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September 27, 2022 6:07 pm  #1


980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

Legendary radio station CFPL in London will celebrate on air this Friday for their 100th anniversary.  On Friday the station is bring back former announcers and will be playing memories of the station throughout the day.  The London Knights home opener hockey game is also dedicated to PL's big day.  More details from Broadcast Dialogue...
https://broadcastdialogue.com/londons-980-cfpl-celebrates-100-years/ 

More from Global News with congratulations from a few movers and shakers in London..
https://globalnews.ca/event/9034915/980-cfpl-turns-100/

Last edited by paterson1 (September 27, 2022 6:12 pm)

 

September 28, 2022 10:42 am  #2


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

Did you know that Ward Cornell, of HNIC Maple Leaf intermission fame, was employed at CFPL from 1954-67.

 

September 28, 2022 11:24 am  #3


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

mace wrote:

Did you know that Ward Cornell, of HNIC Maple Leaf intermission fame, was employed at CFPL from 1954-67.

Another alumni of 980 CFPL was the late Alan Thicke.  He was the all night announcer around 1972/73.

     Thread Starter
 

September 29, 2022 3:59 pm  #4


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

Global has a new preview of the Friday festivities and a look back at some of the station's milestones. The vintage pics are pretty great, too.

‘Lead the charge:’ 980 CFPL celebrates 100-year milestone

 

September 29, 2022 4:41 pm  #5


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

I grew up London during the 70's and 80's.  Peter Garland was the morning man in the 80's - one of the finest in my opinion.

 

September 29, 2022 7:15 pm  #6


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

JackofAll wrote:

I grew up London during the 70's and 80's.  Peter Garland was the morning man in the 80's - one of the finest in my opinion.

Totally agree, Peter was one of the best and he could have worked anywhere.  Same with Bill Brady, a classy man and very funny.  Peter did mornings at CKSL for years and 980 courted him for a long time before he jumped ship. 

     Thread Starter
 

September 30, 2022 10:06 am  #7


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

I don't really know the London market well. I get the impression that CFPL has been the market leader for many years and at one time had a full service MOR CFRBish format.

 

September 30, 2022 10:31 am  #8


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

I'm not as familiar as I'd like to be about the London market, but I do know that at one time, in the 60s and 70s, it was an absolutely amazing radio city for a place of its size. CFPL, CJBK, CKSL and even nearby CHLO were terrific stations and were very competitive, and each had terrific talent. 

A lot of talent that would later work in Toronto passed through there at one time or another. 

You don't always see that in a city that size, but as always, the competition made everybody better. Something we've lost now that Bell, Rogers and Corus own everything. 

CKSL Jingles





 

 

September 30, 2022 10:47 am  #9


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

mace wrote:

I don't really know the London market well. I get the impression that CFPL has been the market leader for many years and at one time had a full service MOR CFRBish format.

CFPL musically was not as conservative as CFRB.  PL had more of a light A/C format with jingles but would play some MOR gold and current hits. More like CKEY in their music.

In the late 50's and early 60's they did have an evening top 40 block but cancelled this when CJBK,CKSL and CHLO were moving to full time top 40/rock.

CFPL morning shows were more upbeat and funnier than what RB would have been.   They had a big news department, so news every hour and every 30 minutes during drive times. Always had a talk show and would include rural news and farm reports in their major newscasts/business news since London is smack in the middle of farm country. 

For many decades 980 was the most popular station in London but sister station FM 96 eventually took over when they moved to an album rock format in the 80's.  FM 96 was a 179,000 watt station that had a huge coverage area, and had listeners in Pennsylvania.  

Today 980 CFPL is talk and news.  They did pull a WABC a few years ago with a three hour oldies show that runs on Saturday and Sunday mid day hosted by well known London personality Dick Williams.  His show is strictly top 40 and focuses more on 60-70's music.  Dick uses old CFPL jingles during the program, and highlights some memories of the city for these two decades.  Dick also can be quite funny.

CFPL is still a good station, now owned by Corus. Congratulations 980 CFPL on 100 years of service to London and area!   

 

Last edited by paterson1 (September 30, 2022 10:52 am)

     Thread Starter
 

September 30, 2022 11:14 am  #10


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

Up until 1994, when KX96 signed on, CFPL FM had a reasonably good signal into west Oakville. Some splatter from 96.1 in Buffalo.

 

September 30, 2022 8:25 pm  #11


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

mace wrote:

Up until 1994, when KX96 signed on, CFPL FM had a reasonably good signal into west Oakville. Some splatter from 96.1 in Buffalo.

I’ve listened to FM96 in four US states as well as in Ontario. These days it comes in reasonably well along I-90 from just west of Buffalo to about Mentor, OH, though not in Erie, PA due to a low-power religious station on 95.9. Also have gotten it clearly in eastern Michigan. In Ontario in modern times I’ve gotten it as far east as Burlington and Guelph and also clearly in Mount Forest.

There was a time FM96 had a sizeable fan club in Cleveland, which was quite an achievement considering that city has several good rock stations (WNCX, WMMS, etc.)

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (September 30, 2022 8:27 pm)

 

September 30, 2022 9:47 pm  #12


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

I did the all nighter at FM 96 late 79 into summer 1980.  We weren't a real rocker back then but actually closer to an AAA format.  Prior to the low power 95.9 in Erie I would get calls all the time from Erie and area, and from Michigan Port Huron area.  In fact I was in a busy roadhouse restaurant in Port Huron in 1982 and they had FM 96 blasting out.
 
In this era CJBK, CKSL and CHLO were rockin;  London was a pretty awesome radio town.  CFPL 980 was a powerhouse, two college stations were broadcasting, CBC had a local station in town and CJBX country had just signed on.  London was punching way above it's weight and all the stations sounded great.

     Thread Starter
 

October 1, 2022 9:24 pm  #13


Re: 980 CFPL Radio London Celebrates 100 Years On Friday

Mid 70's - 80's was a great time for AM radio in London. Five mechanical presets on the AM car radio. If you did  not like the song playing on 1290 CJBK, punch the preset and try 1410 CKSL, don't like that tune either? Hit the next preset for 1570 CHLO. You could almost always find something to listen to. 

CHLO was more middle of the road through the day but in the evening the jocks were given a lot of discretion and they played a fair bit of album rock. They would solicit and play requests.

All the stations were 'live' pretty much 24 / 7. We did not appreciate how good those stations were back then. I guess we just expected it.

Paterson1, FM 96 used to be a beautiful music format until around 1979. When it switched to a rock format I regularly tuned in. I seem to remember a jock, possibly Bill Gudgion? worked nights and played some interesting new artists like Horselips. I probably listened to you too!

Great days in London radio.

Today, CKSL is silent, CJBK has local programming about 3 hours a day, CFPL does news / talk with several hours of local live content. More FM stations are on the air and they are all boring.
 

Last edited by darcyh (October 1, 2022 9:27 pm)