C-FAX (Radio station : Victoria, B.C.)

Corporate body

C-FAX (Radio station : Victoria, B.C.)

CFAX is a Victoria-based radio station that began broadcasting September 4, 1959, although the station was only initially active during the daytime. The station was first owned by Ellison Queale and managed by Roy V. Parrett, who, in 1960 was allocated a 60% interest in the company. Clare G. Coupland purchased the station in 1963 and the following year C-FAX shifted from broadcasting at 810 to 1070 Hz. The station was also granted permission to operate full-time. By 1967, however, C-FAX complained of strong night-time interference from California station KNX 1070 and was permitted to increase power from 1000 watts to 10,000. In 1974, ownership was transferred to G.N. ‘Mel’ Cooper, whose company Melco Management Ltd had assumed 71% interest in the station earlier in the year.

In 1984, two years after the station’s move to its present location on Broughton Street, CFAX began broadcasting in stereo. In 1985, the station claimed two weather reporting ‘firsts’ by installing a digital radar system that scanned for rain and snow, and by hiring the first Vancouver Island radio meteorologist. Eleven years later the Canadian Meterological and Oceanographic Society recognized the station for its work during the ‘Blizzard of ‘96’.

In 1988, the station’s corporate name was changed to Seacoast Communications, and in 2004, the station was acquired by CHUM Ltd., which in turn was purchased by Bell Globemedia in 2006.

Central Name Authority Files.

Created by: Dennis Duffy.