View source for CKLW

{{short description|Radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada}}
{{for|other stations that have used the CKLW callsign in the past|CBET-DT|CIDR-FM}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = CKLW
| logo = CKLW AM.png
| logo_size = 250px
| area = {{ubl|[[Southwestern Ontario]]|[[Detroit–Windsor]]}}
| city = [[Windsor, Ontario]]
| country = CA
| branding = AM 800 CKLW
| airdate = {{Start date and age|1932|6|2}}
| frequency = 800 [[Hertz|kHz]] ([[AM broadcasting|AM]])
| format = [[Talk radio|News/talk]]
| affiliations = {{ubl|[[CHWI-DT]]|[[The Canadian Press]]|[[Premiere Networks]]|[[Windsor Spitfires]]}}
| power = 50,000 [[watt]]s
| class = B
| coordinates = {{Coord|42.0569|-83.0028|type:landmark_region:CA-ON|display=inline,title}}
| owner = [[Bell Media]]
| licensee = [[Bell Media Radio]]
| sister_stations = [[CHWI-DT]], [[CIDR-FM]], [[CIMX-FM]]
| website = [https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/ iheartradio.ca/am800]
| webcast = [https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/ Listen Live]
| callsign_meaning = [[London, Ontario|London]]-Windsor (broadcast area)
| former_callsigns = CKOW ([[construction permit|CP]], 1932)<br>CKOK (1932–1933)
| former_frequencies = {{ubl|540 [[Hertz|kHz]] (1932–1933)|840 kHz (1933–1934)|1030 kHz (1934–1941)}}
}}

'''CKLW''' (800 [[AM broadcasting|AM]]) is a [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[radio station]] in [[Windsor, Ontario]], serving [[Southwestern Ontario]] and [[Metro Detroit]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/am-clear-regional-local-channels |title = AM Station Classes, and Clear, Regional, and Local Channels |date=December 11, 2015}}</ref> CKLW is owned by [[Bell Media]] and has a [[Talk radio|news/talk]] [[radio format]]. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon [[drive time]]s, with [[radio syndication|syndicated]] Canadian hosts in middays and evenings, plus ''[[Coast to Coast AM]] with [[George Noory]]'' overnight. Evening newscasts are [[simulcast]] from [[CHWI-DT]] Channel 16 ''[[CTV Television Network|CTV]] Windsor''.

CKLW is a 50,000-[[watt]] [[List of North American broadcast station classes|Class B]] station, using a five-[[tower array]] [[directional antenna]] with differing patterns day and night. Despite its high power, it must protect Class A [[clear-channel station]] [[XEROK-AM|XEROK]] in [[Ciudad Juárez]], [[Mexico]], and other Canadian and U.S. stations on 800 AM. The [[transmitter]] is off County Road 20 West in southern [[Essex County, Ontario|Essex County]], between [[Amherstburg]] and [[Harrow, Ontario|Harrow]], only a few kilometres from the [[Lake Erie]] shoreline.<ref>[https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&canam=CKLW FCCdata.org/CKLW]</ref>

==History==
===Overview===
CKLW was an internationally known [[Top 40]] station in the 1960s and 1970s. During this era, CKLW used a tight Top 40 format known as ''[[Boss Radio]]'', devised by radio programmer [[Bill Drake]]. However, CKLW never actually used the handle "boss" on the air, just the style. Rather than a ''Boss 30'', CKLW's weekly music survey was known as a ''Big 30''. And instead of calling itself ''Boss Radio'', CKLW called itself ''The Big 8''.

During this period it was the top-rated radio station not only in Windsor, but across the river in Detroit, and even in cities as far away as [[Toledo, Ohio|Toledo]] and [[Cleveland]].

=== Before the "Big 8": Gentile and Binge ===
CKLW first came on the air on June 2, 1932,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.am800cklw.com/Contact/Station-Information |title=Station Information |author=CKLW |access-date=May 22, 2014}}</ref> as CKOK on 540&nbsp;kilocycles, (which until 2013 was the long-time home of today's [[CBEF]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/111462/crtc-oks-cbef-move-to-1550-am|title=CRTC OKs CBEF Move To 1550 AM|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=October 16, 2012|website=All Access Music Group|publisher=AllAccess.com|access-date=February 15, 2014}}</ref>) with 5,000 watts of power. Originally, the original proposed callsign was CKWO, but it changed to CKOK due to confusion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Windsor's Radio Station Letters Changed From CKWO |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-windsor-star-windsors-radio-station/168599468/ |access-date=March 22, 2025 |work=[[Windsor Star|The Border Cities Star]] |date=May 25, 1932 |location=[[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]], Ontario, Canada |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The station was built by George Storer<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/39-OCR/1939-09-01-BC-OCR-Page-0049.pdf |title=We pay our respects to — |page=49 |magazine=[[Broadcasting (magazine)|Broadcasting]] |date=September 1, 1939 |via=www.americanradiohistory.com}}</ref> and was sold to a group of Windsor-area businessmen led by Malcolm Campbell, operating as "Essex Broadcasters, Ltd." CKOK became CKLW (and moved to 840&nbsp;kHz)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/broadcasting37unse|title=Broadcasting (Jul-Sep 1949)|date=July 1, 1949|publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> in 1933, when Essex Broadcasters, Ltd. merged with the ''[[London Free Press]]'' and its station CJGC (now [[CFPL (AM)|CFPL]]), and became "Western Ontario Broadcasting", which was co-owned by Essex Broadcasters, and the ''London Free Press''. The "LW" in the callsign is said to have stood for "[[London, Ontario|London]], Windsor", considered the two chief cities in the station's listening area. When the station's power increased to 50,000 watts, its listening area increased accordingly. In 1934, when ''London Free Press''{{'}}s station CJGC pulled out of the agreement, the station became wholly owned by Western Ontario Broadcasters. CJGC later evolved into today's CFPL, while CKLW moved from 840 to 1030&nbsp;kHz in 1934, before settling on its present frequency of 800&nbsp;kHz in 1941, thanks to a [[Canadian allocations changes under NARBA|shuffle of frequency allocations]].

CKLW for most of its history had a distinctly American accent to its programming, and for a number of years served as the Detroit affiliate of the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]], an affiliation that began with its switch from [[CBS]] to Mutual September 29, 1935,<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Stations in Detroit Realigned Sept. 29|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1935/1935-10-01-BC.pdf |access-date=November 4, 2014 |magazine=[[Broadcasting (magazine)|Broadcasting]] |date=October 1, 1935}}</ref> and which would last from then until its purchase by [[RKO General]] in 1963. When Mutual was restructured as a cooperative in 1940, CKLW was one of the major shareholders in the network.<ref>Thomas Porter Robinson, ''Radio Networks and the Federal Government''. New York: Arno Press, 1979. {{ISBN|0-405-11772-8}}</ref> Alongside its affiliation with Mutual, it also gained a dual affiliation with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] in 1935, replacing its [[CBS Radio Network]] affiliation with that of Mutual/CBC. In 1948, it became an affiliate of the CBC's [[Dominion Network]] as well as the main network which became known as the [[Trans-Canada Network]]. The Trans-Canada Network affiliation would last until 1950, when [[CBEW-FM|CBE]] 1550 launched and the Dominion Network affiliation remained until 1962 when the network dissolved. The Mutual System's owner, [[General Tire and Rubber Company]], purchased a controlling interest in CKLW and its owner at the time, Western Ontario Broadcasting in 1956, along with RKO General (which had purchased a minority interest in 1954 and had controlled Mutual since 1952). RKO would later increase its stake to 100% in 1963.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, CKLW was home to ''Happy Joe's Early Morning Frolic'' with Joe Gentile and Toby David, which was one of the first popular comedy-oriented radio morning shows in Detroit. The show continued strong after David left CKLW for Washington, D.C., in 1940, and was replaced by Ralph Binge. The duo kept listeners entertained with an endless stream of comedic sketches and situations. The show's sponsors got in on the fun as well, as Gentile and Binge's trademark was their ability to turn a standard 60-second commercial announcement into a comedy sketch that could run for three minutes or longer. A typical three-and-a-half-hour Gentile and Binge show might feature such comedic commercials for as many as fifty legitimate products, and some imaginary ones as well. Sometimes listeners didn't get the joke. For example, according to popular legend, after promoting a miracle weight-loss aid called "Dr. Quack's Slim Jim Reducing Pills" with the story of an obese woman who got stuck in a telephone booth, Gentile and Binge received over $3,000 from listeners requesting a $1 trial of the pills as advertised, and the station had to hire a clerk to return the money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.detroitkidshow.com/Binge_and_Gentile.htm|title=Ralph Binge and Joe Gentile|website=www.detroitkidshow.com}}</ref>

Gentile and Binge were a fixture on CKLW until moving to WJBK radio (now [[WLQV]]) in 1948, attracting audience ratings as high as 80% at their peak. The duo disbanded their partnership in 1956, and Gentile returned to CKLW. Toby David also eventually returned to AM 800 to host the morning show in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both Binge and David were also stars of early Detroit television kiddie shows: Binge was "Pirate Pete" on [[WJBK|WJBK-TV]] in the mid-1950s, and David became CKLW-TV's (now [[CBET-DT]]) "Captain Jolly" later in the decade (a role which, ironically, Binge had originally been tagged to play).

As television's popularity boomed, CKLW, like many other stations, coped with the changes by replacing the dying network radio fare with locally based disc-jockey shows. Throughout most of the 1950s and into the mid-1960s, CKLW was basically a "variety" radio station which filled in the cracks between full-service features with pop music played by announcers like Bud Davies, Ron Knowles (who had a rock-and-roll show on AM 800 as early as 1957), and Joe Van. For a few years in the early 1960s, CKLW also featured a [[country music]] program in the evenings called ''Sounds Like Nashville''. This ended in 1963 when [[WCHB|WEXL]] 1340 became Detroit's first 24-hour country station.

=== “The Big 8” and the glory years ===
After RKO General took over the station and its FM sister in 1963, CKLW began to shed the variety-format approach and, as "Radio Eight-Oh", began focusing more aggressively on playing [[contemporary hits]] and issuing a record survey. Davies, Knowles, Dave Shafer, [[Tom Clay]], [[Tom Shannon (broadcaster)|Tom Shannon]], Larry Morrow (as "Duke Windsor"), [[Terry Knight]], and Don Zee were among the "Radio Eight-Oh" personalities during this time. The station did well thanks to its huge signal, and beat the local competition in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], though in the local Detroit ratings CKLW still lagged well behind competing hit outlet [[WDTW (AM)|WKNR]].

However, on April 4, 1967, CKLW got a drastic makeover with Bill Drake's "[[Boss Radio]]" format, programmed locally by Paul Drew. Initially known as "Radio 8" with [[PAMS]] jingles, within a few months the station's final transformation into "The Big 8," with new jingles sung by the [[Johnny Mann]] Singers, was complete, and the station was on a rapid ratings upswing. In July 1967, CKLW claimed the number one spot in the Detroit ratings for the first time, and WKNR was left in the dust, switching to an easy listening format as WNIC less than five years later.

In addition to Dave Shafer and Tom Shannon, the lone holdouts from the "Radio Eight Oh" era, "Big 8" personalities during the late 1960s and through the mid-1970s included [[Gary Burbank|Gary "Morning Mouth" Burbank]], "Big" Jim Edwards, "Brother" Bill Gable, Pat Holiday, Steve Hunter, "Super" Max Kinkel, [[Walt Love|Walt "Baby" Love]], Charlie O'Brien, Scott Regen, Ted "The Bear" Richards, Mike Rivers, Duke Roberts, [[Charlie Van Dyke]], Johnny Williams, and newsmen Randall Carlisle, Grant Hudson, [[Byron MacGregor]] (who had a three-and-a-half million-selling #1 hit single with his recording of [[Gordon Sinclair]]'s commentary "[[The Americans (commentary)|The Americans]]" in 1973), and Dick Smyth.

The station had strong talent behind the scenes as well, most notably longtime music director [[Rosalie Trombley]], who ascended to that position in 1968 after having worked as the station's music librarian for five years and became famous for her apparent hit record-spotting abilities. Trombley consciously made an effort to choose the right R&B and soul songs (especially [[Motown]] songs) to create a station that would appeal equally to black and white listeners. As a result, CKLW was sometimes referred to as "the blackest white station in America", and many believe the integrated music mix helped bring Detroiters closer together in racial harmony, especially after the riots of July 1967. The "Rosalie Trombley Award" honours women who have made their mark in broadcasting. Another female employee of CKLW who helped break down gender barriers was reporter Jo-Jo Shutty-MacGregor (the wife of Byron MacGregor), the first female helicopter traffic/news reporter in North America.

The Windsor-based station maintained a sales office in the Detroit suburb of [[Southfield, Michigan]], where it picked up numerous sponsors for U.S. consumer products, some of which had to use the disclaimer and live announcer end-tag "Not available in Ontario". Possibly the best known of sponsors was Merollis Chevrolet, known for its comedic 30-second spots and the campy Al Jolson-styled jingle "Gene Merollis what a great great guy!"

Another feature of the "Big 8" was its "20/20 News", so-called because it was delivered at 20 minutes after the hour and 20 minutes before the hour - scheduling that allowed CKLW to be playing music while other stations were airing newscasts at the top of the hour or on the quarter-hour. The CKLW newscasters — including Byron MacGregor, [[Jon Belmont]] (later ABC), [[Bob Losure]] (CNN), Dick Smyth (who would later become the first newscast when Toronto's [[CFTR (AM)|CFTR]] went all-news in 1993), Grant Hudson, Joe Donovan (sports), [[Mark Dailey]] (CityNews), Randall Carlisle, Keith Radford, and [[Lee Marshall (announcer)|Lee Marshall]] — delivered imagery-laden news stories in a rapid-fire, excited manner, not sparing any of the gory details when it came to describing murders or rapes. This was an attempt to make the news sound as exciting and gripping as the music. The "blood and guts" style began with Byron MacGregor's promotion to news director (replacing Smyth) in 1969. Another memorable feature of the 20/20 newscasts was the incessant clacking of the [[teleprinter|teletype]] in the background, which gave the newscasts a unique sound.

CKLW's newscasts were acknowledged for more than just their "flash," however; the station won an [[RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award|Edward R. Murrow Award]] for its coverage of the 1967 riots, helmed by Smyth. This was the first time that this particular award had ever been given to a Canadian broadcaster.

=== The decline and death of the Big 8 ===
Some listeners believe that CKLW started to decline in popularity after [[Canadian content]] regulations went into effect in 1971. Although having to play 30% "CanCon" songs that generated little in the way of sales put the station at a competitive disadvantage compared to its U.S.-based competition, CKLW still managed to help break a number of Canadian songs and artists in the [[United States]].<ref name="Inc.1976">{{cite magazine|author=Martin Melhuish|title=Striving for Success without Leaning on Government |magazine=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT60 |date=October 2, 1976 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |pages=60– |issn=0006-2510}}</ref>  These included [[Anne Murray]], [[The Poppy Family]], [[Gordon Lightfoot]], [[Joni Mitchell]], [[The Guess Who]], [[April Wine]], the [[Five Man Electrical Band]], and [[Bachman–Turner Overdrive|Bachman Turner Overdrive]]. Just as, if not more, responsible for the decline in CKLW's ratings as the 1970s wore on was the rise of [[FM radio]] as an outlet for contemporary music, as the station gained a direct FM Top 40 competitor, [[WUFL (FM)|WDRQ]], in 1972, and its listening audience was also fragmented between [[album-oriented rock]] outlets such as [[WLLZ (FM)|WWWW]], [[WRIF]] and [[WYCD|WABX]] and [[Adult contemporary music|adult contemporary]] stations like [[WNIC]] and [[WCSX|WMJC]]. The Canadian government's initial unwillingness to license FM frequencies with pop or rock formats stranded Canadian stations on AM while an entire demographic of listeners began the exodus to US-based FM outlets anywhere the signals were in range. For many younger listeners by 1978, CKLW was the station they listened to only if they had an AM-only radio in their cars.

As a result, like many other powerhouse AM Top 40 stations, CKLW evolved during the late 1970s into an Adult Top 40 direction. The station's music softened to the point where, by 1982, it gave no airtime to harder-rocking songs like [[Joan Jett]]'s "[[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]]", and jingles were initially phased out, with new jingles and a new slogan ("The Great Entertainer") being introduced in 1979.

[[Dick Purtan]] joined the station for mornings in 1978, coming over from [[WXYT (AM)|WXYZ]]. Largely due to Purtan's popularity, CKLW remained a moderately popular station into the early 1980s, but after Purtan departed at the start of 1983 for FM competitor [[WKQI|WCZY]], the station quickly tumbled to the bottom of Detroit's Arbitron ratings (its last appearance in the Top 10 was in 1981). In an attempt to go after longtime "full service" powerhouse [[WJR]], CKLW converted to [[AM stereo]] in 1982 and even got the rights to broadcast [[University of Michigan]] football and [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|NASL]] [[Association football|soccer]], but in this, it was also unsuccessful.

In 1984, [[Baton Broadcasting]] sold CKLW-AM-FM to Russwood Broadcasting Ltd. Also in 1984, CKLW made an attempt to transfer its [[Contemporary hit radio|CHR]] format to its FM sister station, [[big band]] and [[jazz standard]]s-formatted [[CIDR-FM|CKJY-FM]]. These hopes were dashed when the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) refused to approve the format change on anything more than an "experimental" basis, reasoning that FM was for "fine" music and that Top 40 music belonged on AM.

The final death knell for the "Big 8" came in October 1984, when the station fired 79 staffers (including most of the remaining announcers and Rosalie Trombley), closed its American sales office in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, and announced that it would soon change format to [[Al Ham]]'s "[[Music of Your Life]]" format of [[Jazz]] standards and big-band music and go completely automated.<ref>"End of an era as Big 8 axe falls," ''The Windsor Star'', October 18, 1984.</ref> The "Big 8" was finally laid to rest on December 8, 1984, and the station soon dropped stereo since most of the big-band and jazz standards music in its new format was in mono anyway.<ref>Tom McMahon, "Now CKLW is crooning," ''The Windsor Star'', December 18, 1984.</ref> CKLW's FM sister adopted a [[beautiful music]] format with the callsign CKEZ. Briefly, it attempted to resurrect the glory years of the "Big 8" by playing [[oldies]] and the jingles from the AM legend's peak years in the late 1960s. At this time, both stations were also sold to [[CUC Broadcasting]], which would sell CKLW and CKEZ to [[CHUM Limited]] in 1993. For a brief time under CUC Broadcasting ownership, it was a member of the [[NBC Radio Network|NBC Radio]] network beginning in 1991 (which was by then a shell of its former self), and ending with the station's sale to CHUM Limited in 1993.

CKLW was known as ''K-800'' during its "Music of Your Life" days, and also became the radio home for the [[Detroit Pistons]]. Ratings improved dramatically, as the station shot back into the Top 10, although the demographics of the station's audience were now substantially older. Longtime CKLW jock and Detroit radio veteran Dave Shafer was the "K-800" program director during this time.

=== Modern history ===
CHUM Limited, which already owned [[CKWW]] and [[CIMX-FM]] in the Windsor/Detroit market, purchased CKLW-AM-FM in February 1993, and subsequently swapped the formats of CKWW and CKLW on March 1, moving the nostalgic music down to 580 on the AM dial and planting CKWW's news-talk format on 800, and thus ending the music on AM 800 for good.

Today, CKLW combines local [[talk radio]] with U.S.-based [[Broadcast syndication|syndication programs]] and those produced by CHUM. The station now goes by the name ''AM 800'', The Information Station (or as "AM 800 CKLW"). The station boasts a fully staffed local newsroom and also airs hourly newscasts from [[The Canadian Press]] radio network (formerly known as Broadcast News), primarily at night. CKLW is picked up clearly as far off as [[Toledo, Ohio|Toledo]] and [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]] (where it was consistently a highly rated station during its [[Top 40]] days), [[Lansing, Michigan]], and even the outskirts of [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], with reports of night-time reception as far off as [[Toronto]]/[[Oshawa|Oshawa, Ontario]]; [[Hartford, Connecticut]]; [[Pennsylvania]]; [[New York City]]; [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]; [[Des Moines, Iowa]]; and [[San Antonio|San Antonio, Texas]]. At one point, it was stated that CKLW could be heard in at least 23 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

For the station to be heard as far west as Arkansas, Iowa and Texas is impressive, given the station is not a "[[Clear-channel stations|clear channel]]" [[List of North American broadcast station classes|Class A]] station, and has an extreme northward/eastward nighttime directional signal in order to protect stations on 800&nbsp;kHz in [[Ciudad Juárez]] (clear channel [[XEROK-AM]] across the river from [[El Paso, Texas]]). A station in [[Bonaire]] in the [[Netherlands Antilles]] (PJB3, [[Trans World Radio]]), provided severe interference to CKLW during its Big 8 years and beyond, operating with 525,000 watts of power. CKLW was and is under no obligation to protect Bonaire, as PJB signed on long after North American allocations were settled and the Netherlands Antilles did not honour international agreements.

During CKLW's [[Top 40]] heyday, because of its nighttime directional pattern, the station was frequently heard in [[Scandinavia]], but was often rendered unlistenable just a few hundred miles to the west and south of Detroit because of interference from the Juarez and/or Bonaire stations. Nevertheless, the current [[news]]/[[Talk radio|talk]] format enjoys good ratings in Windsor, though it now hovers near the bottom of the Detroit [[Arbitron]] reports.

In May 2006, it was announced that CKLW would be a co-flagship station for [[University of Michigan]] [[Michigan Wolverines football|football]] with [[Detroit]] radio station [[WOMC]]. CKLW had served as backup station to [[WJR]] previously for Michigan football when WJR was forced to broadcast [[Detroit Tigers]] games due to contractual obligations.

On July 12, 2006, it was announced that [[CHUM Limited|CHUM]] would be absorbed by Canadian media conglomerate CTVglobemedia (now [[Bell Media]]), the owner of Canadian television network [[CTV Television Network|CTV]] and the successor of CKLW's former owner, Baton Broadcasting. The transaction was consummated on June 22, 2007.

On September 10, 2010, [[Bell Canada]] announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including CKLW.<ref name="bell-pr-2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2010/10/c8677.html|title=Bell to acquire 100% of Canada's No.1 media company CTV |publisher=CNW Group |author=Bell Canada |date=September 10, 2010 |access-date=September 10, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100913060021/http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2010/10/c8677.html| archive-date=September 13, 2010 |url-status= live}}</ref> The deal was consummated on April 1, 2011.

=== CKLW-FM and CKLW-TV ===
[[File:Cbet-building.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The present-day CBC studios on Riverside Drive in Windsor; until 1970, the studios also housed CKLW's AM & FM operations.]]
In 1948, CKLW started CKLW-FM on 93.9&nbsp;[[Hertz|MHz]] (now [[CIDR-FM]]). Despite a powerful 100,000-[[watt]] signal, CKLW's FM sister has never been able to attract a sizeable audience, at least not on the American side of the border. In the 1970s, CKLW-FM programmed a country format, and then big band and jazz as CKJY in the early 1980s.

After the failed "Fox"{{clarify|date=July 2020 |reason=What is the "Fox" format?}} format, the station became beautiful-music CKEZ in 1985, and then in 1986, the CKLW-FM calls were restored and the station made an attempt to mimic the sound of the classic "Big 8" formula with a playlist spanning the 1950s through 1980s and with many of the original jingles, features and personalities, but it lasted only a few years.

In the early 1990s, CKLW-FM again tried the "Big 8"-style oldies format, as ''93.9 The Legend''. Though the sound was again very faithful to the original CKLW, it once again did not last long, as there was a lot of competition for the oldies market in Detroit at the time, with [[WOMC]] (104.3) eventually emerging as the most popular oldies station. (As of November 19, 2020, [[CIDR-FM]] became known as "93.9 Virgin Radio", airing a [[Top 40]] format.)

The operation also included CKLW-TV, Channel 9 (now [[CBET-DT]]). For years, one of the TV station's most popular shows was an ''[[American Bandstand]]''-style show called ''[[Swingin' Time]]'' (and later, ''The Lively Spot''), hosted by [[Robin Seymour (DJ)|Robin Seymour]] (and also Tom Shannon for a time) and featuring performances by national and local recording artists and teenagers demonstrating the latest dances. In fact, as early as 1956, Bud Davies hosted a "bandstand"-style show on CKLW-TV called ''Top Ten Dance Party''. For the most part, though, CKLW-TV was overshadowed by its powerhouse sister radio station and mainly aired low-budget local shows along with [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC) (and also CTV) network fare.

When the Canadian government requested [[RKO General]] divest itself of its Canadian holdings in 1968, the stations were sold to a consortium of the CBC and Baton Broadcasting, which was finalized in 1970. Baton ran the radio station (and CKLW-TV) for several years (under its subsidiary, St. Clair Broadcasting), before selling to CHUM in 1975. When the CBC took full ownership of the television station (CKLW-TV), it changed its call letters to "CBET".

CKLW-AM-FM then moved from the TV station's 825 Riverside Drive West location to its own studios and offices at 1640 Ouellette Avenue. CBET continues as Windsor's CBC English affiliate to this day, although recent budget cuts at the CBC have meant less local programming and more simulcasting of programming from [[Toronto]]. The Riverside studios would be sold to London-based Clayland Developments Ltd. in September 2014, though the CBC will be leasing space for their local operations. The 1954 building is on Windsor's heritage registry, meaning that it could not be torn down without approval by the city government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/cbc-sells-longtime-home-on-riverside-drive |title=The Windsor Star: "CBC sells longtime home on Riverside Drive", September 8, 2014. |access-date=September 10, 2014 |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910021245/http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/cbc-sells-longtime-home-on-riverside-drive |url-status=dead }}</ref>

CHUM's successor, [[Bell Media]], continues to own CKLW and CIDR-FM today, along with modern rock station [[CIMX-FM]] (88.7 FM, "89X") and oldies/nostalgia station [[CKWW]] ("AM 580 Motor City Favorites"). All four stations are located at the Ouellette Avenue address.

The 2004 film ''Radio Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Big 8'', produced by [[Michael McNamara (filmmaker)|Michael McNamara]] and aired on [[History (Canadian TV network)|History Television]] in Canada and [[PBS]] member stations [[WTVS]] in Detroit (2005) and [[WVIZ]] in [[Cleveland]] (2006), chronicles the history of CKLW's top 40 years. The film has been honoured in [[Canada]] with the [[Gemini Awards|Gemini Award]] (equivalent of an [[Emmy Award]]) for "Best History Documentary".

==== Echoes of the Big 8 ====
[[File:Dan MacDonald of AM 800 hosting Queens and Kings of Pride, Windsor-Essex Pride Fest, 2025-08-09 06.jpg|upright|thumb|Dan MacDonald, host of the Dan MacDonald Show]]
In 2015, CKLW began airing its first music program, ''[https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/shows/hear-now-1.1819293 Hear + Now]'' (pronounced "Hear and Now", formerly ''Into Tomorrow'') in over twenty years (having switched formats with sister CKWW, becoming all-news in 1993). The station airs an [[alternative rock|alternative]]/[[indie rock|independent]] local artists format, with some classic Canadian Rock songs with music from the 1960s to today sprinkled in. While not a full-time return to music, Here + Now airs, as of March 2021, on Saturday Mornings (it previously aired on Sunday Nights) making CKLW more of a full-service station again.

=== 2017 transmitter fire ===
On May 1, 2017, a fire broke out at the transmitter site, located east of [[Amherstburg]] (south of [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]]), knocking the station off air. Programming was temporarily moved to its then [[sister station]] AM 580 CKWW, while both stations' internet feeds remained unaffected. The cause is unknown, though the station was able to return to the air on its own frequency by mid-afternoon the next day at reduced power.

== See also ==
*[[RKO General]]
*[[Media in Detroit]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Morrow, Larry (2010). ''This is Larry Morrow''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-59851-069-0}}.

== External links ==
*[https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/ AM 800 CKLW]
* [https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/ontario/ontario-south-western/CKLW-AM CKLW-AM] at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the [[Canadian Communications Foundation]]
*{{RecnetCanada|CKLW}}

*[http://radio-locator.com/info/CKLW-AM Radio-Locator information on CKLW]
*[http://www.thebig8.net/ The Classic CKLW Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040506224809/http://www.thebig8.net/ |date=2004-05-06 }}
*[http://www.oldradio.com/archives/international/canada2.htm Canadian Stations and History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510140128/http://www.oldradio.com/archives/international/canada2.htm |date=2011-05-10 }}
*[http://www.ct30.com/big30/index.html CKLW Big 30 Hit Lists, 1967-1979]
*[http://www.ct30.com/gallery/boss.html Boss 30 Gallery (including CKLW)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312054020/http://www.ketupa.net/rko2.htm RKO-General's History, and its relationship with CKLW]
*[http://www.radiorevolutiondvd.com/ ''Radio Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Big 8'' DVD site]

{{Southwestern Ontario Radio}}
{{Bell Media}}

[[Category:Bell Media radio stations|KLW]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Windsor, Ontario|KLW]]
[[Category:News and talk radio stations in Canada|KLW]]
[[Category:RKO General]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1932]]
[[Category:1932 establishments in Ontario]]
[[Category:Dominion Network|KLW]]