CKDK-FM
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| City | Woodstock, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Woodstock, Ontario/ London, Ontario |
| Branding | Country 104 |
| Slogan | Number One for Country HITS! |
| Frequency | 103.9 MHz (FM) |
| First air date | 1947 |
| Format | Country music |
| Audience share |
 3.5% [1] |
| ERP | 51,000 watts |
| Class | C2 |
| Owner |
Corus Entertainment (Corus Premium Television Ltd.) |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.country104.com |
CKDK-FM is a radio station owned by Corus Entertainment and licensed to the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada but primarily serves London, Ontario, Canada and transmits at 51,000 watts at 103.9 MHz on the FM dial. The station airs a country music format branded as Country 104. Until August 2008, the station primarily played classic rock; it afterward evolved to a 1960s-1980s oldies/classic hits playlist, but eventually settled into an adult hits format under the branding More 103.9. The format change to country music took place on February 28, 2014.
Although based in Woodstock, CKDK-FM primarily targets the larger London (Ontario) market. This station can be heard from London and Strathroy in the west, to Georgetown in the east, covering much of Southwestern Ontario, broadcasting to a potential audience of around 1.5 million people. Under the right conditions, CKDK programming can also be heard in parts of metropolitan Detroit.
Popular shows under the former classic rock format included McArthur in the Morning, Little Steven’s Underground Garage and The Legends of Classic Rock. The station's slogan was "Playing the Greatest Rock and Roll of All Time, 103.9 The Hawk". The Legends of Classic Rock was syndicated from Q107 in Toronto, and is heard on all Corus-owned classic rock stations.
History
CKDK began broadcasting on AM 1340 in 1947 as CKOX. In the 1947, C.O. Tatham and Charles Perry applied for an FM licence at Woostock as CKOX-FM. They later withdrew their application. The station reapplied a year later to operate at 106.9 MHz but it is unknown if the station was ever built.[2] The call letters changed to CKDK in 1977, and moved to FM 102.3 in 1986.[3] It moved to the current 103.9 FM frequency in 1993, known at the time as "K104" with an adult contemporary format.[4] The station joined the Energy Radio network in 1998, simulcast from CING-FM in Burlington. On January 12, 2000, CKDK and sister station CFHK 103.1 in St. Thomas, swapped formats, but not call letters. The Hawk format on CFHK was originally an "alternative format", like FM96, but this was changed to a classic rock format on December 21, 1997.
CKDK became highly focused on London once it joined the Energy Radio network, leaving Woodstock without a local radio station. In 2004, competing Standard Radio filed a complaint with the CRTC accusing owner Corus Entertainment of "neglecting" Woodstock by operating CKDK out of London. Corus subsequently moved some of its operations for CKDK to Woodstock, and Byrnes Communications received approval to start up a new station in Woodstock, CIHR-FM.
On July 16, 2008, The Hawk introduced a new on air imaging package, changing their slogan to "The Greatest Rock N' Roll of All Time".
In early August 2008 the station officially changed their playlist from classic rock to classic hits, however it had slowly been changing for over a year. The station has added rebroadcasts of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 shows from the 1970s as part of its new image.
On July 22, 2011, the station dropped its classic hits format for an adult hits format under the More 103.9 branding, similar in format to Corus' Edmonton station CKNG-FM (92-5 Joe FM).
On February 28, 2014, at 5 PM, the adult hits format was dropped for a country music format, branded as "Country 104".
Rock the Park
Rock the Park (formerly The Hawk Rocks the Park) was an annual concert put on by 103.9 FM in Harris Park in London. All proceeds from the concert went to the Bethany's Hope Foundation.
Other
On September 25, 2012, Corus received CRTC approval to change the authorized contours of the english-language commercial radio programming undertaking CKDK-FM Woodstock by relocating its transmitter site, by decreasing the average effective radiated power from 52,000 to 51,000 watts and by increasing its effective height of antenna above average terrain from 133 to 138.4 metres.[5]
References
- ↑ "Spring 2013 BBM Canada Survey"
- ↑ CKOX-FM (1947-48) - Former radio station history at the Canadian Communications Foundation
- ↑ Decision CRTC 86-211
- ↑ Decision CRTC 92-737
- ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-515, CKDK-FM Woodstock – Technical change, CRTC, September 25, 2012.
External links
- Country 104
- 1039FM Live Audio
- Rock The Park Site
- CKDK history - Canadian Communications Foundation
- Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKDK-FM
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Coordinates: 43°06′08″N 80°46′14″W / 43.10222°N 80.77056°W