Tonight's the night for CFRY's 60th-anniversary party. Station Manager Paul Harland says it's been a great run so far.

Paul Harland"We're going to be reminiscing and people who have won tickets can come down to listen to some entertainment. It will also be broadcast live. We have some local bands playing, and we're going to be giving some prizes. We are giving away a trip to Nashville to go to the Grand Ole Opry. It's a very significant milestone, 60 years is a long time, and we've been fortunate enough to have a lot of great partners along the way including staff and the business community. It's just been a tremendous run here. We're glad to be able to in the community and celebrate 60 years on Saturday. We're going to have Kendra Kay, Loose Unit -- a local band from Portage and Brennan's Bounty. There will be some fiddling music as well. It's going to be kind of a mixed bag, with lots of fun and lots of entertainment."

Program director Ryan Simpson's been with the station for almost as half the time as the 's been alive.

(L-R) Ryan Simpson & Chris Thorsteinson of Doc Walker"There are a couple of stations in Manitoba that are older, but none of those stations have been country stations right from the get-go. So, we like to call ourselves Manitoba's longest running country music station. The AM stations are becoming few and far between, but we are pretty proud of our history. And we're still very excited about our future. We thought it would be a reason to throw a party. I was doing the math the other day. I think I have to be here for another five to six years and I'll be here for half of the time the station has been open. I'm coming up close to 30 years. I'm not at the halfway point yet, but it will get to that point."

Simpson notes some of the people who will be there.

"We're pretty excited. Obviously, lots of people have spread out, not only across Manitoba, but Canada and around the world. Many of the early people have passed on, because that's 60 years ago. A DJ from the day that the station opened in 1956 is going to be joining us. And quite a few of the former staff members that are still in the area are going to be there as well."

He notes a historical event occurred when CFRY was broadcast over the AM and FM at the same time in a simulcast.

"This happened in the 90's. For about 20 years CFRY simulcast on AM and FM. What that meant was the exact same thing that went on the AM dial was broadcast on the FM dial. That had never been done before. Red Hughes was the man behind that. He recognized in the 90's that FM did have a clearer sound, but he certainly wanted to honour the heritage of the AM station. He applied for a unique license at that point. He kind of wanted both. He wanted to catch the new wave, but keep the AM signal which is so huge in our province. And they granted him that. That was the first and I think it's only happened a couple of times since. "

Simpson recounts some of his highlights with CFRY.

"There's been so many. I had done some part-time work in radio before I came here. But being the very first job I had full-time I actually still remember sitting in the studio on Saskatchewan Avenue for my very first day, remember the very first song that I played from Conway Twitty. At that time I wasn't necessarily a huge country music fan, but I'd come to be involved with the sports broadcast and the Portage Terriers. Some of my best broadcast memories are some of their big wins that I happened to be there for. I met so many tremendous people over the years and have been involved with so many great events that I don't know if there would be any one highlight that would stick out. From Garth Brooks to country stars, but beyond that, I think it's just the local people that I've been able to meet. I've talked to a lot of people that live in Portage and surrounding area and that's awesome. This job sort of allowed me to do that. It's been an open window to be part of those events and meet so many great people. I think that probably stands out just as much as the famous people."

He adds, "As far as 60 years, without all of the local partners that we've had, whether it be the businesses and things like that, the charities, the service groups and all of the listeners, it doesn't happen without them."