CKCH-AM

CKCH signed on the air on June 20, operating on 1210 kHz with 100 watts of power. William J. O’Reilly joined CKCH as announcer-operator. Aurele-Marie Seguin joined the station then left for the CBC.

William J. O’Reilly left CKCH for CBC Ottawa.

The Association of Independent Stations of the Province of Quebec was formed at the end of January, with CKAC, CHLP and CFCF Montreal; CHRC and CKCV Quebec; CKCH Hull; CJBR Rimouski; CHNC New Carlisle; CHLT Sherbrooke; CHLN Trois-Rivieres; and CKRN Rouyn as members. Phil Lalonde of CKAC was elected president; Narcisse Thivierge, CHRC, vice-president; Alex Dupont, CKCH and Marcel Lefebvre, CHLP, directors. William J. O’Reilly, formerly with CKCH where he had been an announcer, was now with CBC Toronto.

Under the Havana Treaty, CKCH moved from 1210 to 1240 kHz (Class IV) on March 29. Power was 100 watts.

Jean LaForest and Armand LeBrun got married. They were both CKCH staff members. CKCH 1210 planned to increase its power in October to 250 watts, 100% crystal controlled.

Laurette Amyot was appointed general manager of CKCH from July 1, succeeding Geo. Bourassa who left for Montreal. Amyot had been secretary of the station since 1941, and was believed to be the first female manager in Canadian radio.

CBC Quebec Regional Network Supplementary Stations: CKCH, CHGB, CHNC, CKRN, CHVD, CHAD. On June 4 Press News inaugurated a radio news service in French to stations in Quebec and Ontario (including CKCH). The service was based on the regular PN English service, translated and then transmitted from the Canadian Press bureau in Montreal. Raymond Benoit was manager. Guy Caron started his radio career at CKCH as an announcer. CKCH’s application for a power increase to 1,000 watts was deferred by the broadcast regulator.

1946 Slogan: The French Voice Of the Ottawa Valley. CKCH’s application for a power increase to 1,000 watts deferred. Georges Huard started in radio as an announcer at CKCH.

CKCH was listed as operating on 1240 kHz with power of 250 watts (pending 1,000 watts on 970 kHz). It was a CBC (French) affiliate and was owned by Cie de Radiodiffusion de Hull CKCH Ltee. (Le Droit). Studios were at 85 Champlain, the transmitter at 620 St. Joseph Blvd., Hull. It was on the air 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

CKCH moved to 970 kHz and increased power to 1,000 watts. Studios and offices were at 121 Notre Dame Street in Hull.

Henri Bergeron joined the CKCH announce staff as of February 23. He had been with CKSB St. Boniface. J.P. Lemire was manager.

Slogan: Programming especially for the French listeners in the Ottawa Valley.

Georges Huard moved from announcing to local news editor at CKCH.

Jean-Paul Lemire, manager of CKCH, was elected president of the French Broadcasters of Canada. CKCH was celebrating 20 years on the air. Georges Huard left CKCH for the CBC in Ottawa. He had left CKCH for a short time earlier to be a military correspondent and returned to CKCH this year.

Jean-Paul LeMire was manager. Aurle Groulx was musical director. Yvon Dufour was program director. Monique Champagne was women’s director. At this time, 35% of the station’s shows were live. CKCH received permission to increase power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts.

Power increased to 5,000 watts day and night (single directional pattern for day and night operation) on July 8. Three 240 foot towers were used at the existing transmitter site. CKCH received approval to operate a standby transmitter. Studios moved to 121 rue Notre-Dame, August 25.

CKCH was owned by La Compagnie Radiodiffusion de Hull Ltee (Syndicat d’Oeuvres Sociales Ltee 98.6%, L. F. Billy nil, T. Moncion 0.7% and W. Carr 0.7%). CKCH was affiliated with the CBC’s French language network. W. Carr was president of the company and Jean-Paul Lemire was manager and program director of CKCH.

According to Elliot-Haynes CKCH reached a total of 112,573 adult listeners every day.

CKCH moved to bigger and better quarters at 72 Rue Laval, Hull. The station owned the new building. The old facilities on Notre Dame Street were rented. The new building had more than 18,000 square feet compared with 6,500 in the old one. There were now three studios: 25×21 feet, 13×12 feet and 10×8 feet. Master control could be utilized for DJ programming. There was a new McCurdy board, three turntables and two console model tape recorders in MCR. Jean-Paul Lemire was managing director. Related ad: Here is the news from CKCH. New ultra-modern radio building. New advanced technical equipment. New accoustically designed studios. New improved program production. New administrative and office methods for fast, accurate handling of client problems. New musical library with improved multi-cross index system to facilitate accurate and faster building of programs. New I.B.M. synchronized clock system keeps CKCH on time all the time. New inside – outside – and on the air – the New CKCH – 970 KC – 5000 watts – Hull…Quebec. Ads: Here is the New CKCH … symbol of progress. Metropolitan areas of Hull, P.Q., and Ottawa, Ont., together with the rural population of the Valley Towns contribute to the phenomenal progress of CKCH. Close to half a million French speaking Canadians depend on “The French Voice of the Ottawa Valley” for news, sports and music. The New CKCH – 5000 watts – 970 kc – 72 Rue Laval, Hull, Quebec. / Score! Every time with CKCH…that’s what Molson’s Brewery do with the broadcasting of N.H.L. Hockey.

The corporate name was now La Compagnie de Radio-diffusion CKCH de Hull Ltee. Jean-Paul Lemire was manager and program director of CKCH. CKCH’s power was still 5,000 watts. The station was still listed as a CBC French-language affiliate even though CBOF 1250 had signed on in Ottawa in 1964. CKCH was known as the French Voice of the Ottawa Valley.

Power increased to 10,000 watts.

CKCH received permission to operate an FM station. The new outlet would simulcast some AM programming.

On November 1, The Service des Nouvelles Sonores de Telemedia (SNS) began providing French language voice service to CKAC, CKCV, CKCH, CHLN and CHLT. Stations were joined together by CN-CP Broadband.

CKCH-FM launched on January 1. Power Corp. sold a controlling interest in CKCH-AM-FM (la Compagnie Radiodiffusion C.K.C.H. de Hull Ltee) and a number of other stations to Philipe de Gaspe Beaubien’s Telemedia (Quebec) Ltee (owned by Telemedia Communications Ltee, in turn owned by Beaudem Ltee). Power would retain through ownership debentures, a large financial interest in the new company for a period of time. Philipe de Gaspe Beaubien would control more than 80% of the votes of the company. Malcolm G. Scott was General Manager.

The Telemedia Radio Network (Le resseau Telemedia) was formed. CKAC was the flagship. It was joined by Telemedia stations CHLN Trois-Rivieres, CHLT Sherbrooke and CKCH Hull. The network would enable the smaller stations to improve their national and international news services.

CKCH was authorized to increase daytime power to 50,000 watts. Night-time power would remain 10,000 watts. Different directional patterns were to be used for day and night operation. Six towers would be built at a new transmitter site.

On May 16, Telmed Ltee, CKCV (Quebec) Ltee, CKAC Ltee, CHLT Radio Sherbrooke Ltee, Metro-Media Communications (1977) Ltee and Telemedia Communications Ltee received approval to amalgamate under the name of Telemedia Communications Ltee., a wholly owned subsidiary of Beaudem Ltee. Telemedia would then become the direct licensee of the six AM and three FM stations it already controls in Quebec. On June 15, Metro-Media Communications (1977) Ltee received approval to decrease CKCH 970’s power to 10,000 watts. The station recently came under fire for its failure to implement a power increase to 50,000 watts.

On February 16, the CRTC renewed CKCH’s licence until September 30, 1989. The Commission acknowledged the licensee’s continuing involvement in community activities in the Outaouais region and its in-depth coverage of local and regional events, including its regular weekly public affairs program “Perspective Outaouais”. The Commission also noted the licensee’s commitment to expand its local and regional newscasts and public affairs programming.

CKCH general manager Marc Paris was named GM at the Toronto office of Opex/Telemedia Radio Sales.

In January, traffic reporter Francois Gagnon took part in a daring rescue of a woman whose truck went off a bridge and through the ice of the Gatineau River. Gagnon was reporting from the site, where a similar mishap had occurred earlier. On seeing the second accident, he asked for help and was assisted by a nearby CKCH listener. On January 8, the CRTC approved the affiliation of CKCH to the French-language AM radio network “Réseau des Nordiques” to be operated by Les Entreprises de Radiodiffusion de la Capitale Inc. for the purpose of broadcasting the hockey games of the Quebec Nordiques.

The CRTC noted that CKCH had been having difficulty meeting the required level of 65% French vocals, but now had a policy of playing French vocals exclusively. On September 30, Telemedia Communications and Radiomutuel merged their AM operations in Quebec, closing CJMS, CJRP, CJMT, CJRS, CJTR and CKCH. The two combined because they could no longer afford to compete with each other. The merger was subject to CRTC approval, but the six stations left the air on this date and the licenses were turned in to the Commission. The merged company was called RadioMedia. The two companys still ran their FM stations separately. The CRTC revoked the licences for the six stations (including CKCH Hull) on November 2.