Here’s a snippet of a countdown show on AM 1230 CKQR in 1974, recorded off air. This is an excerpt from a longer air check that I have sadly lost. Now we’ll never know what was No. 1 in Castlegar that week!
I don’t know who the announcer is and it’s probably for the best, because he’s terrible. (Although in his defense, it was undoubtedly his first on-air job and he had no way of knowing someone would record it, much less put it on something called the Internet 44 years later.)
Ad from the station’s launch in 1969.
Here are links to the full songs featured in the countdown:
No. 7: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Elton John:
No. 6: Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me), Reunion:
No. 5: Beach Baby, First Class:
At the time the station was located in the basement of the Oglow building, where the St. David’s thrift store is now. These are photos of the control room, circa 1981-82, posted by a former employee on the Radio West forum in 2009.
I worked there from spring 1970 until February 1972 and then 1990 to 1993. Needless to say, it was wonderful working with state of the Ark equipment.