City Newmarket, Ontario Branding Jewel 88.5 Frequency 88.5 MHz (FM) | Broadcast area Greater Toronto Area Slogan Lite & Refreshing First air date 1980 (AM) 1994 (FM) | |
CKDX-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 88.5 FM in the Greater Toronto Area, although the station is officially licensed to Newmarket, Ontario, CKDX's studios are located on Dundas Street West in the Eatonville neighbourhood of Toronto, while its transmitter is located near Aurora. Branded as Jewel 88.5, the station is one of a chain of eight "The Jewel" branded stations in Canada operated by Evanov Radio Group. "Jewel" stations broadcasts a Soft AC music format, billed as "Lite and Refreshing", with a mix of "contemporary songs by today’s artists" and "the greatest songs from the last 40 years".
The station is 80% owned by and operated by Evanov Communications. The balance of ownership is by two numbered Ontario companies.
History
The station was launched on February 28, 1980 as AM 1480 CKAN, broadcasting from 6 am to midnight with a hybrid easy listening/beautiful music format. The station switched to a country music format in 1984. In 1986, the station switched to a Top 40 format, and in 1988 the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
The station shut down on March 17, 1992 due to financial problems, and resumed broadcasting on May 17 of that year when the problems were resolved. At the time of the shutdown, the station was known as "Energy 1480". In December of that year, the station adopted its current CKDX callsign with an oldies/easy listening format. CKDX subsequently moved to the FM dial in 1994, branding itself as "The Phoenix". Since moving to FM, the station has gone through several technical changes.
The station went through a number of format changes in the next several years, adopting a dance music format again as "Power 88.5" (after a brief period as "88.5 The X") on February 21, 1997 at 8 AM. On July 19, 1999, at 5 p.m., the station returned to country as "88.5 The Kat". On June 1, 2000, at Noon, the station flipped to a format that has never been tried in Canada before: "Rhythmic oldies" as "Dancing Oldies 88.5". By 2001, the "Dancing Oldies" format aired throughout the day, while modern dance music was broadcast at night. It was at this point in time that the station became known as "Foxy 88.5: The Dance Music Station". This lasted until January 2002, when it flipped to adult standards while retaining the "Foxy" branding. In April 2007, the station rebranded as "88.5 The Jewel". It adopted the "Jewel" branding shortly after the launch of sister station CJWL in Ottawa, which is also branded as "The Jewel".
The station is 70% owned by Evanov Communications, and 30 percent by two private numbered Ontario companies.
In 2009, after a few years with the adult standards format, the station changed to more of an older-skewing adult contemporary format to replace CJEZ-FM (which became adult hits as CHBM-FM) as CHFI's competing adult contemporary station. It was at this point that CHFI began skewing towards a younger audience for its AC format. All of the Jewel stations present an adult contemporary variety of music, from artists such as Elton John, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, The Eagles, Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor, Lady Antebellum, Adele and Michael Bublé.
"88.5 The Jewel" also features traditional easy listening/adult standards music on "The Lounge" program, which is simulcast on the other Jewel stations, seven days a week fro 7 to 11pm. This program is hosted by a revolving roster of on-air personalities from Jewel stations, playing "Music With Style", often with standards from the Great American Songbook. Frequently played artists include Louis Armstrong, Diana Krall, Gladys Knight and Frank Sinatra.
In addition to competing with CHFI (though less so since this station's change in format), "88.5 The Jewel" also competes with Hamilton's CKLH-FM K-Lite, St. Catherines's CHRE-FM and CJEZ 97.3 EZ Rock in Toronto.