CIQB-FM (101.1

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

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

in Barrie, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand name ''Big 101'' and is 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 ...

, which also owns

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

CHAY-FM. CIQB broadcasts a classic hits format, switching to

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for much of November and December.

History

On August 1, 1949, the station first signed on as CKBB. It was launched by Ralph Snelgrove's Barrie Broadcasting Company at AM 1230. It was Barrie's first radio station, and was initially a mixture of music and talk programming. It moved to 950 AM in 1958. In December 1983, the station was acquired by Kawartha Broadcasting, and in 1987, ownership passed to the broadcasting arm of

Power Corporation of Canada 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 ...

. In November 1994, after more than 45 years on the AM dial, CKBB moved to FM as CIQB-FM at 101.1 MHz. The station became known as ''B101'', originally airing a

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format. CIQB was acquired by

in April 2000. On October 15,

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, the station shifted to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

, taking the format from sister station CHAY-FM, which flipped to

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

as ''Energy Radio''. The station reverted to

hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

in August

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

(when CHAY returned to AC), and finally to top 40 in

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. It was one of three top 40 stations owned by Corus radio along with CKQB-FM in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and CKBT-FM in Kitchener. CIQB B101

On April 1, 2016,

Shaw Media Shaw Media, Inc. was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. It owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Slice ...

was sold to

. On July 27 of that year, CIQB's website was replaced with a countdown clock to July 29 at Noon, with CIQB itself running liners advising to listen at that specific time, claiming Barrie was about to get "bigger". At that time, after playing " Anybody Listening" by

Classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

, the station flipped to

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 ...

, branded as ''101.1 Big FM''. The first song on "Big" was " Big Time" by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

. The flip occurred in order to reduce the format overlap with sister station CHAY (which airs a

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

format). With the change, morning host Dave Blezard moved to afternoons at CHAY, while CIQB's new airstaff was announced on August 2.

References

External links

Big 101CIQB-FM
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
Decision CRTC 94-627
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciqb-Fm Iqb Iqb Iqb Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Ontario