City Brantford, Ontario Frequency 1380 kHz (AM) | Slogan "Simply the best" First air date 1923 | |
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Branding "AM 1380" / "Rise Radio" Format news / country / religious | ||
CKPC is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 1380 kHz in Brantford, Ontario, with its transmitter in the nearby township of Oakland. Owned and operated by Evanov Communications, the station airs country music, some folk music, a Christian religious program and the John Tesh syndicated Radio Show. Other programming, on weekends, includes Casey Clarke Country Countdown and Just Us Folk.
Contents
History
CKPC went on the air in 1923. Its original city of licence was Preston, Ontario (now part of the city of Cambridge, Ontario). The station first started out as an amateur radio station, but the founder (Wallace Russ) quickly applied for a broadcast licence after a few trial broadcasts. His licence was granted, and he started broadcasting from his home in Preston at a power of just 5 watts. After Russ sold the station to his friend Cyrus Dolph, he still remained active with the station, and watched it grow throughout its early years. Its power would later increase to 25 watts in 1927, doubling in power and moving to 1010 kHz at 50 watts in 1930, and to 880 kHz. The station's main content was local news, and local artists and talents from Kitchener, Hamilton, and Brantford. In 1933 Cyrus Dolph purchased the station, which was soon moved from Preston to Brantford, Ontario.
In 1934, the station moved to Brantford and to to 930kHz on the AM dial; it would move to 1380kHz, also its current location on the band, in 1947. The company added an FM station in 1949, CKPC-FM, operating at 250 watts and simulcasting the AM signal. (The FM station would not start 100% independent programming until 1976, when its power increased to 50,000 watts.) In 1951, Florence Buchanan became assumed full control of Telephone City Broadcast Limited, including CKPC-FM and CKPC-AM, from her father Cyrus. The AM station then had a 1,000 watt signal. She became the first woman in Canada to own and/or operate a radio station.
In 1959, CKPC built a new transmitter and increased power to 10,000 watts. In 1972, Richard (R.D.) Buchanan purchased Telephone City Broadcast Ltd. from his mother Florence.
On March 15, 1999, Telephone City Broadcast Ltd. was denied a licence to add an FM rebroadcast transmitter at Simcoe to operate on 98.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 1,090 watts. The proposed transmitter was intended to correct coverage inadequacies in CKPC's AM service to the Simcoe, Port Dover and Delhi area.
On June 1, 2004 CKPC-AM switched formats from adult contemporary to oldies. Its power increased from 10,000 watts to 25,000 watts in 2007.
In 2009, after the death of then owner Richard Buchanan, the CRTC approved the sale of Telephone City Broadcast Limited from the Estate of R.D. Buchanan to William Vasil Evanov, Evanov Communications, through the transfer of all issued and outstanding shares. Telephone City was the licensee of CKPC-AM and CKPC-FM.
On June 24, 2010 at noon the station switched to playing country music hits from the 1960s to the present.
In 2012, CKPC introduced an afternoon block of religious programming and inspirational music titled Rise Radio.
Current programming
In 2017, the station has several on-air personalities, including Tom Allen, playing country music weekdays 5:30am to 10am, and "Mini" with a religious show, weeknights from 10pm to midnight, as well as two newscasters. It airs the syndicated John Tesh Radio Show, Intelligence For Your Life, weekdays, from 10am to 3pm. In the late afternoon and evening, Hometown Country is aired. From midnight to 5:30am AM 1380 airs Hometown Country 'Overnite'. On weekends, two additional shows air during specific hours, with their own hosts: Casey Clarke's Country Countdown and Just Us Folk with Jan Vanderhorst. Rise Radio, which previously ran weekday afternoons, is not on the current program schedule.