In 1974, CKTA Taber (Alberta) signed on to 1570 KHz with 5000 watts. CHEC Lethbridge had received a license for the station on May 23rd.
In 2003, Israel H. (Izzy) Asper, founder and chairman of CanWest Global Communications Corp., died in Winnipeg at age 71. 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. On September 19, 1974, the CRTC approved Asper's application to simultaneously shut down KCND and start a new TV station in Winnipeg, CKND-TV, on Channel 9. 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.
Also in 2003, CBUX-1-FM signed on to 88.9 MHz with 3200 watts in Victoria. The station rebroadcast CBUX-FM Vancouver, which had signed on at 6:00 a.m. on September 5, 2002, carrying Radio-Canada's La Chaine culturelle, the CBC French FM network.
