Traffic radio station in Vancouver
For the rebroadcaster in Hope, British Columbia which held this call sign from 1972 to 2000 (now CFSR-FM) and its parent station, see
CKSR-FM
.
CKGO
(730
AM
) is a
commercial
radio station
in
Vancouver
,
British Columbia
, owned by
Corus Entertainment
and calling itself
AM 730
. It broadcasts a
highway advisory
format
. Its
radio studios
and offices are in the
TD Tower
in
Downtown Vancouver
.
CKGO transmits with a power output of 50,000
watts
, the maximum for Canadian AM stations. It uses a
directional antenna
at all times to protect other stations on 730 AM from interference. The
transmitter
is off
British Columbia Highway 17
in
Delta
.
[1]
Format
[
edit
]
In November 2006, CHMJ adopted an all-day, every day "all traffic" format, becoming the first station in North America to do so. In addition to traffic reports, the station also airs news briefs, weather reports and commercials.
It also carries
BC Lions
CFL
football games and pre-game shows as well as
Vancouver Whitecaps
MLS
soccer games and pre-game shows.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
CKLG
[
edit
]
On February 3, 1955,
CKLG
, owned by Lions Gate Broadcasting Ltd., began transmitting at 1070 kHz on the AM band with a 1,000-watt transmitter. Originally, studios and transmitter were both located in
North Vancouver
. The radio station was controlled by the Gordon Gibson family, who were involved in the logging business. (Gordon Gibson, Sr, was known as "The Bull of the Woods.")
In 1958, the station changed frequencies from 1070 kHz to 730 kHz and increased power to 10,000 watts. The transmitter site was moved from North Vancouver to Delta. The station was sold to Moffat Broadcasting Ltd. in 1961, and in 1964 launched an FM sister station, the original
CKLG-FM
(now
CFOX-FM
), at 99.3
MHz
. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, CKLG (also known as
LG73
) played a variety of
contemporary music
, at times ranking as one of the most popular radio stations in the Vancouver
radio market
. In 1975, the station once again increased power, raising it to the current 50,000 watts.
The station's popularity declined in the early 1990s, as listeners switched to FM radio for music listening. In 1992, Shaw Radio (now
Corus Entertainment
) purchased Moffat's Vancouver radio properties. Shaw tried a brief and unsuccessful attempt at a
talk
format from September 1993 to February 1994.
[3]
The station returned to a
hit music
format, which lasted for the next seven years, despite new competition from station
CKZZ-FM
. CKZZ originally began as a
rhythmic contemporary
station in 1991 before moving towards a more mainstream
Top 40/CHR
format in 1996.
All-News CJNW
[
edit
]
On February 1, 2001, at Midnight, after playing "
I Will Remember You
" by
Sarah McLachlan
,
[4]
Corus changed the station's call letters to
CJNW
. (The
CKLG
call sign
was later transferred to
Rogers Communications
'
CKLG-FM
). CJNW adopted an
all-news
format referred to on-air as "NW2, all news radio, powered by CKNW".
Management wanted to leverage the Vancouver market dominance of co-owned talk station 980
CKNW
, in light of the success of Rogers' all-news station
CKWX
News 1130
. CJNW's all-news format lasted for approximately 14 months, and was abandoned in light of lower than expected ratings.
Mojo Radio
[
edit
]
On May 28, 2002, at 5 a.m., CJNW discontinued the all-news format and began a nearly
2
+
1
⁄
2
-month-long
stunt
of
modern rock
music, which also included a month of down time for a transmitter site upgrade. On August 6, at 6 a.m., the station changed call letters once again to
CHMJ
, and flipped to a
hot talk
format branded as
MOJO 730, Talk Radio for Guys
, which was based on sister station
CFMJ
in Toronto.
When that format failed to attract a large enough audience, the station changed to an
all-sports
format in February 2004, identified as
MOJO Sports Radio, AM 730
. It was the radio home of the
Vancouver Giants
junior hockey
team, the
Vancouver Whitecaps
soccer
team and other local sports events including
UBC Thunderbirds
and
SFU Clansmen
football and basketball games. It also carried
Seattle Seahawks
games from Seattle's
KIRO
. It was an
ESPN Radio
network affiliate
and also shared some sports content with CKNW.
AM 730
[
edit
]
On May 30, 2006, CHMJ terminated its
all-sports
format, switching to a stunt of a series of promotional content. The station re-launched at 7:30 a.m. on June 5, 2006 with a new format described as "continuous drive-time traffic and the best of talk". Programming consisted of continuous traffic reports during the morning and afternoon
drive times
and rebroadcasts of talk radio programming from CKNW. CHMJ also continued to provide play-by-play coverage of
Vancouver Giants
WHL hockey,
Vancouver Whitecaps
, and
Seattle Seahawks
NFL football.
On November 26, 2006, CHMJ flipped to a commercial
traffic information
format, airing only traffic reports, along with brief news and weather segments.
On July 3, 2016, CHMJ was knocked off the air temporarily by a fire that broke out in
Burns Bog
, where the station's transmitter site is located.
[5]
The station was broadcast temporarily on the
HD3
digital signal of sister station 101.1
CFMI-FM
.
[6]
On April 8, 2021, Corus Entertainment announced it had acquired the radio broadcasting rights of the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
MLS
soccer team as well as
BC Lions
CFL
football team, following Bell Media's decision to reformat
CKST
from sports to comedy. CHMJ will air games while sister station CKNW will air weekly programming related to the Whitecaps and BC Lions, in addition to an exclusive coaches' show.
[7]
On April 1, 2022, the station's call letters were changed to
CKGO
.
References
[
edit
]
- Leung, Wendy.
"Mojo Sports Radio shuts down; 14 staff let go: Broadcasters McKeachie, McConnell leaving as radio station turns to traffic format,"
The Vancouver Sun
, May 31, 2006.
- McLellan, Wendy.
"Vancouver loses its MOJO: Station never took off with sports; hopes listeners want traffic reports,"
The Vancouver Province
, May 31, 2006.
- Pap, Elliot.
"Sports radio stations brimming with hockey coverage,"
The Vancouver Sun
, September 23, 2005.
- Schecter, Brian.
"Radio's Jock Talk Wars,"
The Tyee
, April 19, 2004.
- Yu, Karl.
"Jock Talk,"
Vancouver Courier
, April 14, 2005.
External links
[
edit
]