In February 1926, a Wingham repairman named W.T. "Doc" Cruickshank built a radio transmitter from instructions in a Popular Mechanics article, assembling it in his mother's kitchen. That single homemade tube transmitter grew into CKNX AM 920, a station that has served the farm country of Midwestern Ontario for a full century. It is one of the oldest broadcasters in Canada, and it still does what it always has: plays country music and keeps a scattered rural region connected. Few stations anywhere have a story like this one.
A Station Born in a Kitchen
The origin story is almost too good to be true. CKNX grew from the vision of W.T. "Doc" Cruickshank, who built the first radio transmitter in his Wingham shop from a Popular Mechanics article in February 1926, and for more than 90 years has served the residents of Huron, Perth, Wellington, Bruce and Grey. In an area with no daily newspaper, it became an essential thread linking dozens of small communities.
It grew up in stages. The station opened in 1926 as 10BP and adopted its current call letters in 1935, with "NX" chosen simply for clarity. Today it is owned by Blackburn Radio and broadcasts a classic country and news format, and it is even an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays radio network.
The Saturday Night Barn Dance
The most remarkable chapter is musical. In the lean years of the late 1920s and 30s, Doc could not afford enough recordings to fill the airtime, so he invited local musicians into the studio to play live. That instinct led, on a Saturday night in 1937, to an announcer running a program of recorded country music he called the "CKNX Barn Dance", which Doc then turned into a live-music institution. The Saturday Night Barn Dance went on to become one of the most popular and influential radio programs in Ontario through the late 1940s and 1950s. Wingham became known across the province for its live barn-dance shows, a genuine piece of Canadian music history.
Classic Country, Then and Now
The modern playlist carries that heritage forward, leaning into the classic country canon.
- Classic country hits, the heart of the format, the songs that built the genre. Juice Newton's crossover favourite "Queen of Hearts", identified on the station, is exactly the kind of bright, familiar classic it spins.
- 90s country gold, the radio-era hits like Clint Black's "A Good Run of Bad Luck", also caught on CKNX, that defined country's mainstream peak.
- Full-service information, the news, weather, sports and agricultural coverage that a farming region genuinely depends on.
- Local connection, the community glue that has always set CKNX apart from a distant national network.
The Little Town That Did It All
The ambition of this operation, in a town of only a few thousand, is staggering. In 1955 Doc launched CKNX-TV, making Wingham "the smallest community in the world with its own television station". The radio and TV operation became one of the best-known businesses in the entire county and a showcase for Canadian talent. Cruickshank died in 1971, and the town later named a park in his honour, but the station he built in his mother's kitchen is still on the air.
Why It's Worth Your Time
If you love classic country, CKNX is a warm, authentic source rooted in real history rather than a faceless playlist. And if you simply love radio, listening to a century-old station that began as a homemade transmitter and birthed a legendary barn dance is a small pleasure in itself. It carries the unhurried, neighbourly feel of small-town Canadian broadcasting. Press play and tune into living history.
Stream CKNX AM 920 Free on Radio Shuffle
Tune in to CKNX AM 920 on Radio Shuffle, no account, no app, no fee. Press play and a classic country song and a slice of Midwestern Ontario life will be waiting, from one of the oldest stations in Canada.