Vancouver's 102.7 the Peak has returned to airwaves following a nearly two-year hiatus, parent company Pattison Media announced on Friday (June 7).
In July 2022, the long-running alternative rock radio station pivoted to top 40 and pop classics, rebranding as NOW!radio — a leader in Edmonton's listener ratings — at CKPK-FM. Meanwhile, the Peak remained available through streaming in the HD2 FM format, which requires a receiver that interprets a digitized signal.
The station also initially retained some of its original announcers — but they were laid off after six months when the experiment failed to gain traction. Now, Jaclyn Tatay, who hosted middays on NOW!radio is being heard in mornings on the Peak, with former NOW! swing personality Brayden Mack hosting the afternoon drive.
"Pattison Media is excited to announce that after a two-year detour and some valuable lessons learned, the Peak is back at 102.7 FM as Vancouver's original alternative radio station," the parent company said in a press release.
Program Director Russell James added, "The Peak's audience, even though they could only hear us on our stream and HD2 signal, has been impressively dedicated. So many people discovered their new favourite song playing for the first time on 102.7 FM and we want to continue that discovery on the radio and showcasing new bands in the Peak Live Lounge!"
As per the Vancouver Sun, the Peak had a 3.0 market share prior to its HD2 transition, appealing particularly to women 25 to 54 (6.1 percent share) and men in that same age bracket (5.4 percent share). With music by women still vastly underrepresented in Canadian radio, hopefully programmers will follow listeners' lead! The Peak General Manager Mark Patric told the Sun that commercial breaks will be limited to two minutes per hour of music.