CHQM

People - Jon Pearkins

For details of my short career in Radio, click here. For the beginnings of an autobiography, starting with CHQM, click here.

1320 in my Life

Wherever I go, 1320 seems to follow me. 1320, of course, was the AM frequency (KHz) for CHQM, the first radio station where I had paid employment, though I did work my first two weeks for free, but that is another story.

Exactly four months before my first day at CHQM, the station was off the air for transmitter maintenance, after midnight Sunday night, making it Monday morning, February 15, 1971. And I was listening to KCPX-1320 in Salt Lake City, as they played a new song by a new artist that I still enjoy today: "Nothing Rhymed" by Gilbert O'Sullivan. Don't be surprised if you've never heard it, as it peaked at #114 and Bubbled Under for one week, March 6, 1971, on the Billboard Hot 100. I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the single in the throw-out pile at CHQM after I started working there. I still have it.

My first job after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science was with the Government of the Northwest Territories in Yellowknife in 1974. Their address was Box 1320, Yellowknife.

From 1978 to 1982, I worked for one of the largest engineering consulting firms in Western Canadian, peaking at 775 staff. My employee number was 1320.

I worked at Workers' Compensation Board - Alberta in 1977-78, rejoining in March 2003 and retiring January 2007. For the first few weeks (March 2003), my cubicle was right next to cubicle C1320.