CHEK-TV

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CHEK-TV
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 1 History 2 Current anchors and reporters 2.1 Anchors 2.2 Weather 2.3 Sports 2.4 Reporters 3 Alumni (partial list) 4 Locally produced programs formerly aired on CHEK (partial list) 5 Station Presentation 5.1 Previous Logos 5.2 As CHEK-TV 5.3 As CH Vancouver Island 6 Previously aired US programs 7 Videotape Format 8 See also 9 External links

[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)
• Sophie Lui (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)

• Bob Aylward
• John Barton
• Paul Carson
• Colleen Christie
• Ida Clarkson
• Jill Krop
• Catherine MacDonald
• Hudson Mack
• Pamela Martin
• Harry Maunu
• Bruce McAllister
• Bruce Payne
• Michaela Pereira
• Alex Robertson
• Zack Spencer
• Andy Stephens

[edit] Locally produced programs formerly aired on CHEK (partial list)

• Barton & Company (talk)
• Body Moves (exercise)
• Capital Comment (political affairs)
• CHEK Around (lifestyles)
• Club Six (teen dance show)
• Daybreak (variety)
• GO! Magazine (lifestyles)
• Island Country Garden (gardening)
• Learning for Leisure (educational)
• Maturity (seniors' issues & lifestyles)
• Nanaimo Report (news)
• Sports Page (sports highlights - produced at CHAN)
• Student Forum (student issues)
• The Ida Clarkson Show (talk)
• The Noon Show (news and talk)
• Wake Up (morning newscast)

[edit] Station Presentation

[edit] Previous Logos

CHEK logo in the late 50's.

This logo was from when BCTV owners purchased CHEK and began to use BCTV's logo at the station.

The CHEK 6 logo in 1978.

CHEK's logo in the late 80's to early 90's.

[edit] As CHEK-TV

Logo from early 60s letterhead.	News Hour Vancouver Island - Used from the 70s.	chek 6 news Used from the late 80s to early 90s.	CHEK-TV ID used from 1997 to 2001. Note the slogan It's here.
CHEK Late News 2001 open.	CHEK News @ 5 open.

[edit] As CH Vancouver Island

CH News Used from 2001 to 2002.	CH ID.	CH News Used from 2002 to 2004.	CH News Used from 2004 to late 2005.
CH News Used from 2005 to present.

[edit] Previously aired US programs

• Late Show with David Letterman, weekdays 4:30pm (August 1995 to August 1999)

[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

• List of programs broadcast by CH

[edit] External links

• CH Vancouver Island