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CHPQ-FM
Parksville, British Columbia;
Broadcast area	Parksville; Qualicum Beach
Frequency	99.9 MHz (FM)
Branding	The Lounge 99.9
Programming
Format	Adult standards/classic hits
Ownership
Owner	Jim Pattison Group; (Island Radio);
History
First air date	January 2, 1995 (rebroadcaster of CKWV-FM); February 11, 2005 (separate station)
Former call signs	CKWV-FM-1 (1995–2005)
Call sign meaning	Coombs Hilliers Parksville Qualicum Beach
Technical information
Class	A
ERP	horizontal polarization only:; 1.1 kWs average; 2.1 kWs peak
HAAT	114 meters (374 ft)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	thelounge999.com

CHPQ-FM (The Lounge 99.9) is a Canadian radio station operating in Parksville, British Columbia at 99.9 FM. Island Radio, a division of the Jim Pattison Group, owns the station.

History

The roots of CHPQ can be traced indirectly back to Parksville's first radio station (now CIBH-FM), which also used the call sign CHPQ (which stood for Coombs, Hilliers, Parksville and Qualicum Beach); that station first went on the air on December 3, 1973 as a semi-satellite of Nanaimo station CHUB (owned by Nanaimo Broadcasting Co.), operating at 1370 AM with 1000 watts of power.

The current station got its start when, in 1994, Benchmark Ventures (which bought CHPQ and CHUB from Nanaimo Broadcasting in 1986) merged with Central Island Broadcasting Ltd. (later Island Radio), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted CHUB permission to move to 102.3 FM (as CKWV) and to place a rebroadcaster in Parksville (CKWV-FM-1) at 99.9 FM. The switch took effect on January 2, 1995.^[1]

On January 19, 2005, Central Island Broadcasting changed its corporate name to Island Radio, reflecting its expanded presence on Vancouver Island (with the addition of Courtenay station CKLR-FM and the acquisition of CJAV in Port Alberni). On February 11 that year, Parksville's CKWV-FM-1 ceased rebroadcasting CKWV and became a separate station catering to the residents of Parksville and Qualicum Beach, assuming CIBH's original call sign of CHPQ and broadcasting a combined format of middle of the road and easy listening music. Some station IDs for CHPQ are announced via voice-tracking by late American disc jockey and voice actor Gary Owens. CHPQ has since transitioned to a mixed adult standards/classic hits format.

The sale to Jim Pattison

On November 1, 2005, the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, a division of the Jim Pattison Group, and Island Radio Ltd. announced that Island Radio had agreed to sell its six radio stations (including CHPQ) to the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group; following CRTC approval, Pattison assumed ownership of the Island Radio stations at midnight on June 30, 2006.