In 1974,
CKND-TV Channel 9 in Winnipeg was licensed to CanWest by the CRTC. The story behind it is truly amazing, and says volumes about the business genius of the late Izzy (Israel) Asper. He was Manitoba Liberal Party leader in 1973 when an aide pointed out an ad in a Winnipeg newspaper by the CRTC calling for hearings on an additional TV station in the city. The CRTC was of the view that Winnipeg could not support another TV station. But
KCND-TV in Pembina, North Dakota, relied almost solely on revenue from Winnipeg advertisers. It took months of negotiation with KCND owner Gordon McLendon -- yes, the same Texan who pioneered Top 40, including his unique style of News, in the 1950s. But Izzy managed to scare McLendon into selling by suggesting that (1) Revenue Canada would soon disallow Winnipeg advertisers from deducting business expenses for advertising on KCND-TV; and (2) the CRTC would purposely license a Winnipeg station on a Channel that would impair or block out reception of KCND. The CRTC approved Asper's application to simultaneously shut down KCND and start a new TV station in Winnipeg. Cable companies even cooperated by placing the CKND-TV signal on KCND's assigned cable channel: 12, which was also KCND's off-air frequency. Asper bought an old Winnipeg Safeway store and moved KCND's Pembina operations into it, tranforming it into CKND (note the similarity in call letters). On September 1, 1975, KCND signed off and CKND signed on.
In 1995, a sale of
CFCN-TV Calgary was announced. Rogers had just purchased Maclean Hunter, but said they would sell CFCN-TV to Baton. Baton planned to sell 50% interest to Electrohome, but three months after CRTC approval, Baton and Electrohome announced that they were going to merge. Today, Baton has since been renamed CTV.
In 2003,
CJCA Edmonton and CJSI-FM (
SHINE-FM) Calgary owner Touch Canada Broadcasting was approved by the CRTC to give majority control to
Charles R. Allard, son of the late Dr. Allard (CITV/CHQT). CJRY-FM (SHINE-FM) Edmonton signed on a year later.
In 2006, the
CKRC call letters were back, but assigned to Weyburn (Saskatchewan), rather than their long-time Top 40 home at 630 KHz in Winnipeg. Country music-formatted CFSL-AM owner Golden West had a new FM license for 103.5 MHz with 100,000 watts. Magic 103.5 signed on at 7:00 a.m. with a Classic Hits format.
