CHEK-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = CHEK-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Your Island's Own
station_branding = CHEK News
analog = 6 (VHF)
digital = "allocated 43 (UHF)"
other_chs = see below
affiliations = E!
network =
airdate = December 1, 1956
location = Victoria, British Columbia
callsign_meaning = CHE(C)K
former_callsigns = CKTV ("prior to launch")
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Canwest Global Communications Corporation
licensee = Canwest Media, Inc.
sister_stations = CHAN-TV
former_affiliations = CBC (1956-1981)
CTV (1963-2001, secondary until 1981)
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW
HAAT = 496.2 m
coordinates = coord|48|46|27|N|123|10|15|W|type:landmark_region:CA
homepage = [http://www.cheknews.ca/ CHEK News]

CHEK-TV is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia. Broadcasting to all of southwestern British Columbia (including Vancouver), the station is a member of the E! system owned by Canwest. It broadcasts on channel 6.

CHEK-TV can be heard at 87.7 MHz on FM radios, though at a slightly lower volume than other FM stations - due to technical reasons.

History

CHEK was British Columbia's first private television station, signing on the air as a CBC affiliate on December 1, 1956 (the station was to have used the call letters CKTV, but changed to the present calls prior to launch). The station was originally owned by David Armstrong, who already owned local radio station CKDA. The station began to air some CTV programs in September 1963, and became a full-time CTV affiliate on January 5, 1981, when Vancouver CBC station CBUT launched repeater stations at Sooke and Mount McDonald. It was the only local television station on Vancouver Island before CHUM Limited's CIVI ("The New VI") launched in October 2001.

In 1963, CHEK was purchased by local businessman Frank Griffiths, who also owned CHAN-TV (BCTV) in Vancouver. For the first few years following CHAN's purchase of the station, CHEK's schedule consisted primarily of simulcasts of CHAN programming and some of CBUT's CBC network shows, in addition to airing local productions and syndicated programs not aired on CHAN, before starting to time-shift network shows sometime in the late-1960s/early-1970s; also, during most of the dual affiliation era, CHEK would air CBC programs in the afternoon and in prime-time while running CTV shows like "University of the Air" and "Canada AM" in the morning (simulcast with CHAN), but starting around the 1978-79 season, gradually began adding more CTV shows in prime-time (time-shifted from CHAN) until the disaffiliation from CBC in 1981.

In 1972, CHEK, which had simulcast CHAN's "News Hour" since the Griffiths purchase (and would continue to do so until 2001), began producing its own news program, "Vancouver Island News Hour", airing at 5:30 p.m. before the CHAN "News Hour", and at 11:15 p.m. following CBC's "The National" until 1981, then at 11:30 p.m. after "CTV National News" from 1981 until 2001 [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5MAAjDT9mY CHEK-TV's last night with CTV] on YouTube] . At one stage, CHEK used the same flower logo as CHAN, but later reverted back to its own logo. On January 8, 1984, CHEK moved from its original studios in Saanich to its present location at 780 Kings Road, a studio which was to have been used by a proposed Victoria CBC Television station (which ultimately never went to air due to lack of funding).

Prior to 2001, CHEK also broadcast many of the same programs as CHAN on a time-shifted basis; as with CHAN, this was a mixture of CTV network programming and WIC-owned programming (usually drawn from the schedule of CHCH Hamilton), although the WIC programming usually differed from that aired on CHAN. When Baton Broadcasting's CIVT came on the air, CHEK was one of three stations broadcasting CTV programming, the other two being BCTV and CIVT. For a year or so prior to disaffiliation, after BCTV strengthened its own morning newscast, CHEK was the only station in B.C. airing "Canada AM".

When the Vancouver affiliation switch occurred in 2001, CHEK became a CH station. It rebranded as "CH Vancouver Island", and took on a schedule similar to CH Hamilton. CHEK airs 15-20 hours of news programs a week, and often programs usually shown on CHAN that were moved to accommodate their news programming. It also took "Sports Page" from former Global O&O CKVU, but the program continued to be produced at CHAN until its cancellation in September 2005.

In 2004, news anchor Hudson Mack left the station after 19 years, and joined CIVI as its news director on September 1. He became CIVI's 5pm news anchor on October 11. As a result, Sophie Lui returned from CHAN-TV and joined CIVT's former Victoria bureau chief Ed Watson as the pair became the station's main anchors.

CHEK celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006; as part of the celebrations, it aired vignettes of station promos from the pre-CH era during commercial breaks. Another short vignette was also introduced consisting of CHEK's logos and station IDs through the years, from their first in 1956 to the CH logo it used up until September 2007.

On September 7, 2007, with the rebranding of the national CH service as E!, local programming adopted the "CHEK News" brand, a partial reversal of the current trend for TV networks and systems in Canada to use generic branding for their owned stations.

On August 25, 2008, news production for CHEK News shifted from Victoria to Vancouver, with the addition of a new virtual set, and a launch of a new program, "Island 30".

Current anchors and reporters

Anchors

* Jennifer Crosby and Scott Fee "(CHEK News at Five)"
* Julie Nolin "(CHEK News at Eleven and Island 30)"
* Skye Ryan "(CHEK News at Five and Eleven Weekend)"

Weather

* Ed Bain
* Gordie Tupper

ports

* Jeff King
* Paul Haysom
* Keith Wells

Reporters

* John Ackermann
* Ian Black
* Philip Campbell
* Kim Emerson
* Mary Griffin
* Kendall Hanson
* Dana Hutchings
* Bruce Kirkpatrick
* Kristen Robinson
* Skye Ryan
* Dean Stoltz

Alumni (partial list)

*Marisa Adair
*Robin Adair
*Bob Aylward
*Harry Barisoff
*John Barton
*Paul Carson
*Clem Chapple
*Coleen Christie
*Ida Clarkson
*Veronica Cooper
*Bert Dodd
*Dawn Draper
*Kristin Eriksen
*Mark Jan Vrem
*Rich Jones
*Jill Krop
*Lara Lauzon
*Sophie Lui
*Catherine MacDonald
*Hudson Mack
*Pamela Martin
*Jenny Matechuk
*Harry Maunu
*Bruce McAllister
*John Mitchell
*Harvey Oberfeld
*Doris Page
*Bruce Payne
*Michaela Pereira
*Patty Pitts
*Wally Rawcliffe
*Dale Read
*Mike Roberts
*Alex Robertson
*Bev Sinclair
*Zack Spencer
*Andy Stephens
*Judy Tyabji
*Ed Watson
*Ron Way
*Norma Wick
*Bill Williams
*Joan Wright

Locally produced programs formerly aired on CHEK (partial list)

*"At Eleven" (talk)
*"Barton & Company" (talk)
*"BC Business Spotlight" (business news)
*"Body Moves" (exercise)
*"Capital Comment" (political affairs)
*"CH News at Noon" (news)
*"CHEK Around" (lifestyles)
*"CHEK at Noon" (news & lifestyles)
*"Club Six" (teen dance show)
*"Daily Edition" (news)
*"Daybreak" (variety)
*"For The Record" (political affairs)
*"Foufouli" (children)
*"GO! Magazine" (lifestyles)
*"Government Street" (political affairs)
*"Island Country Garden" (gardening)
*"Island Places, Island Faces" (lifestyles)
*"Island Good Morning" (talk)
*"Island Morning" (talk)
*"Island News Report" (news)
*"Island Sports Report" (sports highlights)
*"Learning for Leisure" (educational)
*"Maturity: The Golden Years" (seniors' issues & lifestyles)
*"Mixed Company" (current affairs)
*"Nanaimo Report" (news)
*"Shake It Up" (teen dance show)
*"Sports Page" (sports highlights - produced at CHAN)
*"Student Forum" (student issues)
*"Talk Back" (current affairs call-in)
*"The Ida Clarkson Show" (talk)
*"The Noon Show" (news and talk)
*"The Senior Chef" (cooking)
*"Tyabji" (current affairs call-in)
*"Vancouver Canucks hockey" (sports)
*"Vancouver Grizzlies basketball" (sports)
*"Victoria Scene" (arts and entertainment magazine)
*"Wake Up" (morning newscast)
*"What's Cooking" (cooking)
*"Woman to Woman" (women's issues)
*"World of Travel" (travel)

Previously aired US programs

* "Late Show with David Letterman", weekdays 4:30pm (August 1995 to August 1999)

Videotape Format

CHEK-TV uses shoots on DVC-Pro tapes for all its programming and non-live parts of its "CHEK News" broadcasts.

tation Presentation

Over the years, CHEK-TV has seen a great deal of different logos, reflecting different owners, styles, and themes as the years go by.

Digital television and high definition

As of September 2008, CHEK-TV has not yet began broadcasting in digital.

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on August 31, 2011 http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html] , CHEK-TV is required to begin digital broadcasts on its current assigned channel number, 43. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CHEK-TV virtual channel as 6.

Transmitters

ee also

*List of programs broadcast by E!
*2001 Vancouver, British Columbia TV realignment

References

External links

* [http://www.cheknews.ca/ CHEK News]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/television/histories.php?id=62&historyID=58 Canadian Communications Foundation - CHEK-TV History]
*RecnetCanada|CHEK-TV