CICT-TV

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CICT (Global)
Slogan: Think. Global.
Calgary, Alberta
Channel 2 - Cable 7
Owner	CanWest Global
Founded	1954
Joined Global	2000
Former Callsigns	1954 - 1968: CHCT (CH Calgary Television) 1968 - 1990: CFAC (CFAC Radio) 1990 - 1993: CKKX
Callsign Meaning	Canadian Independent Calgary Television
Former Affiliations	1954 - 1975: CBC 1975 - 2000: Independent
Global Television Network
CHAN (Vancouver)	CKND (Winnipeg)	CIII (Toronto)

CICT is an Canadian television station, licensed to and serving Calgary, Alberta. It is owned by CanWest Global Communications, and is affiliated to their Global Television Network. It is branded as "Global Calgary". It transmits on channel 2 and cable 7 in Calgary, and on the Bell ExpressVu (channel 244) and Star Choice (channel 338) services.

The ICT in CICT stands for "Independent Calgary Television". The station first went on air in 1954, which makes it the oldest station in the Network.

Contents 1 Transmitters 2 Programming 3 Newscasts 4 History 5 Previous Logos 6 Slogans 7 External links

[edit] Transmitters

• Calgary (CICT-TV, channel 2 with 100 kW effective radiated power)
  • Drumheller (CICT-TV-1, channel 8 with 0.009 kW ERP)
  • Banff (CICT-TV-2, channel 13 with 0.009 kW ERP)
  • Exshaw (CHGR-TV-2, channel 12 with 0.001 kW ERP)
  • Bassano (CIBT-TV, channel 8 with 0.01 kW ERP)
  • East Coulee (CIEA-TV, channel 5 with 0.001 kW ERP)
  • Burmis (CISA-TV-1, channel 3 with 0.409 kW ERP)
  • Coleman (CISA-TV-3, channel 12 with 0.01 kW ERP)
  • Pincher Creek (CISA-TV-5, channel 9 with 0.001 kW ERP)

[edit] Programming

CICT airs the same schedule as Global Edmonton. As of September 2006, CICT has also become the master control hub for all of CanWest's Global and CH stations. Local newscasts are still produced and controlled out of their local markets.

[edit] Newscasts

Global Calgary airs a full schedule of newscasts each week.

• Morning News (6:00am-9:00am)
  • Bruce McAllister
  • Angela Kokott

• Noon News Hour (12:00pm-1:00pm)
  • Cara Fullerton

• Early News (5:00pm-5:30pm)
  • Gord Gilles

• News Hour (6:00pm-7:00pm)
  • Nirmala Naidoo
  • Gord Gilles

• News Hour Final (11:00pm-12:03am)
  • Linda Olsen

• Evening News (6:00pm)/News Final(11:00pm) (Weekends)
  • Brienne Hurlburt

[edit] History

CICT-TV signed on October 8, 1954 as CHCT, an affiliate of the CBC, and the first television station in Alberta. The studios, offices and antenna were located on a hill seven miles west of the city. The station’s owners, Calgary Television Ltd., were a consortium of the three Calgary radio stations CFCN, CFAC, and CKXL. The CT in CHCT stood for Calgary Television.

During the construction of the transmitter, the 70 foot, 5 ton antenna was being hoisted on the top of the 600 foot tower when the cable snapped and the antenna fell all the way down the tower to imbed itself 15 feet in the ground. Fortunately no one was injured, and the antenna was able to be repaired, but the station’s launch was delayed by 10 days.

A year later, CHCT moved its studios and offices from the transmitter site on the old Banff Coach Road, to a renovated badminton club/sea cadet drill hall on 955 Rideau Road S.W. Calgary.

Notable productions at the original studio include:

• Klara’s Korner: a cooking show that was in national syndication for many years
• Yan Can Cook: another cooking show, this time hosted by Martin Yan, over 600 shows were produced, it too was successful in syndication throughout North America.
• Stampede Wrestling: produced for over 20 years, finding loyal audiences worldwide
• It Figures: the show originated at the station and it was produced for nearly 20 years

In 1957, CKXL Ltd. sold its share in Calgary Television Ltd., to Fredrick Shaw, who had recently sold his share in CKXL-AM to Tel-Ray Ltd. Just over a decade later, CHCT was purchased by Selkirk Broadcasting, and the station’s call sign was changed to CFAC-TV, linking it to co-owned CFAC-AM.

On September 1, 1975, CFAC-TV disaffiliated from the network, becoming independent. This led to the CBC launching its own station, CBRT. In 1979, the station branded itself as Channel 2&7, although for a number of years afterwards, it continued to use the old CFAC "star" logo alongside the 2&7 logo.

1981 saw the station move to its new home, the Calgary Television Center, a move reflecting its growth since its disaffiliation from the CBC. After obtaining the television rights to the Calgary Flames NHL franchise the year before, the station purchased a seven camera mobile soon after. The station has been the Flames’ television partner since 1980.

In 1989, Maclean Hunter Ltd. purchased Selkirk Communications, but due to ownership regulations at the time (Maclean-Hunter already owned CFCN-TV), CFAC-TV was sold to Western International Communications (WIC).

In March 1990, CFAC-TV was again given a new call sign, this time CKKX-TV. In 1992, CKKX’s news operations were expanded with the acquisitions of a satellite uplink truck and a fleet of electronic news gathering microwave trucks.

On September 7, 1993, CKKX was recalled CICT-TV, and also took on the brand of Calgary 7, referring to the station’s cable channel.

The Griffiths family holdings in WIC were sold to Shaw Communications Inc. and CanWest Global Communications Corp in 1998. This move required CRTC approval, the plans for which were filed in 1999 and approved in 2000. The assets were split between CanWest Global, Shaw and its radio offshoot Corus Entertainment.

On September 4, 2000, CICT joined the Global Television Network, along with fellow Alberta stations CITV and CISA. By 2001, CICT-TV began relays in Drumheller (CICT-TV-1) and Banff (CICT-TV-2).

[edit] Previous Logos

A "museum" of CICT's previous logos, as seen on their old site.

Add one more -- former Global Calgary logo, used from 2000 to 2006.

[edit] Slogans

• Hello Calgary! (1980s; re-introduced in 2004 for the station's 50th anniversary)
• Spirit of Calgary (late 1990s)

[edit] External links

• Global Calgary
• Canadian Communications Foundation (source)
• NelsonMedia (source)