CKQB-FM

CKQB-FM
City Ottawa, Ontario
Broadcast area National Capital Region
(Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, Upstate New York)
Branding Jump! 106.9
Slogan Non-Stop Hits
Frequency 106.9 FM (MHz)
Repeater(s) 99.9 CKQB-1 (Pembroke)
First air date August 31, 1982 (AM)
September 1, 1994 (FM)
Format Top 40/CHR
ERP 84,000 watts
HAAT 323 meters (1,060 ft)
Class C1
Former callsigns CJSB (1982-1994)
Former frequencies 540 kHz (AM) (1982-1994)
Owner Corus Entertainment
(8324433 Canada Inc.)
Sister stations CJOT-FM
Webcast Listen live
Website www.jumpradio.ca

CKQB-FM is a Canadian radio station which broadcasts at 106.9 FM in Ottawa, Ontario. The station broadcasts a top 40 format, branded on-air as Jump 106.9. CKQB's studios are located at 1504 Merivale Road in Nepean, Ontario along with sister station CJOT-FM, while its transmitter is located in Camp Fortune, Quebec. Both stations are owned by Corus Entertainment.

History

The station was launched on August 31, 1982 by Standard Broadcasting at AM 540, with the call sign CJSB and a power of 50,000 watts (daytime) and 10,000 watts (nighttime).[1] The station was initially a mixture of MOR music and talk programming, then became an adult standards/easy listening (Music of Your Life) station, and in January 1987, evolved into a soft adult contemporary format with the brand name 54 Lite Rock.

In 1988, the station adopted a mainstream rock format and the brand name 54 Rock. In June 1989, the station's nighttime power was increased from 10,000 watts to 12,500 watts in an effort to extend their coverage area in the west-end of Ottawa.[2] Through all the changes, the station continued to lose money hand over foot.

In 1993, after 11 years without a profit on AM, the station applied to move from the AM band to the FM band using the available 106.9 frequency that had been occupied by CKO from 1977 to 1989.[3] The AM station signed off the air at 9 AM on August 31, 1994 and the FM station signed on at 6 PM on September 1, 1994 with the new brand name 106.9 FM The Bear and changed its call sign to CKQB. Darren Stevens became the first personality to be heard on the new station during a live broadcast from Minglewoods bar in the Byward Market.

In 2004, CKQB was given approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to operate an FM transmitter at Pembroke, Ontario on 99.7 FM, to rebroadcast the programming of CKQB's main station in Ottawa and provide better service to CKQB-FM’s listeners in Pembroke and in the surrounding west Ottawa Valley area.[4]

The station's music director, Kath Thompson, won the Canadian Music Industry Award for Music Director of the Year (Major Market) in 2007. On October 29, 2007, Astral Media took control of CKQB-FM as a result of its takeover of Standard Broadcasting.

The station dropped the decimal point on its ID by late 2008.

On December 4, 2008, Astral Media announced that CKQB, along with sister stations CJFM-FM in Montreal and CKZZ-FM in Vancouver, would be rebranded as a Virgin Radio station in January 2009.[5] This was in addition to an existing Virgin Radio station, CKFM-FM in Toronto. CKQB featured a "re-energized" rock format, as opposed to a hot adult contemporary format at the other Virgin Radio stations in Canada. The Toronto Virgin flipped to Top 40/CHR the following year.

The rebranding was completed on January 9, 2009, at 4 PM. The first song after the relaunch was "London Calling" by The Clash. The station subsequently faced criticism for its inaugural promotional campaign, which featured images of pregnant young women accompanied by the slogan "Lock up your daughters, the gods of rock are now in Ottawa." The station dropped the advertisements after a number of listeners filed complaints.[6]

On August 26, 2009, Astral applied to change Pembroke's repeater frequency (CKQB-FM-1) from 99.7 to 99.9 MHz to mitigate interference due to the approval of Astral's new FM station in Ottawa at 99.7 MHz.[7] The move to 99.9 FM received CRTC approval on October 14, 2009.[8]

CKQB-FM's studios are located at the broadcasting complex shared by its former sister station CJOH-TV, on Merivale Road in Nepean. On February 7, 2010, CJOH-TV's studios were gutted by a four-alarm fire in the pre-dawn hours; CKQB-FM's studios, located in a separate building, were not affected.[9][10]

In 2010, following the reformatting of francophone station CFTX-FM as a mainstream rock station, CKQB included more active rock songs to its playlist. On February 4, 2011, the station dropped the Virgin branding, returning to its former Bear identity.[11]

In March 2013, as part of Bell Media's acquisition of Astral Media, Corus Radio reached a tentative deal to acquire several radio stations, including CKQB, as part of an overall deal totaling $400.6 million.[12] On January 28, 2014, the CRTC approved Corus's acquisition of CKQB-FM and sister station CJOT-FM. The acquisition was closed on January 31, 2014.[13]

On March 6, 2014, Corus Entertainment announced that the station would change formats by the end of March; until then, the station would operate without any on-air personalities. Station management announced that they would take 106.9 in a "fresh, new direction", which was speculated to indicate a switch to hot adult contemporary via Corus's "Fresh FM" brand.[14][15] However, the "Fresh" domain was also one of two possible formats; Corus also registered JumpOttawa.com, as well as matching Twitter and Facebook accounts, on March 26. On March 28, at 5:00 p.m., after playing Van Halen's "Jump", the station began stunting for 66 hours straight with nature sounds and ambient chill music. On March 31, at 11:00 a.m., CKQB flipped to Top 40/CHR, branded as "Jump! 106.9." The first song on "Jump!" was "Animals" by Martin Garrix.[16][17] This flip gives the market its second Top 40 outlet, as it takes on the more established rival CIHT (other competitors include Top 40-leaning Hot AC CISS and French-language CKTF) with a presentation favouring a more rhythmic and dance leaning direction as opposed to CIHT's slightly hot AC-like approach, and 90 minute music blocks, as well as having a "very strong" social media presence.[18][19]

Compilation albums

References

Coordinates: 45°21′31″N 75°44′14″W / 45.3586°N 75.7372°W / 45.3586; -75.7372

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