CIBK-FM

CIBK-FM

City of license	Calgary, Alberta
Branding	"98-5 VIRGIN Radio"
Slogan	"Calgary's #1 Hit Music Station"
Frequency	98.5 MHz (FM)
First air date	2002
Format	Top 40 (CHR)
ERP	100,000 watts
Class	C
Transmitter coordinates	51°03′54″N 114°12′50″W / 51.065°N 114.214°W / 51.065; -114.214
Owner	Astral Media
Sister stations	CKMX, CJAY-FM
Website	98-5 Virgin Radio

CIBK-FM (98-5 VIRGIN, formerly Vibe 98.5) is a contemporary hit radio station based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Astral Media outlet operates at 98.5 MHz FM with an effective radiated power of 100 kW.

History

The station received approval by the CRTC in 2001.^[1] When CIBK made its debut in 2002 as Vibe 98.5, they thought they would become the city's first R&B/hip hop outlet, but they were beaten to the punch by CKIS (KISS 96.9) by about a month. This would spark a format war in Calgary, with both stations making potshots at one another. On April 1, 2003, CKIS would bail out and abruptly change to the Jack FM format, leaving CIBK as the victor.

However CIBK would also go through an evolution of its own as they transitioned to a rhythmic contemporary direction by 2003, and to their current mainstream top 40 direction by 2004. Virgin still plays R&B/hip hop product (although at a reduced rate), they also incorporate pop and dance into the mix, in part due to its license with the CRTC that now requires the station to be programmed as a CHR outlet. Because CIBK was anticipated for years prior to its launch to be Calgary's long awaited urban station, it had faced much criticism for bailing out to a Top 40 format leaving many of the station's hip-hop/R&B fans disappointed and let down by Standard Broadcasting.

CIBK was part of the acquisition of most of the assets of Standard Broadcasting by Astral Media that was completed on October 29, 2007. Under Astral Media, CIBK-FM dropped the rhythmic lean.

On April 1, 2010, Astral Media registered the websites, VirginRadio985.com, Virgin985.com and VirginCalgary.com, which many speculated would be a branding change for CIBK-FM to become a part of the Virgin Radio branding in Canada.^[2] This was confirmed on the Vibe Morning Show's June 23, 2010 broadcast, and the rebranding took place on June 30 at 12 PM MDT,^[3] but the station will stay top 40 as CIGY-FM and CKCE-FM serve as the hot adult contemporary stations in Calgary. It is the second Virgin Radio station with a mainstream top 40 format after Toronto's CKFM-FM. The last song to be played on Vibe 98.5 was Goodbye by Kristinia DeBarge and after that, the station aired a woman giving birth to a baby (which signifies the change to Virgin Radio 98-5). The first song to be played on Virgin Radio 98-5 was California Gurls by Katy Perry.^[4] RadioStationWorld.com still lists the station under its old Vibe 98-5 branding. However, the station's playlist would have similarity towards its CKMP-FM rival, similar to how Edmonton would have similarly-sounding contemporary hit radio stations on CHBN-FM, and most recently, sister station CFMG-FM (the third Virgin with a contemporary hit radio format in Canada). Even after rebranding, the station's playlist remained largely unchanged unlike other Virgins in Canada.

CIBK-FM is the longest-tentured contemporary hit radio station in Alberta still having the format today, only Edmonton's CKNG-FM (now adult hits since 2004) had the longest-tentured format from 1991-2003.

Virgin Morning Show

The Virgin Morning Show runs on weekday mornings from 5:30am to 10:00am Mountain Time. It is hosted by Adam Wylde, Danaye Maier, and Fuzzy.

Former co-hosts were Jackie Bojakli (left in 2006), Kelsey Moore (left in late March 2007), Chad Martin (left February 23, 2009 but remains in contact with the hosts as "Boss Chad"), Marc Michaels, and Dani Rohs (both left in June 2011).

The morning show runs several contests where listeners phone in to participate and win prizes. It also runs several segments such as "Celebrity Sleaze".

Among the many parodies the Virgin Morning Show plays, they have parodied In da Club to create the more popular "In da Dome" in 2004 (with revised versions for 2006, 2007, and 2009) when the Calgary Flames were in their Stanley Cup runs (along with She Bangs by Ricky Martin, parodied as The Flames). They have also parodied SexyBack for the Flames' Stanley Cup run in 2007, Low in 2008, and Right Round in 2009.

References

1. ^ Decision CRTC 2001-172
2. ^ Branding Change
3. ^ "Vibe 98.5 main page, "Tomorrow on The Vibe Morning Show"". June 23, 2010. http://www.vibe985.com/. Retrieved June 23, 2010. 
4. ^ Virgin Radio's playlist

External links

• 98-5 Virgin Radio
• CIBK-FM history at Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CIBK-FM