[3] Ralph Snelgrove, the owner of CKBB (now known as CIQB-FM) was awarded a television license in 1954 by the CBC Board of Governors to operate in Barrie.

At 8:55 p.m., CKVR vice president and general manager Jack Mattenley went on the air in a live broadcast with a message of sympathy and words of gratitude to viewers.

CKVR broadcast extensive coverage of the storm's aftermath for several days, and spent that summer helping the people of Barrie recover and rebuild.

Thanks to the acquisition of Toronto's CITY-TV by CHUM in 1979, CKVR was (technically) part of a twinstick, and Citytv programming began to air in limited timeslots.

On September 1, 1995, CKVR ended its affiliation with the CBC and converted into an independent station as "The New VR", and began targeting its programming towards younger viewers.

As part of the relaunch, newscasts were overhauled to be similar in format to Toronto sister station CITY-TV, classic shows were dropped in favour of newer programs (including, among others, the syndicated Action Pack block, the short-lived newsmagazine Day and Date, and encore presentations of Citytv's original productions, like CityLine and MovieTelevision; cross-promotion between both stations also commenced), and the station became an official broadcaster of the Toronto Raptors NBA franchise (sharing coverage with Citytv).

[6] In February 2005, CHUM announced plans to consolidate the master control departments for CKVR, CFPL, CHRO, CHWI and CKNX at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto (which housed most of CHUM's television services including MuchMusic and CP24 and had also housed the operations for Toronto television station, CITY-TV at the time), and to consolidate the traffic and programming departments of the other stations at CFPL's facilities in London, resulting in the loss of approximately nine staff members from CKVR.

On the same day, the previous brand was transferred to the NewNet stations, resulting in CKVR rebranding under the A-Channel name.

Gray began to oversee CKVR and the other news departments; CHRO, CFPL, CKX-TV, CKNX-TV, CHWI and CIVI in Victoria, British Columbia.

[12][13] CKVR-DT presently broadcasts 9+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour-long show each weekday at 6 p.m., and half-hour shows at 11 p.m. on weekdays, and at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the lowest local newscast output out of any English-language television station in the Toronto market as a whole (of the English stations serving the immediate Toronto area, CBC O&O CBLT-DT produces the lowest newscast output with 11 hours each week).

The station currently produces a one-hour local news programs weeknights at 6 p.m., and half-hour programs nightly at 11 p.m., and on weekends at 6 p.m.[citation needed] During the station's CBC years, their newscasts were branded as CKVR Total News and featured a conventional newscast format.

During the station's latter years under CHUM ownership, CKVR simulcast the flagship Toronto edition of CITY-TV's morning program Breakfast Television, with local news inserts incorporated that focused on stories within the Barrie area.

[14][15] Evening co-anchor Lance Chilton resigned from the station on June 14, 2010, to work in the real estate industry.

The week culminated with a live broadcast of CTV News at 6 on October 2, 2015, from the Barrie waterfront, featuring staff and on-air personalities past and present.

The anniversary series examining the station's history was also rebroadcast as a half-hour special hosted by Tony Grace on December 28, 2015.

CKVR previously operated low-power rebroadcast transmitters in the communities of Parry Sound, Huntsville and Haliburton, respectively on VHF channels 11, 8 and 5.

On May 30, 2011, Bell Media announced plans to add a rebroadcast transmitter in Southern Ontario in 2012, to allow new advertising opportunities in the Toronto–Hamilton market.

An application was filed with the CRTC and Industry Canada on June 17, 2011, to allow for a digital repeater (CKVP-DT) on UHF channel 42 in Fonthill, serving Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and St. Catharines,[20] and a repeater (CHCJ-DT) on UHF channel 35 on CHCH-DT's tower, serving Hamilton, Oakville, Haldimand County, Caledonia, Brantford, Milton and Cambridge.

On May 17, 2012, Bell Media had announced to the CRTC that it was unable to negotiate a lease with Channel Zero, owners of CHCH (and its broadcast tower).

In addition to this technical amendment, the station's Hamilton transmitter is to be fed by fibre optic connection, instead of being satellite-fed, rendering it less susceptible to interference during thunderstorms.

These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace.

The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming.