A QSL for CKOC Hamilton 1150 AM, Canada’s oldest continuously operating radio station. A station that has adapted through more than a century of broadcasting while remaining a local voice. Station CHAB, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, began broadcasting a week earlier and is still on the air today, but was shut down for a period of time in 1933 before re-opening.

Recording of my CKOC 1150 AM reception, resutling in the first QSL on my new QTH

My reception report was confirmed within hours by Mr. Pervin, General Manager of the station. It is nice to be able to add this Canadian radio icon to my QSL Collection. And it is the first QSL from my new QTH in Odoornerveen!

A brief history of CKOC

Signed on May 1, 1922, by Herb Slack and George Crawford of Wentworth Radio and Auto Supply, the station began as a modest way to sell radios. Its call letters come from the original owner’s parent company, Ontario Cycle. Early broadcasts were limited, and the station hopped frequencies—including 880, 630, and 1120 kHz—before settling on 1150 AM in 1941. It served as a CBC affiliate from 1936 to 1962.

CKOC became a regional powerhouse during its Top 40 years from 1960 to 1992, competing with Toronto stations and earning a reputation as “The Busy Bee.” In 1992 it flipped to oldies as “Oldies 1150,” briefly using the CKMO calls before listeners demanded the original CKOC letters back in 1993. In 2013 the format changed scope from “Oldies” to “Classic Hits”.

Bell Media bought the station in 2013, and changed the format to sports talk in 2015, joining the TSN Radio network as TSN Radio 1150. In 2021, Bell Media ended the TSN Radio formats at CKOC as it did with CFRW Winnipeg and CKST Vancouver. CKOC continued as BNN Bloomberg Radio.

When Bell Media put the station up for sale in 2024 amid broader AM cutbacks the CINA Media Group acquired CKOC (along with sister station CHAM). In August 19, 2024, the new owners relaunched it as 1150 CKOC with a classic hits format branded “Superhits of the 70s and 80s.” The station now pairs that music with local news, including weekday morning newscasts and a simulcast of CHCH-TV’s Evening News at 6 p.m.

CKOC facilities

The CKOC transmitter site near Empire Corners (Google Street View)

Technically, CKOC is a Class B regional station with 50,000 watts daytime and 20,000 watts at night from a six-tower directional array near Empire Corners in Haldimand County, about 25 kilometres south of Hamilton. The signal covers the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Its website is 1150ckoc.com.