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A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
It's no April Fool's Day joke - another Canadian radio station has reached the century mark. It's CKWX in Vancouver, now known as CityNews 1130.
It first went on the air April 1, 1923, but as the linked article notes, at the time it was more of a hobby/plaything for the owner than anything near a business. And the guy didn't even know he needed a licence to broadcast!
"Holstead recalls getting mail from listeners far and wide, remarkable for a station transmitting just a 10-watt signal. But many had a hard time making out the letters CFDC through the static.
“And we would get mail from New Jersey, New York, New Zealand. And we would get call letters for CFVC and CFBC,” he explained.
"So, for the first (and certainly not the last time) in our history, the station rebranded in 1927.
“So, that’s how [we] came to change to CKWX."
CKWX marks 100 years of radio broadcasting in B.C.
- paterson1
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
CKWX was also one of Canada's and Vancouver's pioneer top 40 stations. Here is the chart from April 1, 1961 courtesy of RadioWest.ca
Last edited by paterson1 (April 1, 2023 10:51 am)
- mace
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
I see one of the jocks is Keith Rich. Same guy that was at CKEY in their MOR days?
- Forward Power
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
...and the great Red Robinson!
- paterson1
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
mace wrote:
I see one of the jocks is Keith Rich. Same guy that was at CKEY in their MOR days?
Yes that appears to be the same person. Keith also worked at CFRB in the late 50's. He teamed up with fellow Edmontonian Steve Woodman to do mornings at CKWX. The two moved to mornings at WNBC for two years in 1962. Keith came back to Toronto in 1964 and became CKEY's morning man. He was at the station for 22 years and later moved to CJCL where he stayed until his retirement in 1990. Keith passed away in Meaford ON where he and his wife farmed and raised Australian Sheep Dogs. He was also an avid pilot and wrote books on British and Canadian aviation history, and restored vintage aircraft. Keith Rich was 80 years old when he passed away in November 2007.
Here is a picture of Keith Rich and Steve Woodman from their time at WNBC.. 
Photo from Woodman family
Last edited by paterson1 (April 1, 2023 1:52 pm)
- paterson1
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
...and the great Red Robinson!
Great indeed. Red just celebrated his 86th birthday on Thursday. In 1954 he was first dj to play rock and roll on the radio in Canada with his show Theme For Teens on Vancouver's CJOR. Red was a 17 year old teen at the time. Here is a story from last year in the Vancouver Sun celebrating Red's 85th birthday.. ...
And Red is still very active on twitter and his own website..
- MJ Vancouver
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Re: A Canadian Radio Station Turns 100 On April 1st
...and the great Red Robinson!
Great indeed. Red just celebrated his 86th birthday on Thursday. In 1954 he was first dj to play rock and roll on the radio in Canada with his show Theme For Teens on Vancouver's CJOR. Red was a 17 year old teen at the time. Here is a story from last year in the Vancouver Sun celebrating Red's 85th birthday.. ...
And Red is still very active on twitter and his own website..
That didn’t age well, sadly.