It formerly utilized an FM rebroadcaster at 91.9 MHz, CHIN-1-FM, originally used to fill in reception gaps in parts of Greater Toronto; CHIN-1-FM now broadcasts a separate schedule of ethnic programming, no longer simulcasting CHIN .

Toronto broadcaster Johnny Lombardi and lawyer and North York mayor James Ditson Service signed on the station in 1966.

[4] Both stations are licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to carry a schedule of programs in numerous languages aimed at Toronto's many ethnic groups.

[7] Lombardi was summoned to appear before the CRTC in 1970, after a Serbian-language programme aired on CHIN, calling for the assassination of Yugoslavia's consul in Toronto.

[8] Due to this incident, and other issues, the CRTC refused to renew CHIN's license and ordered the station off the air by the end of the year.

With that pact, the CRTC authorized CHIN to broadcast 24 hours a day from a new transmitter with a directional pattern that better protects KXEL from interference.

[16][17] On November 28, 2016, Radio 1540 Limited applied to operate a separate originating FM station under CHIN-1-FM's current technical parameters, specifically, at frequency 91.9 MHz with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 1,850 watts (maximum ERP of 5,000 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 86 metres).

It also aired Albanian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Filipino, German, Hebrew, Irish, Italian, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian and Yoruba programming on Saturdays and Sundays.

[24] On February 10, 2016, CHIN stopped carrying "China Radio International" in late night hours and replaced it with dance music-formatted programming originating from internet broadcaster "DJFM Toronto".