CKON-FM

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CKON-FM

City of license	Akwesasne
Branding	97.3 CKON
Slogan	The More Music, More Often Station
First air date	September 29, 1984
Frequency	97.3 MHz (FM)
Format	country music
ERP	250 watts (unofficial)
Callsign meaning	Reference to "sekon", the Mohawk word for "hello".
Owner	Akwesasne Communication Society
Website	http://www.ckonfm.com/

CKON-FM is a radio station located in Akwesasne, a Mohawk nation territory that straddles the Canada-United States border (and also, on the Canadian side, the interprovincial border between Quebec and Ontario).

The station broadcasts on 97.3 MHz and is owned and operated by the Akwesasne Communication Society, a community-based non-profit group. ^[1] It has a country music format, but also has adult contemporary music during evenings and oldies on Sundays. CKON-FN broadcasts in English, and while it used to have some programming in Kanien'keha (i.e., the "Mohawk language"), ^[2] this appears to have been discontinued. ^[3]

The call sign CKON is a reference to the Mohawk word "sekon" (or "she:kon"), which means "hello" in English. ^[4]

While the station uses a call sign that would give the impression of being a licenced Canadian station, according to an article from the Canadian Journal of Communication, it is not, ^[5] and there is indeed no record whatsoever of the station being licenced by the CRTC, or, for that matter, by the FCC, its American equivalent. (The call sign CKON is however not listed as an available call sign as of this writing, ^[6] despite the absence of any other station using that call sign, ^[7] which may reflect an unofficial acknowledgement of the station by the CRTC. ^[8]) As such, official technical information about the station is unavailable; however, the station is reported to use 250 watts of effective radiated power, ^[9] and its transmitter site is reported as being located on the Canadian side of the border, ^[10] and more exactly in St. Regis (part of the Quebec portion of the reserve). ^[11] The station is licenced by a proclamation from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation ^[12] given via the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. ^[13]

CKON-FM went on the air on September 29, 1984. The station's studios are located in the Akwesasne Communication Society Building; that building is itself on both sides of the international border, with part of it being in Hogansburg, New York, and part of it in St. Regis, Quebec. ^[14]