North Bay’s newest radio station goes live Tuesday morning.
And though the station is new, the call letters, CFCH, are nearly 100 years old.
CFCH first went live in 1931. Roy Thomson was the owner and operator ( he would later be known as “Lord Thomson of Fleet” and a media mogul).
Now, Vista Radio, the company owned by his granddaughter Sherry Brydson, is proud to bring back these legendary call letters to the North Bay area.
Peter Hobbs, General Manager for Vista Radio’s northern Ontario cluster, including CFCH, says the company is thrilled to be bringing the iconic CFCH back to North Bay.
“It was a long time in coming and plenty of hard work from the entire team at Vista Radio,” he said. “I grew up listening to CFCH radio and it will be amazing to hear those historic call letters on the air once again in North Bay.”
Hobbs adds getting to the point of preparing to launch a radio station during a pandemic was a team effort including Steph Larouche, Regional Cluster Program Director for Ontario Mid-North.
Larouche, who started his radio career at the original CFCH in the late 80s, spoke about the heart of CFCH 90.5 FM being a community focus.
“It’s been great to discover how many of our Vista colleagues from across the country, as well as listeners and social media visitors, have a connection to those heritage call letters CFCH,” said Larouche. ” The heartfelt memories being shared confirm what we already knew; people care about this city, they love what we are bringing back and that #LocalMatters.”
Bryan Edwards, Vista Radio President, says that this station has a legacy of determination.
“We are especially proud of how hard our North Bay staff worked to build and launch this station in the middle of a pandemic. It’s clear how important it is to our staff that this new local voice is heard throughout the community. CFCH 90.5 FM is a family-built radio station with music and programming perfect for everybody in the family and connections to the people and the city. We can’t wait for North Bay to listen,” said Edwards.
90.5 CFCH is owned by Canadian broadcast company Vista Radio. Vista Radio owns Moose FM in North Bay and over 40 other radio stations and digital portals across the country proudly serving local communities.
Tune in Tuesday as the station goes live at 7:30 am.
