CHDI-FM, Sonic 102.9, Edmonton
Rogers Media
| Station | Year | Freq. | Power | Owner/Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHDI-FM | 2006 | 102.9 | 64,000 | Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. |
| CHDI-FM | 2005 | 102.9 | 64,000 | O K Radio Group Ltd. |
2004
On April 5, the CRTC awarded a licence to O.K. Radio Group Ltd. for a new FM station at Edmonton, operating on 102.9 MHz with effective radiated power of 64,000 watts. The new station would offer a Modern Rock format, targeted to young adults between the ages of 18 and 34. O.K. already operated multicultural CKER-FM in the city.
2005
CHDI-FM “Sonic 102.9” began broadcasting in April.
2006
On November 29, Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. received approval to acquire the Alberta stations owned by O.K. Radio Group Ltd. The stations were CHDI-FM and CKER-FM Edmonton, CJOK-FM and CKYX-FM Fort McMurray (and CJOK-FM-1 Tar Island), and CFGP-FM Grande Prairie (with CFGP-FM-1 Peace
River and CFGP-FM-2 Tumbler Ridge). Rogers was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rogers Media Inc., which, in turn, was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., a corporation ultimately controlled by Edward S. Rogers. O.K. was controlled by Roger Charest.
2008
Early on the morning of December 2nd, Ted Rogers, founder and former Chief Executive of Rogers Communications, owners of CHDI-FM, died at his home in Toronto, after having suffered from congestive heart failure for some time.
2009
Al Ford was appointed Operations Manager for the Rogers Radio Edmonton properties. He remained Program Director at SONiC 1029.
2011
On March 4, the CRTC renewed the licence for CHDI-FM to August 31, 2017.
Al Ford added program director duties at The Bounce. He retained his PD spot at Sonic and as operations manager of the Rogers Edmonton cluster.
Graham Scott died at age 38. He had been weekend announcer at Sonic FM for the past five years.
Brent Shelton returned to K97 Edmonton November 14 as Promotion Director. He’d been with the Newcap station in the mid 2000’s then moved to Sonic Edmonton.
2012
Sherri Drewe became promotions director at Sonic/The Bounce. She’d held the post on an interim basis since last November.
Jim Blundell succeeded Kevin McKanna and is the Acting General Manager of the 13 Rogers Radio stations in Alberta. Blundell had been the Vice President & GM at CTV Vancouver Island, C-FAX and KooL FM Victoria and left Bell Media in September of last year. Blundell’s background included being the Market Manager for the CHUM radio stations in Brockville, Kingston and Peterborough. In 2007, he was promoted to VP/GM of then Star-FM London and, in 2009, he was promoted again to take the lead at CHUM’s (now Bell Media’s) Victoria properties.
2016
At the start of the year, City tv (CKEM-DT) and Omni tv (CJEO-DT) were in the process of moving in with CKER and CHDI (Rogers Radio) at 5915 Gateway Blvd. The lease at 10212 Jasper Avenue (where the TV stations were located) was up and it was decided to put the radio and TV stations under one roof.
The story continues elsewhere…
Effective September 1st 2019, we will only be adding new material to these station histories in exceptional circumstances. Our intent to chronicle the early days of these radio and television stations has been achieved, and many new sources and technologies, from the CRTC website to Wikipedia, and others, are now regularly providing new information in these areas.