The show would eventually grow into programs such as Meet the Professors, and Hit Tunes DJ Series along with drama club presentations of radio plays such as Sorry, Wrong Number.

Classical and easy listening music was piped into student lounges and common areas while the station itself became a popular gathering place, hosting several concerts.

When MacEwan Hall was built in 1967, the radio club negotiated space and financing from the U of C Students' Union (SU) to build a state of the art studio in the basement.

The project coordinator at the time Mark Sikstrom, who now works at CTV as the Executive Producer of ctv.ca, called the station's format "Progressive Middle of the Road," which would eventually become the FM commercial radio standard.

In an attempt to alleviate financial difficulties, the station applied to the CRTC for a commercial FM license with the call letters CJSW.

After years of conflict with the Students' Union over programming policy and budget, the SU secretly voted to shut CJSW down without notice to the station's management and membership nor the university community.

Tipped off to the SU's treachery, station manager Allen Baekeland slept in the studio, unbeknownst to campus officials and the locksmiths sent to perform the midnight shuttering.

On the morning of 15 April 1980, he got up and switched on the station as usual, making a point of turning the roof speakers atop MacEwan Hall up full while playing the Pete Seeger song "We Shall Overcome".

In August 1983, under station manager Grant Burns, CJSW incorporated as a non-profit society in the province of Alberta (as the University of Calgary Student Radio Society—UCSRS), and on 18 November 1983 filed its application with the CRTC for a Class A FM license.

The license was granted by the CRTC on 6 September 1984,[2] and CJSW officially became Calgary's 9th FM station on January 15, 1985 (40 years ago) (1985-01-15), with the airing of the Talking Heads song "Once In A Lifetime".

The new broadcast booth in Room 312 came online on 13 October 2009, at approximately 2:15 PM MDT, during the show My Allergy to the Fans, hosted by station manager Chad Saunders (who had shepherded the negotiations, construction, and move).

The funding drives have contributed to significant changes in the station, including a text-in service for listeners in 2015, the McHugh house (Downtown) venue for all ages concerts, and in 2017 'CJSW in the Wild"- live broadcasting capabilities.

[3] This extraordinary success has made CJSW a model for other campus and community broadcasters across the country, and the station shares its experience and knowledge with those peers wishing to solidify their finances and public profile.

Other programs with considerable longevity include Level the Vibes, The Nocturntable, Tombstone After Dark, DNA, Remote Emissions, Alternative to What, The Rage Cage, The Failed Pilot, The Blues Witness, Attention Surplus Disorder, The Spin Evolution, and Katharsis.

[9] In September 1983, under the editorship of station manager Grant Burns and Shelley Youngblut (later to helm The Calgary Herald's entertainment weekly magazine Swerve) the station printed and distributed the first issue of VOX magazine, a monthly publication containing a program guide, music reviews and interviews, and features on local and independent bands.

The rooftop speakers that were installed in 1967 were temporarily shut off in 1985 when the lyrics of the Romeo Void song "Never Say Never" proved too offensive for those in the third floor chaplains' office.