CKY-FM (102.3

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

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 ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, branded as '' KiSS 102.3''. The station airs 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, switching to

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

for most of December. It is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of

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, 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 ...

92.1 CITI-FM. The studios are in

Osborne Village Osborne Village is a neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The area is bordered by the Assiniboine River on the north and west, Harkness Station on the east, and the Osborne Underpass on the south. History Osborne Village derives its name from Os ...

south of Downtown Winnipeg. CKY-FM is a Class C station. It has an

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 ha ...

(ERP) of 70,000

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 (100,000 watts maximum). The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off St. Mary's Road in Duff Roblin Provincial Park near Saint Germain.FCCdata.org/CKY-FM
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History

CKY and CNRW

CKY has been the

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 ...

of three radio stations in Winnipeg. The original CKY was formed in 1923 by the Government of Manitoba and operated by the

Manitoba Telephone System Bell MTS Inc. (formerly Manitoba Telecom Services) is a subsidiary of BCE Inc. that operates telecommunications services in Manitoba. Originally established as Manitoba Government Telephones after the Government of Manitoba purchased the Manito ...

. The provincial government ran the station, and in the station's early years, CKY would turn over its signal to the Canadian National Railway and the station would be identified as CNRW. When the federal government took over operations of the CNR radio network in the 1930s, CKY continued its relationship with the network, meaning that much of CKY's programming originated with the CRBC (which later became the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

). In June 1948, the original CKY was purchased by the CBC and renamed CBW.

580 AM

Lloyd Moffat resurrected the CKY

call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

to begin the second incarnation of CKY. On December 31, 1949 (New Year's Eve), it began broadcasting on 580 AM. The station featured a

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 ...

format in the 1960s and 70s, shifting to an

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 the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, the station added nighttime

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 ...

programming to its schedule, including

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baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. To service former

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fans who wanted to follow the team after its relocation in 1996, it also aired

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hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

. In 1963, Moffat also established the first CKY-FM, on 92.1 MHz, which for a period of time was the most powerful radio station in North America at 360,000

s. In 1978, CKY-FM was re-branded as CITI-FM. A 1980 article in the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'' said that both CFRW and CKY wanted to broadcast in

AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...

, and that CKY chose the failed Kahn-Hazeltine system. In 1992,

Moffat Communications Moffat Communications was a Canadian cable and broadcasting company. Privately owned by the Moffat family, the company was based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It first went public on the stock market in 1972. In an interview with the Free Press reporter ...

sold its radio division, including CKY and CITI, to

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

. In 1994, Rogers applied to the CRTC for permission to switch CKY to broadcast on FM, due to the declining number of people listening to AM stations and the anticipated lower revenues. However, due to the success of CKY's "Don Percy and Friends" morning show, which featured numerous "info chats" from businesses, the existing AM station managed to make a considerable profit. As a result, Rogers held off the FM conversion until 2004.

CKY-FM 102.3

On January 21, 2004, Rogers moved CKY to 102.3 FM, with an ERP of 70,000 watts (100,000 watts peak). The 580 frequency went silent in Winnipeg, although community broadcasters have attempted to revive the station as 580 CJML. The new CKY-FM aired a

soft 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 with the on-air brand name ''102.3 Clear FM''. This restored the

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 to Winnipeg after it was lost with the flip of 99.9 CFWM-FM to adult hits in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. A new logo for CKY-FM was unveiled in late June

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. The station moved in a more rhythmic direction (like sister CHFM-FM

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

), but was still reporting as an adult contemporary outlet per

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

and Nielsen BDS. On February 13, 2015, the station stepped up the tempo and became 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, ...

outlet, re-branded as ''102.3 KiSS FM'', without any change in personnel. The re-branding aligned CKY-FM with other "

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

"-branded Hot AC stations operated by Rogers. In 2020, CKY-FM changed its moniker to "Today's Best Music, The New KiSS 102.3", but kept the same Hot AC format. In morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

, CKY-FM began carrying the ''Roz and Mocha Show'' from CKIS-FM in

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, which also airs on other Rogers-owned "KiSS" stations across Canada.

Former logos

References

External links

KiSS 102.3

CKY-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:Cky-Fm KY-FM KY KY-FM Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Manitoba