More Music … CKLW:The Rise and Fall of the Big 8

Back in the day, music is not readily available online at the tip of your fingertips. Fifty years ago, you would listen to the radio and that’s how you knew what records to buy. Radio stations in large music cities such as Los Angeles, New York or Nashville normally set the standard for the most popular music. New music emerges in their city, than gets released on their local radio stations, and the music becomes a smash hit. This is not the case for the small town radio station of CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. As television was drastically changing the radio industry, CKLW had to change to keep up. This change is what resulted into CKLW- The Big 8, a radio station that created new standards of radio hosting as well as rock and roll music. CKLW influenced not only music throughout North America but the entire music industry such as Bill Drake's "Boss Radio” technique, and how this station influenced its home city of Windsor, Ontario. CKLW evolved from a small city radio station to become “The Big 8” a huge nationwide music icon that was responsible for not only changing the music industry but changing the face of radio forever.
Windsor’s station, CKOK first came onto the air in 1932 and it was a station that played more “friendly and folksy” music. In 1933 the call letters were changed to CKLW and in 1941, it moved to its current position of AM800 . Throughout the years, television was drastically changing and was creating fierce competition with the radio industry. To be able to keep up with the times, CKLW had to change to stay in the game. One modification was the change of ownership. In 1963, RKO took over the station and CKLW became CKLW- The Big 8 and they focused on playing contemporary hits and rock and roll music, as we...

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...t would be released on a weekly basis. These Top 30 chart surveys listed the top thirty songs of the week and could be found in any record store or department store such as Sentry or K-Mart. Trombley and her staff researched record sales from local stores, and the request lines to see what the kids wanted to listen too. For the music industry, the Big 8’s Top 30 charts were their Bible. These free charts were “eagerly snapped up by groovy teens.” Decorated in bright colors, these charts allowed local children to follow their favorite song on the Top 30 list. In March 1970, “Let it Be” by the Beatles was number one on the charts, fell to number 2 four weeks later, and by May 11th, was completely off the charts. Today, these charts are “pop music memorabilia” and crazy stories have been heard that these Top 30 charts were used as wallpaper in teen’s bedrooms.