CKWW (AM)

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CKWW
City of license Windsor, Ontario
Broadcast area Southwestern Ontario, Southeast Michigan, Northwest Ohio, [1]
Branding AM 580, Motor City Favourites
Slogan Great Fun, Great Oldies!
Frequency 580 KHz (AM)
First air date March 29, 1964
Format oldies
Callsign meaning CKW Windsor
Former callsigns None
Affiliations Independent
Owner CTVglobemedia
Sister stations CKLW, CIDR-FM, CIMX-FM
Webcast Listen Live!
Website CKWW Homepage

CKWW is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 580 AM in Windsor, Ontario. The station plays an oldies format.

The original applicant for the CKWW licence was Royce Frith (later to be a Canadian Senator), but he sold the station to Geoff Stirling before it went to air. The station was launched by Stirling on March 29, 1964.

In 1967, sister station CKWW-FM was launched (later CJOM and now CIMX).

Stirling sold the stations in 1984, and the station dropped its MOR/adult contemporary music programming to adopt a news-talk format in 1989. In 1993, CHUM acquired CKLW and CKLW-FM as well. CKLW (by then a Music of Your Life station) and CKWW swapped formats, with CKLW becoming the news-talk station and CKWW adopting the Adult Standards format. In 2005, CKWW changed its on-air moniker from "580 Memories" to "AM 580, Motor City Favorites," dropped all jingles, and added more music from the 1960s through 1990s plus some AC chart recurrents while dropping most of its pre-1960 titles in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience. The station's ratings have steadily declined since, and the change in the music has proven largely unpopular with fans of the old standards format.

In October 2006, in response to WOMC-FM eliminating the word "oldies" from its on-air positioning, CKWW revamped its playlist once more to focus primarily on music from the late 1950s through the late 1970s while dropping most post-1980 material. CKWW now plays many of the oldies hits of the period from 1955 to 1970 that WOMC had dropped from its playlist (though WOMC has now once again become known as "Oldies 104.3"). Although still known as "AM 580, Motor City Favorites," the station has returned jingles to its on-air presentation and added the taglines "Great Fun and Great Oldies" and "All Oldies, All the Time" to its positioners.

CKWW also has begun to stream its live programming on its website.

Like WOMC, CKWW plays up its connections to Detroit's Top 40 radio past on the air, as the station's top-of-the-hour identification mentions that the station "broadcasts from the legendary studios of the Big 8" (at 1640 Ouellette Avenue in Windsor) and also features the widely-recognized instrumental signature from CKLW-AM's glory years.

The current morning show host is Charlie O'Brien, a veteran of CKLW-AM "The Big 8" in the 1970s.

The current AM 580 weekday air lineup is as follows:

  • 6 a.m.-Noon: Charlie O'Brien
  • Noon-6 p.m.: Wayne Stevens
  • 6-11 p.m.: Robb Duncan
  • 11 p.m.-Midnight: When Radio Was
  • Weekends: Ron Burgoyne

In 2007 CKWW (AM) along with the other CHUM stations (except Citytv) were sold to CTVglobemedia.

[edit] External links

[edit] Old logo