City | Vancouver, British Columbia |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Greater Vancouver |
Branding | News 1130 |
Slogan | Vancouver's Breaking News, Traffic and Weather Station |
Frequency | 1130 kHz (AM) 96.9 MHz HD2 |
First air date | April 1, 1923 |
Format | All-news radio |
Power | 50,000 watts |
Class | A (clear channel) |
Transmitter coordinates | 49°09′27″N 123°04′01″W / 49.157601°N 123.067024°WCoordinates: 49°09′27″N 123°04′01″W / 49.157601°N 123.067024°W |
Former callsigns | CFDC (1923-1927) |
Former frequencies | 430 metres (1923-1925) 730 kHz (1925-1933) 1010 kHz (1933-1941) 980 kHz (1941-1957) |
Affiliations | ABC News Radio |
Owner |
Rogers Media (Rogers Media, Inc.) |
Sister stations |
Radio: CJAX-FM, CFUN-FM Television: CKVU-DT, CHNM-DT |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | www.news1130.com |
CKWX is a clear-channel Class A radio station serving the Greater Vancouver area. Owned by Rogers Media, it broadcasts an all-news radio format branded as News 1130. CKWX's studios are located on Ash Street in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, and its transmitters are located on Lulu Island near Richmond.
CKWX first began broadcasting in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on April 1, 1923, as CFDC, then owned by automotive and electronics store owner Arthur "Sparks" Halstead and operating on its original wavelength of 430 meters (670 kHz) with 10 watts of power (later increased to 50 watts). In 1925, the station switched frequencies to 730 AM and cut its power back to 10 watts to share time with Vancouver stations CFCQ, CKCD, CKFC and CJKC.
In 1927, Halstead opened a new branch of his auto-electric business in Vancouver and decided to relocate CFDC there. The Department of Marine and Fisheries (which then regulated broadcasting in Canada) had not authorized CFDC's move to Vancouver and revoked the station's license as a result, but listener complaints led to the department granting a new license to the station, on the condition that it use new call letters; Halstead complied and the station returned as CKWX, now using 100 watts of power. It broadcast briefly from the Belmont Hotel in downtown Vancouver before moving to the Hotel Georgia, still sharing air time at 730 AM with CFCQ and CKCD in 1928, then with CHLS, CKFC and CKMO in 1929.
In 1933, CKWX moved from 730 to 1010 AM, then to 950 AM in 1938 before settling at 980 AM in 1941 following the Havana Treaty, which took effect on March 27 that year to settle problems with AM radio interference. Arthur Halstead later sold a 40% share of the station to Taylor, Pearson & Carson, which took over station management, moved the studios to Seymour Street and increased its transmitting power to 1000 watts. By 1947, CKWX's power further increased to 5000 watts and it became an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System, while its transmitter was moved to Lulu Island (now part of Richmond).