CIMJ-FM

CJOY Limited applied for an FM licence at Guelph. The owner of CJOY-AM proposed to operate on a frequency of 106.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts, with antenna height (EHAAT) of 249 feet. If approved, the new FM would offer 50 hours of programming per week that was separate from the AM operation. There was a competing application from Elverne Earl Hallman (103.5 MHz, 50,000 watts, 313.1 feet).

On May 16, the CJOY FM application was approved while the competing proposal was turned down by the Board of Broadcast Governors. The BBG said it had been its experience that independent FM stations had difficulty in securing sufficient revenue in markets where listeners had a choice of many stations.

A 3,600 square foot addition was added to the studio-office building for CKLA-FM. FM operations were moved into their own section, with 1,800 square feet for studios and control rooms. The same amount of space on the lower floor was set aside for sales, accounting and engineering. The move allowed CJOY to expand into the space that had been occupied by CKLA, with a re-organized record library and a second production control room.

The engineering team built its own remote unit for CKLA so the station was now doing remote broadcasts. With the remote unit and some DTMF tones, the announcer could start and stop the unit and add a special event, from the remote point. CKLA was automated for eight hours a day and normally used the ‘auto-live’ approach.

CJOY-FM 106.1 began operations on July 1. CJOY Ltd. (Wally Slatter and Fred Metcalf) owned of CJOY-AM.

On July 26, CJOY-AM and FM received approval to move studios and offices from 50 Wyndham Street to 75 Speedvale Avenue East.

CJOY-FM became CKLA-FM.

CJOY Ltd. (Guelph) bought into CFTJ Cambridge.

CKLA was given approval to move to a new transmitter site. It would use one of the towers of co-owned CJOY-AM. A new Harris FM20K transmitter and FMH 6-bay antenna would be installed. 

The CJOY-AM transmitter site was rebuilt and updated to include the transmitter and antenna for CKLA-FM. Work began in the fall of 1980 to rebuild the existing 20 year old AM site. This work included the installation of a new 410 foot tower for AM and FM. CKLA was moved to the site to take advantage of the added tower height. The station faced height restrictions at its old site. CKLA was a class 2 FM with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts and height of just over 400 feet.

On July 31 at about 3:00 a.m., the STL tower at the CJOY and CKLA studios was hit by lightning. The stations lost about 95% of the equipment that contained C-MOS devices. It took technicians over two weeks to restore things to normal.

On the morning of August 30, CKLA-FM’s tower south of the city was hit by lightning, burning out the bottom bay of the six-bay antenna, the matching stub and about 10 metres of co-ax cable. An emergency antenna was put together with a height of eight feet and power of 2,000 watts. Riggers later moved the emergency antenna about 100 metres up the tower, and CKLA ran that way until new parts arrived about three days later. 

On January 11, the CRTC renewed CKLA-FM’s licence until September 30, 1985.

On April 14, the CRTC approved the sale of CJOY Ltd. (CKLA-FM and CJOY-AM) by Fred Metcalf and Wally Slatter to Kawartha Broadcasting Co. Ltd. of Peterborough. Kawartha was owned by Paul Desmarais and Claude Pratte, who had applied to transfer their broadcast holdings to Power Corp., of which Desmarais was president.

Power Corp. of Canada reorganized its radio and television assets. They would now be held in the new wholly-owned subsidiary, Power Broadcasting Inc. PBI would be based in Montreal. Andre Desmarais was named chairman and chief executive officer of the new unit. Peter Kruyt was president. Before now, Power’s seven AM, four FM and three TV stations were held by a number of subsidiaries in Ontario and Quebec.

Mark Bowden was named general sales manager for CKLA-FM and 1460 CJOY.

On July 10, CKLA-FM changed call letters to CIMJ-FM – “Magic 106.1 – Today’s Favorites” and adopted an adult contemporary (music from the 70s, 80s and 90s) format. CKLA had offered an easy-listening format.

Pat St. John, based in Guelph, was named a regional manager for Power Broadcasting.

Paul Osborne was appointed operations manager and Neill Clemens was named news director for CIMJ and CJOY.

Wally Slatter, co-founder of CJOY, passed away on June 2.

Kevin Kelly (Kevin O’Brien) was hired as Program Director at Magic 106.1 in November.

Fred Metcalf, co-founder of CJOY (and CIMJ) died February 15 at the age of 74. He was also the founder of the first cable TV system in Canada…Neighborhood TV in Guelph, in 1952. He sold his twenty cable operations to Maclean Hunter Ltd. in 1967 and then ran that company (as president) between 1977 and 1984. Metcalf was also the founding president of the Canadian Cable Television Association.

Marianne Zahoruk became morning show co-host at Magic 106.1. She had been with CFLG-FM/CJSS Cornwall.

Corus Radio Company purchased the stations of Power Broadcasting, which included CJOY and CIMJ-FM. The CRTC approved the purchase on March 24th. Corus took control of the stations on April 13. 

On August 24 the CRTC renewed CIMJ-FM’s licence until August 31, 2013.

It was announced in February that Laura Dunseith would be returning to Magic 106.1 (CIMJ). She was hired to replace Carla Donnell when she begins her maternity leave March 26th. Laura would be PM Drive host and would run the music department. 

Chris Evans joined Magic 106.1 as afternoon drive (2-6 p.m.) host on September 12. For the past four years he had been midday host at CIDC-FM Toronto (Orangeville).

After twenty years and 9 months, Kevin Kelly departed as PD.

Don LeBlanc (92) died July 25. He was the longtime PD of CJOY/CKLA. He started out at CJOY when it opened and then joined CFRB in 1966 and returned to Guelph in 1972 and retired as program director of CKLA in 1991.