CHEK-TV

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CHEK-TV
Image:CHEK_Logo_(as_CH_Vancouver_Island).png
Victoria, British Columbia
Branding CH
Slogan "Closer to you"
Channels 6 (VHF)/Cable 6 analog,
43 (UHF) (Not on air) digital
Translators CHEK-TV-1 13 Sooke
CHEK-TV-2 11 River Jordan
CHEK-TV-3 11 Port Alberni
CHEK-TV-5 13 Campbell River
CHWM-TV-1 18 Whistler
CKUP-TV-1 9 Ucluelet
Affiliations CH
Owner CanWest Global
Founded 1956
Call letters meaning CHE(C)K
Former callsigns CKTV (Prior to Launch)
Former affiliations 1956–1963: CBC
1963–1981: CBC/CTV
1981–2001: CTV
Website CH Vancouver Island

CHEK-TV is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia. Broadcasting to Vancouver Island, the station is a member of the CH television system, owned by CanWest Global. It broadcasts on channel 6.

Contents

[edit] 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 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. At one stage, CHEK used the same flower logo as CHAN, but later reverted back to its own logo.

Prior to 2001, CHEK also simulcast CHAN's News Hour and broadcast many of the same programs 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 is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2006; as part of the celebrations, it is currently airing vignettes of station promos from the pre-CH era during commercial breaks. Another short vignette was recently introduced consisting of CHEK's logos and station IDs through the years, from their first in 1956 to the CH logo it presently uses; this may be an indication that, as with CH flagship station CHCH in Hamilton, CHEK will drop the CH brand sometime in the near future and return to using its call letters on-air, a reversal of the current trend for TV networks and systems in Canada to use generic branding for its owned stations.

[edit] Current anchors and reporters

[edit] Anchors

  • Murray Langdon (CH News at Noon)
  • Julie Nolin (CH News at Five)
  • Ed Watson (CH News at Six)
  • Jennifer Crosby (CH News at Eleven)
  • Philip Campbell (CH Weekend News)

[edit] Weather

  • Ed Bain
  • Gordie Tupper

[edit] Sports

  • Jeff King
  • Stacy Ross
  • Keith Wells

[edit] Reporters

  • Philip Campbell
  • Veronica Cooper
  • Kim Emerson
  • Kendall Hanson
  • Dana Hutchings
  • Bruce Kirkpatrick
  • Kristen Robinson
  • Skye Ryan
  • Dean Stoltz
  • Mary Griffin

[edit] Alumni (partial list)

  • Marisa Adair
  • Robin Adair
  • Bob Aylward
  • Harry Barisoff
  • John Barton
  • Paul Carson
  • Clem Chapple
  • Colleen Christie
  • Ida Clarkson
  • Bert Dodd
  • Dawn Draper
  • Kristin Eriksen
  • Mark Jan Vrem
  • Rich Jones
  • Jill Krop
  • Lara Lauzon
  • Catherine MacDonald
  • Hudson Mack
  • Pamela Martin
  • 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
  • Ron Way
  • Norma Wick
  • Bill Williams
  • Joan Wright

[edit] 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)
  • 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)

[edit] Station Presentation

[edit] Previous Logos

[edit] As CHEK-TV

[edit] As CH Vancouver Island


[edit] Previously aired US programs

[edit] Videotape Format

Just like CHAN-TV, CHEK also uses Betacam SP tapes for all its programming and non-live parts of its news broadcast called CH News.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links