CHYR-FM

CHYR-FM is a Canadian radio station, which airs at 96.7 FM in Leamington, Ontario. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format branded as Mix 96.7.

History

710AM CJSP/Cheer Radio

The station was launched in 1955 by Sun Parlor Broadcasting at 710 AM, as a daytimer with a 250 watt transmitter, using the callsign CJSP. The principal shareholders in Sun Parlour Broadcasting were Al Bruner, John Garton Sr., Lou Tomasi and Art Gadd. The station increased its power to 1,000 watts in 1960. The "SP" in the call sign stood for "Sun Parlour," a nickname for the Leamington/southern Essex County region of Ontario.

In 1967, the station adopted its current callsign, and received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to broadcast at nighttime; due to clear channel rules, the station remained on 710 during the day, but shifted to 730 at night. The switch in frequency was called fine tuning time and was accompanied by a Lou Tomasi voiced 60-second audio bed series of varying-pitched beeps which helped the listener re-tune (hopefully) to the station where they would be told "you're back on the beam with Cheer Radio". The station also used a different callsign, CHIR, but retained the same Cheer branding. During its years of operation on two frequencies, the station had two licenses, one for each call sign. In 1968, the station was sold to Rogers Communications although Sun Parlour Broadcasting continued to operate as a separate subsidiary.