CKBY-FM

CKBY-FM
City	Smiths Falls, Ontario
Broadcast area	National Capital Region
Frequency	101.1 MHz (FM)
Branding	CityNews Ottawa
Programming
Format	News-Talk
Affiliations	ABC News Radio
Ownership
Owner	Rogers Sports and Media ; (Rogers Media, Inc.)
Sister stations	CHEZ-FM, CISS-FM, CIWW, CJET-FM
History
First air date	January 20, 1969; 52 years ago
Former call signs	CJET-FM (1969 - 1970s); CKUE-FM (1970s - 1986); CHEQ-FM (1986 - 1993); CFMO-FM (1993 - 2000); CIOX-FM (2000 - 2004) ; Toronto Blue Jays Radio Network; CBS Sports Radio
Technical information
Class	C
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	141.5 meters (464 ft)
Links
Website	Ottawa.CityNews.ca

CKBY-FM (101.1 MHz, CityNews Ottawa) is a commercial radio station licensed to Smiths Falls, Ontario, and serving the National Capital Region including Ottawa. It is owned by Rogers Sports and Media and it simulcasts a News-Talk radio format with co-owned CIWW 1310 AM. CKBY-FM has radio studios in Smiths Falls (as part of its license agreement), with auxiliary studios at the Rogers Ottawa cluster on Thurston Drive and Conroy Road.

CKBY-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the current maximum power for Canadian FM stations. The transmitter is on Ontario Highway 15 near Line Route 7 in Beckwith, Ontario.^[1]

Programming[]

On weekdays, local all-news blocks are heard in morning and afternoon drive time. In middays, two local talk shows air: Rob Snow in late mornings and Sam Laprade in early afternoons. Their shows are repeated in the evening. Overnights feature the national all-news service shared with CFTR Toronto, CFFR Calgary and CKWX Vancouver.^[2]

On weekends, all-news blocks are heard in the morning and overnight, with talk shows in the afternoon and CBS Sports Radio in the evening. ABC News Radio supplies reports on world and U.S. news. Toronto Blue Jays baseball games are carried. The Blue Jays, CKBY-FM and CIWW are all co-owned by Rogers Communications.^[3]

History[]

The station was launched at 101.1 MHz in 1969 as CJET-FM, a sister station to the AM radio station CJET. The station on 101.1 changed its callsign from CJET-FM to CKUE in the early 1970s.

In 1984, the stations were acquired by CHEZ-FM Inc., the owner of Ottawa's CHEZ. In 1986, CKUE changed its callsign to CHEQ, and adopted the Q101 brand. Q101 switched from its longtime adult contemporary format to country music in 1990, but the country format was financially unsuccessful.

In 1993, CHEZ acquired rights to the callsign and format of CFMO, an easy listening station in Ottawa which CHUM Limited had converted to hot adult contemporary CKKL.

In 1999, the CHEZ group of stations were acquired by Rogers Media.^[4] On December 31 of that year, Rogers converted the station to a modern rock format and moved the station's studios into Ottawa, using the callsign CIOX and the brand name Xfm. However, in 2001 the CRTC found that by operating CIOX as an Ottawa station, Rogers was in contravention of market concentration rules about the number of radio stations in a single market that can be owned by the same company. As a result, the CRTC ordered Rogers to return the station to Smiths Falls.^[5]

In October 2003, the station stunted for the day as 101.1 Frank FM, playing pretty much anything.^[6]^[7]

On January 9, 2004, at Noon, the station adopted its current format when Rogers converted the former CKBY in Ottawa to the current CISS. 101.1 became CKBY "Y101", and 105.3 became CISS a month later after the format change. The final song as 101.1 Xfm was Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day.

On June 28, 2013 at 3PM, CKBY-FM changed its moniker to Country 101.1 (pronounced as "Country One-Oh-One-One"). It was part of Rogers' changing of its country-formatted stations to a unified brand. Other than the branding change, no format or staff changes occurred.^[8]

On December 3, 2020, Rogers reorganized the content of three of its Ottawa-area stations. CIWW 1310 News became CityNews, simulcast on both 1310 AM and on 101.1 FM. The station at 92.3 FM was rebranded Country 92.3.^[9] ^[10]

To coincide with Rogers' Ottawa station reorganization, the radio stations at 92.3 and 101.1 swapped their call signs. CKBY-FM moved from 101.1 to 92.3 FM. And CJET-FM moved from 92.3 to 101.1.^[11]