CKOT (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = CKOT (AM)
CJDL-FM


city = Tillsonburg, Ontario
area = Southwestern Ontario
branding =
slogan =
airdate = April 30, 1955
frequency = 1510 kHz (day),
1200 (night?) (simulcasts on 107.3 MHz during the day)
format = Traditional Country music, Local News/Weather/Traffic
power = 10,000 watts (1510 kHz daytime, 1200 kHz nighttime)
4.5 kilowatts (107.3 FM)
erp = 10,000 watts
class = Class B
callsign_meaning = C KEN ORTON TILLSONBURG for AM station and sister CKOT FM - (Ken Orton was the individual who gathered the original partners to form the radio station)
C John D. Lamers (son of one of the station founders, current owner of station)
former_callsigns =
owner = Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company, Limited (TBCL) (majority owned by John D. Lamers)
webcast =
website =
affiliations = Independent

CKOT-AM is an AM radio station licenced to Tillsonburg, Ontario. The station was licenced on April 26, 1955 and aired four days later. The station was owned by John B. Lamers, Sr., Ken Orton, and four other shareholders under the name of Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company, Limited. The transmitter and two convert|160|ft|m|sing=on high towers were located in Lot 16, Concession 2, of Middleton Township in Norfolk County. The station has been a daytimer (operating only during the day) for much of its existence. It is also the last remaining Canadian daytime-only station still in operation.

History

In 1958, the station was granted permission to increase to 1,000 watts of power (in the daytime only), usine one convert|165|ft|m|sing=on tower. John B. Lamers would become the sole owner of CKOT-AM when he bought out his partners four years later.

CKOT-AM gained a sister station in 1965, when CKOT-FM signed on. The FM station originally served as a simulcast/rebroadcast transmitter of CKOT-AM. CKOT-FM would eventually become so successful, it would be spun-off into its own radio station in 1970. CKOT-FM would adopt the Sound of Music format of music, while CKOT-AM would remain as "Active, Lively, Community Information Radio."

In 1973, the station requested a change of frequency from 1510 to 1600 kHz, which had been vacated by CJRN in Niagara Falls. The request was denied, and the frequency ultimately went to CFRS-AM (Now CHCD-FM) in nearby Simcoe, Ontario.

On July 11, 1974, CKOT-AM was granted approval to increase its daytime-only power on 1510 kHz from 1,000 watts to 10,000 watts. It was also given approval to move its transmitter location roughly 10 miles (16 kilometres) to Glen Meyer, southeast of Tillsonburg.

On May 17, 1988, CKOT-AM was finally able to end its status as a daytimer, and add a night-time signal on the same frequency (to operate 24/7). The station was given permission to double its power to 20,000 watts as well. However, these changes were not implemented due to American technical objections from stations across the lake that feared possible signal interference.

Migration aspirations

By 1993, CKOT-AM had hoped to migrate to the FM dial, and had its hopes set for 102.3 MHz. However, the station lost out to CKDK-FM in Woodstock, Ontario for that frequency. The station had been considering a number of solutions to fix its daytime-only signal on the AM dial. One possible solution was to use AM 1510 in the day, and another frequency at night, and at one point, a move to AM 1200 24/7 was considered.

In 1999, the station lost out again on yet another move to FM. By this time, it had become a country music station, and wanted to move to 102.3 MHz (occupied by CKDK-FM Woodstock), but this was awarded to CHUM Limited for their London, Ontario rebroadcast transmitter.

Good news finally arrived for the small AM station in 2005. The station had received approval to migrate to the FM band. The station had proposed to occupy the frequency of 104.7 MHz, but this was awarded to a new station in Woodstock. The station would have to find an alternate FM frequency. The station's application for FM 104.7 meant it would have operated at 2,300 kW (with a maximum of 5,000 watts), and an antenna height of 163.5 metres (sharing the same tower as CKOT-FM). The station had also been granted a temporary permit to operate at 10 kW at day and 10 kW at night on the 1200 kHz frequency as well, a request that was previously declined.

CKOT-AM has also been able to broadcast on very low power at night, to Tillsonburg and Ingersoll, partially shedding its daytimer status, broadcasting at 20 kW in the daytime, and 10 kW at night, on the same frequency (1510 kHz), as well as on 1200 kHz, as a temporary measure to cure the station's problem of being a daytimer, until it can find an available FM frequency.

Moving to the FM Band at last?

In 2006, the CRTC had opened up the frequency of 107.3 FM for a new station in Tillsonburg ( [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/db2006-357.htm] ), and had approved of CKOT-AM's owners to simulcast CKOT-AM on that frequency, during the day only, much like how CKOT-FM had migrated to the FM band in the early 1970s. The approval of an FM translator for CKOT-AM was not without interventions.

Byrnes Communications Inc. (owners of nearby CHCD-FM in Simcoe and CIHR-FM in Woodstock) protested that an FM translator for CKOT-AM would stall CIHR-FM's growth, as it has been on the air for "less than a year", and has not become an established station yet, unlike CKOT-AM (despite being a daytimer, it has been around since 1955), particularly because CKOT-AM's signal would be increased to Ingersoll, Woodstock, St. Thomas, and parts of London, where CIHR-FM contains its targeted audience.

Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company, Limited (CKOT-AM's owner) gave a rebuttal, which was that Oxford County, Woodstock, and Ingersoll are apart of the London Radio Market, and it is allowed to have an FM broadcast translator, especially with CRTC approval, given its longtime technical restrictions of being a daytimer AM station. The company did admit that converting CKOT-AM to the FM band would result in a change of its radio contour (listening area), but would not adversely impact CIHR-FM, as its signal would just barely reach Woodstock. In this manner, TBCL sees no problems with this situation, especially since CIHR-FM will be able to establish itself, people in Woodstock can still listen in (though the listening audience in Woodstock is relatively small), and (probably most importantly), CKOT-AM can finally move to the FM dial and fix its previously mentioned technical limitations.

The CRTC's view is that CKOT-AM establishing an FM-band translator, and then moving to the FM band completely is in the best public interest, as it will increase its audio quality, it will be able to broadcast its country music and news to Tillsonburg and area at night, and no stations will be adversely affected. It further assured Byrnes Broadcasting Inc. that the radio contours for 107.3 FM were smaller than the ones for 104.7 FM (which Byrnes had beaten Tillsonburg Broadcasting for to establish CIHR-FM in the first place). The commission had further stated that the impact would be minimal on CIHR-FM (an adult contemporary station), as CKOT-AM is a traditional country music station, and a move to the FM band would help "repatriate" listeners who tune in to out-of-market country music stations from London, Hamilton, and even across the lake in Erie, Pennsylvania. The CRTC had also stated they "usually" place a restriction as to how much simulcasting is normally given to an FM translator of an AM station, but they granted an exception in the case of CKOT-AM, because of its limitations.

In short, the CRTC has given approval for CKOT-AM to simulcast on 107.3 FM with an ERP of 4.5 kW, but on the condition that it simulcasts only during the daytime.

On August 1, 2007, at 5:00 a.m. CKOT 1510 made its move to 107.3 FM as CJDL-FM to simulcast the AM 1510 signal. Source: [http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2007/070806/nerw.html Northeast Radio Watch August 6, 2007]

See also

* CKOT-FM, sister station to CKOT-AM

External links

* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=336&historyID=128 CKOT-AM at Broadcasting-History.ca]
* [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/db2005-432.htm CRTC application to move to FM dial]
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