About 650 CKOM

650 CKOM

News Talk 650 CKOM is Saskatoon's English-language news/talk radio station — the flagship of Rawlco Communications' prairie news network, broadcasting on 650 kHz AM with 10,000 watts across central Saskatchewan. The station signed on June 8, 1951, at 1340 kHz, spent decades as a Top 40 powerhouse, and switched to news/talk in 1998, forming a two-station network with Regina sister station CJME. It shares studios with CFMC-FM (C95) and CJDJ-FM (Rock 102) at 715 Saskatchewan Crescent West in Saskatoon.

Overview

CKOM is a commercial AM station licensed to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, owned by Rawlco Communications. It broadcasts on 650 kHz with 10,000 watts (Class B), serving central Saskatchewan. Its branding is "News Talk 650 CKOM."

The format is news/talk in English — local and national news, talk shows, and sports. CKOM is part of a two-station network with CJME in Regina: the two stations broadcast an identical program schedule except for local morning shows and some weekend programming.

History

CKOM began broadcasting on 1340 kHz on June 8, 1951, with 250 watts, its offices in the historic Empire Hotel. By 1960, the station was broadcasting full-time on 1250 kHz with 10,000 watts, and it became a Top 40 station — a format it held through the 1970s and early 1980s.

In early August 1985, the station was sold to Rawlco Communications and changed frequencies to 650 kHz. It rebranded as "65 CKOM" with a "Hot Hits" format — reportedly the only Hot Hits station in Canada — before later shifting to classic gold and oldies from the 1950s through the 1980s.

In 1998, the station switched to news/talk, branded as NTR, and briefly changed its call sign to CINT before returning to CKOM. (During this period the CKOM calls belonged to the FM station at 102.1, now Rock 102.) In September 2006, the on-air brand became News Talk 650, and in late 2008 the CKOM calls were added back, making it "News Talk 650 CKOM." The station has won dozens of national and regional awards, including multiple national Best Radio Newscast awards and recognition for breaking-news, feature, investigative, and special-event coverage and commentary.

Programming

CKOM's news/talk schedule features local morning programming, The Evan Bray Show, Saskatchewan Afternoon, The Green Zone with Jamie and Locker (sports), The Greg Morgan Morning Show, The Day in Review, weekend talk, and agriculture programming such as Real Ag. The shared network schedule with CJME gives the two stations a province-wide news/talk footprint.

Coverage and Audience

The station's 10,000-watt signal covers central Saskatchewan, with an identical network feed shared with CJME in Regina for southern Saskatchewan. The audience is news- and sports-oriented adult listeners, including strong followings for Saskatchewan Roughriders coverage.

Ownership

CKOM is owned by Rawlco Communications (Rawlco Radio), the Saskatchewan-based broadcaster owned by the Rawlinson family. Sister stations in Saskatoon include CFMC-FM (C95) and CJDJ-FM (Rock 102); the company also owns CJME, CIZL-FM (Z99), and CKCK-FM (Jack FM) in Regina.

Rawlco is one of Canada's last major independent regional radio groups — Saskatchewan-owned, Saskatchewan-headquartered, and focused exclusively on the province's two cities. The Rawlinson family's broadcasting history goes back to the 1967 purchase of CJME and the CKBI stations in Prince Albert; the 1976 CRTC-approved transfer of Midwest Broadcasters' shares to Gordon and Douglas Rawlinson formalized the family's control. The corporate offices at 715 Saskatchewan Crescent West in Saskatoon — the same riverbank building that houses CKOM's studios — keep decision-making in the market the stations serve, a contrast with the Toronto- and Montreal-based groups that own most Canadian radio.

That local ownership shapes the news/talk product. The dozens of national and regional journalism awards — multiple national Best Radio Newscast honours, plus recognition for breaking news, feature reporting, ongoing coverage, investigative reporting, special events, and commentary — reflect a newsroom investment that absentee owners rarely make in mid-size markets. The two-station network with CJME extends the return on that investment: one provincial talk schedule, two local morning shows, and a combined audience that makes the network a meaningful buy for regional advertisers.

The 650 kHz dial position is itself a strategic asset. Low on the AM band, the 10,000-watt Class B signal propagates efficiently across the flat prairie, covering central Saskatchewan by day and reaching far beyond at night — the physics that made 650 the right home when Rawlco moved the station off 1250 in 1985, and that still gives AM news/talk its rural reach in an FM world.

Saskatoon's radio market is a three-way contest among Rawlco, Harvard, and the Saskatoon Media Group, with the CBC's services alongside. CKOM's news/talk format gives Rawlco the spoken-word flank of its Saskatoon cluster — C95 (contemporary hits) and Rock 102 (active rock) cover the music positions — and the shared riverbank studios at 715 Saskatchewan Crescent West make the cluster an efficient operation. For central Saskatchewan listeners, "News Talk 650 CKOM" has become the default preset for news, weather, Roughriders talk, and the farm reports that still matter on the prairies.

The CKOM story is, in miniature, the story of AM radio's evolution in Western Canada. The June 8, 1951 sign-on at 1340 kHz with 250 watts from the Empire Hotel made it Saskatoon's scrappy newcomer; by 1960, the move to 1250 kHz at 10,000 watts full-time gave it the muscle to compete, and the Top 40 format made it the city's hit-music leader through the 1960s and 1970s.

The August 1985 sale to Rawlco Communications — the Rawlinson family's Saskatchewan broadcaster — began the modern era. The move to 650 kHz put the station at the bottom of the dial, where AM signals travel farthest, and the "65 CKOM" Hot Hits format (imported from American consultants, and reportedly Canada's only Hot Hits station) gave it a distinctive early-80s identity. The later evolution to "classic gold and great oldies" — the 1950s through the 1980s — mirrored the aging of the Top 40 audience, with sister station C95 (CFMC-FM) handling currents.

The 1998 pivot to news/talk was the boldest move in the station's history. Rebranded as NTR with the interim CINT call sign, the station bet that Saskatoon would support a full-time news/talk AM station networked with Regina's CJME. The bet paid off: the September 2006 rebrand to News Talk 650 and the late-2008 restoration of the CKOM calls ("News Talk 650 CKOM") cemented the format, and the station's newsroom has since collected dozens of national and regional awards — multiple national Best Radio Newscast honours plus recognition for breaking news, feature reporting, ongoing coverage, investigative reporting, special events, and commentary.

The two-station network with CJME is a distinctive prairie construct: identical schedules outside local morning shows and some weekend programming, giving Rawlco a province-wide news/talk footprint from two newsrooms 260 kilometres apart. The shared studios at 715 Saskatchewan Crescent West — also home to Rawlco Radio's corporate offices — house CKOM alongside CFMC-FM (C95, contemporary hit radio) and CJDJ-FM (Rock 102, active rock), making the riverbank complex Saskatoon's radio headquarters.

Digital Presence

CKOM streams live online and maintains active social media accounts. Wikipedia lists ckom.com as the station's website; the station site could not be independently verified in this research environment, so the website field is left empty in this draft. The station's history — from the 1951 Empire Hotel sign-on through the Top 40 era and the 1998 news/talk relaunch — is documented on its Wikipedia page and in CRTC records.