the call sign 10AY.  Power was 50 watts.  10AY broadcast church services, plays and performances by the Ogopogo Concert Club.

J.W.B. Browne received a commercial radio licence in the spring.  As a condition of receiving the commercial licence, 10AY closed.  Two 90-foot poles were erected for antennas, and studios and offices were built on Mill Avenue.  Browne used his own money to get the station going and then “sold shares” for $2.00 each.  Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. was incorporated on July 27.  10AY left the air at 2:30 p.m. on November 4.  Browne then threw the switch and announced on the air, “This is CKOV, the Voice of the Okanagan.” CKOV 1230 was now on the air, using a 60-watt ship’s transmitter converted to 100 watts.  The station continued as a community effort. Listeners sent in donations to keep the station going.  Among them was hardware merchant W.A.C. Bennett, later B.C. Premier.  At one of the licence renewal hearings years later, Browne was told by the regulator to “clean up” the ownership.  It took him several years, and even then, they could not find some of the people who had “donated” to the resources of CKOV.   

Eric Aylen broke in to radio at CKOV as an announcer-engineer.

CKOV moved to 1210 kHz and decreased power to 50 watts.

The frequency changed to 630 kHz and power returned to 100 watts.  The station installed a crystal-controlled 100-watt transmitter. The studio building was enlarged with the addition of a 20 by 30 foot section. 

Eric C. Aylen left CKOV for CJAT Trail in July.

Jim Browne Jr., CKOV’s engineer since the station started in 1931, converted the 100-watt transmitter to 250 watts, apparently without approval of the federal regulator, the Department of Transport.  The newly founded CBC began cooperation with B.C. schools and the Okanagan Valley Teachers’ Association to air programs on music appreciation on CKOV, which sparked considerable interest in radio as an aid to education in the province.

Dennis Reid started with the station as a copy writer and announcer. He left for service in the Canadian Army in 1940, but returned in 1947 and later became commercial manager and assistant general manager. He obtained licences for CKCQ Quesnel in 1957, CKWL Williams Lake in 1960 and CKBX 100 Mile House in 1971, which made history as Canada’s first licensed private radio network. Roland Ford, formerly of CJOR joined CKOV as commercial manager as of October 1. Leo Trainor was appointed chief announcer of CKOV, coming from CFCN Calgary. Before that, he had been with CJOR and CKMO in Vancouver. 

CKOV increased power from 100 to 1,000 watts. A Canadian Marconi transmitter and 195′ Ajax tower were installed. The new transmitter and “proper” tower were built on a new transmitter site, located on Lakeshore Road.

Roly Ford resigned as commercial manager and left for Eastern Canada.

John Ansell made his radio debut with the station.  He later was the Program Director and Operations Manager at CKWX Vancouver during the 1950s & 60s and President and GM of CJVI Victoria from 1971 until his retirement in 1987.  He won a string of awards, including a CAB Gold Ribbon Award for distinguished service to broadcasting, induction into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1990 and a member of its half-century club. 

Under the Havana Treaty CKOV was to move from 630 to 560 kHz (Class III-A) with 1,000 watts on March 29. The treaty was adjusted and CKOV remained on 630 kHz (Class III-A) with 1,000 watts.

Ted Soskin joined CKOV as announcer, writer and salesman. He had been with CKMO in Vancouver. 

Wally Garrett started with the station.  He moved to the position of Program Director at CKMO Vancouver in the late 1940s and spent two decades in news and hosting programs at Vancouver market CKNW during the 1950s and 60s. 

Mary Royle was working at CKOV. Hume Lethbridge joined CKOV as assistant manager. He had been manager of CKLN in Nelson. Bill Fox left CKOV for the soon to open CKNW in New Westminster where he would be program director.

Slogan: The Voice of the Okanagan. 

Ted Soskin left for army service.

CBC Trans-Canada Basic stations: CJCB, CBH, CBA, CHSJ, CFNB, CBO, CKWS, CBL, CKSO, CFCH, CJKL, CKGB, CKPR, CBM, CKY, CBK, CJCA, CFAC, CJOC, CFJC, CKOV, CJAT, CBR. 

George Walton joined CKOV’s production department. He had been with CJVI Victoria. J.W.B. Browne was manager and Cecil Elphicke was commercial manager.

Slogan: The Voice of the Okanagan. 

Ted Soskin rejoined CKOV after serving in the army. 

Wallace Garrett left CKOV to become a staff announcer at Vancouver’s CKWX. He’d been with CKOV for three years and was production chief. Announcer John Hoyland left for CKWX Vancouver. Disc jockey John Evans left CKOV for CKCO in Ottawa. Allen Crewe, formerly of Vancouver’s CKWX, joined the CKOV air staff. Eric Frost was news editor. Jack Boates left CKOV as traffic manager to become commercial manager at CKPG in Prince George.

CKOV was hoping to soon open new studios.

In November it was announced that CKOK Penticton was expected to go on the air soon. In the early going, program service would be carried by landline from CKOV. 
In December CKOV engineer Fred Webber was busy getting CKOK ready for operations. Later that month, Okanagan Broadcasters launched a rebroadcast transmitter in Penticton. It would eventually be known as CKOK and later CKOR. CKOV moved to new studios and offices on Pandosy Street, which were designed by Fred Weber. By this time CKOV was a CBC Trans-Canada affiliate. 

Ted Soskin left CKOV for CJIB Vernon.

A formal reception marked the opening of new studios and offices for CKOV, operated by Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. CKOV had first gone on the air 15 years earlier as amateur station 10AY. CKOV had what was likely the first satellite commercial station in Canadian radio with CKOK Penticton. CKOK opened as a repeater of CKOV and its purpose was to provide a signal in the Penticton area which had been isolated especially at night by the mountainous terrain. The only difference between the two stations was the call sign. That difference was handled with the flick of a switch from the Kelowna studios. 

J.W.B. Browne was manager and S.E. Tapley was commercial manager.

In May, the CBC approved the conversion of CKOK from a satellite of CKOV Kelowna into an independent station. The licence was requested and approved in the name of CKOK Ltd., with control held by J. Reg Beattie, formerly with All-Canada Radio Facilities Ltd. and CHML Hamilton. Beattie had earlier filed an application for a new station on 1550 kHz with power of a thousand watts.

In September, CKOK Penticton became a full-time local station.

Eric Frost was commercial manager. 

Barrie Clark started as an announcer.  He later became a popular talk show host at radio and TV stations in Vancouver, was elected to the B.C. Legislature in 1966, returned to CKOV for a decade starting in 1989 and was elected to Kelowna City Council in 1999. J.W.B. Browne was manager and Walter Harwood was commercial manager.

CKOV was using “MacOVee” the ‘OV Appleman in its print advertising.

CKOV 630 applied to the CBC to increase daytime power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. Night power would remain a thousand watts. The application was turned down.

Dennis Reid was commercial manager.

Slogan: The Valley’s Number 1 Station.

Early in the year, the original CKOV building, which later became magistrate’s offices, was purchased from the city by the Kelowna Yacht Club and moved to their premises.

After making his start at CJAV in Port Alberni in 1949 and serving a year at CHWK Chilliwack, Bob Hall became news and sports director.  He stayed until 1965, when he obtained radio licences for Salmon Arm and Revelstoke.  Four Seasons Radio Ltd. owned by Hall and Walter Gray, started CKIQ, the second AM station licensed to Kelowna in 1970.  Hall launched Sun Country Cablevision in Salmon Arm in 1984, became president of the B.C. Association of Broadcasters in 1973 and later a member of the CAB half-century club. 

Rod Walter hosted an all request program. 

After making his start at CJAV in Port Alberni in 1949 and serving a year at CHWK Chilliwack, Bob Hall became news and sports director. He stayed until 1965, when he obtained radio licences for Salmon Arm and Revelstoke. Four Seasons Radio Ltd. owned by Hall and Walter Gray, started CKIQ, the second AM station licensed to Kelowna in 1970. Hall launched Sun Country Cablevision in Salmon Arm in 1984, became president of the B.C. Association of Broadcasters in 1973 and later a member of the CAB half-century club.

Rod Walter hosted an all request program. Charles Patrick was a city salesman.

Slogans: CKOV Kelowna sells B.C.’s 3rd largest market. / From (the) centre of the Okanagan CKOV encompasses the Valley!!!

Denny Reid and Jim Panton did sports. 

James W.B. Browne, owner-manager of CKOV for 23 years, passed away June 3. He was 69. He had worked on amateur radio for several years before he got the license for CKOV in 1931. The first transmitter was a converted 60 watt naval radio. He also organized the first radio farm broadcasts in B.C. before the CBC was organized. Browne was active in directing CKOV until a couple of years back when ill health forced him to retire. He still managed to do some broadcasts from his bed though. Jim Jr. had been directing CKOV since his dad took sick.

Ad: Since 1931 “The Voice of the Okanagan” – OV Opogo (mascott) – related to the friendly, world famous Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan.

Mrs. J.W.B. Browne, widow of founder J.W.B. Browne, was running the station. Some of the staff at this time: Jack Thompson (chief announcer), Frank Bond (program director), Jim Panton (sports), Bob Hall (newscaster), Fred Webber (chief engineer). Ed Boyd had been program director earlier in the year.

A company was formed to construct a television station to serve the entire Okanagan Valley. Participants in the new company were radio stations CKOV Kelowna, CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon. Directors of the company were Charles Pitt and Richard Peters of CJIB, Jim Browne and Dennis Read of CKOV, and Maurice Finnerty and Roy Chapman of CKOK.

CKOV 630 filed an application to increase power from 1,000 watts to 10,000 watts.

The three radio stations in the Okanagan Valley, CKOV Kelowna, CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon opened CHBC-TV, which began broadcasting on September 21, covering the central Okanagan valley from its main studio in Kelowna, followed three weeks later by rebroadcast transmitters in Vernon and Penticton.  Each of the radio stations had one-third ownership of CHBC-TV.  Walter Gray started with CKOV and later became morning host.  He went on to serve as Kelowna City Councilor from 1986-90 and Mayor from 1996-2005. 

Three Okanagan radio stations – CJIB, CKOV and CKOK, issued a combined rate card as of April 1. It was called co-operation without amalgamation. Ken Compton was appointed national sales manager for the group effective April 1. Gil Seabrook was CJIB’s manager. 

As of July 1, Ed Boyd was sales promotion co-ordinator of Okanagan Radio. For the past three and a half years he had been promotion manager for CKOV. CHBC-TV and Okanagan Radio offered a special stereo hour on December 7. People were asked to tune in their local radio station (CJIB, CKOV or CKOK) and tune their TV sets to either channel 2, 7 or 13 (depending on where they lived). Both sets were needed to hear stereo and the best effect could be obtained if the radio set was placed about eight feet to the right of the television set. The broadcast originated with the TV station and went out by phone lines to each of the radio stations.

Stan Lettner was manager and on-air host. Bob Hall was sports director. 

Veteran newsman Mike Cleaver started his broadcast career at the station before moving on in 1967 to positions in Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton and then to CHUM, CFRB and CFTR in Toronto, before moving back to B.C. radio and TV in 2001.  He described the station in the early 1960s as, “a classic 1940s radio layout, with a raised main control room consisting of an RCA BC-3C console, beautifully modified to add two tape machine inputs by station engineer Art Vipond.”  He added, “We were a CBC basic station at the time, carrying a lot of network programs, but only after 7 p.m. and on weekends.  When the power failed at the studio, which was quite frequently, we used an old manual start generator located in the Arena Motors building across the alley.  The transmitter site had emergency power, courtesy of an old generator from a World War One battleship.”   

Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. started CJOV-FM.

CKOV was granted an increase in daytime power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. Night power remained at 1,000 watts.

Jim Browne’s son Jamie (grandson of J.W.B. Browne) was now a full-time employee. 

At this time CKOV was offering some automated programming. 

C.F. Patrick was CKOV-AM-FM station manager.

Dennis Reid was named B.C. Broadcaster of the Year. 

CKOV received approval to disaffiliate from the CBC Radio Network. The CBC’s own repeater station was now on the air in the area. 

Sister station CJOV-FM changed call letters to CHIM-FM.  During the late 1970s CKOV Kelowna sold its one-third share in CHBC-TV Kelowna equally to British Columbia Television and Selkirk Holdings of Toronto.

Construction began on a new studio building at the transmitter site, largely financed by the sale of its share of CHBC-TV.  As part of the same project, CKOV got a new solid-state AM transmitter and became an early adopter of AM stereo.  This project was financed by CHED radio in Edmonton, in a deal that allowed CHED to apply to let out their nighttime transmitter pattern more in the direction of Kelowna.  As a heritage AM on 630 kHz, CKOV’s omnidirectional pattern would otherwise have required extensive protection, effectively blocking CHED’s pattern improvement plans. 

Jack Bews died. He was CKOV’s news director for 40 years – until 1977. His wife Marion also worked for CKOV. She had been with the station since 1943. 

Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. (owned by the Browne family for over fifty years) sold CKOV and CHIM-FM to Seacoast Communications Group Inc., owner of CFAX Victoria.  The CRTC approved the acquisition on August 31.  There was a further windfall for both the Browne family and CKOV/Seacoast, as Jamie Browne developed and sold the land around the transmitter site as a new housing subdivision.  The Browne family held part of the land, with the rest owned by Seacoast.  This resulted in the relocation of CKOV’s transmitter to co-site with CKIQ-AM 1150 Kelowna at its site a couple of kilometers away. 

Bill Barnes became program director at CKOV.

CHIM-FM changed call letters to CKLZ-FM.  Barrie Clark returned to CKOV after spending over 30 years as an announcer and talk show host on radio and TV in Vancouver. 

CKOV celebrated its 60th anniversary on November 4. As AY-10, it was one of BC’s first stations. To celebrate, the station gave away 12 packages of time worth $5,000 each to local causes.

Dean Cooper was vice president and general manager.

Terry Spence was named vice president and operations manager for Seacoast Communications Group Inc. (CFAX, CKOV/CKLZ-FM).

The British Columbia Association of Broadcasters named Walter Gray Broadcaster of the Year and Dennis Reid was inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame. 

CKOV signed Barrie Clark for another two years on his popular 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. talk show.

Dean Cooper was general manager of CKOV/The Lizard. 

Bruce Smith left CKOV/CKLZ-FM as news director to become assignment editor at CHBC-TV in Kelowna.

On June 30 the CRTC approved the applications by Jim Pattison Industries Ltd., on behalf of 549501 British Columbia Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Seacoast Communications Group Incorporated, for authority to acquire the assets CKLZ-FM and CKOV Kelowna from Seacoast. Pattison would purchase 100 common shares and retain Seacoast’s management services and non-competitive agreements with its employees.

Grant Scott became morning host at CKOV. He had been with the station for 10 years. Gary MacDonald joined CKOV as morning news anchor as of October 5. He had been with CFBC Saint John.

Barrie Clark left the station and was elected to Kelowna City Council, where he continued to serve on a number of committees focusing on growth management issues, air and water quality. 

On July 14 the CRTC approved the application by Jim Pattison Industries Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jim Pattison Ltd., for authority to acquire the assets of CKOV and CKLZ-FM Kelowna from 549501 British Columbia Ltd. This transaction was part of a corporate reorganization that called for the dissolution of 549501 BC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jim Pattison Industries Ltd.

On July 7 Dennis Reid died in Prince George at age 81. 

Rob Bye was program director at CKOV/Power 104 (CKLZ).

On October 21, Bob Hall died at his home in Salmon Arm at age 73.

On April 23 the CRTC approved application by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group to move CKOV to the FM band at 103.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 11,000 watts average (35,000 watts maximum).  The new station said it would offer a soft vocals music format and continue with its traditional style of news and information programming, including “Open Line with John Michaels”, a daily current affairs show.  The new FM station’s music format and spoken word programming was to target Kelowna listeners in the 35-to-64-year-old age group.

Although the application stated it would continue with a soft vocals and news and information format, the station officially signed onto the FM band at noon on August 17 with a country music format.  Program director Bob Mills says one of the reasons for the change was that, “CKOV has lost money for years and I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, so a change had to happen.”   As a tribute to the Browne family, which launched CKOV, the new station continued with the official CKOV call letters, but identified on air as “B-103”.   It was authorized to continue simulcasting on its old AM frequency for three months.  

The AM transmitter shut down at 1 p.m. November 17. 

B103 in Kelowna signed off its country format and re-launched with an adult contemporary format known as THE Q 103.1. The flip happened at 5 p.m., February 3. The last country tune played…I was country when country wasn’t cool. First Hot AC tune: A Change Would Do You Good.  The call letters were changed to CKQQ-FM.

Bruce Davis retired as General Manager/General Sales Manager of CKLZ and CKQQ. He was also the VP of sales for the entire Jim Pattison group of stations.

The new GM/GSM of Power 104/Q103 Kelowna and 1075 Kiss Vernon was Stu Crouse. He took over January 1 and was promoted from Pattison-owned Island Radio in Nanaimo where he was retail sales manager.

Q103.1 became Beach Radio with Classic Hits from the 80’s and 90’s on October 20 at noon.

Barrie Clark (86) passed away on March 16. He started in the business in 1949 at CKOV Kelowna and went on to work in Peterborough, London (England), and at various stations in Vancouver. Clark was also involved in municipal politics in North Vancouver and Kelowna.