CJRQ-FM (92.7 MHz) is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts in Sudbury, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand Q92. The station airs a mainstream rock format and is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media.

The station first aired as CJRQ-FM in 1990. From 1935 to 1990, it was an AM station, airing under the call letters CKSO.

History

CKSO

The station was launched in 1935 under the ownership of W. E. Mason, the owner and publisher of the Sudbury Star. CKSO's original frequency was at 780 kHz, until it moved to 790 kHz in 1941. For much of its history, the station was an affiliate of the CBC's Trans-Canada Network. CKSO was the first commercial radio station in northern Ontario.

Following Mason's death in 1948, ownership was passed to a charitable foundation set up by his estate, with the Sudbury Memorial Hospital as the primary beneficiary. The station was acquired by Sudbury businessmen George Miller, Jim Cooper and Bill Plaunt in 1950;

In the 1980s, the station aired an adult contemporary format, distinguishing itself from competitor CHNO's more youth-oriented Top 40/CHR format. Two months later on May 18, 1990, CKSO and CIGM swapped frequencies. CIGM moved to CKSO's 790 slot on the AM band, and CKSO took on the new call letters CJRQ and CIGM's 92.7 FM frequency. The new rock format signed on as Q92.

After the 1990 swap, the CKSO call sign no longer existed in the Sudbury area until CKSO-FM, a Christian music station which had no ownership affiliation with CJRQ, signed on in 2003.

While CKSO had been a perennial second in the radio ratings against CHNO, CJRQ quickly became the most-listened to radio station in Northern Ontario, and retained that status until the late 1990s, when CJMX's adult contemporary format overtook CJRQ in the ratings. The station took its biggest ratings hit after CHNO converted to the FM band in 2000, dropping to 22.9 per cent of the radio audience in 2000 from 30.9 per cent in 1999. The station aired a daily programming feature in which it asked a daily poll question on an issue in the news, and subsequently broadcast a selection of listener comments; the CBSC complaint pertained to a question about whether the Ontario Health Insurance Plan should cover sex-reassignment surgery for transgender residents of the province, and one listener comment that was broadcast was singled out as especially homophobic and transphobic.

The station uses the same general format as, and shares some programming with, CKFX-FM in North Bay and CJQQ-FM in Timmins. The stations currently air a mixture of locally hosted dayparts with syndicated programming, including the Brock & Dalby morning show from CIKR-FM Kingston, and the internationally syndicated Greg Beharrell Show in the evenings.

On June 28, 2024, Rogers dropped the 92.7 Rock branding and resurrected the original 1990s Q92 branding. Rogers had also resurrected the original 1990s brandings for CJQQ-FM Timmins (as Q92) and CKFX-FM North Bay (as 101.9 The Fox).

Former logos

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Image:Q92 Sudbury.png|Q92 logo from 1990's-2016

Image:927Rock.jpg|92.7 Rock logo 2016–2024

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Notes

C.K.S.O. Road near McFarlane Lake off Highway 69, was named after the radio station, CKSO, as the station's transmitter was formerly located on that road.

In 2004, Doug McCann a former broadcaster at CKSO created a website, and later a Facebook page to keep in touch with the people he worked with at CKSO and providing historical information on the station. In 2021, McCann also published a book about The Story of the Birth of Broadcasting in Sudbury.

References

  • Q92 - Sudbury's Rock Station - Official website
  • CJRQ-FM at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation (See also CIGM-FM)
  • Historical information on CKSO Radio and Television in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada