History of KFUN
In the late 1950s, a small group of businessmen established CKKW 1320 with offices in downtown Kitchener in the Dunker building where King Center is now located. (The jingle went…See Double-Kay-Double You---Thirteen-TWO!) One of its prime movers died within a couple of years and the station went downhill. It was purchased c1964 by Central Ontario Television, (CKCO) the local TV outlet…this was owned partly by Famous Players Theaters and partly by Electrohome a locally-founded and very successful electronics company which had begun in the early years of the 20th century by manufacturing phonographs. Electrohome had diversified until by the 1950s and 60s it was also making top-notch furniture (Deilcraft) and a wide range of home appliances (fans, humidifiers, heaters) as well as radios and television sets. Carl A Pollock was, at the time, president of Electrohome, which his father A. C. Pollock had founded. Carl had always been interested in radio and the chance to purchase a station was not to be missed. CKKW was moved to the upstairs of the CKCO site on King West near Pine, opposite the hospital.
In the mid 1970s, through a complicated arrangement, CKKW 1320 was able to obtain the more preferable 1090 frequency. Thru the 70s and 80s, CKKW lagged behind in the community’s overall radio ratings…it kept mainly to an easy-going, middle-of-the-road sound with its only foray into rock’n’roll being the Saturday evening Grantly show. Country music was featured in the evenings and on Saturday morning. One of KWs most popular DJs of all time was on CKKW---“yer ole buddy Hoppy.” Talk shows also played an important part of the CKKW schedule. In the 80s, a series of format shifts left listeners (and staff) confused…Your Station for Sports (Rangers, Bluejays,Leafs,Warriors,Hawks,Panthers)…Solid Gold CKKW….AM 109 Current Hits.
Being part of a much larger TV operation meant that radio didn’t receive the detailed attention and planning that it would have had it stood alone. There were benefits to being part of the larger unit---yearly losses could simply be wrapped into the larger company’s always-profitable account books. There was a larger staff base from which to draw for special productions and features. The drawbacks weighed equally as strongly. Staff, managers, everyone, became somewhat lackadaisical in the pursuit of Radio Broadcasting. Enter the late 1980s/early 90s recession/near-depression and parent company Electrohome began bleeding severe red ink. Its operation had shrunk to a shadow of its former self. While TV still raked in money, the radio drain was felt to be too much to sustain---and more importantly, in the always-inflated market for radio station licenses, it was felt that several million dollars could be folded back into Electrohome coffers.
The news hit the staff in late 1992…the stations CKKW and sister station CFCA were on the market. CHUM Radio out of Toronto had started negotiations with Electrohome and CKKW/CFCA’s general manager was an ex-executive at CHUM in Toronto, John Spragge. CHUM’s purchase of the stations was approved and for a year the chain operated them out of the CKCO building. New studios were built on King Street North near University Avenue in Waterloo. CKKW had, within a few months of CHUM taking over, been changed into Oldies 1090. Since the move to the Waterloo studios, Oldies 1090, was warped into the abortive TEAM sports network which CHUM in Toronto decreed for all its AM properties. When that folded in September 2002, Oldies 1090 came back on the air to great fanfare.
In the mid 1970s, through a complicated arrangement, CKKW 1320 was able to obtain the more preferable 1090 frequency. Thru the 70s and 80s, CKKW lagged behind in the community’s overall radio ratings…it kept mainly to an easy-going, middle-of-the-road sound with its only foray into rock’n’roll being the Saturday evening Grantly show. Country music was featured in the evenings and on Saturday morning. One of KWs most popular DJs of all time was on CKKW---“yer ole buddy Hoppy.” Talk shows also played an important part of the CKKW schedule. In the 80s, a series of format shifts left listeners (and staff) confused…Your Station for Sports (Rangers, Bluejays,Leafs,Warriors,Hawks,Panthers)…Solid Gold CKKW….AM 109 Current Hits.
Being part of a much larger TV operation meant that radio didn’t receive the detailed attention and planning that it would have had it stood alone. There were benefits to being part of the larger unit---yearly losses could simply be wrapped into the larger company’s always-profitable account books. There was a larger staff base from which to draw for special productions and features. The drawbacks weighed equally as strongly. Staff, managers, everyone, became somewhat lackadaisical in the pursuit of Radio Broadcasting. Enter the late 1980s/early 90s recession/near-depression and parent company Electrohome began bleeding severe red ink. Its operation had shrunk to a shadow of its former self. While TV still raked in money, the radio drain was felt to be too much to sustain---and more importantly, in the always-inflated market for radio station licenses, it was felt that several million dollars could be folded back into Electrohome coffers.
The news hit the staff in late 1992…the stations CKKW and sister station CFCA were on the market. CHUM Radio out of Toronto had started negotiations with Electrohome and CKKW/CFCA’s general manager was an ex-executive at CHUM in Toronto, John Spragge. CHUM’s purchase of the stations was approved and for a year the chain operated them out of the CKCO building. New studios were built on King Street North near University Avenue in Waterloo. CKKW had, within a few months of CHUM taking over, been changed into Oldies 1090. Since the move to the Waterloo studios, Oldies 1090, was warped into the abortive TEAM sports network which CHUM in Toronto decreed for all its AM properties. When that folded in September 2002, Oldies 1090 came back on the air to great fanfare.
In January 2009, after years of working hard towards flipping our AM frequency to the FM band, The Tri Cities Greatest Hits KFUN 99.5 FM was launched and now the world's greatest music is on the FM band at 99.5 FM in the Tri-Cities.
