CFHK-FM, or 1031 Fresh FM, is a radio station owned by Corus Entertainment and transmitting from St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada that transmits at 16.7 kW on a 492-foot (150 m)-high transmitter at 103.1 MHz on the FM dial. The station plays a rhythmic-leaning adult top 40 format. Although licensed to St. Thomas, the station's studios and offices are located in nearby London, with the other Corus Radio London stations.
[edit] History
CFHK was originally CHLO, an AM station broadcasting on 680 kHz and with studios in St. Thomas, Ontario. Rogers Radio Broadcasting Limited wanted to establish broadcasting on the frequency 680 kHz in Toronto, which at that time was occupied by CHLO. An "agreement" was reached whereby CHLO relocated to 1570 kHz in the 1970s. CHLO had a Top 40 music format during the 1960s into the 70s, and was a Music of Your Life station in the mid-1980s.[1] After a number of years as a country station, CHLO moved to the FM band in 1994, changing its calls to CFHK-FM. CFHK, known on-air as "The Hawk", had a rock format, which later evolved into classic rock. The station continued to operate out of St. Thomas until the late 1990s.
On January 12, 2000, CFHK joined the "Energy Radio" network, while The Hawk moved to co-owned CKDK in Woodstock. The Energy Radio network was unstable and station branding changed frequently. In 2002, the network was pulled. CFHK became local again as "Energy 103", serving only London and surrounding area. In August 2004, Energy Radio changed formats and moniker to its current adult top 40 format to go up against adult contemporary station CIQM-FM and adult hits station CHST-FM. The flip to hot AC was caused by previous hot AC station CHST-FM flipping to its current Bob FM format in July 2003. In August 2005, the Energy Radio brand was folded completely and CFHK rebranded as "103-1 Fresh FM", due to the fact it could match the current CFHK calls. The morning program featuring "D, Mindy & Gord" moved from co-owned CFPL-FM (FM96) to launch the new station format.
In February 2011, Mindy Williamson was let go from Fresh Mornings, as the radio station apparently indicated they were moving in another 'direction'. D and Gord remained as morning show hosts for a while longer. Gord is still on Fresh Mornings with Ian Sterling and Natalie Lovie.
[edit] Criticism
Although licensed to St. Thomas the station provides no News or Weather to the community. This was a source of trouble for CKZM-FM to get a licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in St. Thomas as it was said that for the population of the city two major commercial radio stations were not needed.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Radio stations
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Many of the assets listed above are only partially owned by Corus Entertainment. Refer to full asset list for detailed information.
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