Happy 100th Anniversary to Moose Jaw's 800 CHAB!

Radio News from Saskatchewan

Happy 100th Anniversary to Moose Jaw's 800 CHAB!

Postby radiofan » Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:26 am

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We believe we were the 4th radio station ever in Canada. 100 years later, here we are, celebrating 100 years on the air at CHAB.

The story started in 1922 - April 23rd, 1922 when, after many meetings, planning and anticipation, 10-AB began broadcasting. According to Broadcasting-History.com, the Moose Jaw Amateur Radio Association "had planned originally to operate the station, but found they couldn't afford to run it, so handed it over to the Kiwanis Club. 10-AB was licensed as a non-commercial station at 1200 KHz with 50 watts of power."

100 years later in 2022 our signal at 800 on the AM radio dial booms across the province and into the northern United States with 10,000 watts of power with studios located atop Main Street in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, broadcasting through a transmitter located near Pasqua, just southeast of Canada's "Most Notorious City".

It was in the fall of 1922 that the Kiwanis Club turned 10-AB back to the re-organized Moose Jaw Radio Association and in 1924 the studio was moved from the old YMCA building to the top floor of the Bellamy Furniture Store, a building which still stands to this day, having been turned into an apartment block on Main Street, downtown.

In 1931 there was another move to new studios at The Grant Hall Hotel, a lovely, historic building that has been completely refurbished.

Financial struggles in 1933 would lead to 10-AB leaving the air on November 11th. The history books tell us that Rudy Vallee "provided the background to the sign-off singing I'm Heading for the Last Round-Up". It was just a few weeks later when 10-AB returned to the air as CHAB after being issued a commercial broadcasting license by the federal government. Carson Buchanan, the secretary of the Amateur Radio Association, would own the radio station with partners and become the general manager at CHAB.

It was in 1937 that one of the first true radio stars to come out of Moose Jaw would begin his career. Elwood Glover got his start at CHAB, working for $5.00 a week. Glover would later move on to become CBC Radio's Chief Announcer.

In fact, CHAB was an affiliate of the CBC from 1933 through 1962 when CBC's Dominion Network folded and we became an independent station.

Many of our long-time, loyal listeners can tell you about the different programs and formats we've had over the years. CHAB was a top 40 station in the 60s and many youngsters counted on us to play all the new Beatles songs back in the day. We stuck with pop music and rock 'n roll for most of the 60s through the 70s and into the 80s when, for a time, we were "Favourites of Yesterday and Today". Many will never forget our historic switch to country music in the mid-90s when we rebranded as "Country 800". We pulled the trigger on that move just days before the popular Craven Country Jamboree, now known as Country Thunder.

It was in 2002 when we, under the ownership of Golden West Broadcasting, switched back to rock 'n roll with the format "The Greatest Hits of All Time", as Golden West expanded our operation with the addition of a new FM station, CILG - Country 100 - 100.7 FM.

Read the full story at: https://www.discovermoosejaw.com/local/ ... -100-years
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Happy 100th Anniversary to Moose Jaw's 800 CHAB!

Postby Justaprairieguy » Sun Jul 24, 2022 12:10 pm

Here's a CTV Regina (CKCK-TV) feature about the 100th Anniversary of Radio broadcasting in Saskatchewan.

CHAB is a prominent feature of the story with references to the old CKCK.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.6000182
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