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The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
It was started by a guy who worked for CKFH, nearly ended up in B.C., almost missed its shot at going FM and was turned into a Giant.
The story of how CHOW in Welland went from 1470 AM to The Giant FM is full of twists and turns.
Welland’s former CHOW radio station on air since 1957
(Note: story links to archive.ph and you may be asked to prove you're human by checking a box.)
- mace
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
I only remember the station in its Country days and I always pronounced the call letters like food, not C-HOW.
- Easily Amused
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
In one career stop in the late eighties into the early nineties, the maintenance department lunchroom radio was always tuned to 'See How'. From there I developed an appreciation for older country music.
- RadioActive
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
DX wrote:Yes, that is the original, but it's behind a paywall for me and you can't see (or at least I can't see) the whole thing. I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with the Archive page. Are you using a VPN to access it? Perhaps turn it off just to see if it works. Not sure why it's happening in your case and yet others are simply being asked to check a box to ensure they're not a bot.
In any event, I'm truly sorry it's not working for you. If anyone knows why this is happening for this poster, please fill us in. I'm sure he's not the only one.
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Thread Starter- Dave The OTA guy
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
When the station moved to 91.7 (CHOW-FM) they neglected to mention the station was branded as "Spirit 91.7" and they played New County.
In May '99 when the station flipped to classic rock and changed the call sign to CIXL (XL as in Giant) the ownership at the time said there really wasn't a market for new country, yet a few years later they applied for 89.1 CKYY-FM...which has been a new country station since it signed on in 2015.
- PSJ
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
Hi - slight correction. We purchased the station in 2004 and later, following market research we moved to a rock based format, then later to Classic Rock.
- Hooradio
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
Really fun building with lots of great folks. I was lucky enough to see the format shift to classic rock. I remember Pat St. John's emphasis on getting lots of excellent "deep cuts" in the system. He, Pete Morena, and Brian Salmon were meticulous in getting that playlist just right - those guys really had that station cooking!
- PSJ
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
While it took some time, we also found a great Sales/Marketing Manager in Micheal Haberer. He was way ahead of his time on the impact of digital marketing. Our revenue growth was specular year over year for many years, including during the pandemic.
- PSJ
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Re: The Story Of CHOW In Welland A Long & Winding Road
Mike also went on to be my VP/GM. Mike is still the VP/GM of the stations. Peter Morena was promoted to Operations Manager and did a great job. Along with creative, production, sales and on air talent we had a great team. Even during the pandemic everyone continued to come into the station even though there was the option of working from home. Now that's commitment.