The station was given approval by the CRTC on July 8, 1996 to operate a new christian music FM station at 99.1 MHz in Ottawa. CHRI was launched on Easter Sunday 30 March 1997 by Christian Hit Radio Inc.
CHRI's studios are located in the Ottawa South area. The main transmitter is located in Greely, Osgoode Township.
The station also has rebroadcasters in the following communities:
Although CHRI-FM is clearly not a publicly traded company (ministry based), management (Bill Stevens, Brock Tozer, Dianne Van Der Putten) still report to a board of directors.
CHRI-FM has a general manager, traffic manager, ministry director, an accountant, a promotions coordinator, sales representatives, a fund-raiser, a producer, a handful of paid disc jockeys, and several volunteer disc jockeys, along with many volunteers from the community.
CHRI-FM are also supporters of Compassion Canada and World Vision.