About CFOX 99.3

CFOX 99.3

CFOX 99.3 — "The World Famous CFOX" — is Vancouver's modern rock radio station, a Corus Entertainment outlet broadcasting on 99.3 MHz. It began on October 15, 1964, as CKLG-FM with an easy-listening format, became Canada's first full-time FM rock station in 1968, and adopted the CFOX call letters on January 6, 1979. Today it is the city's leading alternative and modern rock outlet, home to "The Jeff O'Neil Show" and a fixture of Vancouver's music culture for more than six decades.

Overview

CFOX-FM is a commercial FM station licensed to Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on 99.3 MHz with 51,000 watts from a transmitter on Mount Seymour, covering Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, with a rebroadcaster at 92.3 FM in Whistler. Its studios are located in downtown Vancouver.

The station's format is modern rock (reporting to Mediabase as a Canadian alternative rock station). Sister stations in the Corus Vancouver cluster include CKNW (news/talk), CFMI-FM (Rock 101), and the television outlets CHAN-DT and Global News: BC 1.

History

CFOX began broadcasting on October 15, 1964, on 99.3 MHz with 100,000 watts, under the call sign CKLG-FM. Transmissions originally came from the south slope of Fromme Mountain in North Vancouver. CKLG initially aired an easy-listening format, but in the fall of 1967 it started experimenting with rock music at night. In October 1967, program director Frank Callaghan hired record store owner Bill Reiter to host the jazz/blues program "Groovin' Blue" on Saturday evenings — generally recognized as the first all-genres Black music radio show in Canada. CKLG-FM soon shifted to become Canada's first full-time FM rock station on March 16, 1968, expanding "Groovin' Blue" to six nights a week.

In 1970, CKLG-FM added a two-hour daily talk show hosted by Allen Garr, which ran until 1975. By 1973, the station had compiled a library of 3,000 albums and aired almost all programming live. In 1976, under program director Roy Hennessy, the station transitioned to a progressive rock format.

At noon on January 6, 1979, CKLG changed to CFOX-FM, a call sign first used by a defunct AM station in Montreal. The switch was marked by The Beatles' "The End," followed by The Doors' "The End," and three minutes of a scratching record; the first song on the "new" CFOX was Steely Dan's "FM (No Static at All)." In 1984, CFOX moved its transmitter to Mount Seymour to reduce multipath reception problems.

On August 20, 1992, the CRTC approved the sale of CFOX and CKLG from Moffat Communications to Shaw Communications; Shaw's broadcasting division became Corus Entertainment in 1999. When WIC sold its radio stations to Corus in 2000, CFOX shifted from album-oriented rock to alternative rock, competing with Rogers' alternative rocker CKVX-FM 104.9. When Rogers flipped CKVX to smooth jazz in December 2003, CFOX became Vancouver's lone alternative rocker, and soon returned to an album-oriented rock format mixing in classic hard rock and heavy metal.

CFOX's history begins October 15, 1964, as CKLG-FM on 99.3 MHz with 100,000 watts from the south slope of Fromme Mountain in North Vancouver. Easy listening at first, the station began experimenting with rock at night in fall 1967 — program director Frank Callaghan hired record-store owner Bill Reiter to host the jazz/blues show Groovin' Blue on Saturday evenings — and on March 16, 1968, CKLG-FM became Canada's first full-time FM rock station, expanding Groovin' Blue to six nights a week. By 1973 the station had a 3,000-album library, aired live around the clock except Sunday mornings, and carried Allen Garr's daily two-hour talk show (1970–1975), live concerts, and a Saturday sock-hop. The 1976 move to progressive rock under program director Roy Hennessy set the template.

At noon on January 6, 1979, CKLG became CFOX-FM — calls recycled from a defunct Montreal AM station — in a famous sign-off: the Beatles' "The End," then the Doors' "The End," then three minutes of a scratching record ("playing the label"), with Steely Dan's "FM (No Static at All)" as the first song of the new era. The 1984 transmitter move to the Mount Seymour multiplex fixed multipath problems, and the 1992 sale of Vancouver's CKLG-AM and CFOX-FM to Shaw (as Moffat sold its empire) began the modern ownership era.

The Larry and Willy years (1988–2003) made the morning show a Vancouver institution — the duo's TV spots are still traded by radio historians — before the pair split to rival stations. The station's 35th anniversary in 2014 brought a rebrand from "99.3 The Fox" back to the classic CFOX calls with added 1980s and 1990s titles. As Corus's Vancouver alternative rocker — the modern-rock counterpart to Rock 101's classic rock — CFOX reports to Mediabase as a Canadian alternative station, and its "world famous" positioning reflects a heritage few North American rock stations can match.

The station's birth required a regulator's blessing: in 1963, the Board of Broadcast Governors recommended approval of an application by CKLG-AM, under general manager Don Hamilton, for a new FM station on 99.3 MHz — Hamilton would later launch Vancouver station CIOF in 1986. The 1967 rock experiment had a lasting cultural footnote: program director Frank Callaghan hired Bill Reiter, co-owner of Bill and Bob's Record Shop in Vancouver's Chinatown, to host "Groovin' Blue" — and Reiter later became part of the Dr. Bundolo's Pandemonium Medicine Show comedy troupe.

Ownership tells the consolidation story of Canadian private radio: Moffat Communications (1979, 1985) to Shaw Radio Ltd. (1992) to Corus Entertainment (1999). In 2014, Corus rebranded the station from "99.3 The Fox" back to its classic CFOX calls as the station turned 35, adding classic '80s and '90s tracks to the modern-rock core. The "World Famous CFOX" tag endures, and the station now anchors Corus's Vancouver rock cluster alongside CFMI (Rock 101), CKNW, and Global BC's CHAN-DT.

The station reports to Mediabase as a Canadian alternative rock station.

Programming

CFOX plays modern and alternative rock, with popular local shows including "The Jeff O'Neil Show" and programs hosted by personalities such as Captain Scotty, Charis, Neil Morrison, and Todd and Karen Khunkhun. The station's programming blends current alternative releases with the rock library it has built over six decades.

The station is known for its community spirit — during Vancouver Whitecaps playoff runs against the Seattle Sounders, CFOX has pulled Seattle artists from its playlist in a light-hearted show of support for the local MLS club.

Coverage and Audience

CFOX's signal covers Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, with the Whistler rebroadcaster extending coverage into the Sea-to-Sky corridor. As Vancouver's leading modern rock station, it competes with sister station Rock 101 (CFMI), Bell Media's rock outlets, and streaming services for music listeners.

Ownership

CFOX-FM is owned and operated by Corus Entertainment. Corus's predecessor Shaw Communications acquired the station in 1992 from Moffat Communications. The station was previously owned by Moffat Communications (1964–1992).

Digital Presence

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

The station's history — from the 1964 CKLG-FM sign-on through the 1968 rock conversion to the Corus era — is documented by the Canadian Communications Foundation's broadcasting-history.ca project and in CRTC licensing records.