CKLY-FM

The CBC Board of Governors recommended for approval the application by Greg-May Broadcasting Ltd. for the operation of a new radio station at Lindsay. The new station would broadcast on a frequency of 910 kHz with a full-time power of 1,000 watts, using a single directional antenna pattern. Greg-May Broadcasting was owned by Toronto radio personality Herb May and Lindsay druggists (and brothers) E. Neill Gregory and Charles A. (Bill) Gregory.

CKLY signed on the air December 8 before a crowd of 200 local and Toronto people. Premier Leslie Frost gave the opening address. Herb May was station manager, Neil Gregory was president, Bill Gregory was chief engineer, Keith Gordon was sales manager, and former CFRB announcer Jaff Ford was morning host and program director. CKLY’s transmitter and three towers were on the west half of Lot 6, Concession 6, Ops Township, Victoria County. Studios and offices were at 6 William Street in Lindsay. CKLY was an independent station with no network affiliation. The “LY” in the call sign represented the first and last letters of Lindsay.

Ownership of Greg-May Broadcasting Ltd.: E. N. Gregory 33.34%, C. A. Gregory 33.33% and H. H. May (33.3%). 

Dick McFarland who had been an announcer at CKLY was now at CKSL London. 

Greg-May was purchased June 22 by Vic-Hal Associates Ltd. J. A. “Pete” McNabb was managing partner and the ownership group included Premier Leslie Frost. McNabb had moved to Lindsay from Toronto in 1954. He worked for a local paper before buying in to CKLY.

Studios were now at 249 Kent Street West.

For five summers in the 60s, Pete McNabb produced and broadcast the Tommy Hunter Country Holiday show from Lindsay’s Academy Theatre. The show was broadcast over CKLY and across Canada on the CBC network. McNabb also pioneered the “radio boat” concept with live on the water, reports and marine weather forecasts.

Paul Godfrey joined the air-staff from CHEX in Peterborough. 

J. A. McNabb was president of Greg-May Broadcasting and manager of CKLY. He was also commercial manager. Jim Bagshaw was production and promotions manager.

CKLY published a weekly music listing.

In the summer, CKLY placed a boat on the Kawartha Lakes – covering five lakes from Port Perry north to Kirkfield.

Paul Godfrey departed for CKWS in Kingston.

On February 4, approval was granted for the transfer of 50% of Vic-Hal Associates Ltd., a shareholder in Greg-May Broadcasting Ltd., resulting in the following share distribution of Vic-Hal: J.A. McNabb 13,600, H.R. Davies 4,600, L.A. Wetmore 4,600, B. Roskies 4,000, B. Bagshaw 4,600, J. Bagshaw 4,600, Alex Barris Enterprises Ltd. 4,000.

On June 29, CKLY 910 was authorized to increase power from 1,000 watts day and night (single directional pattern) to 10,000 watts day and 5,000 watts night (different day and night directional patterns).

The work to increase CKLY’s power was completed by the fall. Because the 40 acre transmitter site south of Lindsay was very swampy, a lot of work had to be done. A forth tower was added while the existing three were fully reconditioned. The ground system was replaced. The station added two new CCA transmitters – the main 10 kW and a 1 kW standby. The new operation would continue to use Bell lines rather than a microwave studio-transmitter link. The entire site was fully redone at a cost of $150,000. The chief engineer at the time was Ray McMurray and he had a lot of help from CKEY’s Bill Onn who was a consultant on the project. President J. A. “Pete” McNabb also had plans for an FM station in the future, that would transmit from the AM tower site.

CKLY was granted changes to its day and night radiation patterns on January 25.
The station added a fifth tower to its site so that it could expand its patterns. CBO in Ottawa had moved from 910 kHz to 920 kHz which allowed CKLY to open up its signal a little.

On August 14, approval was given for the transfer of indirect control of Greg-May Broadcasting Ltd., through the transfer of 37% of Vic Hal Associates Ltd. (parent of Greg-May), from James A. McNabb (4%), Alex Barris Enterprises Ltd. (10%), Dr. Hugh R. Davies (11.5%) and Ludlow Allen Wetmore (11.5%) to James Bagshaw (7%) and to CHAY Ltd. (30%). J. A. “Pete” McNabb retains a 30% interest with the balance held by present shareholders.

McNabb Broadcasting Ltd. purchased CKLY.

CKLY was authorized to disaffiliate from the CBC network now that CBCP-FM in Peterborough was serving the area.

J. A. (Pete) McNabb announced the sale of CKLY to Phillip Beswick, sales manager at CFGO in Ottawa. The CRTC approved the sale but it was never completed.

Sean Eyre was on the air at CKLY.

On August 6, Peter McNabb sold CKLY to his son Andy. 

John McFadden left CKLY to work in the news department at CFCO Chatham.

McNabb Broadcasting experienced financial difficulties which caused CKLY to go into receivership. On July 15, Price Waterhouse Limited, the receiver, was given authority to assume temporary management of McNabb Broadcasting.

On July 30, approval was given for a numbered company (which would later become Centario Communications Inc.) to acquire CKLY from Price Waterhouse Limited, acting as receiver/manager and agent for McNabb Broadcasting Limited. The purchaser consisted of eleven shareholders, eight of whom lived in Lindsay. The new owners planned a slight increase in programming. News staff would be expanded to four full-time, plus a network of stringers. 

Announcers: Frank Proctor (5:30-9), Karen Rose (9-2), Dave Illman (2-6), Prime Time Sports (6-7). Automation and sports filled out the schedule. Don Blakely and Andrew Weston did news.

On January 7, Centario Communications Inc. was granted permission to convert CKLY to the FM band at 91.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 14,000 watts.

CKLY-FM began on-air testing in early April with low power from a tower at the studio location. Full-power tests began a short time later from a new tower located at the AM transmitter site.

”Y92” signed on officially in May.

CKLY 910 went silent on May 24.

The purchase of CKLY-FM by CHUM Limited from Centario Communications Inc. was approved December 21. Despite the change of ownership to Centario in 1993, CKLY remained unprofitable.

On January 1, the County of Victoria and 16 local municipalities (including Lindsay) were combined into the single City of Kawartha Lakes.

CHUM’s purchase of CKLY was completed on February 1.

On May 19, CKLY-FM was given approval to decrease average effective radiated power from 14,000 to 5,270 watts (maximum ERP from 27,500 to 11,400 watts), to increase antenna height (from 45 to 131 metres EHAAT) and to relocate the transmitter.

On August 22 at 10:00 a.m., CKLY-FM became the latest CHUM-owned station to adopt the BOB-FM name and format. The technical changes approved earlier in the year were now operational. 

Allan Waters, the founder of CHUM Limited, owner of CFLY-FM, passed away at the age of 84, on December 3rd.

On July 12 it was announced that Bell Globemedia would pay C$1.7 billion for CHUM Ltd., in a deal that would see the company become part of the BCE-owned media conglomerate, subject to CRTC approval.  On August 31, the two companies announced that BGM had been successful in its offer to acquire approximately 6.7 million common shares and approximately 19.2 million non-voting Class B shares of CHUM.  The shares were to be placed in the hands of an independent trustee pursuant to a voting trust agreement approved by the CRTC.

On December 12th, it was announced that Bell Globemedia would henceforth be known as CTVglobemedia.

2007                                                                                                                                                     A CRTC hearing on the CTVglobemedia application to acquire the assets of CHUM Limited was held on April 30th 2007.  On June 8 the CRTC approved the acquisition of CHUM Ltd. by CTVglobemedia, on condition that CTV sell off its five City-TV stations, CITY-TV Toronto, CHMI-TV Portage La Prairie/Winnipeg, CKEM-TV Edmonton, CKAL-TV Calgary and CKVU-TV Vancouver.   Rogers Communications announced on June 25th that a deal had been reached for them to buy these stations from CTV, subject to CRTC approval. Among the CHUM assets acquired by CTVglobemedia in the deal were seven television stations, 21 specialty channels and some 33 radio stations, including CKLY-FM Lindsay.   

On November 30, the CRTC renewed CKLY-FM’s licence until August 31, 2017.

On March 7, the CRTC approved an application by BCE Inc. on behalf of CTVglobemedia Inc., for authority to change the effective control of CTVgm’s licensed broadcasting subsidiaries to BCE. The Commission concluded that the transaction would be beneficial to the Canadian broadcasting system by ensuring the long-term stability of a significant Canadian television network and advancing the Commission’s objective of providing relevant high-quality Canadian programming to Canadians through conventional and new media distribution channels. BCE was a public corporation and controlled by its board of directors. Before this approval, BCE held 15% of the voting interest in the capital of CTVgm. The other shareholders were 1565117 Ontario Limited (a corporation ultimately controlled by Mr. David Kenneth R. Thomson) (40% of the voting interest), Ontario Teacher’s Plan Board (25% of the voting interest) and Torstar Corporation (20% of the voting interest). Under the transaction agreement dated September 10, 2010, BCE would acquire the remaining 85% of the voting interest in the capital of CTVgm and would therefore exercise effective control.

On March 15, CTV Inc., CTV Corp., CTV Limited and CTVglobemedia Inc. amalgamated to continue as CTV Inc.

BCE Inc. announced on April 1 that it had completed its acquisition of CTV and that it had launched Bell Media (replacing CTVglobemedia), a new business unit that would make CTV programs and other Bell content available on smartphones and computers as well as traditional television. In addition to CTV and its television stations, Bell Media now also operated 29 specialty channels, 33 radio stations, Dome Productions, a mobile broadcast facilities provider, and dozens of high-traffic news, sports and entertainment websites, including the Sympatico.ca portal.

The CRTC approved a change to the ownership of Bell Media Inc., from BCE Inc. to Bell Canada. This transaction would not affect effective control of Bell Media Inc. and of its licensed broadcasting subsidiaries, which continued to be exercised by BCE Inc. Bell Media Inc. held, directly and through its licensed broadcasting subsidiaries, various radio and television programming undertakings as well as specialty and pay-per-view television services.

On August 22, the CRTC approved the applications by BCE Inc., on behalf of Bell Media Inc. and 7550413 Canada Inc., carrying on business as Bell Media Ontario Regional Radio Partnership, for authority to acquire, as part of a corporate reorganization, CFJR-FM and CJPT-FM Brockville, CKLC-FM and CFLY-FM Kingston, CKPT-FM and CKQM-FM Peterborough, and CKLY-FM Lindsay. Bell Media, the managing partner holding 99.99% of the voting interest in the general partnership, is wholly owned by Bell Canada and controlled by BCE. 7550413, the other partner holding the remaining 0.01% of the voting interest in the general partnership, is wholly owned by Bell Media and is also controlled by BCE. BCE submitted that the purpose of this corporate reorganization was to realize tax efficiencies. The Commission noted that this transaction would not affect the effective control of the undertakings which would continue to be exercised by BCE. 

Ed Crompton, the Engineer at CKPT/CKQM/CKLY, after close to 43 years and three studio moves, retired at the end of December. He began at then CHUM-owned CKPT August 24, 1970. Ben Yardley, formerly of Sun News Network Toronto and, before that, of Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Prince George, was hired to succeed Crompton.