CKPK-FM

CKPK-FM

City of license	Vancouver, British Columbia
Broadcast area	Metro Vancouver
Branding	100.5 The Peak
Slogan	World Class Rock
Frequency	100.5 MHz (FM) (Application to move to 102.7 MHz)
First air date	1923
Format	adult album alternative
ERP	11 kilowatts
HAAT	589 metres
Class	C
Transmitter coordinates	49°21′15″N 122°57′30″W / 49.354252°N 122.958308°W / 49.354252; -122.958308 (CKPK-FM Tower)Coordinates: 49°21′15″N 122°57′30″W / 49.354252°N 122.958308°W / 49.354252; -122.958308 (CKPK-FM Tower)
Callsign meaning	C K PeaK
Former callsigns	CFXC (1923-1926) CJOR (1926-1988) CHRX (1988-1994) CKBD (1994-2008)
Former frequencies	440 metres (1923-1925) 1030 kHZ (1925-1930) 1210 kHz (1930-1933) 600 kHz (1933-2008)
Owner	Jim Pattison Group (Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Limited)
Webcast	Listen live
Website	100.5 The Peak

CKPK-FM is a radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It broadcasts at 100.5 MHz on the FM dial. As of 2008, the station is owned by the Jim Pattison Group and airs an adult album alternative format promoted as "100.5 The Peak". Founded in 1923, in the past the station has broadcast other kinds of material on other frequencies, under the call signs CFXC, CJOR, CHRX and CKBD.

History

CKPK-FM was originally launched by electrical store Hume and Rumble in 1923 as experimental station CFXC, broadcasting on 440 metres with power at 10 watts. It adopted the 1030 AM frequency in 1925. The station was acquired by George Chandler the following year; under Canadian broadcast policy at the time, CFXC was shut down ^[1] and a new license was issued to Chandler for CJOR. The station subsequently increased power to 50 watts in 1928 and shared time with CNRV, then moved frequencies to 1210 AM and its studios to 840 Howe Street (with another boost in power to 500 watts) in 1930, and then to 600 AM in 1933.

CJOR increased its transmission power to 1000 watts in 1941, moving its transmitter site to Lulu Island, where it is located to this day (making it the oldest broadcast site in the vicinity in continuous operation). In 1944, it became the Vancouver affiliate of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Dominion Network, then increased power again to 5000 watts in 1947 with two 280-foot towers at a site in Richmond; that same year, Chandler established CJOR Ltd. to run the station.

In 1961, CJOR further increased power to 10,000 watts (and three towers), and became an independent station the following year after CBC ceased the Dominion Network's operations. Following Chandler's death in 1964, Pattison acquired the station the following year after the Board of Broadcast Governors (predecessor of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC) decided not to allow station parent CJOR Ltd. (by then owned by Chandler's widow) to renew the licence, but requested that it find a new buyer for CJOR.

On October 31, 1983, with the pending demolition of the Grosvenor Hotel on Howe Street, CJOR relocated from the Hotel's basement to its present studios at 1401 West 8th Avenue. In 1988, CJOR dropped its talk radio programming, adopting a classic rock format with the new call sign CHRX. The former CJOR callsign currently belongs to a radio station in Osoyoos. In 1994, it switched formats and call signs again, adopting the CKBD calls and the on-air brand The Bridge for Canada's first contemporary Christian music station. In 1998, the station changed to the adult standards programming format.

Switch to FM

On May 30, 2008, CKBD was given approval by the CRTC to move to 100.5 MHz on the FM dial.^[2] As part of its move to FM, CKBD planned to switch from its longtime adult standards format to adult album alternative with a new call sign, CKPK-FM. On October 23, 2008, the station signed on for testing. The station launched on November 13, 2008 with a 25 minute summary of the station's history on the AM band. The adult standards format moved to Astral Media's CISL (formerly oldies).

CKPK stopped simulcasting programming and shut down the AM 600 transmitter on December 31, 2008.

CKPK-FM got a new competitor, CHHR-FM on Canada Day, 2009, playing a similar AAA format. This is the first time Vancouver has had the same English language format on two radio stations (other than CISL's temporary adult standards format duplication with the old CKBD) since Rogers Media's former adult contemporary station, CKCL-FM flipped to classic hits on September 21, 2008, leaving CTVglobemedia's CHQM-FM as the only station with adult contemporary music in Vancouver.

CKPK-FM, like competing active rock station CFOX-FM, leans very alternative rock, although CKPK-FM serves as the de facto alternative rock station in Vancouver due to its report on the Mediabase Canadian alternative rock panel. There are no classic rock artists at the station, unlike competitor CHHR-FM.

On December 9, 2010, Jim Pattison applied to exchange frequencies with CFRO-FM which currently operates at 102.7 MHz.^[3] This application was approved on September 9, 2011. ^[4]

Past station logos

• 

  1972 CJOR logo.

• 

  The New 600 AM logo in 1998.

• 

  600 AM logo from 2008.

References

1. ^ Historical information on CFXC at Canadian Communications Foundation
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-928
4. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-580

External links

• 100.5 The Peak
• CJOR/CKBD/CKPK history at Canadian Communications Foundation
• CJOR/CKBD history at Vancouver Radio Museum
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKPK-FM