Bob Todd, The Big 8 CKLW Windsor (Detroit) | 1967

800 Windsor CKLW iHeartRadio





Bob Todd on “The Big 8” – RKO General’s monster Canadian radio station!

It’s been said that Bill Drake’s ‘More Music” format arrived at CKLW in 1966. Here’s the Big 8 in all it’s Drake goodness with the formatics intact.

Listen to this and imagine a Summer afternoon somewhere in Ontario or Michigan/Northern Indiana/Northwest Ohio… the signal does travel that far! There’s some thunderstorm activity somewhere in the region based upon the static crashes, and this is a daytime signal evident by the lack of fading. Well, this is how CKLW sounded like in it’s prime! This was a monster station, marketed to the U.S. side of the international border, at a time before Canadian Content rules dictated station current playlists.


This is a very clean, clear recording. We once again point out the care with which Contributor Frank Davis maintained his tape collection! We and history thank him greatly!

You can learn about the current incarnation of CKLW by clicking HERE.