CKUL-FM is a Halifax, Nova Scotia radio station broadcasting on 96.5 MHz. After receiving CRTC approval on March 5, 1990,[1] it first went on the air on August 30, 1990 as 96.5 Sun FM, under the call letters CIEZ-FM with originally a beautiful music format. Shortly thereafter, the station became adult contemporary. In addition, the station became adult hits in 2003, and was rebranded as 96.5 Kool FM in October 2004, when it adopted its current call letters.
CKUL broadcasts classic hits. The station was operated for several years as a joint venture between Newcap Radio and CHUM Limited (later purchased by CTVglobemedia), as part of their five-station "Metro Radio Group" LMA, later disbanded by order of the CRTC. In 2007, both companies received approval to convert their remaining AM stations in the market, CFDR and CJCH respectively, to the FM band, which would give each company two wholly owned FM stations in the Halifax market, the maximum permitted under current CRTC regulations.
Newcap later acquired CTV's share of CKUL,[2] while announcing the sale of CFDR to Rogers Radio, which became CFLT-FM.
In July 2009, Newcap announced that CKUL would the first station it owns to switch to a music-intensive format. This resulted in the layoff of a number of announcers, including afternoon and weekend personalities Jamie Paterson, now at 92.9 CFLT FM Halifax, Shauna MacKinnon and Kelli Rickard. Their sets were replaced with music and hourly updates of news, weather and traffic.[3]
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