[1] The station originally owned by Gordon W. Burnett's "Wellport Broadcasting Ltd." and was launched in June 1957 as CHOW (known on-air as "C-How,") located at 1470 kHz on the AM dial.

In 1990, the CRTC denied Wellport Broadcasting's application for a new FM station at Port Colborne.

[1] In 1992, the CRTC once again denied Wellport's application for a new FM radio station at Port Colborne.

[5] The following year, CHOW switched to an adult hits format, adopting its the CIXL call sign and branding.

In late August 2008, the station adopted its current classic rock format, but retained the "Giant FM" branding.

On December 9, 2013, R.B Communications Ltd., the owner of CIXL, submitted an application to operate a new country music station at Welland at 89.1 MHz.