CKDQ-FM (92.5 FM ''New Country 92.5'') is a

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 Drumheller, Alberta. Owned by

Stingray Group Stingray Group Inc. (formerly Stingray Digital and Stingray Digital Group) is a Canadian music, media and technology company based in Montreal, Quebec, with offices in Toronto, Ontario, as well as in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, ...

, it broadcasts 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, ...

format. Before the switch to FM, CKDQ was the only station in Canada that broadcast on 910 AM, a

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

broadcast frequency.

History

The station began broadcasting in 1958 as CJDV, until it changed to its current

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

in 1981. It is a Class B station broadcasting with a power of 50,000

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, and using a two tower

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

daytime and a four tower directional antenna nighttime. The former CJDV callsign now belongs to a radio station in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

. In 2016, the station became a

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or trans ...

of Camrose/Edmonton sister station CFCW, rebranding from ''Q91'' to ''910 CFCW''; it carried a mix of CFCW and local programming. In October 2018, CKDQ rebranded as ''Real Country 910'' (adopting a brand used by other Newcap-owned country stations in Alberta). On March 5, 2024, CKDQ rebranded as ''New Country 910'' to match the company’s other country music stations.

AM to FM

On May 5, 2023, Stingray Radio Inc. submitted an application to convert CKDQ to 92.5 MHz (channel 223B) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 24,500 watts (directional antenna with a maximum ERP of 36,600 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain HAATof 39.4 metres). The application was approved by the CRTC on February 9, 2024. In June, CKDQ announced on its website that they would switch to FM, rebranding as New Country 92.5 on June 20, originally planning to shut off their AM signal on June 24, before then extending the AM simulcast to the first week of July. CKDQ would ultimately start testing their FM signal on July 11, before going full power on July 15. It was then expected that the 910 signal would be switched off on July 19, though the signal was ultimately switched off on the morning of July 22 (local time).

References

External links

*
CKDQ-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 ...

* Kdq Kdq Kdq Drumheller Radio stations established in 1958 1958 establishments in Alberta {{Alberta-radio-station-stub