CHTN went on air in Charlottetown on December 25, 1974, Christmas Day, and its very first broadcast was a recording of the "Island Hymn," Prince Edward Island's own provincial anthem. It was an unusually local way to launch a station, and more than fifty years and several ownership changes later, the signal still carries a distinctly PEI identity under its current name, Ocean 100.
A Station That Started Underpowered
CHTN's launch was almost quietly anticlimactic. Licensed to Northumberland Broadcasting Co. Ltd. on 1190 kHz, the station actually began broadcasting with just 1,000 watts rather than its authorized 10,000, according to Canadian broadcasting history records, and did not reach full power until February 1975. It then bounced through several private owners, A.K. Scales and J.F. Morris in 1977, Wayne MacArthur taking majority control in 1982, before passing to Newfoundland Capital Corporation in 1986 after MacArthur's death, the ownership group that would steer it for decades.
Surviving on a Shared Signal
CHTN's toughest stretch came in the 1990s, when financial hardship pushed it into a Local Marketing Agreement with rival Maritime Broadcasting System that ran from 1994 to 2005, consolidating facilities with its own competitor just to stay afloat. The CRTC eventually ordered the two broadcasters to separate operations, and CHTN surrendered its AM licence entirely, moving to its current FM home at 100.3 MHz on July 5, 2006, becoming 100.3 The Ocean with a classic hits format built around 70s and 80s staples.
Growing Back Across the Island
Since that FM relaunch, the station has expanded its reach with repeater transmitters covering eastern and western Prince Edward Island, rebuilding the province-wide coverage that its earlier AM-era struggles had put at risk. Stingray Digital Group took over ownership in October 2018 and kept the Ocean 100 branding intact, a rare case of a new corporate owner leaving a decades-old local identity alone rather than rebranding it into a national template.
Stream Ocean 100 Free on Radio Shuffle
Tune in to Ocean 100 on Radio Shuffle, no account, no app, no fee. Press play and hear a station that has carried Charlottetown's own soundtrack since a Christmas Day launch in 1974.