Broadcast History - April 21

[jon]

In 1985, Foster Hewitt died at 83 years of age. And was inducted into the CAB Hall of Fame in 1989. Famous for his play-by-play hockey broadcasts, he called his first game on February 16th, 1923, on CFCA. The station was owned by the Toronto Star where his father was Sports Editor. Foster's son Bill followed in his footsteps, taking over television hockey play-by-play from his father in 1957, when Foster decided to stay in Radio.



Foster Hewitt also created a Toronto radio station, with his initials buried in the call letters, CKFH. With only 250 watts, it started out 24 hours a day at a time (1951) when most stations signed off shortly after midnight. By the late '60s, it was Top 40, giving CHUM some serious competition. On November 14, 1970, a power increase to 50,000 watts was granted, significantly improving the signal but requiring six towers to create appropriate directional patterns night and day.

And in 1998, the CRTC approved CKLR-FM at 97.3 MHz with 4700 watts in Courtenay on Vancouver Island. Jim Pattison purchased the station in 2006.