People are often surprised to learn how far back Derek and I go. We worked together at CKSL in London in the early 1980s. After that, we also worked at CKNX in Wingham, although our decisions to go there were separate and although we were pals, we weren’t “together” at the time. Our history is very When-Harry-Met-Sally. But this is about CKNX, which turned 90 on the weekend with an open house, a big birthday bash and the event we attended, an alumni BBQ.
I arrived at CKNX in April 1986 and Derek, a few months later. During our time there he hosted the morning show on what was then, FM102. It’s now called The One. I co-hosted the Midday talk show on CKNX-AM with Don Fraser, had a couple of hours off, and then came back to host afternoons on FM102. In between we had commercials to read, scripts to write and research to do, all without the Internet. CKNX-TV was still alive and a going concern and we both had opportunities to regularly appear on air there. In time, Derek became my boss, the Program Director, the job I would take on when he left.
CKNX was proud of its deep roots, having been founded by Walter “Doc” Cruickshank in 1926 when he built a transmitter on a butter box that he carried to his workshop every day. Doc would interview customers and the station caught on, so he applied for a license. The regulator gave him the C and K and Doc chose NX for clarity and distinction. They don’t mean a thing! TV was launched in 1962 and the FM station in ’71. A second FM, The Bull, now called Classic Rock 945, came along in 2005.
The Blackburns bought CKNX-AM, FM and TV in 1972, so by the time Derek and I arrived, Blackburn Radio included CFPL radio & TV and the Free Press in London. We met Martha Blackburn a couple of times before she died suddenly and young, at the age of 47. Her son, Richard, was our big boss at Free-FM, Blackburn’s return to the London area. He died a year ago, at 48. Richard’s grandfather, Martha’s Dad, Walter J Blackburn, still looms large in London. His name is on everything from a fountain at the Forks of the Thames to the organ transplant centre at University Hospital.
As a media company, Blackburn faces an uncertain future. The official company line is that it will operate in trust until Richard’s children are old enough to make decisions about it. And media has changed so much. So no one can guess what they’ll want to do with it. But it was so much fun to see so many former colleagues on Sunday. So many are also gone – it has been 30 years, after all. We told tales and laughed and thank goodness someone decided to make lanyards with our names on them! Happy Birthday CKNX. Here’s to at least 90 more.