About 96.1 The Rush (CKRW)

96.1 The Rush (CKRW)

96.1 The Rush is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Whitehorse, Yukon, operating under the call sign CKRW-FM. Owned by Klondike Broadcasting, it was the first private radio station north of the 60th parallel when it signed on in 1969, and it remains one of the Yukon's most established broadcasters, with rebroadcast transmitters serving communities across the territory.

Overview

CKRW-FM broadcasts at 96.1 MHz with a hot adult contemporary format, mixing current and recent popular music with local news, weather, sports, and community programming for Yukon listeners. The call letters stand for "Radio Whitehorse." The station's broadcast area is the Yukon, served both by its main Whitehorse signal and by a network of rebroadcast transmitters in smaller communities. Wikipedia lists ckrw.com as the station's website, where it streams its programming live. It also carries syndicated content through an affiliation with Premiere Networks.

History

The station's first transmission was on November 17, 1969, at 6:00 a.m., on 610 kHz AM with 1,000 watts. It was the first private radio station north of 60, launched by Whitehorse businessman Rolf Hougen through his company Klondike Broadcasting. The licence had been awarded in December 1968, with Klondike Broadcasting beating out a competing bid from a local group headed by Vic Wylie. Hougen, who already ran Whitehorse's cable company, told interviewers at the station's 50th anniversary that he felt it was time Whitehorse had a privately owned radio station. Al Jensen was the station's first manager, and Ron McFadyen — who returned to the Yukon from Ontario to help launch the station — was its first production manager and the first voice heard on the air. McFadyen recalled a crowded studio at the 6 a.m. sign-on, with Hougen, family members, and the mayor present.

In its early years CKRW aired a Middle of the Road music format and quickly became a Yukon institution. Long-running features included the call-in program Talkback, birthday greetings, and the popular buy-and-sell segment Trader Time. From 1982 to 1989 the station affiliated with the CKO all-news network, carrying correspondent reports from CKO as part of its local newscasts; the affiliation ended when CKO left the air.

The move to FM came in 2004. On May 10 of that year, Klondike Broadcasting received CRTC approval to add an FM transmitter at Whitehorse operating on 96.1 MHz, providing an FM stereo service to the city and surrounding area while continuing AM service for listeners unable to receive the FM signal in the region's mountainous terrain. CKRW officially launched "The Rush 96.1 FM" on September 14, 2004, with CKRW-AM 610 simulcasting the new FM signal. Unlike most AM-to-FM conversions, the station retained its AM transmitter — but by 2017 the AM transmitter was off the air, and with a defective transmitter and a damaged, unrepairable tower, restoration of the AM service was considered unlikely.

In November 2019 the station marked 50 years of broadcasting, with founder Rolf Hougen and first voice Ron McFadyen — who retired from the station in 2009 after a broadcasting career of about half a century — returning to the studios to celebrate.

Programming

The Rush's weekday lineup blends music with local content and syndicated shows. Listed programs include Morning Mess with Patrick Vis on weekday mornings, Mid-Days with Bobby, and the Rush Ride Home with Fayth in afternoons, alongside features like Radio Bingo on Friday evenings, a Retro Dance Party, and syndicated offerings such as On with Mario Lopez and American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. Local news, weather, and community-event coverage are central to the station's identity as "your community radio station," and it sponsors local events across the Yukon.

"Comfall": Building the North's First Private Station

Hougen's ambitions went beyond a transmitter. In the spring of 1969 he announced "Comfall" — billed as the most northerly private radio station in the world — and described plans for a new building on Main Street to house a state-of-the-art radio operation. It was a bold pitch for a town of a few thousand: private radio in the North had been a blank space, and Hougen, who already ran Whitehorse's cable company and felt it was time the town had its own privately owned station, was filling it from scratch.

The human texture of the launch survives in the recollections of Ron McFadyen, the station's first production manager and first voice on the air. McFadyen arrived in Whitehorse on July 9, 1969, in a packed 1961 Volvo, having driven north from a career at stations in Cranbrook without knowing much about the town beyond "two channels of black and white TV, Kentucky Fried Chicken" and the land of the midnight sun. The first morning's 6 a.m. sign-on filled the studio with Hougen, family members, and the mayor; the next morning, McFadyen remembered, he was alone for the early broadcast. Around 1971 he left the station for a job at Murdoch's gem shop, offered by his friend Mike Smith — but Whitehorse had become home, and McFadyen went on to report the territory's history to radio listeners at both CKRW and the CBC for decades.

The Yukon Archives preserves audio of the station's first minutes on air — a 1969 time capsule that the station's 50th-anniversary coverage made available to listeners, connecting the territory's radio present to the morning a crowded studio on Main Street went live.

Five Decades On: The 2019 Golden Jubilee

In November 2019 CKRW marked 50 years of broadcasting, with founder Rolf Hougen — still president of Klondike Broadcasting — and first voice Ron McFadyen returning to the studios to celebrate. Hougen, interviewed for the anniversary, recalled the communications instincts that launched the station: running the cable company had made him familiar with communications in general, and he had simply decided Whitehorse was ready. McFadyen, who retired from the station in 2009 after a broadcasting career of about half a century, remembered the anticipation of that first day — and the grinding 6 a.m.-to-6 p.m. workdays of the station's first couple of years.

The anniversary confirmed what Yukon listeners already knew: through five decades of format changes, the AM-to-FM migration, and the arrival of satellite and streaming competition, CKRW has remained the territory's community broadcaster of record — the station that kept favourite features like Talkback, birthday greetings, and Trader Time running from the beginning while adding hits of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Coverage & Audience

CKRW's broadcast area is the Yukon. Beyond Whitehorse, its programming reaches Watson Lake, Teslin, Haines Junction, Faro, Mayo, and Carmacks via rebroadcast transmitters (largely on 98.7 FM), and it is rebroadcast on CFYT-FM in Dawson City when that station is not originating its own programming. Historically the station's reach extended beyond the territory, with transmitters serving Atlin, British Columbia, and Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The Shaw Direct satellite service carries CKRW on channel 856, and the NorthWesTel television service in Whitehorse carries the station on channel 8. Measured audience figures are not published, but the station's five-decade tenure and territory-wide relay network make it one of the Yukon's most widely heard commercial broadcasters.

Ownership

CKRW is owned by Klondike Broadcasting — the company founded by Rolf Hougen that has operated the station since its 1969 launch. The station is licensed by the CRTC as a Class B1 FM station with an effective radiated power of 4,400 watts (vertical polarization only) and a tower height above average terrain of 364 metres.

Digital Presence

The station maintains a website and live stream (listed as ckrw.com in its Wikipedia entry), alongside social media channels promoting its shows, contests, and community involvement. Its online presence extends the station's reach to Yukoners living elsewhere and to listeners beyond the territory. The station's history is documented in the Canadian Communications Foundation's broadcasting-history archive, Yukon Nuggets' historical features, and industry press such as Puget Sound Radio's 50th-anniversary coverage.