CHNS was Nova Scotia's first radio station,
signing on the air on May 12, 1926, originally on 930 AM. In 1930, it switched to 910 but switched back to 930 four years later. In 1941, it switched to 960. It was the host of
Canadian National Railway radio "phantom station" CNRH until that network was disbanded. CHNS was an
affiliate of the
Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission from 1933 to 1936 when the network became the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It acted as a CBC outlet until 1945 when
CBH was launched as a CBC-owned station. CHNS then became an affiliate of the CBC's
Dominion Network until 1960. From the 1940s to the 1980s, CHNS employed personalities who would go on to become some of Canada's top broadcasters, including
Knowlton Nash,
Mike Duffy,
Stan Carew and
Ian Hanomansing. CHNS had an intense
Top 40 ratings war with rival station
CJCH during the 1970s. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the station played an
adult contemporary format. In February 1992, it flipped to
oldies, branding itself
Oldies 96 CHNS. It was among a handful of AM stations broadcasting in
C-QUAM stereo. The station received
CRTC approval to move to FM in April 2006. It moved to its current frequency at 89.9 FM in July of that year, adopting a
classic rock format as
89.9 HAL FM. CHNS was given permission to simulcast the FM programming for 90 days on the AM signal. On October 19, 2006, the AM signal was
shut down, putting an end to 80 years of broadcasting on the AM dial. The old transmitter house was demolished in 2008. On August 30, 2013, at 8 a.m., CHNS-FM flipped to
classic hits, branded as
89.9 The Wave. The move came 4 days after
CKUL-FM flipped to
Adult Album Alternative. (CKUL-FM is now an
adult contemporary music station.) Every weekend, CHNS plays vintage
American Top 40 countdown shows hosted by
Casey Kasem, one from the 1980s every Saturday morning, and one from the 1970s every Sunday morning. Sister stations
CKPE-FM in
Sydney,
CKTO-FM in
Truro, Nova Scotia,
CFQM-FM in
Moncton,
CIKX-FM in
Grand Falls, New Brunswick,
CJCJ-FM in
Woodstock, New Brunswick,
CKBC-FM in
Bathurst, New Brunswick and
CJYC-FM in
Saint John also do this.
Shortwave relay CHNS programming was also heard on
shortwave radio. It first
simulcast on 6.110 MHz beginning in 1931 on experimental
shortwave relay station VE9HX. The station was listened to around the world when it carried live coverage of the
Moose River mine disaster in 1936. Five-minute long hourly updates by CHNS reporter J. Frank Willis were relayed over CHNX for five days and were listened to worldwide and simulcast over 650 radio stations in
North America. The broadcasts were carried across Canada over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as well as stations across the
United States and the
BBC. It was the first live 24-hour radio coverage of a breaking news story in Canada. In 1937, the shortwave station was assigned the call letters
CHNX. By the mid-1990s, due to problems with the aging shortwave transmitter, power had been reduced from 500 watts to 40 to 70 watts. The station went off the air in 2000 due to transmitter failure, but returned following repairs. It went off the air permanently in 2001 as station owner Maritime Broadcasting was unwilling to invest in a new transmitter. ==References==