CKOR (800 AM) is a Canadian

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Penticton, British Columbia Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2021 Canadian Census, its population was 36,885, while its Census geographic un ...

. Vista Radio owns the station, which operates with 10,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s of transmission power in the daytime and 500 watts at night, and airs a classic hits format under the ''Summit'' brand. CKOR uses a non-directional antenna at all times.

History

CKOR was first signed on in 1946 by Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd., the owner of

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

radio station CKOV, as CKOK, a rebroadcaster of the Kelowna station, at its original frequency of 1450 AM with 250 watts of power. In 1948, CKOK moved to its current spot on the AM dial, and in September that year, became autonomous from CKOV as it began airing its own schedule. In 1950, CKOK increased its power to 1000 watts in the daytime and 500 watts at night. By 1957, CKOK Ltd. was established as the station's owner, and it was an affiliate of

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

Dominion Network The Dominion Network was the second English-language radio network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from January 1, 1944 to 1962. It consisted of the CBC-owned CJBC (AM), CJBC radio station in Toronto and a series of 34 privately owned ...

. After the Dominion Network dissolved, the station was an affiliate of the main CBC Radio network until 1977. Two of the principal owners were Maurice Finnerty and Roy Chapman. Chapman eventually relinquished his portion to the Finnerty family. Maurice Finnerty served as Provincial MLA for Okanagan-Similkameen from 1949 to 1952 and was mayor of Penticton from 1962 to 1967. CKOK's daytime power was increased to 10 kilowatts in 1960, and on June 1, 1965, station parent CKOK Ltd. signed on CKOK-FM, which mostly simulcast its AM sister's programming in the beginning. On April 14, 1972, ownership of CKOK, CKOK-FM and parent company Okanagan Radio Ltd. (the successor of CKOK Ltd.) was transferred from the Finnerty family to Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd. (the owner of CHWK

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( ) is a city of about 100,000 people and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located about east of the City of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The enumerated population is 93,203 in the city and 113,767 in the gr ...

and CFVR Abbotsford). With Gerald Pash as the Managing Director, the station was named AM Station of the Year by the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters in 1973. In September 1974 Fraser Valley Broadcasters sold Okanagan Radio Limited to Dennis Barkman, Ken Davis and Gerald Pash. Pash was named BC Associations of Broadcasters "Broadcaster Citizen of the Year" in 1983 and he was Penticton "Citizen of the Year" in 1985. CKOK disaffiliated from the CBC in 1977. CKOK-FM changed its call sign to CKOR-FM and in 1986 to its present call sign of CJMG. In 1985, the CRTC granted CKOK permission to move to 780 AM and to increase its power to 20,000 watts in the daytime and 10,000 watts at night, but the station never made the move as it remained at its present frequency and power. In 1988, Okanagan Skeena Group acquired the interest of Barkman and Pash, and then the interest of Ken Davis in 1990. CKOK adopted its present call sign of CKOR (taken from the former calls of its FM sister) in 1991. In 1999,

Telemedia Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing. The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, when he purchased CKAC in Montreal from Power Corporation of Canada. CKAC r ...

purchased Okanagan Skeena Group and its broadcasting assets (including CKOR); shortly after, CKOR adopted Telemedia's ''

EZ Rock EZ Rock was a brand of adult contemporary radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its AC stations, and based on the call sign of its former Toronto flagship CJEZ-FM (now ...

'' brand. In 2002, CKOR and the other former Okanagan Skeena stations were purchased by Standard Radio, which in turn was purchased on September 27, 2007 by Astral Media, the current owner of CKOR.

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

then acquired the stations when it purchased Astral Media. As part of a mass format reorganization by Bell Media, on May 18, 2021, CKOR flipped to adult hits under the ''Bounce'' branding. It is currently one of only two AM stations under the brand. On February 8, 2024, Bell announced a restructuring that included the sale of 45 of its 103 radio stations to seven buyers, subject to approval by the CRTC, including CKOR, which is to be sold to Vista Radio. The application was approved on February 13, 2025. The sale took effect April 14, 2025 and Vista rebranded the station to Classic Hits as 800 Summit.

Former logos

File:CKOR-ezrock-logo-2009.svg, 2009-2021 File:Logo-bounce-penticton.svg, 2021-2025

References

External links

*https://www.mypentictonnow.com 800 Summit]
History site - BC Radio History

CKOR
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

CKOR
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ckor Kor Kor Kor Radio stations established in 1946 1946 establishments in British Columbia KOR