50,000 WATTS: THE POWERFUL BIG 8 ‘SOUND’ OF CKLW!

CKLW Audio Collage (MCRFB A)

THE ‘CK SOUNDS THAT WAS THE BIG 8! * CKLW-AM 800 * Windsor/Detroit

CKLW. THE BIG 8.

The Drake-formatted station that changed the radio landscape here in Detroit forever. Beginning in the late-1960s into the early-1970s, CKLW held the NUMBER ONE spot on the AM radio dial in the Motor City, and also well outside its boundaries (into Ohio). The power that was radio.

With it’s massive, transmitted 50,000-watt blowtorch of a signal, the BIG 8 sound was heard in 28 states and spanned over three Canadian provinces.  At one time, CKLW was ranked the third most listened to radio station in North America.

As you listen to this CKLW audio collage we are reminded again why this station went on to become the most dominant and influential force for Top 40 radio in Detroit and across North America in the 1970s.

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