CKOR is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
in Penticton,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
.
Astral MediaAstral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV, Séries+,...
owns the station, which operates at 800 AM with 10,000 watts of transmission power in the daytime and 500 watts at night, and airs an
adult contemporary musicAdult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1960s, vocal-based music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence"...
format under the
EZ RockEZ Rock is a brand of adult contemporary music radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its adult contemporary stations, and based on the call sign of its Toronto flagship CJEZ....
brand.
CKOR was first signed on in 1946 by Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd., the owner of
KelownaKelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a native term for "grizzly bear"...
radio station
CKOVCKOV-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 103.1 FM in Kelowna, British Columbia. Owned by Jim Pattison Group, the station broadcasts a country music format branded as B-103....
, as
CKOK, a rebroadcaster of the Kelowna station, at its original frequency of 1450 AM with 250 watts of power.
CKOR is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
in Penticton,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
.
Astral MediaAstral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV, Séries+,...
owns the station, which operates at 800 AM with 10,000 watts of transmission power in the daytime and 500 watts at night, and airs an
adult contemporary musicAdult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1960s, vocal-based music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence"...
format under the
EZ RockEZ Rock is a brand of adult contemporary music radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its adult contemporary stations, and based on the call sign of its Toronto flagship CJEZ....
brand.
History
CKOR was first signed on in 1946 by Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd., the owner of
KelownaKelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a native term for "grizzly bear"...
radio station
CKOVCKOV-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 103.1 FM in Kelowna, British Columbia. Owned by Jim Pattison Group, the station broadcasts a country music format branded as B-103....
, as
CKOK, a rebroadcaster of the Kelowna station, at its original frequency of 1450 AM with 250 watts of power. In 1948, CKOK moved to its current spot on the AM dial, and in September that year, became autonomous from CKOV as it began airing its own schedule.
In 1950, CKOK increased its power to 1000 watts in the daytime and 500 watts at night. By 1957, CKOK Ltd. was established as the station's owner, and it was an affiliate of
CBC RadioCBC Radio is the radio division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The division operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language networks....
's
Dominion NetworkThe Dominion Network was the second English-language radio network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from January 1, 1944 to 1962.It consisted of the CBC-owned CJBC radio station in Toronto and a series of 34 privately owned affiliates from coast-to-coast...
. Two of the principal owners were Maurice Finnerty and Roy Chapman. CKOK's daytime power was increased to 10 kilowatts in 1960, and on June 1, 1965, station parent CKOK Ltd. signed on
CKOK-FMCJMG-FM is a Canadian radio station located in Penticton, British Columbia. The station, owned by Astral Media and operating at 97.1 FM with 1800 watts of power, is branded as Sun FM and has a hot adult contemporary format.-External links:**...
, which mostly simulcast its AM sister's programming in the beginning. On April 14, 1972, ownership of CKOK, CKOK-FM and parent company Okanagan Radio Ltd. (the successor of CKOK Ltd.) was transferred to Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd.(the owner of
CHWKCKSR-FM is a Canadian radio station located in Chilliwack, British Columbia. The station, operating at 98.3 FM with 5000 watts of power, is owned by Rogers Communications...
ChilliwackChilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the 2nd largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
and
CFVRCKQC-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 107.1 FM in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Owned by Rogers Media, the station airs a country music format branded as Country 107.1. -External links:* *...
AbbotsfordAbbotsford is a Canadian city located in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, adjacent to Metro Vancouver. It is the 5th largest municipality in British Columbia, home to 123,864 people . Its Census Metropolitan Area is the 23rd largest in Canada, with 159,020 people...
). With Gerald Pash as the Managing Director, the station was named AM Station of the Year by the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters in 1973. In September 1974 Fraser Valley Broadcasters sold Okanagan Radio Limited to Dennis Barkman, Ken Davis and Gerald Pash.
CKOK disaffiliated from the CBC in 1977. In 1985, the CRTC granted CKOK permission to move to 780 AM and to increase its power to 20,000 watts in the daytime and 10,000 watts at night, but the station never made the move as it remained at its present frequency and power. The former CKOK-FM, which changed its call sign to CKOR-FM sometime earlier, changed again to its present calls of CJMG-FM in 1986. In 1988 Okanagan Skeena Group acquired the interest of Barkman and Pash and then in 1990 the interest of Ken Davis. CKOK adopted its present call sign of CKOR (taken from the former calls of its FM sister) in 1991.
In 1999,
TelemediaTelemedia 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.Telemedia was held privately until it became publicly traded in the late 1980's....
purchased Okanagan Skeena Group and its broadcasting assets (including CKOR); shortly after, CKOR adopted Telemedia's EZ Rock brand. In 2002, CKOR and the other former Okanagan Skeena stations were purchased by
Standard RadioSlaight Communications is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. The company was first formed as Slaight Broadcasting in 1971, when owner J. Allan Slaight acquired CFGM in Richmond Hill...
, which in turn was purchased on September 27, 2007 by Astral Media, the current owner of CKOR.
External links