Branding 103.9 K-Rock First air date August 6, 1984 as CKWK | Frequency 103.9 MHz (FM) Format Classic rock | |
Broadcast area Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador Slogan Western Newfoundland's classic rock! | ||
CKXX-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting from Corner Brook at 103.9 MHz FM. The station launched by the noted broadcaster Alex J. Walling on August 6, 1984 as CKWK at 1340 kHz AM, and is currently owned by Newcap Radio.
For the first year and a half of CKWK's existence, they tied many things to bring up listenership and broaden the appeal of its fledgling station. Many of these programs were quite successful. The Jukebox Saturday Night Party was quite popular and would attract listeners from as far away as Gander who were able to receive CKWK's 10,000 watt signal clearly at night. CKWK would also host themed weekends such as the Rock 'n Roll Weekend and a weekend featuring the History of Country music with Country Radio Legend Ralph Emery.
However, CKXX was up against the incumbent CFCB, whose motto was "570 CFCB - The Station, You Grew Up On", who at the time played 50% Country music from 6:00AM-6:00PM. So, in January 1986, the format was changed from Country to Top 40. However, due to the possibility of a conflict with CFCB's evening and overnight Top 40 heavy format, CKXX were forced to change their format to Middle Of The Road (MOR). By the Summer of 1987, CKWK had been reduced to a skeleton staff with automation 18 hours a day, using a very limited library of music that was Adult Contemporary in format. The automation system was far from perfect. Dead air, and 2 sources playing on air at once were common during that time. The tapes that were used were of such poor quality that even with the limitations imposed by AM broadcasting, a listener with a good ear could notice the low quality sound that the tape provided.
In 1988, CKWK became an affiliate of Music Radio - a national radio service fed to stations via ANIK Satellite that played an AC format. WGB CKWK became CKXX, the station switched to the sister service of Music Radio - Star Country.
On December 31st, 1989 at 7:00PM, the station manager at the time, Fred Trainor, went on the air to announce the transition of CKWK to 1340 KIXX Country/95.1 Deer Lake. CKWK became CKXX and adopted a Country format. The first song played was Guitars & Cadillacs by Dwight Yoakam.
Over the first few months, CKXX was locally staffed for 18 hours a day with overnight programming being provided by satellite. The service was called Star Country. Eventually, it would be replaced by Country Coast to Coast - Cryin', Lovin' or Leavin' with Shelly Fraiser as well as other network announcers. At one point, Country Coast to Coast was piped in as much as 15 hours a day with local announcers doing morning/afternoon drive as well as noon shows. The style of Country music played on CKXX was a blend of current day Country music hits mixed with Classic Country from 1960 to the present day.
In 1997, CKXX jumped from 1340 AM to 103.9 FM, retaining the country music format it ran for years until the early 2000s, when it re-branded from KIXX Country to Magic 103, and shortly afterwards to 103.9 K-Rock. The other two KIXX Country stations outside of St. John's, CKXD in Gander and CKXG in Grand Falls-Windsor, were also branded with the "Magic" name and then subsequently to K-Rock, which aired an active rock format until January 26, 2009, where it changed its format to classic rock after a listener opinion poll.
On December 20, 1999, the CRTC approved the application for authority to acquire the assets of CKXX-FM Corner Brook and its transmitter CKXX-FM-1 Stephenville from Western Broadcasting Limited (Western), and for a broadcasting license to continue the operation of this undertaking.
CKXX used to have a repeater in Deer Lake at 95.1 FM, but was shut down after switching frequencies mentioned above. There is now a repeater in Stephenville, originally at 95.3 FM, but is now at 95.9 FM.