- BCTV redirects here.
For the former Boston Catholic Television, see
CatholicTV.
CHAN-TV is a television station in Vancouver
, British
Columbia
, Canada
,
broadcasting over-the-air on analog
channel 8 and digital channel 22, and available via cable providers in the area on channel
11. It is the flagship station of the
Global Television Network.
CHAN-TV's
studios are located in the city of Burnaby
. It
is Global's
owned-and-operated station in
B.C., and it currently uses the on-air brand
Global
BC, and was previously known as
BCTV. The
station is available throughout British Columbia, and its 6:00 p.m.
News Hour is the highest-rated
newscast in the province, with an average of
500,000 viewers per night. As of October 6, 2009, this station, as
well as other Global stations and several cable channels owned by
licensee Canwest Media, are under creditor protection, with its
future ownership in question.
History
CHAN's first logo, branded as
Channel 8, the station would continue to use the logo
until 1973.
CHAN-TV and CHEK-TV shared this logo in the 60s, it was often
used when they simulcasted programming.
began broadcasting on October 30, 1960 at 4:45 p.m. as an
independent station, joining
CTV upon the new network's launch on
October 1, 1961.
Temporary studios were housed in Downtown
Vancouver
, at 1219 Richards Street, until its current studios
at 7850 Enterprise Street in Burnaby were
completed in early 1961. Soon after launch, the station
began installing relay transmitters across the province, and now
reaches 96 percent of British Columbia.
Via OTA channel 8,
CHAN also reaches an American audience in neighbouring Whatcom County,
Washington
.
In 1963,
local entrepreneur Frank Griffiths,
the owner of radio station CKNW
, purchased
the station from original owner Vantel Broadcasting, along with
nearby CBC affiliate station CHEK-TV
, based in
Victoria
on Vancouver Island
, from its original owner, David Armstrong.
CHEK then began airing a few CTV shows, usually at different times
from CHAN. It would become a full CTV affiliate in 1981, but aired
a shuffled schedule.
Griffiths' Western Broadcasting Co. later sold a minority share to
Selkirk Communications,
buying back full control in
1989.
As early as 1971, CHAN began unofficially using the on-air name
BCTV. In 1973, BCTV became CHAN's official on-air
brand, which it used until 2001, when it became Global BC. "BCTV"
was retained for its local news programs up until February 2006,
but the branding was so effective that many people still call the
station by that name today. Also in 1975, the current newsroom was
constructed. It was rebuilt in the early nineties, moving the
studio out of the newsroom, but keeping it as a backdrop, and
remodelled again in 2006.
Hostility to CTV
CHAN was one of the backbones of the CTV network for many years and
one of the network's most successful affiliates. However, it was
always somewhat hostile toward CTV.
Management believed that the network's
flagship station, CFTO-TV
in Toronto
, received
favoritism in the production of CTV's Canadian programming in the
late 1960s and early 1970s.
The final logo for BCTV.
The stylized pacific dogwood was modernized in 1994 and was
used until the affiliation switch on August 31, 2001.
In the 1990s, CHAN's goal became the production of a new,
early-evening national newscast from its studios. In fact, several
newscast pilots were produced at CHAN, suggesting the network was
seriously considering such a move. However, that newscast never
materialized; instead, CHAN began producing
Canada Tonight, which aired on most
WIC-owned stations beginning in the mid-nineties.
Nonetheless, until 1997, CHAN bought the provincial rights to
several popular series from CFTO's parent company,
Baton Broadcasting.
However, tensions were
exacerbated that year when Baton won a license for a new station in
Vancouver, CIVT-TV
.
Baton became sole owner of CTV soon after CIVT's launch, and it
became an open secret that CIVT would eventually replace CHAN as
the CTV station for Vancouver. CHAN had signed a long-term contract
several years prior that would not expire until 1999, but was
extended to 2001. However, outside of the 40 hours of programming
per week that this allowed for, and CHAN's own local news, the
station had to rely on lower-profile programming supplied by parent
company WIC. A small amount of CHUM programming also aired on CHAN
at times during the 1997-2001 period, including
CityLine.
The affiliation shakeup of 2001
In 2000, WIC's stations were purchased by Canwest, and as a result,
CHAN would become the British Columbia
O&O station of the Global
Television Network. When BCTV's affiliation with CTV expired on
September 1, 2001, a major shakeup in British Columbia television
occurred:
- The
CTV affiliation, jointly held by CHAN and sister station CHEK, moved to
CTV-owned independent station CIVT, becoming a CTV O&O station
which was briefly known as "BC CTV" (later simply "CTV").
Both switches left CTV dependent on cable and satellite to reach
the rest of the province.
- The
Global affiliation, held by CKVU
, a former
Canwest station that was in the process of being sold to CHUM Limited
, moved to CHAN, which became new O&O "Global
BC".
- Most of BCTV's former WIC programming, now part of Canwest's
CH system, moved to CHEK (where other
WIC programs already aired). The station was rebranded "CH
Vancouver Island".
- Finally, CKVU adopted the "ckvu13" brand and
became an independent station carrying CHUM programming, some of
which had aired on KVOS-TV
the previous season. The station became
Citytv Vancouver several months later, after
the sale to CHUM was approved.
- A
religious station, CHNU
, launched
two weeks later, and a CHUM-owned NewNet station in Victoria, CIVI
, launched
just over two weeks after that.
News
CHAN's news operation is well respected in the industry. Ever since
the station decided to produce a one hour news bulletin in the late
1960s, a major part of the station's cash flow has gone into its
news programming, and it has garnered high ratings and major awards
since then. The station's on-air news style was even used as an
inspiration for
Ted Turner's
CNN, as both use the newsroom as a backdrop during the
broadcast.
Global BC's microwave ENG vans.
In addition to its various local newscasts, CHAN also produced
Canada Tonight, an
early-evening newscast focusing on national news.
Two versions were
produced: one for BC itself, hosted by CKNW radio
commentator Bill Good (now at CIVT
, CTV's
current Vancouver O&O station) and a national version, hosted
by Tony Parsons,
who also presented (and continues to anchor) CHAN's nightly news
program, the News Hour. When Canwest purchased
CHAN, the stories that were once sourced from CTV's other
affiliates throughout the country, were replaced by stories sourced
from Global's affiliates.
From 2001, when the station became Global BC, the news organization
underwent a minor name change -
BCTV News on Global.
CHAN
opted to keep the BCTV name for their newscast, as it was still a
widely-recognised name in BC; also, to keep CIVT from using
the name itself, as it contained the letters "CTV". In
addition, CHAN became home to Global's national news centre and a
new national newscast,
Global
National--thus fulfilling its longstanding dream of
producing a national newscast. anchored by former
ABC reporter and presenter,
Kevin Newman. The
program goes live from tape from Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. (
Pacific Time Zone), and is followed by the
News Hour at 6:00 p.m. with Tony Parsons. Carolyn Jarvis
and Robin Gill share the anchoring duties on the weekend edition of
Global National, followed
by Robin Stickley, who anchors the weekend version of the 'News
Hour'.
The BCTV brand was finally dropped when Global launched its new
look on February 6, 2006. CHAN's local news brand became "Global
BC" at this point.
In 2006 Global struck a deal with the Canadian Traffic Network to
supply the station with a
Robinson R44
news
helicopter with gyroscopic camera
mounts.
It will be shared with CKNW - the second
news helicopter in Vancouver after that used by CIVT. Global
has named the helicopter
Global 1 - the same designation
used for the news helicopters of other Global stations.
Global BC produces 46 hours of news content per week, 45 hours
locally between the Morning News, Noon News, Early News, News Hour,
News Hour Final and News Final and 1 hour nationally with Global
National.
Current Personalities
Anchors
- Lynn Colliar -
Morning News (Weekdays at 5:30 a.m.)
- Steve Darling - Morning News (Weekdays at 5:30
a.m.)
- Anne Drewa - News Final (Weekends at 11
p.m.)
- Chris Gailus -
News Hour (Mondays/Thursdays/Fridays at 6 p.m.)
- Deborra Hope -
Early News/News Hour Insight (Weekdays at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.)
- Jill Krop - News Hour
Final (Weekdays at 11 p.m.)
- Sophie Lui - Weekend Morning News and Weekend
Noon News Hour (Saturdays at 7 a.m./Sundays at 8 a.m. and Weekends
at Noon)
- Randene Neill - Noon News Hour (Weekdays at 12
p.m.)
- Tony
Parsons - News Hour (Tuesdays/Wednesdays at 6
p.m.)
- Robin Stickley -
News Hour (Weekends at 6 p.m.)
Global National Anchors
- Carolyn Jarvis - Global National (Saturdays at
5:30 p.m.)
- Robin Gill - Global
National (Sundays at 5:30 p.m.)
Weather
- Wayne Cox - Early News/News Hour/News Hour
Final forecaster
- Kristi Gordon - Weekend meteorologist
- Arran Henn - Substitute Forecaster
- Mark Madryga - Morning meteorologist
- Wesla Wong - Noon News Hour forecaster
Sports
- Squire Barnes - Noon News Hour/News Hour
- Barry Deley - News Hour Final
(Thursday/Friday), News Hour and News Final (Weekends)
- Jay Durant - News Hour Final (Monday -
Wednesday)
- Dan Elliott - Substitute Sportscaster
- Jay Janower - Weekend Morning and Noon
News
- Kristin Reid - Substitute Sportscaster
Traffic
- Kaitlyn Herbst - Weekday
mornings in Global 1 (Also in the air with AM 730
and CKNW)
- Leah Holiove - Weekday at 5
in Global 1 (Also in the air with AM 730 and CKNW)
- Wesla Wong - Weekday mornings
Reporters
- Linda Aylesworth (Health & Human
Interest)
- Keith Baldrey (political/Vancouver
Island)
- Ron Bencze
- Jane Carrigan (also fill in anchor)
- Erin Cebula
(entertainment)
- Ted Chernecki
- Mike Chisholm
- Brian Coxford (investigative)
- John L. Daly (crime)
- Rumina Daya
- Anne Drewa
- Samantha Falk
(also fill in anchor)
- Ted Field
- Darlene Heidemann
|
|
- Grace Ke
- Claudia Kwan (Morning News reporter)
- Sophie Lui (also weekend Morning and Noon News
anchor)
- Aaron McArthur (also fill in anchor)
- Mike McCardell (human interest)
- Michelle Miller
- Randene Neill
- Jennifer Palma
- Catherine Pope
- Robin Stickley
(also weekend News Hour anchor)
- Marisa Thomas
- Catherine Urquhart
- Elaine Yong
|
Programming
For the most part, CHAN-TV airs a typical Global network schedule,
but with a few differences.
- CHAN
owns the British
Columbia rights to
The Oprah Winfrey
Show, dating back to its days as a CTV affiliate, and airs
it at 4:00 p.m. PT. In every other market in which CTV owns
a station, CTV owns the local rights to Oprah.
- Some programs seen on Global's daytime schedule in other
markets – primarily library programs from Canwest's specialty
channels, as well as Days of our
Lives – are not cleared on CHAN in order to make room for
Oprah and the station's various local news programs. For
similar reasons, some other daytime programs are aired in different
timeslots compared to other Global stations.
- Previously, some of the absent programs would be shown on CHEK,
however this has ceased as of fall 2009 with Canwest's sale of the
station.
- Canadian content regulations
effectively limit Global to airing four hours of foreign
programming per day on its daytime (6:00am - 6:00pm) schedule. With
ATWT, Y&R, and The Doctors being aired on
all Global stations, carrying Oprah makes it impossible
for CHAN to fit DOOL onto its schedule as well.
- There are also sometimes minor changes to the overnight
schedule as well. Currently, reruns of That '70s Show are absent from the CHAN
overnight schedule despite airing on several other Global
stations.
Selected former non-network programs
- (280-JOCK followed News Hour Final at 12:05
a.m. until it was cancelled in late 1994, which pushed back
Late Show to 12:37 a.m. for several months.)
- (As
CHUM held the rights to this program throughout the rest of the
country, when CIVI-TV lanuched in nearby Victoria,
British Columbia, the broadcast rights transferred over to
there.)
Transmitters
CHAN operates the single largest private transmitter network in
North America, with roughly one hundred transmitters (some of which
are community-owned) serving 97 percent of British Columbia.
Therefore, the network relies exclusively on
cable and satellite in the remaining
municipalities (including most where CFCN
and CFRN
were already
available over-the-air before 2001).
Owned-and-operated transmitters
Semi-satellites are in
bold italics.
Note that the transmitters in Kelowna and area (CHKL-TV) are in
addition to CHBC-TV
, a separate Global station in Kelowna that
originates its own local evening newscasts, but which carries
Global BC's programming at virtually all other times.
Videotape Format
CHAN-TV uses
Betacam SP analogue
videotape for all of its local advertisements and non-live parts of
their newscasts.
MPEG-2 transmission is used
in nearly all non-local broadcasts. The station isslowly moving
away from Betacam SP and moving to a digital format.
Alumni
- Ernie Rose, 1960-1981
- Ron Morrier, 1960-1981
- Jean Cannem, 1960-1978
- Frank
Griffiths, 1963-1994
- Ray Peters, 1963-1989
- Peter Rolston, 1963-1979
- Cameron Bell, 1968-1989
- Bernie Pascall, 1969-1999
- Norm Grohmann, 1970-1979, 1983-1998
- Keith Bradbury, 1972-1998
- Robert Malcolm, 1972-1991
- John McKeachie, 1973-1999
- Patrick Clancey, 1974-1978
- Clem Chapple, 1977-2003
- Pamela
Martin, 1977-2001 (Now at CTV Vancouver)
- Russ Froese, 1977-1980
|
- Jack Webster,
1978-1987
- Harvey
Oberfeld, 1979-2006
- John Gibbs, 1981-1992
- Barry Houlihan, 1983-1997
- Elaine McKay, 1984-2006
- Jennifer Mather, 1991-1998
- Linden Soles, 1991-1993
- Mi-Jung Lee, 1992-1998 (Now at CTV
Vancouver)
- Kimberly Halkett, 1993-1997, 2002-2006
- Bill Good Jr.,
1993-2001 (Now at CTV Vancouver)
- Zack Spencer, 1994-2006
- Sara Daniels, 1997-2005
- Reg Hampton, 1998-2006 (Now
at CTV
Calgary)
- Keri Adams, 2001-2002 (Now at CTV
Vancouver)
- Naz Salimian, 2002-2005
- Leigh Morrow, 2006-2007
- Dennis Bell,
|
- Don Timbrell,
- Alan Edwards,
- Ed Cosgrove,
- Belle Puri, (Now at
CBC Vancouver
 )
- Margo Harper,
- Fred Cawsey,
- Colleen Leung,
- Chester Grant, 1981-2004
- Rena Heer,
(2005-2007)
- Leigh Carter, 1983-86
- Dale Hicks, (first BCTV reporter)
- Kevin
Newman, (2001-2008, Now at Ottawa anchoring Global National)
- Tara Nelson,
(?-2008, Now London Bureau Chief for Global National)
- Jas Johal, (?-2008, Now South Asia Bureau
Chief for Global National)
- Anna Gebauer (?-2009, Now at CTV
Vancouver)
|
Digital television and high definition
On April 11, 2008, CHAN's digital signal went on the air.
After the
analog television
shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled
to take place on August 31, 2011 , CHAN-TV will move from its
current pre-transition channel number, 22, to its post-transition
and current analog channel number, 8. However, through the use of
PSIP,
digital television receivers will display CHAN-TV's
virtual channel as 8.1.
References
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