Broadcast History - December 14

[jon]

In 1958, CBC-owned CFYK-1340 Yellowknife signed on -- the first radio station in the North West Territories (NWT). Tom Lodge was hired to do the morning show Day One, having written a best selling Canadian book "Beyond the Great Slave Lake". The next year, he would move to Fort Smith to open CBXH. In the early 1960s, he moved to England, and helped found the first pirate station, Radio Caroline, becoming one of the best known DJs of the pirate radio era. As for CFYK, by 1974, it would grown to feed a dozen LPRTs, including one each in Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In 1973, the CRTC approved the CN Tower as the future home of most of the Toronto FM and television stations' transmitters. But it would be May 31, 1976, before most stations were actually on the air from there. Many were required to significantly reduce power, CKFM (formerly CFRB-FM, on the air since 1938) perhaps the most drastic example. In 1971, they had to decrease Effective Radiated Power (ERP) from 200,000 to 100,000 watts before moving to Commerce Court West (798 feet). In 1976, height on top of the CN Tower was 1380 feet, but power had to be decreased to 40,000 watts.



In 1989, Izzy Asper gained 100% control of the Global Television Network.

In 1993, CHQM-AM Vancouver was approved by the CRTC to be sold by CHUM to a company controlled primarily by James Ho. Less than two months later, the call letters and format changed. CHMB became a multilingual station at 9:00 p.m. on February 9, 1994.