CFMK-FM is a Canadian

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

, broadcasting at 96.3 FM in Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

owned by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

. The station airs a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...

format, leaning toward

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

, and branded as ''96.3 Big FM''.

History

The station was launched on May 14, 1947 as CKWR-FM, an FM simulcast of CKWS. Both stations were owned by Allied Broadcasting, in which the ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ...

'' was the primary partner. The station's call sign was changed to CKWS-FM in October of the same year, and Allied changed its name to Frontenac Broadcasting in 1954. The station adopted its current call sign in 1976. In 1977,

Paul Desmarais Paul Desmarais Sr. (January 4, 1927 – October 8, 2013) was a Canadian financier and philanthropist, based in Montreal. With an estimated family net worth of US$4.5 billion (as of March 2012), Desmarais was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the fou ...

and Claude Pratte purchased Frontenac Broadcasting. In 1987, ownership was transferred directly to Desmarais'

Power Corporation Power Corporation of Canada () is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfol ...

, and in 1989, Frontenac and another Power subsidiary, Kawartha Broadcasting, were merged to form Power Broadcasting. In 1998, both the AM and FM stations were knocked off the air for a week by the Ice Storm of 1998. The stations were purchased by Corus Entertainment in 2000. A

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

station for nearly three decades beginning in the late 1970s, CFMK adopted an adult hits format branded as ''Joe FM'' in 2004, and switched to a

format branded as ''FM96'' in 2007. On February 13, 2015, CFMK switched to a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

format and changed its slogan to "Kingston's Best Rock", but retained its "FM96" branding and featured

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

from the late 1960s to today. The "Kingston's Best Rock" slogan is also being used on

CIKR-FM CIKR-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 105.7 FM in Kingston, Ontario owned by Rogers Sports & Media. The station broadcasts an active rock format branded as ''K-Rock 105.7''. History The station was originally owned by K-Rock 105 ...

. CFMK's sister station,

CKWS-FM CKWS-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 104.3 FM in Kingston, Ontario. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format branded on-air as ''104.3 Fresh Radio''. The station is owned by Corus Entertainment, which also owns CFMK-FM ...

rebranded its station on the same day. On August 27, 2015, CFMK's website was replaced with a timer counting down to the following day at Noon, promoting "something exciting is coming soon". At that time, after playing " Can't Get Enough" by

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell. Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, a ...

, FM96 relaunched as ''96.3 Big FM'' with a

format, launching with a commercial free "Big 500 From A to Zed" countdown, playing 500 songs alphabetically and without interruption throughout the weekend before resuming its on-air programming on August 31, 2015. The change comes as CFMK registered a 2.3 share in the Spring 2015 Numeris ratings, placing it well behind

's 9.0 share and

CKLC-FM CKLC-FM (98.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It broadcasts a country format and is branded on-air as ''Pure Country 99''. It is owned and operated by Bell Media which also owns sister station CFLY-FM. The r ...

's 6.6 share.CFMK Counting Down To Big Change On Friday
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Former Logos

Image:CFMK-FM.jpg, CFMK-FM logo used from 2007-2015 Image:FM96kingstonlogo2.png, Second FM96 logo

References

External links

96.3 Big FM
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cfmk-Fm Fmk Fmk Fmk Fmk Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Ontario