CKLW

For other stations that have used the CKLW callsign in the past, seeCBET-DTandCIDR-FM.

CKLW(800AM) is acommercialradio stationinWindsor, Ontario,servingSouthwestern OntarioandMetro Detroit.CKLW is owned byBell Mediaand has anews/talkradio format.It features local hosts in morning and afternoondrive times,withsyndicatedCanadian hosts in middays and evenings, plusCoast to Coast AMwithGeorge Nooryovernight. Evening newscasts aresimulcastfromCHWI-DTChannel 16CTVWindsor.

CKLW

Windsor, Ontario Canada
Broadcast area	Southwestern Ontario Detroit–Windsor
Frequency	800kHz(AM)
Branding	AM 800 CKLW
Programming
Format	News/talk
Affiliations	CHWI-DT The Canadian Press Premiere Networks Windsor Spitfires
Ownership
Owner	Bell Media (Bell Media Radio)
Sister stations	CHWI-DT,CIDR-FM,CIMX-FM
History
First air date	June 2, 1932(1932-06-02)
Former call signs	CKOK (1932–1933)
Former frequencies	540kHz(1932–1933) 840 kHz (1933–1934) 1030 kHz (1934–1941)
Call signmeaning	London-Windsor (broadcast area)
Technical information
Class	B
Power	50,000watts
Transmitter coordinates	42.0569°N 83.0028°W/42.0569; -83.0028
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	iheartradio.ca/am800

CKLW is a 50,000-wattClass Bstation, using a five-tower arraydirectional antennawith differing patterns day and night. Despite its high power, it must protect Class Aclear-channel stationXEROKinCiudad Juárez,Mexico,and other Canadian and U.S. stations on 800 AM. Thetransmitteris off County Road 20 West in southernEssex County,betweenAmherstburgandHarrow,only a few kilometres from theLake Erieshoreline.

History

Overview

CKLW was an internationally knownTop 40station in the 1960s and 1970s. During this era, CKLW used a tight Top 40 format known asBoss Radio,devised by radio programmerBill Drake.However, CKLW never actually used the handle "boss" on the air, just the style. Rather than aBoss 30,CKLW's weekly music survey was known as aBig 30.And instead of calling itselfBoss Radio,CKLW called itselfThe Big 8.

During this period it was the top-rated radio station not only in Windsor, but across the river in Detroit, and even in cities as far away asToledoandCleveland.

Before the "Big 8": Gentile and Binge

CKLW first came on the air on June 2, 1932,as CKOK on 540 kilocycles, (which until 2013 was the long-time home of today'sCBEF) with 5,000 watts of power. The station was built by George Storerand was sold to a group of Windsor-area businessmen led by Malcolm Campbell, operating as "Essex Broadcasters, Ltd." CKOK became CKLW (and moved to 840 kHz)in 1933, when Essex Broadcasters, Ltd. merged with theLondon Free Pressand its station CJGC (nowCFPL), and became "Western Ontario Broadcasting", which was co-owned by Essex Broadcasters, and theLondon Free Press.The "LW" in the callsign is said to have stood for "London,Windsor ", considered the two chief cities in the station's listening area. When the station's power increased to 50,000 watts, its listening area increased accordingly. In 1934, whenLondon Free Press's station CJGC pulled out of the agreement, the station became wholly owned by Western Ontario Broadcasters. CJGC later evolved into today's CFPL, while CKLW moved from 840 to 1030 kHz in 1934, before settling on its present frequency of 800 kHz in 1941, thanks to ashuffle of frequency allocations.

CKLW for most of its history had a distinctly American accent to its programming, and for a number of years served as the Detroit affiliate of theMutual Broadcasting System,an affiliation that began with its switch fromCBSto Mutual September 29, 1935,and which would last from then until its purchase byRKO Generalin 1963. When Mutual was restructured as a cooperative in 1940, CKLW was one of the major shareholders in the network.Alongside its affiliation with Mutual, it also gained a dual affiliation with theCBCin 1935, replacing itsCBS Radio Networkaffiliation with that of Mutual/CBC. In 1948, it became an affiliate of the CBC'sDominion Networkas well as the main network which became known as theTrans-Canada Network.The Trans-Canada Network affiliation would last until 1950, whenCBE1550 launched and the Dominion Network affiliation remained until 1962 when the network dissolved. The Mutual System's owner,General Tire and Rubber Company,purchased a controlling interest in CKLW and its owner at the time, Western Ontario Broadcasting in 1956, along with RKO General (which had purchased a minority interest in 1954 and had controlled Mutual since 1952). RKO would later increase its stake to 100% in 1963.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, CKLW was home toHappy Joe's Early Morning Frolicwith Joe Gentile and Toby David, which was one of the first popular comedy-oriented radio morning shows in Detroit. The show continued strong after David left CKLW for Washington, D.C., in 1940, and was replaced by Ralph Binge. The duo kept listeners entertained with an endless stream of comedic sketches and situations. The show's sponsors got in on the fun as well, as Gentile and Binge's trademark was their ability to turn a standard 60-second commercial announcement into a comedy sketch that could run for three minutes or longer. A typical three-and-a-half-hour Gentile and Binge show might feature such comedic commercials for as many as fifty legitimate products, and some imaginary ones as well. Sometimes listeners didn't get the joke. For example, according to popular legend, after promoting a miracle weight-loss aid called "Dr. Quack's Slim Jim Reducing Pills" with the story of an obese woman who got stuck in a telephone booth, Gentile and Binge received over $3,000 from listeners requesting a $1 trial of the pills as advertised, and the station had to hire a clerk to return the money.

Gentile and Binge were a fixture on CKLW until moving to WJBK radio (nowWLQV) in 1948, attracting audience ratings as high as 80% at their peak. The duo disbanded their partnership in 1956, and Gentile returned to CKLW. Toby David also eventually returned to AM 800 to host the morning show in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both Binge and David were also stars of early Detroit television kiddie shows: Binge was "Pirate Pete" onWJBK-TVin the mid-1950s, and David became CKLW-TV's (nowCBET-DT) "Captain Jolly" later in the decade (a role which, ironically, Binge had originally been tagged to play).

As television's popularity boomed, CKLW, like many other stations, coped with the changes by replacing the dying network radio fare with locally based disc-jockey shows. Throughout most of the 1950s and into the mid-1960s, CKLW was basically a "variety" radio station which filled in the cracks between full-service features with pop music played by announcers like Bud Davies, Ron Knowles (who had a rock-and-roll show on AM 800 as early as 1957), and Joe Van. For a few years in the early 1960s, CKLW also featured acountry musicprogram in the evenings calledSounds Like Nashville.This ended in 1963 whenWEXL1340 became Detroit's first 24-hour country station.

Glory years

After RKO General took over the station and its FM sister in 1963, CKLW began to shed the variety-format approach and, as "Radio Eight-Oh", began focusing more aggressively on playingcontemporary hitsand issuing a record survey. Davies, Knowles, Dave Shafer,Tom Clay,Tom Shannon,Larry Morrow (as "Duke Windsor" ),Terry Knight,and Don Zee were among the "Radio Eight-Oh" personalities during this time. The station did well thanks to its huge signal, and beat the local competition inCleveland,Ohio,though in the local Detroit ratings CKLW still lagged well behind competing hit outletWKNR.

However, on April 4, 1967, CKLW got a drastic makeover with Bill Drake's "Boss Radio"format, programmed locally by Paul Drew. Initially known as" Radio 8 "withPAMSjingles, within a few months the station's final transformation into "The Big 8," with new jingles sung by theJohnny MannSingers, was complete, and the station was on a rapid ratings upswing. In July 1967, CKLW claimed the number one spot in the Detroit ratings for the first time, and WKNR was left in the dust, switching to an easy listening format as WNIC less than five years later.

In addition to Dave Shafer and Tom Shannon, the lone holdouts from the "Radio Eight Oh" era, "Big 8" personalities during the late 1960s and through the mid-1970s includedGary "Morning Mouth" Burbank,"Big" Jim Edwards, "Brother" Bill Gable, Pat Holiday, Steve Hunter, "Super" Max Kinkel,Walt "Baby" Love,Charlie O'Brien, Scott Regen, Ted "The Bear" Richards, Mike Rivers, Duke Roberts,Charlie Van Dyke,Johnny Williams, and newsmen Randall Carlisle, Grant Hudson,Byron MacGregor(who had a three-and-a-half million-selling #1 hit single with his recording ofGordon Sinclair's commentary "The Americans"in 1973), and Dick Smyth.

The station had strong talent behind the scenes as well, most notably longtime music directorRosalie Trombley,who ascended to that position in 1968 after having worked as the station's music librarian for five years and became famous for her apparent hit record-spotting abilities. Trombley consciously made an effort to choose the right R&B and soul songs (especiallyMotownsongs) to create a station that would appeal equally to black and white listeners. As a result, CKLW was sometimes referred to as "the blackest white station in America", and many believe the integrated music mix helped bring Detroiters closer together in racial harmony, especially after the riots of July 1967. The "Rosalie Trombley Award" honours women who have made their mark in broadcasting. Another female employee of CKLW who helped break down gender barriers was reporter Jo-Jo Shutty-MacGregor (the wife of Byron MacGregor), the first female helicopter traffic/news reporter in North America.

The Windsor-based station maintained a sales office in the Detroit suburb ofSouthfield, Michigan,where it picked up numerous sponsors for U.S. consumer products, some of which had to use the disclaimer and live announcer end-tag "Not available in Ontario". Possibly the best known of sponsors was Merollis Chevrolet, known for its comedic 30-second spots and the campy Al Jolson-styled jingle "Gene Merollis what a great great guy!"

Another feature of the "Big 8" was its "20/20 News", so-called because it was delivered at 20 minutes after the hour and 20 minutes before the hour - scheduling that allowed CKLW to be playing music while other stations were airing newscasts at the top of the hour or on the quarter-hour. The CKLW newscasters — including Byron MacGregor,Jon Belmont(later ABC),Bob Losure(CNN), Dick Smyth (who would later become the first newscast when Toronto'sCFTRwent all-news in 1993), Grant Hudson, Joe Donovan (sports),Mark Dailey(CityNews), Randall Carlisle, Keith Radford, andLee Marshall— delivered imagery-laden news stories in a rapid-fire, excited manner, not sparing any of the gory details when it came to describing murders or rapes. This was an attempt to make the news sound as exciting and gripping as the music. The "blood and guts" style began with Byron MacGregor's promotion to news director (replacing Smyth) in 1969. Another memorable feature of the 20/20 newscasts was the incessant clacking of theteletypein the background, which gave the newscasts a unique sound.

CKLW's newscasts were acknowledged for more than just their "flash," however; the station won anEdward R. Murrow Awardfor its coverage of the 1967 riots, helmed by Smyth. This was the first time that this particular award had ever been given to a Canadian broadcaster.

The decline and death of the Big 8

Some listeners believe that CKLW started to decline in popularity afterCanadian contentregulations went into effect in 1971. Although having to play 30% "CanCon" songs that generated little in the way of sales put the station at a competitive disadvantage compared to its U.S.-based competition, CKLW still managed to help break a number of Canadian songs and artists in theUnited States.These includedAnne Murray,The Poppy Family,Gordon Lightfoot,Joni Mitchell,The Guess Who,April Wine,theFive Man Electrical Band,andBachman Turner Overdrive.Just as, if not more, responsible for the decline in CKLW's ratings as the 1970s wore on was the rise ofFM radioas an outlet for contemporary music, as the station gained a direct FM Top 40 competitor,WDRQ,in 1972, and its listening audience was also fragmented betweenalbum-oriented rockoutlets such asWWWW,WRIFandWABXandadult contemporarystations likeWNICandWMJC.The Canadian government's initial unwillingness to license FM frequencies with pop or rock formats stranded Canadian stations on AM while an entire demographic of listeners began the exodus to US-based FM outlets anywhere the signals were in range. For many younger listeners by 1978, CKLW was the station they listened to only if they had an AM-only radio in their cars.

As a result, like many other powerhouse AM Top 40 stations, CKLW evolved during the late 1970s into an Adult Top 40 direction. The station's music softened to the point where, by 1982, it gave no airtime to harder-rocking songs likeJoan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll",and jingles were initially phased out, with new jingles and a new slogan (" The Great Entertainer ") being introduced in 1979.

Dick Purtanjoined the station for mornings in 1978, coming over fromWXYZ.Largely due to Purtan's popularity, CKLW remained a moderately popular station into the early 1980s, but after Purtan departed at the start of 1983 for FM competitorWCZY,the station quickly tumbled to the bottom of Detroit's Arbitron ratings (its last appearance in the Top 10 was in 1981). In an attempt to go after longtime "full service" powerhouseWJR,CKLW converted toAM stereoin 1982 and even got the rights to broadcastUniversity of Michiganfootball andNASLsoccer,but in this, it was also unsuccessful.

In 1984,Baton Broadcastingsold CKLW-AM-FM to Russwood Broadcasting Ltd. Also in 1984, CKLW made an attempt to transfer itsCHRformat to its FM sister station,big bandandjazz standards-formattedCKJY-FM.These hopes were dashed when theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission(CRTC) refused to approve the format change on anything more than an "experimental" basis, reasoning that FM was for "fine" music and that Top 40 music belonged on AM.

The final death knell for the "Big 8" came in October 1984, when the station fired 79 staffers (including most of the remaining announcers and Rosalie Trombley), closed its American sales office in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, and announced that it would soon change format toAl Ham's "Music of Your Life"format ofJazzstandards and big-band music and go completely automated. The "Big 8" was finally laid to rest on Tuesday, January 1, 1985, and the station soon dropped stereo since most of the big-band and jazz standards music in its new format was in mono anyway. CKLW's FM sister adopted abeautiful musicformat with the callsign CKEZ. Briefly, it attempted to resurrect the glory years of the "Big 8" by playingoldiesand the jingles from the AM legend's peak years in the late 1960s. At this time, both stations were also sold toCUC Broadcasting,which would sell CKLW and CKEZ toCHUM Limitedin 1993. For a brief time under CUC Broadcasting ownership, it was a member of theNBC Radionetwork beginning in 1991 (which was by then a shell of its former self), and ending with the station's sale to CHUM Limited in 1993.

CKLW was known asK-800during its "Music of Your Life" days and also became the radio home for theDetroit Pistons.Ratings improved dramatically, as the station shot back into the Top 10, although the demographics of the station's audience were now substantially older. Longtime CKLW jock and Detroit radio veteran Dave Shafer was the "K-800" program director during this time.

Modern history

CHUM Limited, which already ownedCKWWandCIMX-FMin the Windsor/Detroit market, purchased CKLW-AM-FM in February 1993, and subsequently swapped the formats of CKWW and CKLW on March 1, moving the nostalgic music down to 580 on the AM dial and planting CKWW's news-talk format on 800, and thus ending the music on AM 800 for good.

Today, CKLW combines localtalk radiowith U.S.-basedsyndication programsand those produced by CHUM. The station now goes by the nameAM 800,The Information Station (or as "AM 800 CKLW" ). The station boasts a fully staffed local newsroom and also airs hourly newscasts fromThe Canadian Pressradio network (formerly known as Broadcast News), primarily at night. CKLW is picked up clearly as far off asToledoandCleveland(where it was consistently a highly rated station during itsTop 40days),Lansing, Michigan,and even the outskirts ofCincinnati,Ohio,with reports of night-time reception as far off asToronto/Oshawa, Ontario;Hartford, Connecticut;Pennsylvania;New York City;Little Rock;Des Moines, Iowa;andSan Antonio, Texas.At one point, it was stated that CKLW could be heard in at least 23 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

For the station to be heard as far west as Arkansas, Iowa and Texas is impressive, given the station is not a "clear channel"Class Astation, and has an extreme northward/eastward nighttime directional signal in order to protect stations on 800 kHz inCiudad Juárez(clear channelXEROK-AMacross the river fromEl Paso, Texas). A station inBonairein theNetherlands Antilles(PJB3,Trans World Radio), provided severe interference to CKLW during its Big 8 years and beyond, operating with 525,000 watts of power. CKLW was and is under no obligation to protect Bonaire, as PJB signed on long after North American allocations were settled and the Netherlands Antilles did not honour international agreements.

During CKLW'sTop 40heyday, because of its nighttime directional pattern, the station was frequently heard inScandinavia,but was often rendered unlistenable just a few hundred miles to the west and south of Detroit because of interference from the Juarez and/or Bonaire stations. Nevertheless, the currentnews/talkformat enjoys good ratings in Windsor, though it now hovers near the bottom of the DetroitArbitronreports.

In May 2006, it was announced that CKLW would be a co-flagship station forUniversity of MichiganfootballwithDetroitradio stationWOMC.CKLW had served as backup station toWJRpreviously for Michigan football when WJR was forced to broadcastDetroit Tigersgames due to contractual obligations.

On July 12, 2006, it was announced thatCHUMwould be absorbed by Canadian media conglomerate CTVglobemedia (nowBell Media), the owner of Canadian television networkCTVand the successor of CKLW's former owner, Baton Broadcasting. The transaction was consummated on June 22, 2007.

On September 10, 2010,Bell Canadaannounced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including CKLW.The deal was consummated on April 1, 2011.

CKLW-FM and CKLW-TV

The present-day CBC studios on Riverside Drive in Windsor; until 1970, the studios also housed CKLW's AM & FM operations.

In 1948, CKLW started CKLW-FM on 93.9MHz(nowCIDR-FM). Despite a powerful 100,000-wattsignal, CKLW's FM sister has never been able to attract a sizeable audience, at least not on the American side of the border. In the 1970s, CKLW-FM programmed a country format, and then big band and jazz as CKJY in the early 1980s.

After the failed "Fox"format, the station became beautiful-music CKEZ in 1985, and then in 1986, the CKLW-FM calls were restored and the station made an attempt to mimic the sound of the classic "Big 8" formula with a playlist spanning the 1950s through 1980s and with many of the original jingles, features and personalities, but it lasted only a few years.

In the early 1990s, CKLW-FM again tried the "Big 8" -style oldies format, as93.9 The Legend.Though the sound was again very faithful to the original CKLW, it once again did not last long, as there was a lot of competition for the oldies market in Detroit at the time, withWOMC(104.3) eventually emerging as the most popular oldies station. (As of November 19, 2020,CIDR-FMbecame known as "93.9 Virgin Radio", airing aTop 40format.)

The operation also included CKLW-TV, Channel 9 (nowCBET-DT). For years, one of the TV station's most popular shows was anAmerican Bandstand-style show calledSwingin' Time(and later,The Lively Spot), hosted byRobin Seymour(and also Tom Shannon for a time) and featuring performances by national and local recording artists and teenagers demonstrating the latest dances. In fact, as early as 1956, Bud Davies hosted a "bandstand" -style show on CKLW-TV calledTop Ten Dance Party.For the most part, though, CKLW-TV was overshadowed by its powerhouse sister radio station and mainly aired low-budget local shows along withCanadian Broadcasting Corporation(CBC) (and also CTV) network fare.

When the Canadian government requestedRKO Generaldivest itself of its Canadian holdings in 1968, the stations were sold to a consortium of the CBC and Baton Broadcasting, which was finalized in 1970. Baton ran the radio station (and CKLW-TV) for several years (under its subsidiary, St. Clair Broadcasting), before selling to CHUM in 1975. When the CBC took full ownership of the television station (CKLW-TV), it changed its call letters to "CBET".

CKLW-AM-FM then moved from the TV station's 825 Riverside Drive West location to its own studios and offices at 1640 Ouellette Avenue. CBET continues as Windsor's CBC English affiliate to this day, although recent budget cuts at the CBC have meant less local programming and more simulcasting of programming fromToronto.The Riverside studios would be sold to London-based Clayland Developments Ltd. in September 2014, though the CBC will be leasing space for their local operations. The 1954 building is on Windsor's heritage registry, meaning that it could not be torn down without approval by the city government.

CHUM's successor,Bell Media,continues to own CKLW and CIDR-FM today, along with country stationCIMX-FM(88.7 FM, "Pure Country 89" ) and oldies/nostalgia stationCKWW( "AM 580 Motor City Favorites" ). All four stations are located at the Ouellette Avenue address.

The 2004 filmRadio Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Big 8,produced byMichael McNamaraand aired onHistory Televisionin Canada andPBSmember stationsWTVSin Detroit (2005) andWVIZinCleveland(2006), chronicles the history of CKLW's top 40 years. The film has been honoured inCanadawith theGemini Award(equivalent of anEmmy Award) for "Best History Documentary".

Echoes of the Big 8

In 2015, CKLW began airing its first music program,Hear + Now(pronounced "Hear and Now", formerlyInto Tomorrow) in over twenty years (having switched formats with sister CKWW, becoming all-news in 1993). The station airs analternative/independentlocal artists format, with some classic Canadian Rock songs with music from the 1960s to today sprinkled in. While not a full-time return to music, Here + Now airs, as of March 2021, on Saturday Mornings (it previously aired on Sunday Nights) making CKLW more of a full-service station again.

2017 transmitter fire

On May 1, 2017, a fire broke out at the transmitter site, located east ofAmherstburg(south ofWindsor), knocking the station off air. Programming was temporarily moved to its thensister stationAM 580 CKWW, while both stations' internet feeds remained unaffected. The cause is currently unknown, though the station was able to return to the air on its own frequency by mid-afternoon the next day at reduced power.

See also

• RKO General
• Media in Detroit

Further reading

• Morrow, Larry (2010).This is Larry Morrow.Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers.ISBN978-1-59851-069-0.

External links

• AM 800 CKLW
• CKLW-AMat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by theCanadian Communications Foundation
• CKLWin the REC Canadian station database

• Radio-Locator information on CKLW
• The Classic CKLW PageArchived2004-05-06 at theWayback Machine
• Canadian Stations and History
• CKLW Big 30 Hit Lists, 1967-1979
• Boss 30 Gallery (including CKLW)
• RKO-General's History, and its relationship with CKLW
• Radio Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Big 8DVD site