CHBC

CHBC is a television station in Kelowna, British Columbia. It transmits on channel 2, and cable channel 13, and broadcasts on 18 relay stations (List).

The station is an affilate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and is owned by CanWest Global. It operates as a twinstick station, as the company also operates a transmitter carrying CHAN (Global BC) in that market.

CHBC went on the air for the first time on September 21, 1957.

On February 28, 2005, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the disaffiliation of CHBC from the CBC. CBUT, the CBC's Vancouver affiliate, will add a new transmitter at Kelowna on channel 45. CHBC is expected to become the fifth CH station. However, the actual date on which this change will take place has not yet been announced.

History

CHBC went on the air on September 21, 1957, as an CBC affilate. It covered the central Okanagan Valley on channel 2 with 3,700 watts from its main studios and transmitter in Kelowna. The station was founded by three local radio stations, CKOV Kelowna, CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon. Due to the mountainous terrain of the area, repeaters were begun a few weeks later, in the following locations:

• Vernon, on channel 7 with 310 watts, and
• Penticton, on channel 13 with 300 watts.

To begin with, only 500 homes in the area had television receivers, but that amount rose to 10,000 the following year. The station had ordered two studio cameras, but due to the number of TV stations starting in North America in that period, the station had to make do with one camera on loan for a year until the order was filled. They also relied on 16mm film which was developed first by a local photo lab, and then again in-house.

In 1960, the station began receiving programs from the CBC via their microwave link. Prior to this, all network programs were received on kinescope and 16mm film, with regular shows airing a week later after they were aired on the main stations, and the National News aired a day after. Local programs and ads were produced live to air. Programs produced locally in the early days included:

• Kids Bids
• The Three R's
• Romper Room
• Let's Visit
• Midday
• Focus
• Okanagan Magazine

In 1964, CHBC received their first video tape machine, which aided the production of locally produced programming and commericals. Two years later, colour television arrived via the network, and the station gradually installed more equipment for colour production and transmission, as well as telecine and videotape.

In 1970, BCTV of Vancouver came to an agreement with CHBC to provide a CTV service to the area, via a protective service, which protected local advertisers from Vancouver advertisers with cut-ins on the second station. In 1971, full conversion to colour was completed when colour studio camera were purchased.

During the 1970's and 1980's, the ownership of the station changed, beginning with the purchase of CKOK's one-third ownership by general manager Roy Chapman, which he later sold to BCTV. Selkirk Holdings brought CJIB, and along with it, its 33% stake. CKOV sold its stake in equal parts to both BCTV and Selkirk, which resulted in a 50/50 ownership structure. When Mclean Hunter took over Selkirk in 1989, Western International Communications (WIC) (BCTV's parent company) purchased Selkirk's stake to take full control of CHBC.

In 1986, the station made a committment to become "The Okanagan’s Very Own CHBC", in order to compete with the forty television signals being distributed by cable operators in the market. As a result, more local programs and commercials were produced, and involvement in the 55 communities served by CHBC was increased. This committment has been recongized and rewarded by improved ratings and many industry awards.

In 1998, the Griffiths family's stake in WIC was sold to Shaw Communications and CanWest Global Communications Corporation. After months of negotiation, the CRTC approved the split of WIC's assets between CanWest Global, Corus Radio and Shaw Communications. CHBC was sold to CanWest Television in 2000, along with its sister station BCTV.

External links

• CHBC's webpage
• History of the station at Canadian Communications Foundation (page source)