CKKS-FM

CKKS-FM is a Canadian radio station. Owned by Rogers Radio, licensed to Chilliwack, British Columbia and operating at 107.5 FM and 640 watts in that city, the station's main studios and listening area are in Metro Vancouver, where its rebroadcasting transmitter CKKS-FM-2 operates at 104.9 FM on 31,000 watts of power atop Mount Seymour (its studios are located on Ash Street in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver). Its current competitors are Bell Media's CFBT-FM and Newcap Radio's CKZZ-FM.^[1]

History

CKKS signed on for the first time on October 1, 1986 as CKSR-FM (with the original on-air brand Star FM 105) under the ownership of Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd. to serve the residents of the Fraser Valley; at the time, the 104.9 frequency was originally located in Abbotsford, west of Chilliwack. The station's original format was a mix of adult contemporary and easy listening music.

Beginning in 1995, CKSR began gradually phasing out its easy listening songs in favor of a pure AC format; the conversion would be completed by 1997, the same year the station's signal was expanded to include the Vancouver area, giving Vancouver three adult contemporary stations—CKSR-FM, CHQM-FM and the then CKKS-FM (now CJAX-FM). As part of the expansion, the 104.9 FM transmitter was relocated to Vancouver and a new transmitter (operating on 92.5 FM with 2600 watts) was installed in Abbotsford. Rogers Communications purchased the station in August 1999.

The CKSR call sign and Star FM brand are now used by its Chilliwack FM sister station (located at 98.3 FM), formerly known as CHWK on the AM band.

Under the new ownership, CKSR underwent a name and format change at 5 p.m. on December 31, 1999 as it became CKVX and abandoned adult contemporary music for an alternative rock format (adopting the on-air brand and slogan 104.9 XFM - Vancouver's Rock Alternative) to compete with veteran Vancouver rocker CFOX and secure a younger listening audience. The two-way adult contemporary war continued at the time. CKVX became the first alternative rock station in Canada outside Ontario. In 2000, CKVX would relocate its main studios from Abbotsford to share space with sister stations CKWX and CKKS-FM at 2440 Ash Street in Vancouver, although Chilliwack would remain as the city of licence for the record. The alt-rock format lasted for just under four years, as it was dumped on November 19, 2003 and the brand 104.9 Christmas FM was introduced on-air as CKVX went to round-the-clock Christmas music for the next month.

CKVX switched formats and brands again at Noon on December 26, when the 104.9 Clear FM brand was adopted and the station took on a mixed format of adult contemporary and smooth jazz during most of the day, along with a program of chillout, downtempo and trip hop electronic music called Vancouver Chills, hosted by Trevor Shand from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. nightly. On April 8, 2004, CKVX changed its call sign to CKCL (formerly used on a Truro, Nova Scotia radio station), to reflect its current on-air brand. Shand left CKCL to move to Los Angeles to become the production manager at KROQ-FM (while continuing voiceover work for Rogers Broadcasting stations in Vancouver and Toronto) in 2005, and station Music Director Doreen Copeland took over as host of Vancouver Chills, which then began mixing more AC and smooth jazz in with the electronica tunes and expanded its airtime to 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. nightly.

Logo used as 104.9 Clear FM, 2003-2008.

Logo used as FM 104.9, 2008-2009.

On August 31, 2006, CKCL dropped the smooth jazz and electronica music and returned to a full-time AC format, giving Vancouver 2 ACs (CHQM-FM was the other) for the first time since 2002, when co-owned CKKS flipped to Jack FM. At the same time, it began a commercial-free long weekend of non-stop music to herald the return of longtime Vancouver broadcaster Fred Latremouille and his wife Cathy (who previously had a morning show, Latremornings, on sister station CKKS-FM) to the Vancouver airwaves after a six-year retirement; the new Latremornings show debuted at 5 a.m. on September 5. But the show was short-lived, ending after only one year in late 2007, when the couple returned to Maui.

In December 2007, it was announced that Charlee Morgan, formerly of Calgary's CHFM (Lite 96) and the old LG73, would take-over the morning slot in early 2008. Morgan made her morning-show debut at CKCL on February 18, 2008. On September 26, 2008, at 2 PM, CKCL dropped Morgan's morning show, and the station's adult contemporary format, for a classic hits format and re-branded itself as FM 104.9, thus once again leaving CTVglobemedia's market-leading CHQM-FM as the sole adult contemporary outlet in Vancouver. The last song on "Clear FM" was I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan, which was also the last song on LG73, followed by the first song under the new format: "Twist and Shout" by The Beatles. This move prompted Astral Media's CISL flipping from oldies to adult standards on November 10, 2008 (which Jim Pattison's CKBD dropped on November 13, 2008 as it flipped to 100.5 FM as CKPK-FM).

CFUN-FM's logo under previous "Fun FM" classic hits format

On November 12, 2009, CKCL rebranded itself as 104.9 fun FM. The callsign changed in late November from CKCL to CFUN to reflect the updated branding. The CFUN call signs were vacated by CTVglobemedia after CFUN (now owned by Bell Media) flipped to sports radio and became CFTE.

CFUN-FM branding as Sonic

On August 17, 2011, at approximately 8:42 AM, after playing "Cuts Like a Knife" by Bryan Adams, the station changed their format to Top 40, branded as Sonic (the launch was also broadcast on the Vancouver edition of Breakfast Television on City). The first song played was "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. To kick off the new format, the station aired 10,000 songs in a row, without commercials, a common promotion to entice new listeners. On October 11, 2011, Sonic introduced its on-air team featuring Ryder as the morning host. By January 9, 2012, the station was added to Mediabase's Canadian contemporary hit radio add board.

Former CFBT morning show host Kid Carson joined Sonic as the new Morning Show host on September 1, 2012 after his non-compete contract with Bell (CFBT's owners) expired.

On February 23, 2015, CFUN-FM re-branded as Kiss Radio, unifying itself with the Kiss branding used by other Rogers-owned CHR stations.^[2]

In March 2015, CFUN-FM and sister CKKS-FM in Sechelt made the following changes with their call signs: CFUN-FM, FM-1 and FM-2 all became CKKS-FM (FM-1 and FM-2, respectively), with CKKS warehousing the CFUN-FM call letters.^[3][4]

References

External links

• Official website
• CKSR/CKCL/CFUN/CKKS history - Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKKS-FM