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CJOK-FM

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Coordinates: 56°41′16″N 111°19′59″W / 56.68778°N 111.33306°W / 56.68778; -111.33306
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CJOK-FM
Frequency93.3 MHz
BrandingCountry 93.3
Programming
FormatCountry
AffiliationsFort McMurray Oil Barons
Ownership
Owner
CKYX-FM
History
First air date
January 1, 1973 (1973-01-01)
Former frequencies
1230 kHz (1973–1998)
Technical information
ClassB
ERP43,500 watts
HAAT123 meters (404 ft)
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitewww.country933.com

CJOK-FM (93.3 MHz) is a radio station in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, with a country format branded on-air as Country 93.3. The station is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media.

CJOK went on the air January 1, 1973, as the first radio station in Fort McMurray. It was founded by Roger Charest and was the namesake for his broadcast company, the OK Radio Group. In 1985, a sister FM station, CKYX-FM, was established. CJOK moved to FM in August 1997 and was purchased by Rogers in 2006.

History

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In 1972, Roger Charest, an announcer at CHQT in Edmonton, decided to file for the first radio licence to serve Fort McMurray, at the time a small town with no local stations in the years before the Athabasca oil sands boomed. He contacted a friend of his, Stu Morton, who at first didn't know where the town was. The two went into partnership, and CJOK began broadcasting as an AM station on 1230 kHz at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 1973, New Year's Day; the first song played was "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash.[1] The station met with tremendous local interest; Charest recalled nonstop phone calls and a feeling of "jubilation" in town.[1] CJOK was among the first small-town radio stations in Alberta. With the exception of the Peace River area, the majority of the stations in the province were in cities, possibly because the flat terrain allowed those signals to travel much further than otherwise; in contrast, mountainous British Columbia had a proliferation of rural stations.[2] Charest would later state that he founded CJOK "five years too soon", before the tar sands boom took hold in town.[3]

After the success of CJOK, Charest and Morton received licences from the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (now the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CRTC) to launch CFOK in Westlock and CIOK in St. Paul.[4] Charest sold all of his interest in OK Radio Group to Humford Development in 1978 but bought it back in 1981, with Charest and Morton co-owning the OK Radio Group and Edmonton ethnic radio station CKER.[5] In the wake of the repurchase, CJOK applied to the CRTC to change frequencies to the lower 550 kHz with 10,000 watts instead of 1,000, expanding coverage.[6] The station also anticipated to improve coverage at the oil sands plants and within buildings in the city.[7] However, an intervention by adjacent-channel CBK, the CBC station in Saskatchewan, stalled approval until April 1984.[8][9] Ultimately, the frequency change proposal was abandoned, having become unnecessary because the projected Alsands plant and population boom to support the increased coverage never materialized.[10][11]

In March 1985, OK Radio Group built rock-formatted FM station CKYX-FM; CJOK removed rock music from its middle of the road format at that time.[12] The station received a short 18-month licence renewal from the CRTC, its most severe penalty short of revocation, in 1987 because it failed to play enough Canadian content; CJOK fell short because four songs sung by Anne Murray failed to meet two of the four MAPL (music, artist, production, lyrics) requirements to qualify.[13] By 1989, CJOK was airing a country music format.[14]

CJOK applied in August 1997 to move to the FM band, citing the inadequacy of its signal as conceived in the early 1970s to serve the larger Fort McMurray urban area.[15] The proposal required the CRTC to issue a waiver of its rule that prevented one group from owning more than one FM station in the same market; in December, the commission granted this waiver and approved the FM conversion, satisfied with OK Radio's commitment to retain the country format and that the arrangement would "provide a better quality service to the Fort McMurray population".[16] The conversion was made in August 1998.[17]

In 2006, Charest and Morton—now in their 60s—announced their retirement and put the OK Radio Group on the market. It now consisted of the Fort McMurray stations as well as outlets in Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Victoria, British Columbia.[18] Rogers Communications acquired the seven stations for $39.6 million, marking its entry into the three Alberta markets served by the OK Radio Group.[19]

Rebroadcaster

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In 1994, CJOK was authorized to add an FM rebroadcaster at 95.7 MHz at the Suncor plant on Tar Island.[20] The rebroadcaster was switched to repeating CKYX-FM in 2005.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ohler, Shawn (June 19, 2006). "Radio pioneers sign off, and they're OK with that: $52M OK Group started with tiny Ft. Mac station". Edmonton Journal. pp. A1, A8. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Bentein, Jim (August 6, 1975). "Radio steps out from city base". Edmonton Journal. p. 26. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Loch, Cynthia (December 30, 1982). "CJOK celebrates 10th anniversary: Station founded 'five years too soon'". Fort McMurray Today. p. 11. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "CRTC approves new radio stations". Fort McMurray Today. Canadian Press. December 27, 1974. p. 5. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "CJOK radio group sold to founders". Fort McMurray Today. April 28, 1981. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "CJOK seeks power hike". Fort McMurray Today. December 18, 1981. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Loch, Cynthia (December 30, 1982). "CJOK throws a birthday party". Fort McMurray Today. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "CJOK's application approved". Fort McMurray Today. April 11, 1984. p. 5. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Decision CRTC 84-342". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. April 4, 1984. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  10. ^ Mate, Susan (January 22, 1985). "Local FM station hits airwaves in March". Fort McMurray Today. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Decision CRTC 87-4". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. January 7, 1987. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  12. ^ Tattrie, Doug (March 22, 1985). "CKYX kicks off with FM rock". Fort McMurray Today. p. 17. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Erskine, Brenda; Volman, Rick (September 25, 1987). "Radio station cited by CRTC for lack of Canadian content". Fort McMurray Today. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "CDs for C&W station". Fort McMurray Today. June 1, 1989. p. 2. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Petkau, Rob (August 29, 1997). "Making waves: CJOK applies to switch to FM format". Fort McMurray Today. p. C1. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Decision CRTC 97-672". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. December 10, 1997. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  17. ^ "Country never sounded so good: CJOK celebrates 25th anniversary by jumping to FM". Fort McMurray Today. August 7, 1998. p. 25. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Gandia, Renato (May 2, 2006). "Rogers Communications eyeing OK radio stations, including KYX 98, CJOK". Fort McMurray Today. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Gandia, Renato (November 30, 2006). "Rogers likes what it hears". Fort McMurray Today. p. A1. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Decision CRTC 94-776". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. September 29, 1994. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  21. ^ "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-108". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. March 17, 2005. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
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56°41′16″N 111°19′59″W / 56.68778°N 111.33306°W / 56.68778; -111.33306

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