CKWX (AM)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CKWX | |
 |
|
| Broadcast area | Vancouver, BC |
|---|---|
| First air date | April 1, 1923 |
| Frequency | 1130 kHz (AM) |
| Format | News |
| ERP | 50 kw |
| Former callsigns | CFDC (1923-1927) |
| Owner | Rogers Communications |
| Website | News1130 |
CKWX News1130 is a 24-hour all-news station broadcasting to residents of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, British Columbia. Upon the switch to its current format in 1996, News1130 introduced up-to-the minute frequent traffic reports every 10 minutes, a service already present in major American metropolises such as Los Angeles, but unheard of in Vancouver. News1130's biggest influence on Vancouver Radio has been regular and frequent traffic reports, and numerous other stations now offer scheduled traffic reports.
Contents |
[edit] History
CKWX first began broadcasting in Nanaimo, British Columbia on April 1, 1923 as CFDC, then owned by automotive and electronics store owner Arthur "Sparks" Halstead and operating on its original frequency of 430 meters with 10 watts of power (later increased to 50 watts). In 1925, the station switched frequencies to 730 AM and cut its power back to 10 watts to share time with Vancouver stations CFCQ, CKCD, CKFC and CJKC.
In 1927, Halstead opened a new branch of his auto-electric business in Vancouver and decided to relocate CFDC there. The Department of Marine and Fisheries (which then regulated broadcasting in Canada) had not authorized CFDC's move to Vancouver and revoked the station's licence as a result, but listener complaints led to the department to grant a new licence to the station, on the condition that it use new call letters; Halstead complied and the station returned as CKWX, now using 100 watts of power. It broadcast briefly from the Belmont Hotel in downtown Vancouver before moving to the Hotel Georgia, still sharing air time at 730 AM with CFCQ and CKCD in 1928, then with CHLS, CKFC and CKMO in 1929.
In 1933, CKWX moved from 730 to 1010 AM, then to 950 AM in 1938 before settling at 980 AM in 1941 following the Havana Treaty, which took effect on March 27 that year to settle problems with AM radio interference. Arthur Halstead later sold a 40% share of the station to Taylor, Pearson & Carson, which took over station management, moved the studios to Seymour Street and increased its transmitting power to 1000 watts; by 1947, power further increased to 5000 watts and it became an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System, while its transmitter was moved to Lulu Island (now the site of Richmond).
CKWX went to 24-hour operation on January 1, 1954 at 12:30 AM, with a program called "Concert Under the Stars". In 1956, the studios moved to 1275 Burrard Street, and on August 15, 1957, CKWX switched from 980 (soon taken by CKNW) to its present 1130 AM. The station increased power to 50,000 watts in 1958, the same year it adopted a rock and roll/Top 40 music format (CKWX was, in fact, the first Vancouver radio station to use that format full-time). CKWX was the first 50 kW station in Western Canada.
Harold Carson, one-third of the Taylor, Pearson & Carson firm that owned CKWX, died in 1959; the firm would change its name to Selkirk Holdings Ltd. later in the year. CKWX switched formats from Top 40 to MOR music in 1962. Selkirk became a publicly traded company in 1965, and purchased 100% ownership of CKWX (with approval from the Board of Broadcast Governors on October 10, 1966.
On March 7, 1973, CKWX underwent a major change as it dropped its mixed MOR/talk radio format for the country music format the station would become famous for. On February 13, 1979, the CRTC granted CKWX parent Selkirk Holdings a licence for an FM station with a jazz format. Selkirk originally wanted 93.7 FM, but were advised to find a different frequency; after doing so, CJAZ signed on at 92.1 FM on March 1, 1980, as the first Canadian station with an all-jazz format. CJAZ later moved to 96.9 FM, then switched call letters and formats in 1985 as it became CKKS, with an adult contemporary format.
CKWX and CKKS moved to their present studios on 2440 Ash Street on June 17, 1988, with the official opening on July 20; on September 28, Maclean-Hunter Ltd. purchased Selkirk Communications and its stations (including CKWX and CKKS) and also received approval from the CRTC to transfer the former Selkirk stations to Rogers Communications Inc..
On February 8, 1996, CKWX ended its country music broadcasts after almost 23 years and switched to its present all-news format; and in 2003, CKKS switched formats again and became CKLG-FM, under the Jack FM banner.
A fairly extensive personnel shuffle took place at the station on September 2, 2003. Program Director George Gordon replaced Andrew Dawson as morning co-anchor, joining Kenya Anderson, while Dianne Newman moved to middays joining Brian Brenn. That same day, Jim Bennie joined Joanna Mileos to co-anchor p.m. drive. Following the departure of Kenya Anderson in 2005, Treena Wood and Tammy Moyer alternated in the anchor chair only to be replaced by Dianne Newman in 2006. Tammy Moyer now co-anchors middays with Brian Brenn while Treena Wood is currently the morning writer.
[edit] Traffic and Weather
News1130 broadcasts Traffic and Weather Together on the Ones at :01, :11, :21:, :31, :41 and :51, with a traffic report followed immediately by weather. Traffic reports are gathered from lister info (by dialing *1130) and from the News1130 traffic plane, from which live reports are broadcast.
News1130 is the only Vancouver station with a full-time meteorologist, Russ Lacate, who broadcasts weather reports with traffic every 10 minutes.
[edit] Format
News1130 follows a 30-minute program format called a "news wheel", repeated every half hour, with continuous news punctuated by the following scheduled reports and features:
- :00 Top Stories
- :01 Traffic and Weather
- :11 Traffic and Weather
- :13 Market Minute
- :15 Sports
- :21 Traffic and Weather
- :26 Business
- :30 Top Stories
- :31 Traffic and Weather
- :41 Traffic and Weather
- :43 Market Minute
- :45 Sports
- :51 Traffic and Weather
- :56 Business
[edit] Awards
2001 Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon for Breaking News
2002 Canadian Association of Broadcasters Byron MacGregor Award for best radio newscast (large market)
2003 RTNDA Ron Laidlaw Award for Best Continuing Coverage to News1130 Crime Specialist Ron Bencze for his work on the Robert Pickton investigation
2004 RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award to Weekend Morning Anchor Andy Walsh
2005 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award to News1130 Crime Specialist Ron Bencze for his series on crystal-meth
2006 Big Brothers of Vancouver Murray Goldman Award for Excellence in Community Awareness
2006 RTNDA Charlie Edwards Award for spot news
2006 Jack Webster Foundation Poynter Institute Fellowship to Editor Bruce Claggett
[edit] External links
Vancouver: CKBD 600 | CISL 650 | CBU 690 | CHMJ 730 | CKNW 980 | CKST 1040
CKWX 1130 | CJRJ 1200 | CHMB 1320 | CFUN 1410 | CJVB 1470
Victoria: CKMO 900 | CFAX 1070
Bellingham: KARI 550 | KGMI 790 | KPUG 1170 | KRPI 1550 | KVRI 1600
