| City of license | Edmonton, Alberta |
|---|---|
| Branding | AM930 The Light |
| Frequency | 930 kHZ |
| First air date | May 1, 1922 |
| Format | Religious |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Owner | Touch Canada Broadcasting |
| Website | AM930 The Light |
CJCA is a Canadian radio station. It operates at 930 AM with the current brand name "AM930 The Light" in Edmonton, Alberta. It was first licensed on May 1, 1922 and it first broadcast on May 22, 1922, becoming Alberta's first radio station. It was an affiliate of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission from 1933 to 1936 when it affiliated with the newly formed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CJCA was originally owned and operated by the Edmonton Journal, and was later purchased by Selkirk Communications. As of 1994, it broadcasts entirely Christian programming.
During the 1960s CJCA was one of two major rock stations in Edmonton (the other being CHED).
Walt Rutherford, Phil Floyd, John McKittrick, Murray Blakely, Terry Spense and Earl McKittrick were in the newroom. Gord Skuttle was the Chief engineer (assisted by Andre Picard). Harry Boon was the Music Director with Dalt Elton as Program Director. The Top 40 was played twice in a row on Saturdays. Dixieland Jazz was played live from a club for an hour on Thursday nights. Each high school had its own "fight" song for dedications. The DJs were household names, and their pictures were passed out as folding cards. The Top 40 sheet was distributed weekly, and once a month a listener would win the Top 40 records for that week.
An FM station was started from the back production studio. The FM simulcast the AM except for 6:00 pm to midnight when CJCA FM played classical music which was handled by an operator who played the records along with the pre-taped announcer.
Many "Radio 93" on-air personalities who went on to bigger markets include singer–songwriter Barry Boyd, who had a Canadian hit record, "Wishin'". In the mid 60s Barry moved to KFXM Radio in San Bernardino, California, which also called itself 'Tiger Radio'. Before returning to Edmonton, Barry was a jock on KCBQ in San Diego. Barry died in Edmonton in 1991. Other famous CJCA DJs included Mike Marshall, who later crossed the street to CHED and then became Frank Brodie at the legendary CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. Jim Hault was a longtime CJCA morning man. Hault later became an on-air institution in Vancouver.
On weekdays, George Payne did afternoons; Barry Boyd 4:00–8:00; Lorne Thompson (who was also a teacher at NAIT) 8:00 to midnight; and Tom Fulton (who came from the Quesnel/Williams Lake station) the A&W all night show. Fulton came to Toronto's CKFH, then spent his final years at CJRT and AM740. Jim Hand was an extremely popular morning man (prior to Jim Hault) and a real character. The city was shocked when he died at such a young age, a few days after having had dental surgery. A couple of other DJ characters of this era were Frantic Frank Todd (weekends), Don Lamb (weekends and sales), and Bernie Bishiup (the all night show - prior to Tom). Because of the station's popularity the DJs spent a lot of time doing remote broadcasts at car dealerships and stores. Ratings-wise, CJCA had the city, but could never quite get by CFRN because of their rural listeners. Lorne Thompson helped a number young guys get started in radio, including Terry David Mulligan who was then an RCMP Officer patrolling the Edmonton–Calgary highway. Doug Thompson, an army brat and still at Queen E high school, started as an operator and later went on to a long career behind the scenes at CHUM AM in Toronto. Hal Weaver was a very popular CJCA DJ in the mid 60s. A few years later, he would also bring that popularity to CHUM AM.
For many years the CJCA broadcast studios were located on the 4th floor of the Birks building in downtown Edmonton. On top of the Birks building was a huge billboard of a tiger wearing sunglasses—CJCA was also known as Tiger Radio.
CJCA was also home for the Edmonton Eskimos and Edmonton Trappers. Their games were broadcast live on CJCA for many years.
In the mid to late 1980s CJCA changed to an "all talk" format and while it was successful for a short while the station eventually went bankrupt and went off the air on December 1, 1993. Shortly thereafter, the rights to the station were purchased by Touch Canada Broadcasting and in April 1994 it returned to the air as a Christian station.
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