by The good news is (for DXers anyway) that Newmarket Ontario's 1480-CKDX
has left the air. The bad news is that it has reappeared on 88.5 MHz FM!
According to Dan O'Connell at the D.O.C., CKDX made the move today
(August 8, 1994) and is currently running 60 watts e.r.p. although they
have apparently been authorized by the C.R.T.C. to run 700 watts. Their
transmitter location is somewhere west of Newmarket, presumably in King
Township (where the elevation is higher...). I noted them "testing" last
week on 88.5 running the "G.T.O.-Good Time Oldies" satellite program that
is heard on all too many Canadian stations these days. During the
"testing" period there was silence during the breaks for local spots or IDs.
Mr. O'Connell says that they were not authorized to test when I heard them.
Today I listened to 88.5 for 30 minutes and heard the same "G.T.O."
programming with the occasional local IDs as follows:
-- "from York Region... we're 88 point 5 FM!"; or
-- "This is the spirit of Ontario, 88-5 FM, The Phoenix!".
No local announcements, or spots. One "national" spot (for a magazine)
was heard. At the top of the hour they ran "CTV Radio News". The signal
was not audible in downtown Toronto but was about 5 miles north of
downtown.
I wonder if anybody in Newmarket knows about the change or even
listens/listened to CKDX? They went silent about two years ago, when
they were CKAN (which stood for CK-Aurora-Newmarket), and came back as
CKDX. CKAN first signed on 1480 in February of 1980 and their signal took a
severe beating at night from WHBC-Canton and others anywhere south of
their transmitter site (such as in Aurora, Markham, and Richmond Hill).
I was surprised that there are no taped announcements on 1480 telling
listeners to "switch their dials to 88.5 FM", especially since they have
moved to the "educational" part of the FM dial. However, I gathered from
the gentleman at the D.O.C. that they had to abandon their (AM) transmitter
site. Somebody can correct me on this, but I think their lease was up.
(The site was smack dab in the middle of land that would have made a very
profitable subdivision...)
Incidentally, York Region is "served" by at least 3 other stations
that program "oldies". Hamilton's 1150-CKOC, Toronto's 1050-CHUM and
97.3-CJEZ are all easily heard in York Region. Well... I guess some
people never get tired of hearing Canadian oldies by Edward Bear and April
Wine!