CIKR-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 radio ...

, broadcasting at 105.7 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 Ca ...

owned by

Rogers Sports & Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...

. The station broadcasts an

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

format branded as ''K-Rock 105.7''.

History

The station was originally owned by K-Rock 105.7 Inc., consisting of John P. Wright (60%), Douglas Kirk (15%), and Rogers Radio (25%). The same ownership group also launched CKXC-FM in early 2008, and operates WLYK in the nearby American community of

Cape Vincent, New York Cape Vincent is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 2,777 at the 2010 census. The town is in the northwestern part of the county. In the town is a village also called Cape Vincent. Both town and village a ...

through a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

. On September 21, 2000, the station received approval from the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

to operate a new English-language FM radio programming undertaking at Kingston. The station was launched at 4 p.m. on March 19, 2001, by Wright, formerly the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the competing stations CKLC and CFLY. It was the first new radio station to be launched in Kingston since 1953. The first song played on "K-Rock" was "

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, ...

" by

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

. CIKR has significant tuning among fans of

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 a ...

in the

Watertown, New York Watertown is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by th ...

market. Rogers is the 3rd rated radio cluster in the Watertown market. On February 6, 2008, K-Rock purchased the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...

to the K-Rock Centre for 10 years at $3.3 million. In late November 2008, Rogers announced it would acquire the remainder of the K-Rock partnership, pending CRTC approval. Its application was approved by the CRTC on May 4, 2009.CRTC Decision 2009-249
CIKR-FM and CKXC-FM Kingston – Acquisition of assets, ''CRTC'', May 4, 2009 On May 31, 2010, former morning show host and program director Glenn "G" Williams died after a 2-year battle with

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

at age 42. In June 2012, popular radio hosts Humble & Fred joined the station to fill-in as hosts of the morning show for the summer. In February 2013, long-time K-Rock announcer Big Kris returned to the station to host the morning show with co-host Boomer.

References

External links

K-Rock 105.7
* * Ikr Ikr Ikr Radio stations established in 2001 2001 establishments in Ontario {{Ontario-radio-station-stub