Central Time zone

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     CST or UTC-6
     CST or UTC-6

The Central Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC during standard time (UTC-6) and five hours during daylight saving time (UTC-5). The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 90th degree meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.

In the United States and Canada, this time zone is generically called Central Time (CT). Specifically, it is Central Standard Time (CST) when observing standard time (Winter), and Central Daylight Time (CDT) when observing daylight saving (Summer).

The zone is one hour ahead of the Mountain Time Zone and one hour behind the Eastern Time Zone.

In Canada, this time zone includes all of Manitoba, nearly all of Saskatchewan, a slice of Northwestern Ontario, and part of Nunavut (most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region).

In the United States, the time zone includes the entire area of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin; and portions of Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.

Most of Mexico belongs to the Central Time Zone, with the six northwestern-most states being the exception.

UTC-6 is also observed in the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In South America, this zone includes the Ecuadorian province of Galápagos. In Oceania, the Chilean Easter Island also belongs to this time zone.

[edit] Central Daylight Time

Daylight Saving Time is in effect in much of the time zone between early April and late October. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time (CDT) and is UTC-5. Saskatchewan, Central America and Galápagos do not observe the change, remaining on Standard Time year round. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in the time change is that geographically, most of the province should be placed in the Mountain Time Zone. To avoid this, they have moved onto "permanent" Daylight Saving by being part of the Central Time Zone. The only exception is the region immediately surrounding the Saskatchewan side of the biprovincial city of Lloydminster, which has chosen to use Mountain Time with DST, synchronizing its clocks with those of Alberta.

In some areas, starting in 2007, the local time changes from CST to CDT at 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November.

[edit] Broadcasting concerns

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Due to the structure of broadcasting networks in the United States (mostly television, but to a lesser extent radio as well), programming is aired simultaneously in the Eastern and Central Time zones, which accounts for lines such as "tonight at 8/7 Central" on many network promotional ads. As a result, morning programming lineups designed for East Coast viewers may start too early for viewers in the Midwest and the central South; hence, they are tape-delayed to air at 7am Central (except when breaking news happens or special occasions such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which airs at 9am Eastern/8am Central, pushing back the morning shows to air live at 6am Central). This is particularly a problem in Saskatchewan as Central Standard Time is used year round, choosing not to change to Daylight Saving Time during the summer. While Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwestern Ontario share the same clock setting during the winter season, Saskacthewan and Alberta share the same clock setting during the summer season. This despite the fact that Alberta is in the Mountain Time Zone. Schedules must be adjusted for the summer season.

Also, an hour of syndicated programming time (between 7pm-8pm in the Eastern Time Zone) is lost since network prime time starts at 7pm Central, forcing TV stations to choose from airing their 6pm newscast and a program, or airing shows in 'blocks' preferred by syndicators (i.e. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! together, or Entertainment Tonight and The Insider). Many stations in the Central Time Zone tend to air one part of the syndicated block at 5pm or even earlier. The most common set of programming chosen by the big three television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) is to air a newscast at 5pm, national news at 5:30pm, local news at 6pm, and syndicated programming at 6:30pm. Some stations even show a newscast from 6 to 7pm. Another more recent dilemma of the 7pm prime time start is that a combination of longer commutes and work hours than in the past have caused many people to not come home from work until after 7pm, cutting into the potential ratings of shows that start at this time.

Similarly, media coverage of New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City often leave the Central Time Zone out. Late Night with Conan O'Brien, though produced in New York, when broadcast on New Year's Eve (as it does not air on weekends) takes advantage of its later time slot (11:35pm Central) to lampoon this inconsistency and produce its own New Year's countdown for television viewers in the Central Time Zone.

Interestingly, US broadcast networks do tape delay in the other two continental US time zones. However, they only tape delay one hour in the Mountain Time Zone, so that it has the same broadcast times and related dilemmas that the Central Time Zone does. But for the Pacific Time Zone, shows are tape-delayed two more hours, so that shows match the broadcast times of the Eastern Time Zone (i.e. prime time begins at 8pm instead of 7pm). It is believed that this is done due to the very large population of the Pacific Time Zone comparible to the Eastern Time Zone that would be inconvenienced (despite the fact that the Central Time Zone includes many very large cities such as Chicago, Dallas, and Houston).

Canadian broadcasting networks, with six time zones to span and a larger percentage of its audience residing in the Mountain Time Zone than in the Central Time Zone, sometimes are able to avoid these issues by airing prerecorded programs on local time, although adjustments are sometimes still made (mainly due to the influence of U.S. television). The problem is largely moot in Mexico and other parts of Latin America because of the lack of significant other time zones.

[edit] Alphabetical list of cities and metropolitan areas

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

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