CKZZ-FM signed on in Vancouver at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 23, 1991, running commercial-free for its first few days under South Fraser Broadcasting, the operator behind suburban Richmond's CISL. Its original CRTC-authorized format was dance music, a genre commitment that set the tone for more than three decades of format changes on the same 95.3 frequency.
From 95 Crave to Virgin to Z95.3
The station rebranded as "95 Crave" in 2007, then later adopted the Virgin Radio name once Bell Media acquired the Canadian rights to that brand through its purchase of Astral Media. That left the frequency carrying the Virgin identity for several years, until Newcap Radio's 2014 acquisition of CKZZ and four other former Astral stations, a deal worth 112 million dollars approved by the CRTC that March.
A Rebrand Announced With a Pun
Because Bell kept the exclusive Canadian rights to the Virgin Radio name as part of the same transaction, Newcap had to drop it the moment the 112 million dollar sale closed on March 31, 2014. Rather than quietly swapping identities, the station revived its heritage Z95.3 branding and announced the change with a tagline that became local radio legend: "You can't stay a Virgin forever."
A Frequency That Keeps Reinventing Itself
Three names in under a decade, Virgin, Crave, Z95.3, on one Vancouver frequency says something about how aggressively Canadian commercial radio ownership has shifted over the past twenty years. Z95.3 has outlasted every corporate transaction it has been swept up in, now running a hot adult contemporary format for the Vancouver market under its original, cheekily reclaimed call letters.
Stream Z95.3 Free on Radio Shuffle
Tune in to Z95.3 on Radio Shuffle, no account, no app, no fee. Press play for Vancouver's hot adult contemporary station, three names and one very memorable rebrand pun later.