About Country 105 (CKRY)

Country 105 (CKRY)

Country 105 (CKRY-FM) is Calgary's country music radio station — a Corus Entertainment outlet broadcasting on 105.1 MHz with 100,000 watts. It signed on July 9, 1982, founded by Robert Redmond with a contemporary country format, and has been a cornerstone of Calgary's radio landscape for more than four decades. As of Winter 2020, it was the fifth-most-listened-to station in the Calgary market, and it has been awarded Station of the Year several times, most recently in 2019. In December 2015, it became the first station in Alberta to launch HD Radio services.

Overview

CKRY-FM is a commercial FM station licensed to Calgary, Alberta, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on 105.1 MHz with 100,000 watts (Class C), with studios on 17th Avenue SW near Westbrook Mall and a transmitter at 85th Street Southwest and Old Banff Coach Road in western Calgary.

The station's format is country music, affiliated with Premiere Networks. Its HD2 subchannel airs a simulcast of sister station CHQR. A transmitter in Banff rebroadcasts the station at 93.3 FM (CKRY-FM-2). Sister stations in the Corus Calgary cluster include CHQR, CFGQ-FM, and the television outlets CICT-DT and CISA-DT. The station is also simulcast across Canada on Bell Satellite TV channel 968.

History

In 1981, Robert E. Redmond received a licence to operate a new FM station at Calgary with a contemporary country music format; Redmond owned stations in St. Catharines and Simcoe, Ontario, and the new station would be 60% owned by Calgarians. On July 9, 1982, CKRY-FM "Country 105" signed on the air at 105.1 MHz with 100,000 watts.

The station was sold to Shaw Communications in 1997, and Shaw's broadcasting division became Corus Entertainment in 1999. On April 1, 2016, Corus acquired Shaw Media, giving CKRY two television sister stations (CICT and CISA). In December 2015, CKRY launched HD Radio services — the first station in Alberta to do so — with the HD2 subchannel simulcasting sister station CHQR.

Country 105 has been the official radio home of the Calgary Stampede, and the station's hosts and events are deeply woven into the city's country music culture. Co-founder Rick Meaney, who started the station with Bob Redmond, was its general manager for over 18 years.

Country 105's founding is a classic Canadian radio story. In 1981, Robert E. Redmond — owner of stations in St. Catharines and Simcoe, Ontario — won the licence for a new Calgary FM station with a contemporary country format, beating a competing progressive-format application; the station would be 60 percent Calgary-owned, with Mike Hanson moving west from St. Catharines to manage it. On July 9, 1982, CKRY-FM "Country 105" signed on at 105.1 MHz with 100,000 watts. Rick Meaney co-founded the station with Redmond and served as general manager for over 18 years, building it into what was billed as Canada's number-one country music station; Meaney died November 15, 2018, at 71.

The station moved studios from 14th Street NW to Centre Street North in May 1993, and ownership passed from Redmond Communications to Shaw Radio in 1997 and to Corus in 1999 — the Shaw-to-Corus lineage that also brought the station its Global Television sisters CICT-DT and CISA-DT in the 2016 Shaw Media acquisition. The 17th Avenue SW studios near Westbrook Mall and the 85th Street SW transmitter in western Calgary are the current home, with a Banff rebroadcaster (CKRY-FM-2, 93.3 FM) extending the signal to the mountains.

The awards record is extraordinary: multiple Station of the Year honours, most recently in 2019, and a reputation as Canada's most-awarded country station. The Winter 2020 Numeris PPM report ranked it fifth in the Calgary market; in spring 2013 it was the market's most-listened-to station. The December 2015 HD Radio launch made CKRY the first Alberta station with HD — HD2 carries the CHQR simulcast — and the station rides nationwide on Bell Satellite TV channel 968.

The competing application in the 1981 licensing round tells its own story: Robert K. Whyte's proposal for a progressive-rock format was also approved, but it was Redmond's contemporary-country application that built the station. Rick Meaney's path to co-founding Country 105 was anything but direct — a Loyola College commerce graduate (1970) who spent three years on the professional ski patrol at Lake Louise, worked summers for Parks Canada, spent two years with BP Oil in Ottawa, joined Revenue Canada in 1974, and moved to Calgary in 1978 before teaming with R.E. Redmond in 1982. As general manager for over eighteen years, Meaney built Country 105 into what was billed as Canada's number-one country music station; in his final two years in radio he served as Corus Radio's general manager, overseeing Country 105, CHQR 770, and The Peak 107.1. He died November 15, 2018, at 71, with funeral services at McInnis & Holloway's Park Memorial Chapel on November 23.

The station's on-air positioning is summed up in the slogan "Today's Country," with syndication through Premiere Networks. Country 105's web home is country105.com, with the studios at 3320 17th Avenue SW in Calgary, reception at (403) 716-6500, the contest line at 403-508-9000, and the memorable SMS shortcode 105105.

The station's early staffing history reads like a who's-who of western Canadian radio: Gene Constaine left CKRY for CKAN in Newmarket, Ontario in the mid-1980s, and Hal Gardiner became news director in the late 1980s. In 1990, the CRTC granted the station a two-year licence renewal while approving a reduction in its foreground and mosaic programming levels — noted at the time as the highest in the province — as the station fine-tuned its country format. After retiring from radio, Rick Meaney and his wife bought a home in Arizona, where they spent many active years in the sun before his death in 2018. The "Today's Country" slogan, the Premiere Networks affiliation, and the official role as the radio home of the Calgary Stampede have kept Country 105 at the centre of the city's country music culture for more than four decades.

Programming

Country 105 plays today's country hits alongside country classics, with the slogan "Today's Country." The station's programming includes morning and drive-time shows, community events, and extensive coverage of the Calgary Stampede. Its hosts are fixtures of Calgary's country music scene, and the station runs contests and promotions tied to concerts and the Stampede.

Coverage and Audience

CKRY's 100,000-watt signal covers the Calgary Metropolitan Region, with the Banff rebroadcaster extending coverage into the Rockies. The station has historically been among Calgary's top-rated outlets — the most-listened-to station in the market in Spring 2013 and fifth in Winter 2020 per Numeris PPM data. It competes with Bell Media's Pure Country 101.5 (CKMP) and streaming services for country listeners.

Ownership

CKRY-FM is owned and operated by Corus Entertainment. Corus's predecessor Shaw Communications acquired the station in 1997. The station was founded by Robert Redmond's Redmond Communications (1982–1997).

Digital Presence

Country 105 streams live through Corus's digital platforms and maintains active social media accounts promoting its hosts, concerts, contests, and Stampede coverage. The station is associated with the country105.com web portal; Wikipedia lists country105.com as the station's official website.

The station's history — from the 1982 Redmond launch through the Shaw and Corus eras — is documented by the Canadian Communications Foundation's broadcasting-history.ca project and in CRTC licensing records.