Radio aircheck: KC News, 1975

Here’s a newscast that aired on KC Radio in Nelson and Creston on Jan. 21, 1975, read by Ray Zinck, who sent it to me quite a few years ago. Ray worked there from 1973 to 1975 and went on to become co-owner, president, and general manager of CJLS in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He sold that station in 2015.

Ray Zinck in the news studio at KC Radio in Nelson, mid-1970s. Note the ashtray, giant speaker, spare mic, and sideburns. Ray did a daily phone-in show from

9 a.m. to 10 a.m. from this studio.

Ray prefaces the newscast with these remarks: “Unfortunately no local stories in this cast. Some of the stories were way too long, but that was the standard of the day. We used the identifier KC News in the afternoon when CKKC was simulcasting to CFKC in Creston, our sister station. Of particular note is the very short weather forecast at the end of the newscast by the duty announcer. There was not even a good afternoon in the intro, which I find a little bit odd.” (Click on the play button to hear the newscast.)

The start of the song heard following the news is Rock My Gently by Andy Kim, a Canadian Neil Diamond soundalike. You can listen to the whole thing below.

At the time, CKKC’s studio was in the basement of 533 Baker Street — today, coincidentally, the Kootenay Sound Studio. The station moved there in 1968 from the Nelson Daily News building.

Here’s a cold read by morning announcer Earl Seitz in early 1974 for Algar’s Tire Shop. Earl moved to Kamloops later that year, where he remains a sportscasting legend.

Ray also sent me a handful of terrific photos from his time at the station, seen below.

This is a publicity shot of Ray and Earl with the pop duo Gary and Dave, who were in Nelson for a concert with The Stampeders at L.V. Rogers Secondary. Gary and Dave were then enjoying success with their massive Canadian hit Could You Ever Love Me Again.

Newsman Len Ringstad in seen in the control room with a poster for the Gary and Dave show on the window. “The room beyond the glass was a seldom used studio,” Ray says. “I think I only did one newscast from there. I last saw this control board at a studio on the lakefront [now Home Hardware building centre].”

The newsroom looking into the control room. Note the Stampeders poster and teletype printer. “News could be read on air directly from the newsroom but it meant the control room announcer’s back was to the news reader,” Ray says. “Not good for taking cues. That’s the first thing I changed at CKKC, opting instead for reading casts from a studio across the hall. Later on I had the engineer move the printer across the hall from the newsroom into a storage room because of the constant clacking noise. At times it was hard to have a conversation with that thing banging day and night. Also note the copy hanging from hooks on the wall. That was our filing system.”

Each room had a different colour scheme. The cork wallboards were bright green, yellow, and orange. “As bad as the colors may look in the photos, I recall the station as bright and inviting in spite of its windowless underground location,” Ray recalls. “I was told professional directors designed the interior.”

Ray Zinck’s business card with KC Radio.

What I wouldn’t give to hear a 1230 CKQR jingle or the Red Mountain jingle of the early 1980s (“Discover Red Mountain! DISCOVER RED MOUNTAIN!!” it demanded) or the Super-Valu jingle, also of the ‘80s (“Sooper-Val-yoo! Our something-something promise to yoooo!”).

UPDATE: Turns out the Super-Valu slogan was “Our name is our promise to you.” And I am pleased to report that the jingle can be found below on YouTube.

Updated on Dec. 4, 2022 to add the Super-Valu video. Updated on Dec. 3, 2023 to add the Andy Kim video.