CKNX 920 has a big regional signal and has carries ads for business in the region not just Wingham. They have a quasi classic country format with loyal listeners. Unlike most London stations they have live programming in the morning and afternoon. 

Given their location and available FM frequecies if they switch to FM they will be limited to flea-power like the former CFOS AM. Maybe a couple of kilowatts with a 30 mile range. They will likely lose coverage in the small towns where a lot of their sponsors originate. But they would sure save on the electric bill.



 

Some years back when I was doing cartage work in Grey and Bruce counties, CKNX was the station that carried both Leaf and Jay's games. 

I believe so, after the 100th anniversary on AM they want to move to FM. That would give Blackburn 3 FM stations in Wingham

turkeytop wrote:

For the biggest part of my life, I lived in the Owen Soud area. CKNX has a lot of listeners up there, and some Owen Sound businesses advertize on CKNX.

I don't think there any FM frequencies available for a high power signal from their location, so if CKNX 920 switches to FM it'll be a pretty weak signal into Owen Sound.
 

turkeytop wrote:

They also have an FM repeater at Meaford for their 101.7.
 

I don't see this repeater anywhere listed. The only thing in Meaford is Evanov's Lite 99 3. Do you have more info?
Also the repeater for Cool is at 91.7.

Last edited by andysradio (December 12, 2025 12:44 pm)

Well, the guesses here were right - it IS Blackburn applying for a new FM licence in Wingham - and yes, it is specifically to replace the AM signal on 920.

I had no idea that such a small market is served by no less than 8 commercial stations! The others, to no one's surprise, say there's no room for more. But the CRTC has decided that the market is actually thriving and a new outlet would not hurt the existing ones.
 
"The Wingham market has performed strongly over the past six broadcast years. It has been profitable since 2019 and has seen a modest total revenue increase since 2022. The Wingham market has also outperformed the Ontario and national rates of profitability and revenue growth. Given this positive performance, the market has proven resilient."

Not that the outlet would be exaxctly new. In a carefully worded statement, Blackburn let it be known they don't want another newcomer in the area, either. And they say this would not actually be a new one. 

"BMI agreed with interveners’ positions that the Wingham market cannot support a new commercial radio station. It stated that it was critical to note that their application would not add a new station to the market, but rather convert an existing AM station to the FM band."

CRTC Release

So of course, this also means they've put out a directive asking for any other interested parties to submit an application for a new station of their own. (Wouldn't it be ironic if those who insisted there was no more room were among the people applying?) Interested parties have until March 2 of next year to file their intentions. 

CRTC Release II

Since I was a teenager and discovered you can send messages to the CRTC, I have been, mainly in support of whatever was happening in Wingham or Owen Sound, always making reference saying "I live in" or "I am originally from" the village of Ayton.
So, under the list of Surrounding Communities they included Ayton.
Its likely only I and maybe a small handful of other people would spot this, but it was still nice they included my home village.

Nice to see that CKNX radio is still doing well financially.  Bayshore Broadcasting out of Owen Sound also has a good history of being profitable. 

torontostan wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

Nice to see that CKNX radio is still doing well financially.

Nobody said that, you're inferring. The market may be profitable but that doesn't mean CKNX is "doing well financially." If that were true, they would not be applying to make this change....

CKNX is the Wingham market, if their three stations aren't making money in that area nobody else is either.  Moving to FM for AM 920 is planning for the future.  Commercial radio on AM doesn't have much of a future.

torontostan wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

Nice to see that CKNX radio is still doing well financially.

Nobody said that, you're inferring. The market may be profitable but that doesn't mean CKNX is "doing well financially." If that were true, they would not be applying to make this change....

It's not an either-or world. Even if a business is profitable, that doesn't mean it shouldn't adapt as times change to be even more profitable or simply maintain that profit. I think the centennial is a great time to move from AM to FM and make a big deal of it. Also, think of the conversion of AM to FM as a practice run for the conversion of FM to whatever comes next. (Actually that one is already in progress, with stations testing out web streams for example, but these are early days).
 

So this might be a good side topic.  What is the definition of doing well financially. I disagree with how the CRTC comes to that conclusion.
CKNX radio has 12 hourly local newscasts a day at the most with no CP news in the off hours. So no evening news. They have almost no reporters left, and what is left is shared between 3 radio station.  They have only 2 on air host's ( morning and afternoon) no mid-day, evening, overnight, or weekends).

So, maybe they are making money but only because they are not fully staffed.
You could make a similar argument about the state of radio in Toronto too.

paterson1 wrote:

The CRTC when referring to the Wingham market performance was talking about the three stations that Blackburn owns, along with some of the regional stations that also serve the Wingham area. These other stations also derive revenue from the area.

My post about CKNX radio still doing well financially was not just about CKNX AM.  Like the CRTC I was talking about the three Blackburn stations based in Wingham including CKNX FM 102, and COOL FM.
 
Totally understandable that CKNX AM would want to move to FM, doing so for their 100th anniversary makes even more sense.  A fantastic way to celebrate this big event from a marketing and revenue point of view. 

So in a thread specifically about CKNX AM, we were to somehow know that when you referred to “CNKX” you were talking the whole cluster?

The group hasn’t been called CKNX radio in decades and 101.7 hasn’t been “FM 102” in twenty years!

If there were already a local FM Country I'd say absolutely not, but that's not the case, so, almost certainly Country. Country/Classic Hits/Hot AC is an ideal cluster setup for a small market.

paterson1 wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

The group hasn’t been called CKNX radio in decades and 101.7 hasn’t been “FM 102” in twenty years!

Yes, but the call letters for The One at 101.7 are officially CKNX FM.  So together both stations are CKNX radio.  COOL FM as you mentioned is in the same cluster and operate out of the same building with mostly the same staff.

Besides as mentioned, my comment regarding CKNX radio was in response to the CRTC comment on the Wingham market being above average for revenue. 

Assuming that calling the cluster "CKNX Radio", in a thread about the actual station, is obviously about the cluster and not the station itself is absurd. 

To say "CKNX is profitable" is to say CKNX-AM is profitable. Period.
 

Last edited by RadioAaron (December 14, 2025 6:33 pm)