CHCH-TV

CHCH-TV
Hamilton, Ontario
Branding	CHCH News
Slogan	The most dependable name in local news
Channels	Analog: 11 (VHF) Digital: 18 (UHF - PSIP 11)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	E!
Owner	Canwest (Canwest Media, Inc.)
First air date	June 7, 1954
Call letters’ meaning	C Hamilton's CHannel
Sister station(s)	CIII-TV
Former affiliations	CBC (1954-1961) Independent (1961-2001)
Transmitter Power	325 kW (analog) 60 kW (digital)
Height	358 m (analog) 338.2 m (digital)
Transmitter Coordinates	43°12′27″N 79°46′31″W / 43.2075, -79.77528
Website	CHCH News

CHCH-TV, channel 11, is a television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with additional transmitters throughout Ontario. Since 2001, it has been operated by Canwest as the flagship of its secondary television system, E! (known as CH before 2007).

History

CBC affiliation

CHCH-TV was founded by Ken Soble. A leader of Hamilton's urban renewal movement, and owner of CHML radio, Soble was regarded as a pioneer in all of his endeavours. ^[1]

The station began broadcasting in 1954 as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) affiliate from the CHCH Television Tower, a transmitter located at 481 First Road West in Stoney Creek. At the time, all private stations were required to be CBC affiliates. In 1961, CHCH disaffiliated from the CBC and became the first independent television station in Canada. The reason for the disaffiliation from CBC was twofold, as Toronto's CBLT already provided full network service to CHCH's viewing area, and the station's managers wanted to produce a larger amount of local programming, instead of being forced to carry CBC programming.

Superstation CHCH

CHCH was the first independent English-language television station in Canada to have no network affiliation, as the other private stations that were not affiliated with the CBC had formed the CTV network in 1961. CHCH became a nationwide superstation on January 1, 1982, when Cancom began carrying the station and three others to cable television operators in remote regions of the country that had access only to the CBC.

The station also produced a number of important Canadian syndicated series, including The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, Me & Max, Party Game and Smith & Smith, and was the original TV home of The Red Green Show. Hamilton native Martin Short also had his television debut on the station. CHCH also produced local broadcasts such as Tiny Talent Time.

For a time, CHCH also broadcast local mid-week telecasts of the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs.

ONtv

In 1990, Western International Communications (WIC) purchased CHCH. Although CHCH had been available on cable in many Ontario markets for years, the station's broadcast signal coverage was expanded throughout Ontario in 1997, in an effort to compete with the reach of Global (CIII) and Baton Broadcast System. In turn, WIC renamed the station ONtv, as in "Ontario Television", in line with the naming pattern of many of its other stations (such as BCTV, ITV, and RDTV).

Local news shifted focus from the station's core market, the Hamilton area, toward Ontario as a whole, in an attempt to challenge what was then a regional news service provided by Global. However, with Hamilton now being largely an afterthought, and other local stations (in Toronto and elsewhere) already strong in the ratings, the shift was unsuccessful, and CHCH's ratings actually dropped. During the ONtv years, the station also aired WIC's nightly Canada Tonight newscast.

CH

In 2000, Canwest purchased WIC and assumed control of its stations. Since Global already served the Hamilton area, Canwest rebranded the station CH on February 12, 2001 and subsequently launched the CH television system in September of that year. This move launched a secondary television system for Canwest's stations in medium-sized markets. Local news coverage was revamped and re-focused on the Hamilton/Halton/Niagara region.

Despite the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's current TV station ownership restrictions (one station per owner per language per market), Canwest was permitted to maintain CHCH's coverage of other markets throughout most of Ontario. However, it cannot broadcast to Thunder Bay, Peterborough, or Kingston due to opposition by local stations. Some cablesystems outside of Ontario also continue to carry CHCH as a form of "superstation". The station is easily received over-the-air in Buffalo, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania; and has long been carried by Western New York cable operators.

On June 7, 2004, at 8:00 p.m., CHCH-TV celebrated exactly 50 years on the air. At this precise time, the station aired a documentary profiling the station history, entitled The First 50 Years: A Half Century of CH and hosted by Matt Hayes.

E!

CHCH News' alternate logo

On September 7, 2007, following the relaunch of the national CH service as E!, CHCH's news programming was rebranded as "CHCH News."

The station's over-the-air digital transmitter was launched on April 18, 2008.^[2]

Transmitters

Local programming

• Morning Live (5:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.)
  • Bob Cowan
  • Annette Hamm
  • Lesley Stewart - Weather (Brian Wood covering as Lesley is on maternity leave)
  • Lori De Angelis - Community Reporter
  • Cristina Tenaglia - News Reporter
  • Tracey Hemphill - Chopper 11 Traffic

• CHCH News at Noon (12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.)
  • Connie Smith
  • Dan McLean
  • Matt Hayes - weather

• At Home (2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.)
  • Matt Hayes
  • Lesley Stewart (Maria Hayes covering as Lesley is on maternity leave)

• Live @ 5:30 (5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
  • Mark Hebscher
  • Donna Skelly

• CHCH News at 6:00 (6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.)
  • Dan McLean
  • Matt Hayes - Weather
  • Ken Welch - Sports
  • Kate Stutsman - Entertainment
  • Kimberley Fowler - Chopper 11 Traffic

• CHCH News at 11:00 (11:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.)
  • Nick Dixon
  • Brian Wood - Weather (Michelle Leslie and Steve Ruddick covering as Brian Wood fills in on Morning Live)
  • Ken Welch - Sports

• CHCH News at 6:00 & 11:00 (Weekends)
  • Maria Hayes (Reporters James McDonald and Michelle Dube covering as Maria Hayes fills in on At Home)
  • Steve Ruddick - Weather
  • Clint 'Bubba' O'Neil - Sports

• Niagara Express (Weekends)
  • Dan McLean

• Straight Talk (Weekends)
  • Connie Smith

• Sportscope (Sundays)
  • Clint 'Bubba' O'Neil

Past slogans

• 1970s - 1987: Join Us
• 1987 - 1995: Together, We're The Ones
• 1998 - 1999: There's Always Something ONtv
• 1999 - 2000: ONtv: Where You Are
• 2001 - 2007: Closer To You

Current slogans

• 2007 - Present: CHCH News - The most dependable name in local news (CHCH)
• 2007 - Present: Everything Entertainment (E!)

Station presentation

CHCH-TV's station presentation and logos have progressed and evolved over the years, showing different themes, styles, changes in ownership, and changes in network affiliation. Below are some of the more recent logos used by CHCH-TV during its colourful and frequently-changing network affiliation past.

1971 - 1997	1997 - 2001	2001 - 2005	2001 - 2005	2005-2007

Digital television and high definition

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on August 31, 2011 ^[3], CHCH-TV will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 18. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CHCH-TV's virtual channel as 11.1.

References

1. ^ "Hamilton Spectator: "The Greatest Hamiltonian". (II)". Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
2. ^ "Canwest Broadcasting Launches Three New High Definition Transmitters In Major Canadian Markets". Canwest Broadcasting (2008-04-10). Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
3. ^ http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html

See also

• List of programs broadcast by E!

External links

• CHCH News
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CHCH-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CHCH-TV

More about CHCH-TV: chch hamilton tv, ca chch tv, chch news tv, 11 chch tv, chch hamilton station television tv, chch hamilton ontario tv,