CKCE-FM

CKCE-FM

City of license	Calgary, Alberta
Branding	101.5 KooL FM
Slogan	Calgary's Hits!
Frequency	101.5 MHz (FM)
First air date	March 22, 2007
Format	Hot AC
Power	48 kW
ERP	100 kW
Class	C1
Owner	Jim Pattison Group
Sister stations	CKWD-FM
Website	http://www.1015koolfm.ca

CKCE-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format at 101.5 FM in Calgary, Alberta. CKCE's studios are located on 58th Avenue Southwest in Calgary, while its transmitter is located on Patina Hill Drive Southwest in the Prominence Point neighbourhood in western Calgary. The station is owned & operated by Jim Pattison Group.

CKCE is currently ranked #12 in the Calgary market according to the Fall 2014 Numeris data report being released by BBM Canada.

History

The station was originally approved by the CRTC in 2006 from an application submitted by CHUM Limited (prior to the announcement of its merger with CTVglobemedia). However, because the original application requested the 90.3 frequency, which was granted instead to Newcap Broadcasting for what would become CFUL-FM, the approval was made conditional on the station submitting a revised application for a different frequency. The station subsequently applied for the 101.5 frequency, which was granted by the CRTC in January 2007.

CKCE-FM began testing on March 12, 2007 with a stunting loop of Wannabe by Spice Girls, and officially launched on March 22 at 1:01 p.m. MST with a rhythmic-leaning Hot AC format as Energy 101-5. The first song played was What Goes Around by Justin Timberlake, followed by Like A Prayer by Madonna.

The station started leaning away from its rhythmic edge and began leaning towards a rock slant by June 2009, when CKMP-FM, a top 40 station with a similar format to competitor CIBK-FM was launched. Since the station rebranding as 101.5 Energy FM in early 2010, most of the rhythmic tracks returned in order to go up against hot adult contemporary radio station CIGY-FM, which plays more classic hits instead of rhythmic content.

On August 17, 2010, Energy FM was relaunched as Kool 101.5 with the new slogan "Hits from Today and Back In the Day". The first song on "Kool" was "Get The Party Started" by P!nk. The format is still Hot AC, but phased out a majority of the modern AC hits. The station is following the pattern of other Hot AC stations in Canada by leaning towards rhythmic adult contemporary. It continued to play pop-rock tracks for a time, but as of 2013, its playlist has become more Rhythmic/Dance driven with pop-rock product notably getting less airplay, in part due to increased competition in the market. As a result of the changes, the station suspended Mediabase reports for two months just after the station rebranded.

As part of Bell Media's acquisition of Astral Media (who owns the aforementioned CIBK), Bell chose to divest CKCE-FM to meet ownership limits. On May 16, 2013, the Jim Pattison Group announced a deal to acquire CKCE-FM and two other stations owned by Bell and Astral for an undisclosed amount. Following the closure of the deal, CKCE-FM will be consolidated into the facilities of CHPK-FM—a new rock radio station that the Jim Pattison Group is establishing in Calgary.

On December 20, 2013, the CRTC approved Jim Pattison's acquisition of CKCE-FM; the acquisition was closed in early 2014. Shortly after the sale was approved, the station dropped the Rhythmic AC lean, reduced its focus on 1980s and 1990s hits, and began adding more pop-rock currents and re-currents to become a more mainstream Hot AC. In addition, the station's moniker was slightly altered to "101.5 KooL FM", along with the new slogan "Calgary's Hits!".

External links

• CKCE-FM history - Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKCE-FM