CKON-FM is a private

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 radi ...

located in

Akwesasne The Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne ( ; french: Nation Mohawk à Akwesasne; moh, Ahkwesáhsne) is a Mohawk Nation (''Kanienʼkehá:ka'') territory that straddles the intersection of international (United States and Canada) borders and provincial (Ont ...

, a

Mohawk nation The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern N ...

territory that straddles the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

(and also, on the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

side, the interprovincial border between

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

and

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 C ...

). The station's studios are located in the Akwesasne Communication Society Building; that building is itself on both sides of the international border, with part of it being in

Hogansburg, New York Hogansburg ( moh, Tekahswen’karó:ros) is a hamlet, in the Town of Bombay, in Franklin County, New York, United States. It lies on NY 37 near the Canadian-US border at the confluence of the St. Regis River with the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Hoga ...

, and part of it in

Saint Regis, Quebec The Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne ( ; french: Nation Mohawk à Akwesasne; moh, Ahkwesáhsne) is a Mohawk Nation (''Kanienʼkehá:ka'') territory that straddles the intersection of international (United States and Canada) borders and provincial ( ...

. The ACS building was deliberately constructed on the international border as a symbol of Mohawk defiance between Canada and the United States, as well as an expression of communal unity. Its licence was issued by the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs and Clanmothers. The station broadcasts on 97.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...

and is owned and operated by the Akwesasne Communication Society, a community-based non-profit group.A LONG Time Ago
The call sign CKON is a reference to the Mohawk word "sekon" (or "she:kon"), which means "hello" in English. While the station uses a

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 assig ...

that would give the impression of being a licensed Canadian station, according to an article from the Canadian Journal of Communication, it is not, and there is no record of the station being licensed by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 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 ...

(CRTC), or by the United States

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC). (The call sign CKON is however listed as an available call sign, despite the absence of any other station using that call sign, which may reflect an unofficial acknowledgement of the station by the Canadian government.) As such, official technical information about the station is unavailable; however, the station is reported to use 3,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ...

, and its transmitter site is reported as being located on the Canadian side of the border, in St. Regis (part of the Quebec portion of the reserve). The building CKON is housed in is located on the Canada-United States border. CKON's tower is located on the US portion of the reserve. The station is licensed by a proclamation from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation given via the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. It is the only radio station in North America operating under the exclusive jurisdiction of an aboriginal government. Its founding board consisted of the following members: Frank David, Brian Cole, Salli Benedict, Lloyd Benedict, Diane Lazore, Doug George-Kanentiio and Francis Boots.

History

The Akwesasne Communications Society was formed in May 1982. The founding members of the ACS were: Diane Lazore, Francis Boots, Salli Benedict, Lloyd Benedict, Doug George-Kanentiio, Frank David and David Brian Cole. After two years of development CKON-FM went on the air on October 1, 1984 from its temporary facility on Cornwall Island. A permanent facility was built in St. Regis in 1988 with part of the broadcasting studios south of the 45th parallel (the border between Canada and the United States) and the administrative offices north of that line.

Programming

CKON-FM has a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

, but also has

adult contemporary music 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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

during evenings and

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

on Sundays. CKON-FM also strives to play local and nationwide Native artists. CKON-FM broadcasts in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

and Kanien'keha, the language of the Mohawks. Other programming include an All-Mohawk program hosted by Teddy Peters on featuring native music along with other popular songs of all genre, plus a weekday Mohawk Language Lesson program, after the local news and community announcements. In addition to music and discussion programming, CKON is also the official broadcaster of

Cornwall Colts The Cornwall Colts are a Canadian junior ice hockey team from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Central Canada Hockey League. Before 1992, they were known as the Massena Americans, and moved to Cornwall in 1992 when the Cornwa ...

Junior-league

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

. It also airs weather updates provided by

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surroundin ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

affiliate,

WPTZ WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermont ...

Notes

External links

97.3 CKON FM

CKON history
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Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) is a Canadian nonprofit organization which documents the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television. Since 1995, the organization has distributed its collection via an intern ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ckon-Fm Akwesasne Kon Kon Native American radio Pirate radio stations in Canada Pirate radio stations in the United States Kon Kon *CKON-FM Mohawk culture Radio stations established in 1984 1984 establishments in Ontario 1984 establishments in Quebec 1984 establishments in New York (state)