 | |
| Broadcast area | Greater Victoria |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 98.5MHz |
| Branding | Ocean 98.5 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Adult contemporary |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| CHTT-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | 1955 (1955) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Ocean" |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| Class | C |
| ERP |
|
| Repeater | 98.5 CIOC-FM-1 (Saltspring Island) |
| Links | |
| Website | ocean985.com |
CIOC-FM (98.5MHz) is a commercialradio station inVictoria, British Columbia, Canada, branded as "Ocean 98.5". It is owned byRogers Radio, a division ofRogers Sports & Media. It broadcasts anadult contemporaryformat, switching toChristmas music for much of November and December. Itsradio studios are located at 817 Fort Street inDowntown Victoria.
CIOC-FM has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 47,000watts (100,000 watts peak). Thetransmitter is off Fulton Road in Victoria.[1] The signal covers much of the southern part ofVancouver Island, along with some sections ofPuget Sound and theOlympic Peninsula inWashington.
The stationsigned on the air in 1955. Its originalcall sign was CKDA-FM. Itsimulcast the signal of then-AMsister stationCKDA 1220. It was the first commercial FM station in British Columbia. (TheCBC's FM station inVancouver, todayCBU-FM, went on the air in 1947 but isnon-commercial.)
CKDA-FM was powered at 370 watts, a fraction of its current output. CKDA-AM-FM were owned by Capital Broadcasting System Ltd. The original FM equipment was located in the "rack room" of CKDA's studios. The FM transmitter served as the studio link to the AM transmitter site on Chatham Island. In effect, the AM transmitter received the FM signal and retransmitted it.
By the mid-1960s, the Canadian government was discouraging AM and FM stations in large cities from simulcasting. CKDA-FM became CFMS-FM at 6:00 PM on March 21, 1965.[2] It began broadcasting separate programming, aneasy listening format airing between noon and midnight seven days a week. It went to an 18-hour-a-day schedule (7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.) in May 1966.[3] It later switched to a 24-hour-a-day broadcasting schedule. It aired quarter hour sweeps of mostly soft instrumentalcover versions of popular songs.
In later years, CFMS switched to a mixed format ofadult contemporary music (from 6:00 AM–7:00 PM weekdays and 6:00 AM–6:00 PM weekends) andeasy listening instrumentals (in the evenings and overnight).
On September 1, 1995, Capital Broadcasting sold CKDA and CFMS, with CKDA going to OK Radio Group, the owners ofCKKQ-FM, and CFMS picked up byCJVI (owned by Rogers Communications). On December 11, CFMS changed to its current full-time adult contemporary format and switched itscall sign to the current CIOC-FM.
On March 25, 2010, CIOC was denied by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to add a new FM transmitter atSaltspring Island. If the application was approved, the new transmitter at Saltspring Island would have broadcast on 98.5 MHz, the same frequency as CIOC's main transmitter in Victoria.[4]On September 13, 2010, the station reapplied to add a repeater at Saltspring Island and received CRTC approval on February 23, 2011.[5]
Radio stations onSouthern Vancouver Island,British Columbia | |||||||||
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| Victoria |
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| Central Vancouver Island |
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| Salt Spring Island |
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48°25′17″N123°30′40″W / 48.42139°N 123.51111°W /48.42139; -123.51111
