With 2022 drawing to a close, Discover Moose Jaw will be sharing some of the biggest stories that were viewed by you in 2022. This story was first published on April 17, 2022.
We believe we were the 4th radio station ever in Canada. 100 years later, here we are, celebrating 100 years on the air at CHAB.
The story started in 1922 - April 23rd, 1922 when, after many meetings, planning and anticipation, 10-AB began broadcasting. According to Broadcasting-History.com, the Moose Jaw Amateur Radio Association "had planned originally to operate the station, but found they couldn't afford to run it, so handed it over to the Kiwanis Club. 10-AB was licensed as a non-commercial station at 1200 KHz with 50 watts of power."
100 years later in 2022 our signal at 800 on the AM radio dial booms across the province and into the northern United States with 10,000 watts of power with studios located atop Main Street in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, broadcasting through a transmitter located near Pasqua, just southeast of Canada's "Most Notorious City".
It was in the fall of 1922 that the Kiwanis Club turned 10-AB back to the re-organized Moose Jaw Radio Association and in 1924 the studio was moved from the old YMCA building to the top floor of the Bellamy Furniture Store, a building which still stands to this day, having been turned into an apartment block on Main Street, downtown.
In 1931 there was another move to new studios at The Grant Hall Hotel, a lovely, historic building that has been completely refurbished.
Financial struggles in 1933 would lead to 10-AB leaving the air on November 11th. The history books tell us that Rudy Vallee "provided the background to the sign-off singing I'm Heading for the Last Round-Up". It was just a few weeks later when 10-AB returned to the air as CHAB after being issued a commercial broadcasting license by the federal government. Carson Buchanan, the secretary of the Amateur Radio Association, would own the radio station with partners and become the general manager at CHAB.
It was in 1937 that one of the first true radio stars to come out of Moose Jaw would begin his career. Elwood Glover got his start at CHAB, working for $5.00 a week. Glover would later move on to become CBC Radio's Chief Announcer.
In fact, CHAB was an affiliate of the CBC from 1933 through 1962 when CBC's Dominion Network folded and we became an independent station.
Many of our long-time, loyal listeners can tell you about the different programs and formats we've had over the years. CHAB was a top 40 station in the 60s and many youngsters counted on us to play all the new Beatles songs back in the day. We stuck with pop music and rock 'n roll for most of the 60s through the 70s and into the 80s when, for a time, we were "Favourites of Yesterday and Today". Many will never forget our historic switch to country music in the mid-90s when we rebranded as "Country 800". We pulled the trigger on that move just days before the popular Craven Country Jamboree, now known as Country Thunder.
It was in 2002 when we, under the ownership of Golden West Broadcasting, switched back to rock 'n roll with the format "The Greatest Hits of All Time", as Golden West expanded our operation with the addition of a new FM station, CILG - Country 100 - 100.7 FM.
20 years later, here we are, with a busy operation at 1704 Main Street North. The flagship CHAB is flanked by two FM stations now with the addition of CJAW - Mix 103.9 and we own and operate DiscoverMooseJaw.com, Moose Jaw's daily source for local news and information.
Over the course of 100 years, we've switched hands a number of times with many, many famous broadcasters and entertainers getting their starts right here at CHAB. You can find a chronological history right HERE.
Golden West Broadcasting, under the direction of CEO Elmer Hildebrand, purchased CHAB 30 years ago, in 1992, from then-owners Moffat Communications.
It was a transaction Mr. Hildebrand looks back on with pleasant memories.
"There was a variety of stations that Moffat Communications had and we were interested in Moose Jaw but the way the whole deal shook out, we needed to take a station in Calgary and one in Hamilton to make it work because we were doing this deal with three other broadcast companies...so they convinced me, this was a Ted Rogers operation that was leading the process, they convinced me that, in addition to Moose Jaw we should also take Calgary and Hamilton, which we did. But Calgary and Hamilton are much larger cities than we're used to operating in. We were used to operating in smaller communities and we ultimately exited both Calgary and Hamilton and chose to just concentrate on smaller communities on the prairies," Mr. Hildebrand explained.
Golden West Broadcasting brought a new outlook and a new culture to CHAB in 1992 with a focus on local news, local weather and local sports - a mindset that remains to this day, 30 years later.
"If you keep it local, nobody else is doing it and so you have a product that is unique. That's what we've been able to do over the years. It's the kind of thing that just sets us apart from many other broadcasters and from my perspective, that's the only reason we're still around," Hildebrand said.
And while Golden West Broadcasting has owned CHAB for 30 of our 100 years, Hildebrand has been toiling in the industry for 65 years, starting his career as a copy writer at CFAM in Altona, Manitoba.
"It's been an amazing journey and I've enjoyed it a lot. Working in the kind of environment we do, we're so fortunate that we can create whatever we can imagine. If we can imagine something, we can actually do it and we can do it on the radio and on our portals. The biggest thing that drives me is the service that we provide our listeners. We have so many listeners across the prairies, it just astounds me. They're there every day...and we have to make sure that we provide the kind of interesting radio service that they want to come back again tomorrow and the next day and again and again and again. So, the whole concept of creating local news for local communities by local employees, that is what drives me."
And that's what drives all of us at 800 CHAB and we can only hope you'll continue to come back to us again and again and again.
We'll be celebrating our 100th anniversary throughout 2022 with a number of special promotions and events that we have planned. Please stay tuned. You'll be hearing from a number of former employees and many of our long-time, loyal listeners and friends in the coming weeks and months. In fact, if you have a memory to share, be it a story, a souvenir, or a photo you'd like to share, we want to share with everyone.
800 CHAB - The Greatest Hits of All Time - celebrating 100 years on the air. Let's make it a special year in 2022.
