It is run by student volunteers and can be heard in Montreal and its outlying regions at 89.3 FM or by Internet users around the world through online streaming.

As early as 1970, Université de Montréal students developed the idea of a French college radio station.

In 1980, a requested feasibility study gave place to recommendations for a potential radio broadcasting school.

In July 1990, CISM gained its FM broadcast permit from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

With a broadcasting radius of 70 km (40 miles), CISM is now the world's largest French-language college radio station.