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January 2, 2023 12:58 pm  #1


January 2, 1967

It was on this day in 1967 that CKFH/1430 went top 40.  The station had been experimenting in the evenings for a few months but went all in on January 2nd to battle 1050 CHUM.  CKEY had surprisingly bowed out of top 40 in 1965, so other than CKOC in Hamilton, CHUM had the youth market to themselves. After 8 years of playing the hits and some album rock CKFH moved to a country format in 1975.  680 CFTR had become the main competitor for CHUM when they adopted top 40 in 1972.  

 

January 2, 2023 1:25 pm  #2


Re: January 2, 1967

Not necessarily pertinent to the GTA, but FWIW living in Kitchener Ontario at the time we usually listened to CHUM 1050 through the day. Their night signal was very poor. CKOC had a stronger signal than CHUM. Unfortunately CKFH had a much weaker signal. It was receivable but much more prone to electrical noise. This would suggest they sent less power west which would also weaken the coverage into places like Mississauga, Milton, Guelph. But I guess their main market was Toronto.

 

January 2, 2023 1:46 pm  #3


Re: January 2, 1967

darcyh wrote:

Not necessarily pertinent to the GTA, but FWIW living in Kitchener Ontario at the time we usually listened to CHUM 1050 through the day. Their night signal was very poor. CKOC had a stronger signal than CHUM. Unfortunately CKFH had a much weaker signal. It was receivable but much more prone to electrical noise. This would suggest they sent less power west which would also weaken the coverage into places like Mississauga, Milton, Guelph. But I guess their main market was Toronto.

Yes I never listened to CKFH that much growing up since living north of Guelph their signal was poor.  CFTR always came in loud and clear as did CHUM and Hamilton's CKOC and CHAM.  CHYM and CJOY in Guelph were almost but not really top 40 stations.  Both in the evening did have a truer top 40 format. CJOY for a few years had a DJ by the name of Johnny Williams who really played a lot of funk and soul music.  He always called the station, The Big Funky CJOY....Johnny was quite a hit when he came to speak to our grade 11 English class at the Fergus High School.   

     Thread Starter
 

January 2, 2023 1:57 pm  #4


Re: January 2, 1967

paterson1 wrote:

It was on this day in 1967 that CKFH/1430 went top 40.  The station had been experimenting in the evenings for a few months but went all in on January 2nd to battle 1050 CHUM.  CKEY had surprisingly bowed out of top 40 in 1965, so other than CKOC in Hamilton, CHUM had the youth market to themselves. After 8 years of playing the hits and some album rock CKFH moved to a country format in 1975.  680 CFTR had become the main competitor for CHUM when they adopted top 40 in 1972.  

Mr. "P",

The CKFH tribute site's security certificate looks to have expired. 

I had intended to link to the image of the sunshine sticker, just like the one I had on my '67 Mini back in '1970.

salvare foto instagram

 

January 2, 2023 2:05 pm  #5


Re: January 2, 1967

Still Looks Cooool !!

Last edited by paterson1 (January 2, 2023 2:08 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

January 2, 2023 2:12 pm  #6


Re: January 2, 1967

Yeah it does! Kinda wish I still had one - the Mini it was stuck too as well.

BTW...what of the security certificate?

 

January 2, 2023 2:32 pm  #7


Re: January 2, 1967

I've alerted the site's admin, about the certificate issue. Hopefully, he can fix it. 

 

January 2, 2023 4:28 pm  #8


Re: January 2, 1967

I was an avid CHUM listener until they went Drake in 1968 and took away all the personality of the jocks. That's when I became a constant listener to CKFH, which had great talent like Tom Fulton, Steve O'Brien and of course, our own John Donabie. As far as I was concerned, #2 Radio became #1 with me. 

CKFH's early attempts at Top 40 were a bit strange, a hybrid playing more album cuts than hits and at that age, that wasn't what I was looking for. Even their early "charts" weren't charts at all. Here's one of them from 1968. How many of the sometimes obscure songs listed do you remember?






By 1970, #2 Radio was well in gear and was doing more of a traditional Top 40 format. One thing I really liked about this version of FH was their playlist was larger than CHUM's and they'd often put on songs you'd never hear down the dial. 

Here's their very first actual CKFH Chart from Jan. 1, 1970 and it comes with a personal story. You can see it looks a little beat up and there's a reason for that. When I was a kid, we lived a few blocks away from the then-still new Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and it only took about 10 minutes to walk there. So every week, I'd go over to Record World to get the latest CHUM Chart. 

But in the second week of January, I spotted something I'd never seen before - a CKFH Chart, also on the shelves. It was the second one they'd published and I thought I'd missed issue #1. But after digging into the pile, I spotted a lone copy of the very first chart, published the week before. It was dog-eared and crumpled, but I took both of them home and have it to this day, battered and bruised but still intact. And that's the one you'll see below.






Still, they hadn't given up playing LP cuts entirely, as this article from June 1970 demonstrates.
 

Last edited by RadioActive (January 2, 2023 4:36 pm)

 

January 2, 2023 4:59 pm  #9


Re: January 2, 1967

DeepTracks wrote:

BTW...what of the security certificate?

Just heard from the admin. He says it should be fixed sometime today. 

 

January 2, 2023 7:11 pm  #10


Re: January 2, 1967

Wow..that first CKFH music report or whatever they were trying to do, is unique because it is such a mess.  That is the worst layout I have ever seen for a radio station.  Glad that they made the official chart easier to read by 1970.  Way too much going on in the first report and it would make me wonder what the hell does this station actually sound like?  They may have been #2 for a reason. 

Last edited by paterson1 (January 2, 2023 7:13 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

January 2, 2023 10:00 pm  #11


Re: January 2, 1967

I don't think that was meant as a "chart" in the traditional way that CHUM put out. It was more a list of records that had been released that week or that month. I'm really familiar with the average Top 40 playlists from 1968 and I don't recognize half of the songs on there. As far as I know, few of them made the charts or got played anywhere. 

Still, it's interesting looking back on it. I would love to hear airchecks from those days to see what they were playing and how obscure some of the music may have been. I know Dale Patterson, the original SOWNY founder and still a member, was at FH around that time. Maybe he can provide an "eyewitness to history" clue about what the place sounded like in those days. 

 

January 3, 2023 1:07 am  #12


Re: January 2, 1967

Not talking about the layout but I find the listing of the songs on that FH survey quite interesting. They are in the minority but there are some songs on there that were top 40 hits. Then there's another group that did get some regional air play. I recognize a few songs and groups that  first heard on the great garage/psyche comp called Nuggets released in the 1970's.

Try it by The Ohio Express is a cover of a Standells tune. Future one man Beatle Emit Rhodes is represented by his group the Merry Go Round who had two hits in southern California both of which also made the lower rungs of the Billboard Hot 100. I believe two different singles by Traffic. One was from a film soundtrack. The initial release of Nights In White Satan by the Moody Blues - the song did not succeed at that time but did well 4 years later. Tuesday Afternoon from the same album did chart on CHUM upon first release,

I noticed a song by the Hassels and I know that Billy Joel was in a band with that name. I looked up the tune on You Tube and it is indeed the Billy Joel Hassels. Heard them for the first time today thanks to this listing. Not a great song though.


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

January 3, 2023 11:50 am  #13


Re: January 2, 1967

Growing up in Oakville, I was a loyal CKFH listener, at least during daytime hours. Their nighttime 5000 watt signal was listenable westward to about Erin Mills/QEW.

 

January 5, 2023 11:58 am  #14


Re: January 2, 1967

SOWNY poster Mace sent me a photo of yet another CKFH chart, one that was either only available at the station or could be mailed out to listeners. They were not in stores, like the CHUM Chart was. What's interesting about them, though, is how they matched the "#2 Radio" branding.

(CKFH famously called itself "#2 Radio - we must be, because everyone else is #1," making fun of CHUM's accurate claim that it was the top Top 40 station in Toronto.) That's why you'll notice the CKFH list does not contain a number one song or any artwork. It appears to be a typed-up list that was simply photocopied. 

Thanks, Mace. Something I think most of us have never seen. 

 

 

January 5, 2023 12:05 pm  #15


Re: January 2, 1967

They might be a nice addition to the CKFH tribute site. Feel free to forward all four of the photos.

 

January 5, 2023 12:07 pm  #16


Re: January 2, 1967

Here are a few others, courtesy of Mace. As you can see, they added a logo and a few tweaks.