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CKOI-FM
CKOI-FM (96.9 FM) is a commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It airs a French-language contemporary hit radio format and is owned and operated by Cogeco. The studios are in Place Bonaventure at 800 rue de la Gauchetière ouest in Montreal.
CKOI-FM is a Class C1 station. Its transmitter is on Mount Royal with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 148,000 watts using an omnidirectional antenna. Until 2018, it was one of North America's highest-powered FM stations.
The station's original call sign was CKVL-FM, sister station to CKVL (850 AM). Both stations were located in Verdun, a community just outside Montreal. They identified their city of license as Verdun until 2002.
CKVL-FM was founded by Jack Tietolman and Corey Thomson and probably went on the air at some point between 1947 and 1957. Sources disagree on the date, and at least seven different years have been reported as the station's first air date. The confusion is increased by the fact that there is no known report suggesting that the station went silent for any noticeable period of time after getting on the air, despite this phenomenon being relatively common among 1950s FM stations. In any case, the Canadian Communication Foundation reports the station first signed on in 1947, and that CKVL-FM was confirmed as being on the air in 1957. Broadcasting Yearbook lists the sign-on year as 1953.
The station was originally a full-time FM simulcast of co-owned CKVL. The majority of its programming was in French, although there were some English-language shows.
By 1962, CKVL-FM increased its power from 10,000 watts to 307,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna on the rooftop of the CIBC Tower in downtown Montreal. It is often believed that this unusual high power was granted as the result of a clerical error by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), but that government organization did not exist at the time. Radio was still regulated by the CRTC's predecessor, the Board of Broadcast Governors. Regulations limiting effective radiated power to 100,000 watts on FM, which came into force that same year, did not apply to stations which had already received approval for a higher power.
CKOI-FM once had the highest power output of any radio station in Canada, and the second highest power in North America, only exceeded by WBCT in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which operates at 320,000 watts. Unlike other North American superpower FM stations that have lowered their wattage over the years, CKOI-FM actively protected its 307,000-watt signal. For instance, when Industry Canada advised the station in 2004 that it was out of compliance with updated Code 6 safety regulations (which deal with acceptable levels of radiation), owner Corus Entertainment invested in emission reduction equipment instead of simply reducing power, which would have restricted output to 122,800 watts.
The simulcast with CKVL AM ended in 1970, with CKVL-FM launching an automated oldies format. It used the moniker "VL-FM". The station played French-language Top 40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s, including remakes of English-language hits translated into French as well as a few original English-language songs. There were no DJs.
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CKOI-FM
CKOI-FM (96.9 FM) is a commercial radio station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It airs a French-language contemporary hit radio format and is owned and operated by Cogeco. The studios are in Place Bonaventure at 800 rue de la Gauchetière ouest in Montreal.
CKOI-FM is a Class C1 station. Its transmitter is on Mount Royal with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 148,000 watts using an omnidirectional antenna. Until 2018, it was one of North America's highest-powered FM stations.
The station's original call sign was CKVL-FM, sister station to CKVL (850 AM). Both stations were located in Verdun, a community just outside Montreal. They identified their city of license as Verdun until 2002.
CKVL-FM was founded by Jack Tietolman and Corey Thomson and probably went on the air at some point between 1947 and 1957. Sources disagree on the date, and at least seven different years have been reported as the station's first air date. The confusion is increased by the fact that there is no known report suggesting that the station went silent for any noticeable period of time after getting on the air, despite this phenomenon being relatively common among 1950s FM stations. In any case, the Canadian Communication Foundation reports the station first signed on in 1947, and that CKVL-FM was confirmed as being on the air in 1957. Broadcasting Yearbook lists the sign-on year as 1953.
The station was originally a full-time FM simulcast of co-owned CKVL. The majority of its programming was in French, although there were some English-language shows.
By 1962, CKVL-FM increased its power from 10,000 watts to 307,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna on the rooftop of the CIBC Tower in downtown Montreal. It is often believed that this unusual high power was granted as the result of a clerical error by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), but that government organization did not exist at the time. Radio was still regulated by the CRTC's predecessor, the Board of Broadcast Governors. Regulations limiting effective radiated power to 100,000 watts on FM, which came into force that same year, did not apply to stations which had already received approval for a higher power.
CKOI-FM once had the highest power output of any radio station in Canada, and the second highest power in North America, only exceeded by WBCT in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which operates at 320,000 watts. Unlike other North American superpower FM stations that have lowered their wattage over the years, CKOI-FM actively protected its 307,000-watt signal. For instance, when Industry Canada advised the station in 2004 that it was out of compliance with updated Code 6 safety regulations (which deal with acceptable levels of radiation), owner Corus Entertainment invested in emission reduction equipment instead of simply reducing power, which would have restricted output to 122,800 watts.
The simulcast with CKVL AM ended in 1970, with CKVL-FM launching an automated oldies format. It used the moniker "VL-FM". The station played French-language Top 40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s, including remakes of English-language hits translated into French as well as a few original English-language songs. There were no DJs.