CFYK Radio
| Home | Local Broadcast Media | Glossary | People and Unions | The Mackenzie Network | What I Did | Yellowknife in 1974 | GNWT |
I worked part-time at CFYK from September-November 1974, but came back in December for one last show, on a Saturday night, filling in for a guy who just had to go to a party. I have not been on the air since.
More because I thought it was a good idea than as a tribute to the DJ who did it every night, the last song I played was People by Barbra Streisand. In 1968-69, during KGA-Spokane's one year of Top 40, Shane would end his show at 10:00 p.m. that way.
All tangible that remains of those days is the master audio tape for a series of promos highlighting the dozen repeater stations in small communities that can be heard on The Mackenzie Network page. As well as two promos written for the highly-rated evening CBC Radio News magazine program, As It Happens, including one for the Friday night feature, Dr. Bundolo's Pandemonium Medicine Show, featuring Bill Reiter, who I'd known as a DJ in Vancouver on CKLG-FM and CKVN.
I finished recording these on November 1, 1974.
I did the Saturday and Sunday morning shows. Pretty soon, on Sunday mornings, I was featuring one or more cuts from the soundtrack of the movie that had been shown the night before in Yellowknife's only theatre. It was especially fun to play a Wolfman Jack bit, and an XERB jingle, from the American Graffiti soundtrack, followed, of course, by one of the great '50s hits that made the show so memorable.
During an overnight power failure, I signed the station on early, using the Honda pull-start generator, and the 40 watt LPRT transmitter into the tower on top of the studios, and received calls of thanks from listeners. I also signed the station on an hour early the Sunday in October when Daylight Savings Time switched back to Standard Time, to catch anyone up an hour too early.
A Tale of Two Lamps describes a pair of unique gifts I built for two friends just before leaving CFYK and Yellowknife. Click here to read the short story.
Jon Pearkins
January 11, 2007