CHSU-FM is a Canadian

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, broadcasting at 99.9 FM in

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ' ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

. The station currently broadcasts a CHR/Top 40

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 informatio ...

branded as ''99.9

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

''.

History

CHSU traces its origins to 1995 when the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 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 broadcast ...

(CRTC) granted Four Seasons Radio Ltd. a new FM licence for the Kelowna market offering

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, ...

. The stations initial call letters were CKBL and its branding was ''99.9 The Bullet''. It signed on in October 1995, and was the sister station of CKIQ, a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

/ talk station on the AM band that was owned by Four Seasons Radio Ltd. as well. In 1996, Okanagan Skeena Radio Group Ltd. acquired a number of stations in the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is par ...

market when it bought out Four Seasons' parent company. One year later, in 1997, ''99.9 Sun FM'' replaced "The Bullet" by offering a hot

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, quie ...

format. Its call letters were changed to CHSU-FM as well. Simultaneously, CKIQ changed its call letters to CKBL, which meant the Kelowna market lost a

/ talk station leaving cross-town competitor CKOV (since early 2010, an FM station with the call letters CKQQ) as the sole station offering that format. CKBL continued to offer

on the rebranded ''1150 AM The Bullet''. In 1999,

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. CKA ...

acquired Okanagan Skeena Radio Group Ltd. along with other radio assets across the country. In 2002, Standard Broadcasting acquired Telemedia's radio assets. Standard later sold some stations in other provinces to various companies but it has retained its

stations and CHSU continues to operate with the same format and branding. In October 2007,

Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channels ...

acquired Standard Broadcasting's terrestrial radio and television assets, including CHSU. Astral was in turn acquired by

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

. On October 3, 2019, CHSU dropped its long-time "Sun" branding and relaunched as ''99.9

''.

Rebroadcasters

References

External links

99.9 Virgin Radio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chsu-Fm Hsu Hsu Hsu Virgin Radio Radio stations established in 1997 1997 establishments in British Columbia