CFQC-DT

CFQC-DT

City of license	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Branding	CTV Saskatoon
Slogan	"Your World at Home"
Channels	Digital: 8 (VHF) Virtual: 8.1 (PSIP)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	CTV (secondary 1969-1971, sole affiliate 1971-present)
Owner	Bell Media
First air date	December 5, 1954
Former callsigns	CFQC-TV (1954-2011)
Former channel number(s)	8 (Analog, 1954-2011)
Former affiliations	CBC (1954-1971)
Transmitter power	13 kW
Height	267.9 m
Transmitter coordinates	52°11′28″N 106°23′16″W / 52.19111°N 106.38778°W / 52.19111; -106.38778
Website	CTV Saskatoon

CFQC-DT (also commonly known as CTV Saskatoon) is a Canadian television station, serving Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The station is a CTV Television Network affiliate which (as of August, 2011) can be seen over-the-air on digital channel 8, on local cable and via satellite on Bell TV Channel 249 and Shaw Direct Channel 378 on Classic channel guide.

History

CFQC signed on the air in December, 1954, owned by the Murphy family along with CFQC radio. Initially a CBC affiliate, it started airing CTV programming in 1969, and became a full-time CTV affiliate in 1971 when the CBC put CBKST on the air.

In 1972 the station was purchased by Baton Broadcasting, owners of CTV's flagship station, CFTO-TV in Toronto. To preserve the "one owner/one vote" rule that governed the cooperative which owned CTV at the time, channel 8's shares were redistributed among the other station owner so that Baton still only had one vote out of eight. In 1986, Baton purchased CKCK-TV in Regina and CBC/CTV twinsticks in Yorkton and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Eventually, CFQC-TV became the centre of Baton's Saskatchewan operations. Baton bought controlling interest in CTV in 1997, making CFQC-TV a CTV owned and operated station.

In the past, it identified itself as CFQC, TV8, and (during much of the 1970s and 80s) QC8. Although currently known as simply 'CTV Saskatoon', per the current standard for CTV affiliates, many long-time viewers in central and northern Saskatchewan still know it as CFQC, QC or QC8. Its official name, CFQC-TV, changed to CFQC-DT in 2011 when it, along with other Canadian broadcasters, moved from analog to digital broadcast.

CFQC-TV's former logo (1998-2001).

The station also has rebroadcast transmitters in Stranraer and North Battleford.

The CFQC-DT newscast is also transmitted on CIPA-TV in Prince Albert since there is no local 6:00 or 11:30 news for the Prince Albert station.

Alumni of CFQC's news division include Keith Morrison, who went on to become the weekend anchor of the CTV National News before joining NBC, and Don Wittman, who became a sports commentator for the CBC. Children's TV host Helen Lumby also hosted a show at CFQC in her early career, before moving on to create Size Small. Dawna Friesen, after a stint at CFQC, furthered her career in US broadcast journalism before becoming anchor of Global Television's national newscast in 2010.

Newscaster Rob MacDonald and sports reporter Kevin Waugh are currently the two longest-serving on-air personalities, both of whom being part of CFQC since at least the late 1970s.

Radio station

The call letters CFQC were originally assigned to an AM radio station that began broadcasting in Saskatoon in 1923. From the 1950s-late 1980s it had the same ownership as the TV station, for a time sharing broadcast facilities and on-air personnel. By the late 1980s, CFQC Radio was no longer connected with its television counterpart and moved into its own studio facility. In 1995, the station moved to the FM dial where it became CFQC-FM or "Hot 93". In November 2007, the station changed its call letters to CKBL-FM and it adopted the branding "The Bull".

Transmitters

Station	City of licence	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Transmitter Coordinates
CFQC-TV-1	Stranraer	3 (VHF)	100 kW	268.1 m	51°40′55″N 108°30′48″W / 51.68194°N 108.51333°W / 51.68194; -108.51333 (CFQC-TV-1)
CFQC-TV-2	North Battleford	6 (VHF)	30.3 kW	178 m	52°45′31″N 108°33′57″W / 52.75861°N 108.56583°W / 52.75861; -108.56583 (CFQC-TV-2)

Digital television

The CFQC-TV analog signal permanently went off the air in Saskatoon at approximately 12:05 AM CST on August 31st, 2011. It was replaced a few minutes later by CFQC-DT on channel 8. The signal was switched over by long-time sports anchor Kevin Waugh and now-retired veteran CFQC broadcaster Greg Barnsley who had been involved with CFQC when it first went on the air. With the use of PSIP, digital television receivers are supposed to display CFQC-DT's virtual channel as 8.1 for HDTV.

Current on-air staff

• Trish Cheveldayoff, Jeff Rogstad - News at Noon Co-Anchors
• Rob MacDonald & Chantel Huber - News at Six Co-Anchors
• Mike Ciona - Weather Anchor CTV Morning Live (October 31,2011)
• Veronica Jubinville - CTV Morning Live Co-Anchor (October 31,2011)
• Chris Carr - CTV Morning Live Co-Anchor (October 31,2011)
• Tara Yolan - CTV Morning Live Reporter (October 31,2011)
• Mark Rogstad, Jennifer Jellicoe, Bob Simpson, Craig Wilson, (On-field Reporters)
• Jeff Rogstad (Weather)
• Kevin Waugh
• Matt Young - Anchor
• Bob Simpson (Farmgate Host)
• Nelson Bird (Indigenous Circle Host)

External links

• CTV Saskatoon
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CFQC-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CFQC-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CFQC