CFUN (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CFTE** (1410 AM, *CFUN 1410*) is a commercial AM radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned by CHUM Limited, it carries a News/Talk radio format.

## History

CFUN first signed on the air on April 10, 1922 as **CJCE** at 750 AM, co-owned by Sprott-Shaw Schools of Commerce & Wireless Telegraphy and *Radio Specialties Ltd.*, and operated on 5 watts of power. Radio Specialties opened CFCQ ten days later, on 450 meters with transmission power of 40 watts; the two stations were merged by Sprott-Shaw in 1924, with the unified operation assuming the **CFCQ** calls and increasing its power to 50 watts. CFCQ increased power again to 1,000 watts in 1925 and moved to 730 AM to share time with CKCD and Nanaimo station CFDC before cutting power back to 50 watts the following year.

CFCQ changed its call letters to **CKMO** in 1928 and moved to the Bekins Building, 815 West Hastings Street, in 1929, then switched frequencies to its present 1410 AM and moved to 812 Robson Street in 1933 before power returned to 1000 watts in 1941.

CKMO underwent major changes in 1955 when it was sold to Radio C-FUN Ltd., which changed the station's calls to **CFUN** on February 14 of that year (the CKMO calls are now used by Orangeville, Ontario station CKMO-FM). In 1959, CFUN increased power to 10,000 watts and moved their studios to 1900 West 4th Avenue, then introduced a Top 40 music format in 1960 to challenge the supremacy of Vancouver rock-n-roll powerhouse CKWX (the former CFDC).

### Early personalities

During much of the 1960s, CFUN's disc jockey crew, known on-air as the "Good Guys", became well known to Vancouver radio listeners. These were some of them during the station's Top 40 heyday:

* Bryan Frosty Forst
* Al Jordan
* Ed Karl
* Fred Latremouille (a.k.a. Latrimo)
* John Tanner
* Peter Alpen
* Neil Soper
* Terry David Mulligan
* Tom Peacock
* JB Shayne
* Red Robinson (joined from CKWX in 1962)

### 1960s, 1970s and 1980s

CFUN's first Top 40 era ended on September 18, 1967, when the format was dropped for easy listening music. On May 28, 1968, the station was sold to Montreal-based Radio Futura Ltd., and on July 1, 1969, the station changed its call letters to **CKVN**, adopted a primarily all-news format (with music overnight) and increased transmission power to 50,000 watts.

"The CFUN Sticker" from a successful 1970s promotion
CKVN dropped its news format and returned to a Top 40 format in March 1970. The station was sold to CHUM Western Ltd. (a division of CHUM Limited) on January 1, 1973, and regained the **CFUN** calls on September 30. In 1984, CHUM Western was merged into CHUM Limited, and CFUN dropped Top 40 again for an adult contemporary format on December 19 of that year.

CFUN had two successful promotions in the 70s. One was called "Don't say Hello" - \*When the phone rang and you answered "I listen To CFUN" - you won a thousand dollars. The other contest that CFUN used to raise its profile was "The CFUN Sticker" where people placed stickers on their rear window and if they were spotted they won prizes.

The deejay line-up during the 70s included radio personalities such as Fred Latremouille with "Latri-Mornings", Bob Magee, Russ Tyson, Peter Benson, J. Lee Smith, Jim Hault, Tom Lucas, Daryl Burlingham, Terry Russell (Roger Kelly), Tom Jeffries, Jack Casey, Russ "Too Loud" McLoud, and "Raccoon" Carney.

The later CFUN-FM at 104.9 FM bore no relation to the original CFUN-AM outside of having the same call letters and also a contemporary hits format. (That station has since changed call letters to CKKS-FM.)

### 1990s and 2000s

CFUN gained an FM sister station in 1990 when parent CHUM Limited bought CHQM-FM, whose format was changed from easy listening to adult contemporary ("Favourites of Yesterday and Today") in 1992. Both stations moved to new studios at 380 West 2nd Avenue early in 1993, and on March 27, 1996, CFUN switched to talk radio. Another station joined CFUN and CHQM-FM under the CHUM banner when CKST was purchased in 2003.