| City of license | Hamilton, ON |
|---|---|
| Branding | Oldies 1150 |
| Slogan | More Oldies... Less Talk |
| Frequency | 1150 kHz (AM) |
| First air date | May 1, 1922 |
| Format | Oldies |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Former callsigns | CKMO (1992-1993) |
| Owner | Astral Media |
| Sister stations | CHAM, CKLH-FM |
| Website | Oldies 1150 |
CKOC is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 1150 AM in Hamilton, Ontario. The station airs an oldies format branded as Oldies 1150 and is owned by Astral Media.
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CKOC is the oldest radio station in English Canada and the second oldest overall, on the air since May 1, 1922.
Originally, CKOC's station was based in the Lower City at the corner of King William and John Streets and was an offshoot of the Wentworth Radio and Supply Company owned by Herb Slack. He figured he could sell more radios if he also owned a radio station and in the spring of 1922 the station became only the third radio station in all of Canada. Other broadcast locations over the years for CKOC include, the 11th floor of the Royal Connaught Hotel in the downtown core, the Lister Block building on James & King Williams Streets and the a studio on Garfield Avenue near King & Sherman Avenue North.[1] During its early years, the station broadcast on a number of frequencies, including 880, 630 and 1120 kHz; the station moved to its current frequency of 1150 in 1941.
CKOC featured a Top 40 music format from 1960 to 1992, and increased its power to 50,000 watts in 1979.
On February 17, 1992, after a countdown of the Top 500 hits of all time (a long-running annual tradition at the station), CKOC debuted "Oldies 1150" with the new calls CKMO ("More Oldies"). However, on April 2, 1993, the station reverted to the heritage CKOC calls, admitting that dropping the calls in the first place had been a mistake and that the station's listeners wanted the original calls back. The station mentions its Top 40 heritage on the air as part of the current oldies format, with liners such as, "The station that played 'em then... plays 'em again." The current branding started sometime in late 2006.
CKOC first applied for an FM station in 1968, but the FM station did not take to the air until 1986 as adult contemporary station CKLH.
CKOC currently airs a schedule of primarily local programming during the day and evening, with the station automated on overnights. Syndicated programming includes "Elvis Only" and reruns of Wolfman Jack and 1970s-era American Top 40 on weekday and weekend evenings.
CKOC has suffered from much co-channel interference from CJRC in Gatineau, Quebec at night, particularly in Southwestern Ontario and north of Toronto which received a relatively clear signal for CKOC during the day. In these areas, CKOC was almost impossible to pick up on some nights due to CJRC. This interference was remedied in Spring 2007, when CJRC moved to the FM dial and closed the AM signal.
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