CFCN-DT

CFCN-DT

Calgary, Alberta Canada
Branding	CTV Calgary (general) CTV News Calgary (newscasts)
Slogan	Local, Live and Breaking
Channels	Digital: 29 (UHF) Virtual: 4.1 (PSIP)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	CTV
Owner	Bell Media
First air date	September 9, 1960
Sister station(s)	CTV Two Alberta
Former callsigns	CFCN-TV (1960–2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 4 (VHF, 1960–2011) Digital: 36 (UHF, 2009–2011)
Former affiliations	independent (1960–1961)
Transmitter power	220 kW
Height	206.1 m
Transmitter coordinates	51°3′34″N 114°10′13″W / 51.05944°N 114.17028°W / 51.05944; -114.17028
Website	CTV Calgary

CFCN-DT, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 29), is a CTV owned-and-operated television station located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The station is owned by Bell Media, it is sister to cable-exclusive CTV Two Alberta (based in Edmonton, alongside sister station CFRN). CFCN's studios are located on Patina Rise Southwest, near Calgary's Coach Hill neighborhood, and its transmitter is located near Old Banff Coach Road/Highway 563.

The station also operates a semi-satellite in Lethbridge, broadcasting on VHF channel 13. This station can also be seen on Shaw Cable channel 3, (corporate sister through parent company Bell Canada) Bell TV channel 243 and in high definition on channel 1131, Shaw Cable channel 210, and Rogers Cable channel 111. On Shaw Direct, the channel is available on 317 (Classic) or 016 (Advanced), and in high definition on channel 016 (Classic) or 515 (Advanced).

History

CFCN first signed on the air on September 9, 1960; owned by the Love family, along with CFCN-AM (1060 kHz., now CKMX). It was the first independent television station in Canada. It became a charter member of the Canadian Television Network, now CTV, on October 8, 1961. In 1967, Maclean-Hunter bought the CFCN stations. In 1968, CFCN's semi-satellite in Lethbridge began operation, leasing tower space for its transmitter from CJLH-TV (channel 7, now CISA-TV).

CFCN-TV logo as it appeared in 1975. It was used until 1991.

CFCN-TV's former logo (1998-2005). As of October 2005, logos with the stations' callsigns are no longer used on CTV stations; instead they all use the main CTV logo.

One of CFCN's locally produced shows, The Buck Shot Show, began in 1967. For the next thirty years, host Ron Barge was a comforting and familiar figure to Calgary children. Every noon hour, he appeared on television wearing a battered cowboy hat and shirt alongside his sidekicks, Benny the Bear and Clyde the Owl. Three generations of kids grew up with Buckshot, Benny the Bear and Clyde the Owl. Local police officers, firefighters and paramedics visited the show and taught kids how to be safe. A humorous song that was popular on the show was "16 Chickens and Tambourine" by Roy Acuff. His birthday wishes to local children with their name on the screen was the highlight of many children in the 1970s and 1980s.

When cable companies opened in Calgary, the station was carried on channel 5; from 1991 to 1995 the station's logo and branding referenced this. In 1995, CFCN switched to cable channel 3, and the logo was changed accordingly. Maclean-Hunter merged with Rogers Communications in 1994. Rogers sold CFCN to Baton Broadcasting in 1996. CFCN was the next-to-last major acquisition for Baton before it bought majority control of CTV in 1997. CFCN abandoned its "Channel 3" logo and slogan in September 1998 and was replaced by its bold yellow-letter logo until 2005.

By 2001, CFCN-TV operated the following transmitters: CFCN-TV-1 Drumheller, CFCN-TV-2 Banff, CFCN-TV-3 Brooks, CFCN-TV-6 Drumheller, CFCN-TV-13 Pigeon Mountain, CFCN-TV-14 Canmore (Harvie Heights) and CFCN-TV-16 Oyen.

On November 25, 2005, CFCN-TV-5 Lethbridge was given approval to make some technical changes to CFCN-TV-8 at Medicine Hat. Effective radiated power would be reduced from 6,700 watts to an average ERP of 5,800 watts, the antenna height would be raised and the transmitter site would change.

On October 18, 2016, a semi-truck collided at the transmitter facility of sister station CFRN in Edmonton. The building was partially evacuated, including the news control room, after fears the broadcast tower may collapse due to a damaged guy-wire cable. Programming on CFCN, including the evening newscasts, were simulcasted on CFRN.^[1]

Programming

CFCN airs the full CTV program lineup on a Mountain Time schedule. However, some programs are broadcast three hours after CTV's Toronto flagship CFTO-DT (effectively, one hour later in Mountain Time than CFTO in Eastern Time). This matches the Pacific Time Zone scheduling of U.S. network affiliates from Spokane, Washington available on many Alberta cable systems and thus allows simultaneous substitution of CFCN over the American broadcasts.

News operation

CFCN presently broadcasts 37 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours on weekdays, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output out of any English-language television station in the Calgary market. It also broadcasts a separate 30-minute newscast at 5 p.m. for viewers in Lethbridge and Southern Alberta, available only on the over the air transmitters or through cable companies that distribute CFCN-DT-5 Lethbridge.

During the 1970s, former (then future) Alberta premier Ralph Klein was a reporter for CFCN before going into politics and heading north to Edmonton. The station debuted a locally produced morning show, CTV Morning Live, on October 24, 2011; the newscast replaced the CTV network's national morning show, Canada AM (which by that point, was seen only on CTV's Eastern Canada stations).

On July 22, 2010, anchor Barb Higgins announced that she would be leaving CFCN after 21 years anchoring the 6 p.m. newscast, to concentrate on the election for mayor of Calgary.^[2] On October 12, 2010, it was announced that Global National's Tara Nelson will be her replacement. Higgins' co-anchor, Darrel Janz, will leave the anchor desk on weekdays, after 37 years at that position and become a reporter for CFCN, making Nelson the sole-anchor for the 6 p.m. newscast; Janz will continue to anchor the Weekend 6 p.m. newscasts.^[3] That same week, weekend 6 pm anchor Tara Robinson left the station.

Notable current on–air staff

• Camilla Di Giuseppe - weeknights; also reporter
• Tara Nelson - weeknights
• Jacquie Scantlebury - weeknights Lethbridge 5:00 anchor

Notable former on-air staff

• Sarika Sehgal (now with CTV News Channel)
• Barb Higgins (left to run for Mayor in 2010 municipal election)

Digital television

Digital channel

Analogue-to-digital conversion

CFCN signed on its digital signal on January 8, 2009. On August 31, 2011, when Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts,^[5] the station's digital signal remained on UHF channel 29. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display CFCN-DT's virtual channel as 4.1.

CFCN-DT-5 Lethbridge flash cut its digital signal on the air on August 31, 2011 at 12:04 AM MT immediately after the station's newscasts; digital television receivers there display CFCN-DT-5's virtual channel as 13.1.^[6]

Transmitters

¹These and a long list of CTV rebroadcasters nationwide were to shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid fee-for-carriage requirements for cable television operators.^[7] A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTV Globemedia to Bell Canada Enterprises; as of 2011, these transmitters remain in normal licensed broadcast operation.^[8] The list also indicated that CFCN-TV-7 Bassano would also shut down; however this transmitter is in fact operated by the Bassano TV Association, so it is not clear whether this transmitter would have closed down.^[9]

On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CFCN-TV-1, CFCN-TV-6, CFCN-TV-16, CFWL-TV-1, CFCN-TV-3, CFCN-TV-4, CFCN-TV-11, CFCN-TV-12, CFCN-TV-17, CFCN-TV-18 and CFWL-TV-1. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:

"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."

At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of CTV Two Atlantic (formerly ASN) and CTV Two Alberta (formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV Two Alberta.^[10][11]

See also

• The Buck Shot Show

References

External links

• CTV Calgary
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CFCN-TV History
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CFCN-TV-5 History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CFCN-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CFCN