CFMK-FM (96.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) 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 ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

owned by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...

. The station airs a classic hits format, leaning toward

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

, 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 four days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postm ...

'' 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 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 portfolio ...

, 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. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

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 a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

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

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

from the late 1960s to today. The "Kingston's Best Rock" slogan is also being used on CIKR-FM. CFMK's sister station, CKWS-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 were an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both ex- Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex- Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson). Kirke was the only m ...

, FM96 relaunched as ''96.3 Big FM'' with a classic hits 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 CIKR-FM's 9.0 share and CKLC-FM's 6.6 share. Due to budget cuts, all of the station's on-air personalities were laid off in July 2024. Corus announced that "BIG 96.3 and Fresh 104.3 will remain in Kingston, and the stations will utilize voice tracking to continue to produce local content made for and reflecting Kingston." After Corus' budget cuts, Queen's University radio station, CFRC-FM claims to be the last local radio outlet in Kingston. Corus Entertainment cuts local on-air broadcasting in Kingston
''queensjournal.ca'', August 30, 2024

Former Logos

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

References

External links

96.3 Big FM

CFMK-FM
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 ...

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