CKBD (AM)

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CKBD (AM)

Broadcast area	Vancouver, BC
Branding	600 AM
Slogan	Unforgettable Adult Favorites
First air date	1923
Frequency	600 kHz (AM)
Format	Easy listening/MOR
ERP	10 kW
Callsign meaning	C K BriDge (previous on-air brand)
Former callsigns	CFXC (1923-1926) CJOR (1926-1988) CHRX (1988-1994)
Owner	Jim Pattison Group
Website	600 AM

CKBD is a radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, broadcasting at 600 AM. Owned by the Jim Pattison Group, the station airs an easy listening format branded as Unforgettable 600 AM Adult Favourites.

[edit] History

CKBD was originally launched by electrical store Hume and Rundle in 1923 as experimental station CFXC, broadcasting on 440 meters with power at 10 watts. It adopted the 1030 AM frequency in 1925. The station was acquired by George Chandler the following year; under Canadian broadcast policy at the time, CFXC was shut down and a new license was issued to Chandler for CJOR. The station subsequently increased power to 50 watts in 1928 and shared time with CNRV, then moved frequencies to 1210 AM and its studios to 840 Howe Street (with another boost in power to 500 watts) in 1930, and then to its current frequency in 1933.

CJOR increased its transmission power to 1000 watts in 1941, moving its transmitter site to Lulu Island, where it is located to this day (making it the oldest broadcast site in the vicinity in continuous operation). In 1944, it became the Vancouver affiliate of CBC's Dominion Network, then increased power again to 5000 watts in 1947 with two 280-foot towers at a site in Richmond; that same year, Chandler established CJOR Ltd. to run the station.

In 1961, CJOR further increased power to 10,000 watts (and three towers), and became an independent station the following year after CBC ceased the Dominion Network's operations. Following Chandler's death in 1964, Pattison acquired the station the following year after the Board of Broadcast Governors (predecessor of the CRTC) decided not to allow station parent CJOR Ltd. (by then owned by Chandler's widow) to renew the licence, but requested that it find a new buyer for CJOR.

On October 31, 1983, with the pending demolition of the Grosvenor Hotel on Howe Street, CJOR relocated from the Hotel's basement to its present studios at 1401 West 8th Avenue. In 1988, CJOR dropped its talk radio programming, adopting a classic rock format with the new call sign CHRX. In 1994, it switched formats and call signs again, adopting its current CKBD calls and the on-air brand The Bridge for Canada's first contemporary Christian music station. In 1998, the station changed to its current programming format.