For ten years, New Country 89.1 has been bringing the newest and freshest country hits to the Niagara Region.
The station’s location on Forks Road in Welland was long home to CHOW, which broadcasted country music from 1975 until it was rebranded in 1999.
Country music on Niagara’s airwaves was nowhere to be found for years after that, until an application was submitted by Giant FM in 2013 to operate a new country station.
That’s when now-Assistant Program Director Eryk Trickett was hired. After approval for the country station in 2013, he and the others in the building got to work launching Country 89 on February 20th, 2015.
Trickett says this filled a gap in the Niagara radio landscape that many had been wanting to hear since CHOW took its country format off the air in the 90s.
Trickett says the station’s ability to adapt and change over the course of ten years has been a key contributor to its success.
In early 2023, the station rebranded from Country 89 to Niagara’s New Country 89.1 after it was purchased by Ontario-based broadcasting company My Broadcasting Corporation, which still owns it to this day.
President Jon Pole says there’s many that start listening every day.
Over the years hundreds of country artists, from locals playing at venues across Niagara, to world-renowned touring artists, have visited the station and performed live to listeners of New Country 89.1.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
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