CKLC-FM

CKLC-FM is a Canadian radio station, which airs at 98.9 FM in Kingston, Ontario. Owned by CTVglobemedia, the station airs a modern rock music format. CKLC, along with its sister station CKLC-FM (now CFLY-FM), began operations in 1953 as affiliate of the CBC's Dominion Network. The call letters are taken from Kingston's nickname, the "Limestone City".

Some of its earliest alumni include newscaster Allan Saunders (Sandzelius), Al Boliska as morning man, and disk jockeys Buddy Guilfoyle and Ron Bertrand. The original station manager was John Bermingham. In April 2007, CKLC 1380 AM applied to move from the AM band to the FM band at 98.9 MHz [ [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2007/n2007-6.htm#6 Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2007-6 ] ] and was given approval by the CRTC on August 28, 2007. [ [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-334.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-334 ] ]

CKLC-FM began broadcasting a test signal on 98.9 in October 2007, with an announcement that "Kingston's newest radio station" will be launching either "soon" or "in the weeks to come". The test signal included classic alternative rock music. The test announcements featured the voice of CHUM-FM's Darren B Lamb.

On November 29, 2007 at 3:00 PM EST, after a short test period, CKLC made the flip from AM to FM. The new station was known as the "Essential Alternative" 98.9 The Drive! After almost 55 years of service to Kingston and Eastern Ontario listeners, The 1380 AM signal was turned off soon after the launch of the new format.

The new CKLC-FM tower was to be installed on the same land as the 1380 AM transmitter site located on Wolfe Island. Due to safety concerns, the construction could not commence on the new 500' FM tower while the 4 175' AM towers remained on and standing. So for the first several weeks on air, CKLC-FM broadcast from a temporary 1 kW transmitter on the old AM STL tower attached to the transmitter building. Once the main transmitter was completed, the station powered up to it's full authorized power of 15,000 watts.

The original on-air lineup for 98.9 The Drive was:

Jim Elyot & Matthew Bisson - Mornings 6a-11a

Ali MacLean - Middays 11a-3p

Mike Reid - Afternoons 3p-8p

Paul (the) Brain - 8p-Midnight

John Periera - Afternoon News

In February 2008, 98.9 The Drive awarded their first major prize giveaway of a trip for 2 to the Virgin Mobile V-Fest in Sydney, Australia.

Through the summer of 2008, 98.9 THE DRIVE also featured several other on-air personalities in fill in roles, including Stephanie Earp, Andrew Loughrin, and Greg Hinton, the General Manager and Vice President of the station.

References

External links

* [http://www.989.fm/ CKLC-FM]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=439&historyID=222 CKLC History at The Canadian Communications Foundation]