A familiar voice is back on local morning radio as Kevin Oschefski helped kick off North Bay's newest FM station this morning.
CFCH-FM 90.5 launched using the century-old iconic call letters from Roy Thomson, Lord Thomson of Fleet. The former AM station had a long, rich, and storied history in this city.
See: New radio station reaches back in City history for iconic call letters
The first song played on the new CFCH was “Outlaws and Outsiders” the first gold-certified single by North Bay’s Cory Marks.
For Oschefski, hosting “The Kevin O Show,” marks a return to the morning slot after leaving Rogers Radio after a 20 year run there as an announcer and morning man for KiSS-FM, then a brief afternoon gig following that company's restructuring.
Oschefski told BayToday the move feels really good.
"Six months ago I didn't know if I'd ever be back on morning radio. There were changes that were made and so to find myself back here, it felt good this morning and I realized how much I enjoyed it. Maybe I took it a little bit for granted before, but when you're without it for a little while, you know, I really like doing that.
"I didn't love the alarm going off at 4:30," he laughed, "but I loved everything else about it."
Oschefski admits it's a big change, no just for him but also for his entire family.
"I have two young kids and it was like 'ok dad's going back to the old shift,' so at eight o'clock in the evening the house goes quiet, but they've been really good and you couldn't do this job if you didn't have a very understanding spouse and family because it affects all of them, these strange hours. But we talked it over and it was right for our family and we're all really excited about it."
The station has a country music format, and the initial reaction has been favourable he says.
"People are excited to be able to listen to country music again on the FM dial and a lot of people have been really great about welcoming me back to the mornings, which is really nice. So far so good."
Drew Ferris is hosting afternoons, returning to North Bay after a few years as morning host at Moose FM 99.3 in West Nipissing.
General Manager Peter Hobbs says the launch has been a long journey. “We are thrilled to be bringing back the iconic CFCH to North Bay.,” he explained. “I grew up listening to CFCH radio and it will be amazing to hear those historic call letters on the air once again in North Bay.”
Country 90.5 CFCH is owned by Canadian broadcast company Vista Radio which also owns Moose FM in North Bay and over 40 other radio stations and digital portals across the country.
