Trent Radio is producer-oriented, and features over 100 long-running and new programs from students and community members, operating over three seasons per year.

The station was founded in 1968 by Stephen Stohn (who is now a television producer of such series as Degrassi: The Next Generation), Christopher Ward (now a songwriter; work includes Alannah Myles' hit Black Velvet), and Peter Northrop.

In 1984, CFFF's first broadcast licence (applied for by one of Trent Radio's founding directors, John K. Muir)[1] was given approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate at 96.3 FM with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 30 watts.

[1] Following Muir's return to Trent Radio as General Manager in 1994, the station's frequency moved to 92.7 FM in 1997 with a protected ERP of 250 watts.

Because CRTC regulations require a campus radio station to be governed by the university it serves, the CRTC issued CFFF a new license on October 17, 2007, officially reclassifying it as a community radio station.