CKER-FM


CKER-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 101.7 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station airs a multilingual programming format branded as 101.7 World FM and is owned by Rogers Media.

History

CKER-FM first hit the airwaves on November 1, 1980 on the AM dial as Edmonton's first and only multilingual station. It was owned by O.K. Radio Group which is headed up by Roger Charest and Stu Morton. The station operated at 1480 AM with a broadcasting power of 10,000 watts.
In 1982 O.K. Radio Group spun off CKER into a separate company- CKER Radio Ltd., a company that was headed up by Roger Charest as well as other investors.
In 1994, CKER was granted approval by the CRTC to move to the FM band at 101.9 MHz with an ERP of 64,000 watts, on a frequency previously used by CKO from 1978 to 1989. This would later be increased to 100,000 watts. On January 18, 2006, CKER received approval to move from 101.9 to 101.7 MHz in an effort to alleviate interference that was being caused to other stations.
On November 29, 2006, CKER-FM was sold to Rogers Communications who also purchased other stations owned by O.K. Radio Group. Rogers pledged to keep the station the same, with a multilingual format and the current branding of World FM.

Programming

CKER currently airs programming in over 10 languages serving over 12 ethnic groups. It has programming in the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Filipino, German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Punjabi, Spanish and Ukrainian.