CHAY-FM is a Canadian radio station in Barrie, Ontario broadcasting at 93.1 FM. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format using its on-air brand name as 93.1 Fresh Radio. The station is owned by Corus Entertainment which also owns sister station CIQB-FM as well as other Corus radio stations across Canada.

History[edit]

CHAY-FM signed on with a beautiful music format on May 21, 1977, but changed to more of an adult contemporary format the following decade with the decline of beautiful music on FM radio. The station initially broadcast from a 1,000 foot tower just south of Barrie that it shared with local television station CKVR-TV. Later that year, on September 27, a small plane crashed into the tower, destroying the building and killing everyone on board. Toronto station CHIN-FM assisted CHAY in temporarily restoring its signal until the tower was replaced one year later.

In 1989, CHAY-FM moved from a traditional easy listening format to more of a mainstream adult contemporary format. Throughout the transition period, the station continued to attract an audience of a quarter million listeners per week.

On October 15, 2000, CHAY-FM flipped from adult contemporary to a contemporary hit radio format as "Energy 93.1" simulcasting some programming from its sister station CING-FM in Burlington, Ontario. By 2003, the station returned to its adult contemporary format as The New CHAY 93.1 FM, in 2008 the station was rebranded to FM96 "Barrie's Fresh Music Mix" but kept the same adult contemporary format.

On March 11, 2011, the station flipped to an adult hits format as "CHAY 93.1 FM"; by summer 2014, the station moved back to an upbeat mainstream adult contemporary format.

On May 15, 2015, CHAY-FM re-branded under Corus's Fresh Radio brand as "93.1 Fresh Radio" with a hot adult contemporary format, after the station's rebranding, CHAY-FM became the eighth Corus radio station to adopt the "Fresh Radio" branding. ^[1]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• History on CHAY 93.1 FM from the Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CHAY-FM

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Coordinates: 44°26′10″N 79°43′47″W / 44.4361°N 79.7298°W / 44.4361; -79.7298