CBKST

CBKST
(defunct)

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
Channels	Analog: Formerly 11 (VHF)
Branding	CBC Television
Programming
Affiliations	CBC
Ownership
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Sister stations	CBK (AM), CBKS-FM
History
First air date	October 17, 1971 (1971-10-17)
Last air date	July 31, 2012 (2012-07-31) (40 years, 288 days)
Call sign meaning	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Henry Kelsey Saskatoon Television [1]
Technical information
ERP	325 kW
HAAT	239.6 m (786 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	52°10′28″N106°26′5″W / 52.17444°N 106.43472°W / 52.17444; -106.43472

CBKST, VHF analogue channel 11, was a CBC Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, which operated from 1971 to 2012. The station was owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBKST's master control facilities were located in the Hutchinson Building on 2nd Avenue South (between 21 and 22 Streets East) in Downtown Saskatoon after being relocated from an office tower above Midtown Plaza. Its transmitter was located between Highways 5 and 41.

CBKST was licensed as a rebroadcaster of CBKT-DT in Regina, even though it operated as a semi-satellite with its own associated network of repeaters; it aired separate commercials and (until the 1990s) its own local news broadcasts. On cable, the station was available on Shaw Cable channel 12 and Sasktel Max channel 3.

While the CBC originally planned to discontinue CBKST's over the air feed on August 31, 2011 (as the corporation did not originally plan to convert rebroadcasters in mandatory transition markets like Saskatoon to digital), ^[2] the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted the CBC permission to allow transmitters in selected mandatory markets, including Saskatoon, to still operate an analogue feed until August 31, 2012. On July 17, 2012, the CRTC approved the CBC's application to delete CBKST from CBKT's licence, effective August 1, 2012. ^[3] On July 31, 2012, CBKST was shut down after more than 41 years on the air.

Since the closure of CBKST, cable and satellite providers have piped in CBKT (which took over CBKST's slots) and other CBC outlets for their customers. Due to the high penetration of cable and satellite in Saskatoon and elsewhere in central and northern Saskatchewan, few viewers actually lost access to CBC programming.

History

As early as 1967, efforts were under way to secure a new CBC affiliate for Saskatoon. CFQC-TV, which had been the only station in Saskatoon since going on the air in December 1954, had wished to switch to CTV once the federal government commissioned a new CBC station. In November 1967, however, the federal government declined an application by the CBC to establish a new station, with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson stating reasons including cost-cutting by the government and the fact CFQC already existed to provide CBC programming. ^[4]

After this and further delays, the CBC was finally approved to launch a new station in Saskatoon. In a move that would come back to haunt the station, however, it was not licensed as a full standalone station in its own right, but as a rebroadcaster of Regina's CBKRT (now CBKT). CBKST ultimately launched at 5:30 p.m. on October 17, 1971 as Saskatoon's second television station. CFQC, which had begun airing select CTV programming in off-hours since 1969, became an exclusive CTV affiliate at CBKST's launch. The first program aired was the religious music series Hymn Sing . ^[5]

Like most local CBC stations, in the 1970s and 1980s, CBKST had its own newsroom and aired local newscasts and other original programming, as well as locally-aired syndicated reruns of off-network American shows outside of the network schedule. Notable personalities included veteran sportscaster Lloyd Saunders and newscaster Cathy Little. The station's studios were originally located on the fifth floor of CN Towers (renamed Tower at Midtown in 2006), an office block located above Saskatoon's Midtown Plaza shopping centre. In August 1976, CBKST was temporarily knocked off the air for several days when several chunks of concrete, each weighing several thousand pounds, fell off the side of CN Towers and went crashing into the mall below; fortunately, businesses at the Plaza had closed for the day and no one was injured as there was no one inside the Plaza at that point. ^[6]

For several years from 1978 until December 31, 1985, CBKST used the brand "Saskatoon 11/12" on-air and in print, reflecting the station's respective over-the-air and cable channels in the city. At the time, the CBKST logo consisted of the name "SASKATOON" with the station's channel numbers contained within the "O"s. ^{[7] [8]} That logo was retired when the CBC's reimaging program began on January 1, 1986.

In December 1990, nationwide cutbacks at the CBC resulted in many CBKST staff being laid off and its supper hour newscast cancelled. At this time, the station began sharing the "CBC Saskatchewan" branding with CBKT in Regina. In the early 2000s, the station moved into a new storefront studio facility, taking over the heritage Hutchinson Building, a few blocks away from CN Towers on 2nd Avenue South, which it shared with its Radio-Canada counterpart, CBKFT.

In 2002, CBC purchased former Prince Albert, Saskatchewan affiliate CKBI from previous owner Bell Globemedia (parent company of CTV), turning CKBI into a rebroadcaster of CBKST; prior to this, CKBI had been a separate CBC affiliate (despite the CTV-related ownership).

CBKST had ties to the CBC's longest-running import, Coronation Street , according to the 2002 edition of the Guinness Book of Records (and noted in previous editions), CBKST acquired 1,144 episodes of the British soap from Granada Television on May 31, 1971, the largest number of TV shows ever purchased in one transaction. ^[9] (CBC's English flagship, CBLT in Toronto, was the first to televise Coronation Street in Canada, in 1966. ^[10] )

On May 16, 2008, CBKST was given approval by the CRTC to delete its transmitters in Big River and Tisdale ^[11] Viewers that had been served by the two stations were later served by two other CBKST transmitters, CBKST-TV-3 Leoville and CBKST-TV-11 Greenwater Lake.

Transmitters

CBKST had over 20 analog over-the-air television rebroadcasters in several northern Saskatchewan communities such as Prince Albert and North Battleford.

Due to federal funding reductions to the CBC, in April 2012, the CBC responded with substantial budget cuts, which included shutting down CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analog transmitters, including CBKST, on July 31, 2012. ^[12] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Former transmitters

City of licence	Callsign	Channel	ERP (W) [13]
Beauval	CBKBT	7 (VHF)	7,700
Buffalo Narrows	CBKDT	11 (VHF)	321
Fond-du-Lac	CBKAT-2	10 (VHF)	402
Greenwater Lake	CBKST-11	4 (VHF)	3,000
Île-à-la-Crosse	CBKCT	9 (VHF)	105
La Loche	CBKDT-2	13 (VHF)	180
La Ronge	CBKST-2	12 (VHF)	60
Leoville	CBKST-3	12 (VHF)	39,200
Montreal Lake	CBKST-5	11 (VHF)	168
Nipawin	CBKST-15	10 (VHF)	4,300 w
North Battleford	CBKST-10	7 (VHF)	10,000 w
Palmbere Lake	CBKDT-1	8 (VHF)	7
Patuanak	CBKPT	5 (VHF)	45
Pinehouse Lake	CBKST-6	10 (VHF)	7.7
Prince Albert	CBKST-9	5 (VHF)	13,000
Southend	CBKST-8	13 (VHF)	36
Spiritwood	CBKST-13	2 (VHF)	5,000
Stanley Mission	CBKST-4	8 (VHF)	333
Stony Rapids	CBKAT-3	7 (VHF)	320
Stranraer	CBKST-1	9 (VHF)	163,000
Uranium City	CBKAT	8 (VHF)	370

See also

• List of CBC television stations

References

1. "Canadian Communications Foundation - Fondation des Communications Canadiennes". Canadian Communications Foundation - Fondation des Communications Canadiennes. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
2. "CRTC: "CRTC allows CBC to continue broadcasting analogue television signals in 22 markets until August 2012", August 16, 2011". Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
3. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-384
4. King, Stirling (Nov 2, 1967). "Pearson sidetracks CBC for city". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix . Retrieved July 4, 2014.
5. "TV and Radio Week (TV listings section)". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix . Oct 15, 1971. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
6. Plunging concrete damages plaza – Saskatoon Star-Phoenix , August 17, 1976
7. CBC Saskatoon (CBKST) Newsday open - June 18, 1984
8. CBC Sasaktoon (CBKST) Par 27 open - 1984 (logo appears at 0:59)
9. Guinness World Records 2002. Guinness. 2001. p.  160. ISBN   0-85112-124-1.
10. Groen, Danielle (January 2011). "walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.01-television-craving-corrie/1/". The Walrus . Archived from the original on 5 February 2013.
11. ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-104
12. Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan
13. TV & Cable Factbook (56th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Warren Communications News. 1988. p. B-171 and B-172.

External links

• CBKST at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation