The station first aired on January 14, 1962 and has been owned by the Simard family for its entire existence. Station founder Luc Simard had gotten word that CJBR-TV in Rimouski wanted to set up a rebroadcaster in Rivière-du-Loup, but felt the city was big enough for a station in its own right. It operated mostly as a repeater of CFCM-TV in Quebec City for its first two weeks on the air. Its original studio, near the transmitter in Picard, opened on February 9. The station went dark due to a fire in 1963, but was only off the air for nine days.