CHMT-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 93.1 FM in

Timmins, Ontario Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ex ...

, Canada. Owned by

Vista Radio Vista Radio Ltd. (also formerly known as Vista Broadcast Group) is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. The company only owned stations in British Columbia until 2007, when it expanded outside the province by acquiring an existing station in Ye ...

, it broadcasts a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

branded as ''Country 93.1'', "Timmins' Best Country". The Haliburton Broadcasting Group was licensed by the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

in February 2001 to open up a new English-language commercial FM radio station in Timmins Ontario. The station originally launched in 2001 as an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

station branded as ''Mix 93''. Some current

hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qui ...

/ CHR singles were dayparted into the evening and overnight periods. However, around the same time as CHMT's launch in 2001,

Telemedia Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing. The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, when he purchased CKAC in Montreal from Power Corporation of Canada. CK ...

moved the competing

CKGB CKGB-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format at 99.3 FM in Timmins, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand ''KiSS 99.3'' and is owned by Rogers Sports & Media. History The station was launched in late ...

to FM as well as flipping that station's format from

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

to AC. CHMT briefly responded by playing at least one country song an hour; eventually, amid competition between the two stations for audience share and advertising revenue, CHMT adopted the

Moose FM The Haliburton Broadcasting Group was a Canadian group of FM radio stations, located primarily in smaller markets in Ontario. The company was purchased by Vista Broadcast Group in 2012.country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format in 2002. In 2005, Haliburton Broadcasting group received a license for a new FM radio station at 106.3 in North Bay, for which they proposed a format based on that of CHMT. The station launched in 2006 under the call letters CFXN. On March 13, 2006, after a day of stunting in which it played entirely

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

music, the station dropped country music for an adult hits format as "Timmins' best of whatever, The Moose 93.1 FM." On April 5, 2011, Haliburton Broadcasting applied to the CRTC to increase CHMT-FM's signal from 3,600 to 16,400 watts, by increasing the effective height of antenna above average terrain from 75.8 to 95 metres, and by changing its class from A to B1. This was approved on June 3, 2011. On April 23, 2012

Vista Broadcast Group Vista Radio Ltd. (also formerly known as Vista Broadcast Group) is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. The company only owned stations in British Columbia until 2007, when it expanded outside the province by acquiring an existing station in Ye ...

, which owns a number of radio stations in western Canada, announced a deal to acquire Haliburton Broadcasting, in cooperation with Westerkirk Capital. The transaction was approved by the CRTC on October 19, 2012. On May 20, 2022, at 8:00 am eastern time, the station switched its programming from a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...

format, into a country music style of broadcasting, rebranding as 'Country 93.1'. The first song played on 'Country 93.1' was "

Play Something Country "Play Something Country" is a song recorded by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn, co-written by Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride. It was released in June 2005, as the first single from the duo's album '' Hillbilly Deluxe''. In September of t ...

" by

Brooks and Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo ...

. The Return of Country to Timmins Radio
''Milkman Unlimited'', May 20, 2022

References

External links

Country 93.1
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chmt-Fm Hmt Hmt Hmt Radio stations established in 2001 2001 establishments in Ontario