CKFR 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 ...

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. Broadcasting at 1150 AM, the station airs

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

/ talk and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

formats, and identifies on air as ''AM 1150 News, Talk, Sports''. It is owned by Vista Radio. Currently on-air is Phil Johnson, host of The AM 1150 Early Edition, alongside producer Jaden Large. Catch them weekdays from 6-9AM. Throughout the day, Mike English, Tyler Marr, Calvin Hector read the news during the midday and afternoon newscasts. Syndicated programming includes

Vassy Kapelos Vassiliki "Vassy" Kapelos (; born May 6, 1981) is a Canadian political journalist, currently serving as the chief political correspondent for CTV News. She formerly was the host of ''Power & Politics'' on CBC News Network from 2018 to 2022. She ...

, Mike Smyth Show, The Nightshift with Shane Hewitt, and various

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

Canada programming. Other than in mandated hourly pre-recorded station identifications and the title of the morning show, the callsign CKFR is not mentioned on air or in station branding and promos. The callsign was randomly assigned to replace the former CKBL callsign when the station switched from 1150 AM The Bullet's

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 to Oldies 1150's

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format in 2004.

History

The station originated as CKIQ, first signing on the air on November 8,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. It was owned and operated by veteran broadcasters Walter Gray, who would later serve as three-term mayor of Kelowna, and Bob Hall through their company Four Seasons Radio. Four Seasons also owned several stations in Golden, Revelstoke and Salmon Arm. The licence, for an AM station operating on 1150 kHz with a day and night power of 1,000 watts, was awarded July 22 of the same year and beat out a competing application from J.B. Cooper. In the summer of 1972, the offices of CKIQ were destroyed by fire. By the next day, the station was back on the air, reportedly operating out of several motel rooms in the area. Warehouse space in the area was found for CKIQ to operate out of for six months while the fire-ravaged building was rebuilt on the original property. The following year, in December 1973, CKIQ's daytime power was increased to 10,000 watts while nighttime power remained at 1,000 power. Nighttime power is often lower because of changes in the planet's

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

that allow a station to be broadcast farther and more clearly at low power. However, in 1981, CKIQ's nighttime power increased from 1,000 to 10,000 watts as well. In 1982, CKIQ's coverage area expanded with the granting by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission for an FM rebroadcaster at Big White Ski Village on Big White mountain. It was known unofficially as CKIQ-FM, though that was never advertised on air, when the rebroadcaster launched in 1983. In 1995, Four Seasons Radio launched CKBL-FM after receiving approval for an FM licence in the Kelowna radio market. That station was branded as ''99.9 The Bullet'' and broadcast a

format. A company called Okanagan Skeena Radio Group acquired the remaining 73.2% of a personal holding company, West Global Broadcast Holding that it didn't already own from Walter Gray, Bob Hall, and other shareholders. West Global, in turned, owned the operating company for CKIQ and CKBL, Four Seasons Radio. Following this transaction, Okanagan Skeena Radio Group became the new sole owner of these radio stations, as well as stations in Golden, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm and its southern interior stations. 1997 saw major changes to the two sister stations in the Kelowna radio market. CKBL-FM became

CHSU-FM CHSU-FM is a Canadian Radio broadcasting, radio station, broadcasting at 99.9 FM broadcasting, FM in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The station currently broadcasts a contemporary hit radio, CHR/Top 40 radio format, format branded as ''99.9 Su ...

, changing its branding to ''99.9 Sun FM'' and its music format to

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 ...

. Simultaneously, CKIQ-AM's call letters became CKBL-AM and its format switched from its twenty-six-year-old

/ talk format to a

format and the station was now branded as ''1150 AM The Bullet''. This all required, and received, approval of the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and

Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; ; )''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Industry (). is a department of the G ...

for the flipping of CKBL from the FM to the AM band and the various callsign changes. Several things happened in 1999. CKBL-AM's CKBL-FM-1 rebroadcaster at Big White Ski Village (98.1 MHz with ERP of 18 watts) ceased to be a rebroadcaster for CKBL-AM. It was now a rebroadcaster for CHSU-FM.

Telemedia Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing. The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, when he purchased CKAC in Montreal from Power Corporation of Canada. CKAC r ...

purchased Okanagan Skeena Group. Finally, on October 28 of the same year, Okanagan Skeena Radio Group's application to convert CKBL to the FM band was denied by the CRTC. The application was submitted by Okanagan Skeena before Telemedia's buyout Okanagan Skeena Radio Group was finalized. In 2002, Standard Radio acquired Telemedia's radio and northern BC TV station assets. Telemedia's printed periodical business were largely acquired by Transcontinental Media at the same time. By buying Telemedia's radio and TV stations, Standard became the largest privately owned radio station owner and operator in Canada. On August 1, 2003, CKBL switched from country music to an

format and its branding was also changed to ''Oldies 1150''. In May 2004, its call letters were changed as well to its current callsign of CKFR. ''KFR Kelowna'' was added to the Oldies 1150 logo and the station was given a slogan as well, calling itself "The Greatest Music on Earth". (As of November 1, 2007, CKBL are the call letters of an FM station in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

) On August 29, 2007, CKFR-AM switched to its current format of

/ talk and

, branding itself as ''AM 1150 News, Talk, Sports'' when cross-town competitor CKOV switched to the FM dial and began offering a

format as ''B-103'' on August 17. For two weeks, Kelowna was without a news/talk radio station. In October 2007,

Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channel ...

acquired Standard Broadcasting's terrestrial radio and television assets, including CKFR. Astral was subsequently acquired by

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

On February 8, 2024, Bell Media announced a restructuring that included the sale of 45 of its 103 radio stations to seven buyers, subject to approval by the CRTC, including CKFR, which is to be sold to Vista Radio. The application was approved on February 13, 2025. Vista took ownership of CKFR on April 14, 2025, with the company stating that there would be no major changes to CKFR's programming.

References

BC Radio History - CKIQ

AM 1150 News, Talk, Sports , Standard Radio
Information on the station.
CKFR
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 ...

External links

*
CKFR
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Bob Hall
at BC Radio History

at BC Radio History {{DEFAULTSORT:Ckfr Kfr Kfr Kfr Radio stations established in 1971 1971 establishments in British Columbia