I always learn something new I didn't know about local radio history when scanning the archives, and here are two items that took me by surprise. We all know that CHIN AM & FM have been ethnic since the station signed on, boldly boasting about the number of languages it broadcasts in. 

But it apparently wasn't always that way. In 1967, the station said it was attracting younger listeners with a brief 25 min. show aimed right at their demo, this at a time when CHUM was king of the youth market and CKFH was just getting started chasing the same crowd. Consider turning on their FM station back then and hearing this:


But it didn't end there. If you think of country formats, CHIN is probably the last place that would come to mind. But an old CHUM veteran made a stab at changing that with a show that twanged the night away. I have no idea how long this lasted after it started in 1968, but it certainly must have been a surprise to its regular audience. When this ended, Fred "Moose Latreck" Snyder stayed with the station and became its production director. 


And I've published these before but on the subject of things you never expected to hear on CHIN, how about NHL Hockey? This is from 1992. I've never been entirely sure how it came about, although the clinching World Series Game 6 for the Jays against Atlanta was on Oct. 24th, and I'm guessing the broadcast rights holder needed a place to dump the Leafs for the night. The Oct. 29th one is anyone's guess. (I wonder if Joe Bowen is brushing up on his Italian and Cantonese, just in case?)