CKST (AM)

Infobox Radio Station


name = CKST
airdate = 1963
frequency = 1040 kHz (AM)
area = Vancouver, BC
format = sports
owner = CTVglobemedia
licensee = CHUM Radio
erp = 50 kW
branding = The Team 1040
slogan =
former_callsigns = CJJC (1963-1985)
CJUP (1985-1988)
class =
website = [http://www.team1040.ca/ Team 1040]
webcast = [http://www.team1040.ca/player/ Listen Live]
callsign_meaning =

CKST is a radio station located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada currently owned by CTVglobemedia. It broadcasts at 1040 AM, has an all-sports (sports radio) format and is branded as the The Team 1040. It has the broadcasting rights to the games of the Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, Vancouver Whitecaps and Vancouver Canadians.

A portion of its weekday afternoon talk show "Pratt and Taylor", is also sometimes simulcast on television on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific live from the station's studio.

History

CKST went on the air for the first time on January 19, 1963 in Langley, British Columbia as CJJC, broadcasting on its original frequency of 850 AM with 1000 watts of power and offering a country music format. The station's original owner was City & Country Radio Ltd., headed by former CJAV and CKNW personality Joe Chesney.

CJJC was given approval by the CRTC on December 15, 1970 to change its frequency and transmission power from 850 AM and 1000 watts to 800 AM and 10,000 watts, but the station waited until June 1975 to put the change into effect. In 1977, CJJC (which had been dealing with financial trouble for some time) rehired 23 of 32 staff members who were given 30 days notice on New Year's Eve. Parent company City & Country Radio was authorized to transfer all of the station's shares to a company run by Joe Chesney and Ernie Mykyte; Mykyte would become sole owner of CJJC in 1978 when he bought out Chesney's half-interest in the station.

CJJC and parent City & Country Radio were purchased on June 26, 1985 (following CRTC approval) by an ownership consortium of Saskatoon Telecable Ltd. (72%), Sam Folstad (18%) and L.M. McDonald (10%); later in the year, CJJC changed its call letters to CJUP and dropped its country format for Top 40. In 1987, CJUP majority shareholder Saskatoon Telecable was purchased by Clint Forster and his family, and the station changed call letters again to the present CKST in 1988. On July 7, 1989, CKST increased its power to 25,000 watts and began broadcasting in stereo.

CKST switched formats to modern rock and adopted the on-air name "Coast 800" on November 9, 1990. The station underwent major changes during the early part of 1992; on January 30, the CRTC authorized station owner Western World Communications (the former Saskatoon Telecable) to buy Vancouver station CIMA 1040 (which had begun operations on September 12, 1986 as CIOF, then CKXY, then CIMA) from Monarch Broadcasting Ltd., also granting permission to CKST to switch frequencies (from 800 to 1040), increase transmission power (from 25,000 watts to 50,000), relocate its transmitter from Aldergrove to Delta and move its operations from Langley to Vancouver. CIMA 1040 signed off for the final time on February 4, and CKST moved into CIMA's facilities and became "Coast 1040" on March 9.

Plans were made to move CKST to the FM band (at 94.5 FM with 38,000 watts of power) in 1993, but were denied by the CRTC. CKST ended its modern rock format upon sign-off at midnight on September 30, returning to the air at 5:30 AM with the new on-air name "Q104" (which was later dropped in favor of using the CKST calls) and a new nostalgia music format. The station was purchased by Ronald Dixon and Gary Mathiesen in 1994.

CKST was in the process of being sold when Dixon was killed in a car accident in Mexico on September 15, 2000; the station would be sold to Grand Slam Radio Inc., which assumed ownership on February 1, 2001, switched CKST to its present all-sports format and adopted its current on-air name "The TEAM 1040" on April 25, and joined CHUM's TEAM all-sports network on May 7. Station founder Joe Chesney died in Langley on November 10, 2001, at the age of 82, and CHUM would purchase CKST on February 10, 2003, adding to the company's ownership of CFUN, CHQM-FM and CKVU-TV in Vancouver.

It was a member of CHUM Limited's shortlived "The TEAM" sports radio network in 2001-2002 and remains loosely affiliated with those stations that retained the sports format. It competed heavily with CHMJ 730 AM ("MOJO Sports Radio"), an all-sports station in Vancouver owned by Corus Entertainment, until that station dropped its sports format in May 2006.

The station made headlines in 2003 when host John Conners made comments about Vancouver Canucks player Todd Bertuzzi's wife on the air. Conners was fired by CKST after the Canucks revoked their accreditation of its reporters and pulled their advertising from the station in response to the incident.

In 2004, it acquired the radio broadcast rights for BC Lions football games, beating longtime broadcaster CKNW. Veteran play-by-play man J. Paul McConnell stayed with CKNW, while colour analyst Giulio Caravatta moved to CKST and joined new play-by-play announcer Rick Ball.

In the spring of 2006, in what was seen as a major gain for the station, it acquired the broadcasting rights for the Canucks, which had long been the staple of rival CKNW. The play-by-play team of John Shorthouse and Tom Larscheid also moved stations from CKNW to CKST.

CTVglobemedia purchased CKST and its sister radio stations in Vancouver as part of the acquisition of CHUM Limited on June 22, 2007, following its approval by the CRTC, while former co-owned CKVU was sold to Rogers Communications on October 31, 2007.

Programming

CKST broadcasts the games of the Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, and occasional Vancouver Canadians games and other local sports events. It carries most Seattle Mariners games from KOMO in Seattle, most Seattle Seahawks games from KIRO in Seattle, ESPN Radio's Sunday Night Baseball, and Westwood One's Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football.

It generally offers a mixture of its own talk programming featuring local personalities, with syndicated American sports radio shows such as The Jim Rome Show and The Dan Patrick Show. It is an ESPN Radio affiliate and former Sporting News Radio and Fox Sports Radio affiliate. It also carries content such as Prime Time Sports, occasional Toronto Blue Jays games, and annual events such as the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships from The FAN 590 in Toronto.

The station's main Monday to Friday programming block are local hosts Barry Macdonald and Scott Rintoul from 6:00-9:00am, a simulcast of the The Jim Rome Show from 9:00am-12:00pm, local host Rick Ball from 12:00-3:00pm, the Pratt and Taylor show from 3:00pm-6:00pm and local host Blake Price (with Dave Tomlinson during hockey season) from 7:00-11:00pm.

Live Sports

TEAM 1040 is the flagship station and exclusive broadcaster of the following teams:

* Vancouver Canucks (NHL hockey)
* BC Lions (CFL football)
* Vancouver Whitecaps (USL soccer)
* Vancouver Canadians (Minor League Baseball baseball)

References

*Houston, William. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060530.mojo31/TPStory/Sports/columnists "Mojo says goodbye to all-sports format,"] "The Globe and Mail", May 30, 2006.
*Pap, Elliot. [http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/specials/gameon/story.html?id=72bd6b8e-536c-4d13-b23e-b9dca678c40f "Sports radio stations brimming with hockey coverage,"] "The Vancouver Sun", September 23, 2005.
*Schecter, Brian. [http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2004/04/19/Radios_Jock_Talk_Wars/ "Radio's Jock Talk Wars,"] "The Tyee", April 19, 2004.
*Yu, Karl. [http://www.vancourier.com/issues05/042205/news/042205nn1.html "Jock Talk,"] "Vancouver Courier", April 14, 2005.
* [http://www.vancourier.com/issues05/042205/news/042205nn1.html "Radio Station Fires Announcer For Comments Made About Vancouver Player's Wife,"] "Associated Press", February 5, 2003.

External links

* [http://www.team1040.ca/ Team 1040]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=72&historyID=33 CJJC/CJUP/CKST history at Canadian Communications Foundation website]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=234 Biography of CJJC founder Joe Chesney]
*RecnetCanada|CKST