CKWX

CKWX

City of license	Vancouver, British Columbia
Broadcast area	Metro Vancouver
Branding	News1130
Frequency	1130 kHz (AM)
First air date	April 1, 1923
Format	All-News
ERP	50,000 watts
Class	A
Transmitter coordinates	49°09′27″N 123°04′01″W / 49.157601°N 123.067024°W / 49.157601; -123.067024 (CKWX Tower)Coordinates: 49°09′27″N 123°04′01″W / 49.157601°N 123.067024°W / 49.157601; -123.067024 (CKWX Tower)
Former callsigns	CFDC (1923-1927)
Former frequencies	430 metres (1923-1925) 730 kHz (1925-1933) 1010 kHz (1933-1941) 980 kHz (1941-1957)
Owner	Rogers Communications (Rogers Broadcasting Limited)
Sister stations	CKLG-FM, CFUN-FM, CKVU-TV, CHNM-TV
Webcast	Listen live
Website	News1130

CKWX (known on-air as News1130) is a 24-hour all-news radio station broadcasting to residents of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, British Columbia. Upon the switch to its current format in 1996, News1130 introduced up-to-the minute frequent traffic reports every 10 minutes, a service already present in major American metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, but nonexistent in Vancouver. News1130's biggest influence on Vancouver radio has been regular and frequent traffic reports, and numerous other stations now offer scheduled traffic reports.

History

CKWX first began broadcasting in Nanaimo, British Columbia on April 1, 1923 as CFDC, then owned by automotive and electronics store owner Arthur "Sparks" Halstead and operating on its original wavelength of 430 meters (670 kHz) with 10 watts of power (later increased to 50 watts). In 1925, the station switched frequencies to 730 AM and cut its power back to 10 watts to share time with Vancouver stations CFCQ, CKCD, ^[1] CKFC ^[2] and CJKC.

In 1927, Halstead opened a new branch of his auto-electric business in Vancouver and decided to relocate CFDC there. The Department of Marine and Fisheries (which then regulated broadcasting in Canada) had not authorized CFDC's move to Vancouver and revoked the station's licence as a result, but listener complaints led to the department granting a new licence to the station, on the condition that it use new call letters; Halstead complied and the station returned as CKWX, now using 100 watts of power. ^[3] It broadcast briefly from the Belmont Hotel in downtown Vancouver before moving to the Hotel Georgia, still sharing air time at 730 AM with CFCQ and CKCD in 1928, then with CHLS, CKFC and CKMO in 1929.

In 1933, CKWX moved from 730 to 1010 AM, then to 950 AM in 1938 before settling at 980 AM in 1941 following the Havana Treaty, which took effect on March 27 that year to settle problems with AM radio interference. Arthur Halstead later sold a 40% share of the station to Taylor, Pearson & Carson, which took over station management, moved the studios to Seymour Street and increased its transmitting power to 1000 watts. By 1947, CKWX's power further increased to 5000 watts and it became an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System, while its transmitter was moved to Lulu Island (now the site of Richmond).

CKWX went to 24-hour operation on January 1, 1954 at 12:30 AM, with a program called "Concert Under the Stars." In 1956, the studios moved to 1275 Burrard Street, and on August 15, 1957, CKWX switched from 980 (soon taken by CKNW) to its present 1130 AM. The station adopted a rock and roll/Top 40 music format in the same year when Red Robinson joined the station's on-air staff (CKWX was, in fact, the first Vancouver radio station to use that format full-time). CKWX increased power to 50,000 watts in 1958, becoming the first 50 kW station in Western Canada.

Harold Carson, one-third of the Taylor, Pearson & Carson firm that owned CKWX, died in 1959; the firm would change its name to Selkirk Holdings Ltd. later in the year. CKWX switched formats from Top 40 to MOR music in 1962, and Red Robinson left the station at that time to join CFUN. Selkirk became a publicly traded company in 1965, and it purchased 100% ownership of CKWX (with approval from the Board of Broadcast Governors) on October 10, 1966.

On March 7, 1973, CKWX underwent a major change as it dropped its mixed MOR/talk radio format for the country music format the station would become famous for. On February 13, 1979, the CRTC granted CKWX parent Selkirk Holdings a licence for an FM station with a jazz format. Selkirk originally wanted 93.7 FM, but were advised to find a different frequency; after doing so, CJAZ signed on at 92.1 FM on March 1, 1980, as the first Canadian station with an all-jazz format. CJAZ later moved to 96.9 FM, then switched call letters and formats in 1985 as it became CKKS, with an adult contemporary format.

CKWX and CKKS moved to their present studios on 2440 Ash Street on June 17, 1988, with the official opening on July 20. On September 28, 1988, Maclean-Hunter Ltd. purchased Selkirk Communications and its stations (including CKWX and CKKS) and also received approval from the CRTC to transfer the former Selkirk stations to Rogers Communications Inc..

On February 8, 1996, CKWX ended its country music broadcasts after almost 23 years and switched to its present all-news format. In 2003, CKKS switched formats again and became CKLG-FM, under the Jack FM banner.

A fairly extensive personnel shuffle took place at the station on September 2, 2003. Program Director George Gordon replaced Andrew Dawson as morning co-anchor, joining Kenya Anderson, while Dianne Newman moved to middays joining Brian Brenn. That same day, Jim Bennie joined Joanna Mileos to co-anchor the p.m. drive. Pamela McCall became the newest afternoon anchor, replacing Joanna Mileos, in the Spring of 2007. McCall would later leave the station and be replaced by Karen Thomson in 2008. Following the departure of Kenya Anderson in 2005, Treena Wood and Tammy Moyer alternated in the anchor chair only to be replaced by Dianne Newman in 2006. Ben Wilson was named permanent evening anchor with Tom Bricker in November 2007. That same month, Brian Brenn took early retirement and was replaced in the midday anchor chair by Reaon Ford. George Gordon was terminated July 15, 2009. Reaon Ford was promoted from midday anchor to morning anchor in August 2009.

The license for shortwave transmitter CKFX-SW (6080 kHz, 10 watts) was deleted on June 8, 2007 after an extended silence.^[4] The CKFX calls are now on an FM radio station in North Bay, Ontario.

Traffic and Weather

News1130 broadcasts Traffic and Weather Together on the Ones at :01, :11, :21:, :31, :41 and :51, with a traffic report followed immediately by weather. Traffic reports are gathered from listeners' calls (by dialing *1130) and from the News1130 traffic plane, from which live reports are broadcast. News1130 also gives listeners Traffic Alerts. If a problem happens outside the regular traffic reports, an alert can be used at anytime during the news wheel to inform the listener about a major problem.

News1130 is the only Vancouver station with a full-time meteorologist, Russ Lacate, who broadcasts weather reports with traffic every 10 minutes. News1130 is also the only Vancouver radio station with a $1,000 Weather Guarantee.

Format

News1130 follows a 30-minute program format called a "news wheel", repeated every half hour, with continuous news punctuated by the following scheduled reports and features:

•  :00 Headlines
•  :01 Traffic and Weather
•  :11 Traffic and Weather
•  :13 Market Minute
•  :15 Sports
•  :21 Traffic and Weather (includes five-day forecast)
•  :26 Business
•  :29 Travellers Weather Forecast
•  :30 Headlines
•  :31 Traffic and Weather
•  :41 Traffic and Weather
•  :43 Market Minute
•  :45 Sports
•  :51 Traffic and Weather (includes five-day forecast)
•  :56 Business
•  :59 Marine Forecast

Awards

• 2001: Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon for Breaking News
• 2002: Canadian Association of Broadcasters Byron MacGregor Award for best radio newscast (large market)
• 2003: RTNDA Ron Laidlaw Award for Best Continuing Coverage to News1130 Crime Specialist Ron Bencze for his work on the Robert Pickton investigation
• 2004: RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award to Weekend Morning Anchor Andy Walsh
• 2005: RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award to News1130 Crime Specialist Ron Bencze for his series on crystal-meth
• 2006: Big Brothers of Vancouver Murray Goldman Award for Excellence in Community Awareness
• 2006: RTNDA Charlie Edwards Award for spot news
• 2006: Jack Webster Foundation Poynter Institute Fellowship to Editor Bruce Claggett
• 2007: RTNDA Charlie Edwards Award for spot news

References

1. ^ Historical information on CKCD at Canadian Communications Foundation
2. ^ Historical information on CKFC at Canadian Communications Foundation
3. ^ CFCD-AM (1923-1927) history at Canadian Communications Foundation
4. ^ CRTC broadcasting decision 2007-171, deleting silent shortwave transmitter CKFX-SW 6080kHz at licensee's request

External links

• News1130
• CKWX history at Canadian Communications Foundation
• CKWX Top 40 surveys - 1957-1962
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKWX