 . . . is back! |
 C-FUN
Station on West 4th Avenue.Photo courtesy of RadioWest.ca |
For  in the Fifties and Sixties go here For the CKVN years go here |
FROM C-FUN TO CKVN TO C-FUN
At 6:00pm on September 30, 1973 C-FUN returned. Some radio pundits have argued they should never have abandoned the Top 40 format back in 1967 when it was getting pummelled in the ratings by its arch-rival CKLG, saying they should have continued to fight it out to regain their audience. In the interim years from late 1967 to 1970 the station underwent various changes. First they adopted an easy listening format. When that failed to improve the ratings, in 1969 they became an all-news station and changed their call letters to CKVN (Voice of News). That format didn’t catch on either so in 1970, as CKVN, they returned to the rock/pop format. The return to Top 40 was welcomed by many but despite numerous improvements which included a new lineup of top talented DJs, CKVN languished at the bottom of the ratings. Some have argued that the new call letters themselves, unfamiliar to long-time listeners contributed to this ratings malaise. The station at 1410 on the dial was for many years remembered as C-FUN. Then in January 1973 CKVN was purchased by CHUM Limited of Toronto. CHUM was Toronto’s Top 40 giant and with their financial clout they pumped new blood into the Vancouver station, bringing out west from the parent station one of their leading DJs, Chuck McCoy, as the new program director. Then in September 1973, with the new parent company’s influence, the old CFUN call letters were re-acquired and at 6 PM on 30th of that month C-FUN was back. For 1973 and 1974 the new C-FUN did not issue any weekly charts but in early 1975 the charts resumed and by this time McCoy and his team had vaulted the revitalized C-FUN into the number one spot in the Vancouver ratings war. The see-saw ratings war between C-FUN and CKLG continued into the 1980s. But radio-listening trends were changing, trends which included a general decline in the overall popularity of AM radio. By the end of 1984, after a great run of over 11 years, C-FUN again departed the Top 40 format, this time adopting an adult contemporary format. Jim Bower
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