page_title: CKQQ-FM
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: CKQQ-FM / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Former logo for radio station CKQQ-FM. This was the AM logo before the FM/Format switch Category:Radio station logos
context_page_description: CKQQ-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format at 103.1 FM in Kelowna, British Columbia. The station is owned by Jim Pattison Group.
context_section_description: The station's origins are actually that of an amateur radio station with the call letters 10AY owned by the Kelowna Amateur Radio Club, whose founding members in 1928 were George Dunn, Bobby Johnston, Harry Blakeborough and James William Bromley Browne. The club was formed with the sole purpose of obtaining a non-commercial radio license from the federal radio and telecommunications regulator of the day. 10AY broadcast church services, theatre shows and concert performances by the Ogopogo Concert Club. Its initial operating power was 50 watts.
  Two 90-foot poles were erected for antennas for the new CKOV (the call letters naturally stood for Canada Kelowna Okanagan Valley), and studios and offices were built on Mill Avenue. Browne used his own money to get the station going and then "sold shares" for $2.00 each. Okanagan Broadcasters was incorporated on July 27, 1931. On November 4, 1931, as a condition of Jim Browne being awarded a commercial radio license the non-commercial license had to be terminated and 10AY went off the air on this date. Following this, Browne flipped a switch and CKOV was born. He announced the station as, "This is CKOV, The Voice of the Okanagan". Its 60-watt transmitter was converted to 100 watts and CKOV operated on a frequency of 1230 kHz.
  The station continued as a community effort. Listeners sent in donations to keep the station going. Among them was hardware merchant W.A.C. Bennett, later to become Premier of British Columbia. At one of the licence renewal hearings years later, Browne was told by the regulator to "clean up" the ownership. It took him several years, and even then, they could not find some of the people who had "donated" to the resources of CKOV.
  In 1933, CKOV moved to 1210 kHz and decreased power to 50 watts. Following this move a year later, in 1934, the frequency changed to 630 kHz and power returned to 100 watts. It was an affiliate of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission from 1933 to 1936 and was then an affiliate of the new Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1938, they purchased property on Lakeshore Road and built a new transmitter on the new site, with an increased power of 1000 watts. Okanagan Broadcasters obtained licenses for CKCQ Quesnel in 1957, CKWL Williams Lake in 1960 and CKBX 100 Mile House in 1971, which made history as Canada's first licensed private radio network.
  In December 1946, Okanagan Broadcasters launched a rebroadcast transmitter in Penticton. It would eventually be known as CKOK, and later CKOR. CKOV moved to new studios and offices on Pandosy Street. By this time, CKOV was a CBC Trans-Canada Network affiliate.
  The original CKOV building on Mill Avenue, which later became magistrate's offices, was purchased from the city in 1951 by the Kelowna Yacht Club, who continue to operate it as the clubhouse and administrative offices for the local yacht club to this day, although it has since been sold back to the city and leased on a nominal $1.00 per year rate.
  On June 3, 1954, Jim Browne died. His son Jim Browne Jr., a station engineer since 1931, assumed ownership of the station and had taken over management duties awhile back as his father's health had been failing for some time.
  In 1957, the three radio stations in the Okanagan Valley, CKOV Kelowna, CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon, opened CHBC-TV, which began broadcasting on September 21, covering the central Okanagan valley from its main studio in Kelowna, followed three weeks later by rebroadcast transmitters in Vernon and Penticton. Each of the radio stations had one-third ownership of CHBC-TV. Walter Gray started with CKOV and later became morning host. He went on to serve as Kelowna city councillor from 1986–90 and mayor from 1996-2005. He would also co-found CKIQ in 1970 with fellow broadcaster Bob Hall.
  After receiving federal broadcast regulator approval in 1964, Okanagan Broadcasters launched CJOV-FM. Several years later, CKOV received approval to increase nighttime power to 5,000 watts with daytime power remaining at 1,000 watts. Jim Browne Jr.'s son Jamie began as a full-time emplo
caption: Former logo as CKOV 63 'AM' logo (circa: late 1990s - 2007)
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