Port Alberni’s radio station, 93.3 the PEAK FM, turns 75 this year.
Historians at the Alberni Valley Museum put together a brief timeline of the station’s history, beginning with its first broadcast April 1, 1946, at 1240 AM under the call letters CJAV, using a 250-watt transmitter.
The station’s original owner was Harold Warren, and he ensured CJAV was the launching point for broadcasters such as Bob Switzer, who later went on to CBC television station CBUT in Vancouver, Jim Robison, who became the voice of the Vancouver Canucks with radio station CKNW and numerous others.
Bill Rea of CKNW bought half of CJAV from Warren in 1947 and hired Chuck Rudd and Ken Hutcheson as station managers. The station has gone through a number of owners since then; becoming part of the Jim Pattinson Broadcast Group in June 2006.
On April 18, 2005 CJAV switched over to the FM band at 93.3 MHz and became known as 93.3 PEAK FM, or the PEAK.
Did You Know?CJAV began broadcasting on April 1, 1946, at 1240 AM using a 250 watt transmitter. The station was...
Posted by City of Port Alberni Local Government on Thursday, April 22, 2021
For more history of CJAV, tune in to 93.3 PEAK FM.
To help the ‘Sound of the Valley’ celebrate, Dog Mountain Brewing has come up with a PEAK Pale Ale on draft and in cans, while supplies last. Partial proceeds go toward Alberni Community and Women’s Services Society (ACAWS).
Congrats from those of us on the print and digital side, to our media colleagues on the broadcast side.
