CHCA-TV was a television station in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It was owned by

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

, and was part of the E! television system. The station was seen on VHF channel 6 and cable channel 11 in Red Deer. The station was previously Red Deer's

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

affiliate. CHCA had its studios on Bremner Avenue in Downtown Red Deer (where

CHUB Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and general. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinid ...

and CFDV are currently based) and transmitter off Range Road 265 in

Red Deer County Red Deer County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada within Census Division No. 8 and surrounding the City of Red Deer. The neighbouring municipalities of Red Deer County are Clearwater County to the west, Lacombe County to the ...

. Canwest announced in February 2009 that it was reviewing several options, including closure, for its E! stations due to financial pressures. The station closed on August 31, 2009."Canwest closing TV stations in Alberta, B.C."

cbc.ca CBC.ca is the English-language online service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was introduced in 1996. Under its previous names, the CBC's online service first went live in 1993. The Web-based service of the CBC is one of Canada's m ...

, July 22, 2009.

History

The station began broadcasting on December 11, 1957 as CHCA-TV, the "CA" standing for Central Alberta. The station's founder was Fred Bartley. In September 1965, the call letters were changed to CKRD-TV, the RD standing for Red Deer. In the period between 1969 and 1976, CKRD was owned by Henry Flock and Gordon Spackman who also owned two radio stations with the same moniker in Red Deer (CKRD and CKRD-FM). Past employees of that era included Danny Teed, Ron MacLean, Martin Smith and Al Coates. In 1976,

Monarch Broadcasting Monarch Cablesystems, LTD. was a cable television and internet service provider in British Columbia and portions of Alberta in Western Canada, and also operates Monarch TV-10, a community channel on Cable 10. Monarch was founded in the 1960s, and ...

purchased the station, and in 1989, was purchased by

Allarcom WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Ca ...

(not to be confused with Allarco). Allarcom merged with

WIC WIC may stand for: Businesses and organizations * WIC program, the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children * Dutch West India Company, in the 17th and 18th centuries * West Island College, a system of three pr ...

in 1991, before being purchased by Canwest in 2000. In the days as CKRD, the station was known on air as ''RDTV''. Its general slogan was "''The Heart of the West''", and its news slogan was "''Our focus is YOU''". CKRD broadcast a minimum of 40 hours of programming from the CBC, with the rest of the programming coming from WIC, and later Canwest's CH system. Some of those who wanted a full CBC schedule could view Edmonton's

CBXT CBXT-DT (channel 5) is a CBC Television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBXFT-DT (channel 11). The two stations share studios at the Edmonton City Centre (across from Churchil ...

in the area, other areas lacked a real CBC station. From the mid-1980s onward, it was carried on cable in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

and

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. News bulletins were broadcast at 12 noon and 5 p.m., with a Saturday bulletin produced by

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

Edmonton aired at either 11pm, or after ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

''. The weekend newscast was moved to Sundays near the end of its association with CBC. On September 5, 2005, the station disaffiliated from the CBC and became the fourth station in the CH television system. On that date, the station changed its call letters back to the original CHCA. Sportscaster

Ron MacLean Ronald Joseph Corbett MacLean (born April 12, 1960) is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC and Rogers Media, best known as the host of ''Hockey Night in Canada'' from 1986 to 2014 and again since 2016. MacLean is also a former hockey referee. ...

began his career at CKRD. Plans to build rebroadcasters in Edmonton and Calgary were initially denied in 2005 by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC). A new application to the same effect was approved on June 8, 2007. The Edmonton transmitter broadcast on Channel 17; the Calgary transmitter was on Channel 44. Rogers initially received approval in principle for the Calgary transmitter, but was required to submit a new application for an alternate channel number because of a conflict with

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

' contemporaneous application for new

Omni Television Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and group of specialty channels owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multi ...

outlets in both cities. The station was not allowed to solicit local advertising in Calgary or Edmonton (although it could theoretically ''accept'' if specifically approached by advertisers in those markets). CHCA was relaunched on September 7, 2007 as E! Red Deer, as part of Canwest's rebranding of CH stations to E!. Local programming was renamed CHCA News as a result of the rebranding. On February 5, 2009, Canwest announced it would explore "strategic options", including possible sale, for CHCA and its other E! stations, saying "a second conventional TV network is no longer key to the long-term success" of the company."Canwest may sell TV stations"

, February 5, 2009. On July 22, 2009, Canwest announced it would be closing CHCA as of August 31, 2009 at 5:00am MT, issuing layoff notices to staff. Its final entertainment program was a rerun of ''

Wild On! ''Wild On!'' was a travel show that was produced from 1997 until 2003 by E!. Each episode followed a celebrity host as they experienced the food, culture, and nightlife of a certain region. Overview Sometimes referred to as ''Wild on E!'' The ...

'' at 12:30 a.m., followed by a four-hour block of informercials until 5:00 a.m., and then a "goodbye" slide that ran before a black screen that aired all day long until the transmitters were finally shut off. The station was the first major TV station in Canada to have gone dark since 1977, when

CFVO-TV CFVO-TV (channel 30) was a television station in Hull, Quebec, Canada (now Gatineau). It launched on September 1, 1974, under the ownership of the (Outaouais Television Cooperative, CTVO). The station aired mostly TVA (Canadian TV network), TVA ...

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of Canada's ...

left the air (the channel would be reactivated five months later as Radio-Québec outlet CIVO-TV, on a new licence); all other defunct stations in Canada became

repeaters ''Repeaters'' is a 2010 Canadian thriller film directed by Carl Bessai, written by Arne Olsen, and starring Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, and Richard de Klerk as young drug addicts who find themselves stuck in a time loop. Plot Kyle, Sonia, and ...

of other stations almost seamlessly. Sportscaster Ron MacLean commented that the station's closure was "a sign of the times," but "it wouldn't surprise me somewhere down the road if it starts up again."

CKX-TV CKX-TV (channel 5) was a television station in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, which served as a private affiliate of CBC Television. Owned by CTVglobemedia, it was the first privately owned television station in Manitoba. It shared its call letters ...

, a CBC affiliate in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

would follow, closing approximately one month later on October 2, 2009. The neighbouring

CTV 2 Alberta CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of its s ...

stations CIAN-TV 13 Calgary and CJAL-TV 9 Edmonton were closed down on August 31, 2011 (going to cable-only status), followed two months later by

CKXT-DT CKXT-DT (channel 52) was a broadcast television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which broadcast to much of southern and eastern Ontario. It was owned by Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. Although beginning as a general interest ind ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The CHCA-TV licence was revoked on December 16,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

News

The station aired local newscasts at 5 and 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Friday, and until September 2008 aired newscasts on the weekends. This change coincided with Global Edmonton remotely taking control of the station's production. The news set surrounding the on-air talent was digitally created, similar to a weather anchor's green screen set up. * CHCA News at 5:00, 5:30 and 11:00 ** Jennifer Ivanov ** Suzy Burge (Weather) ** Slav Kornik (Sports) * Reporters ** Tanara McLean ** Tino Makris ** Nicole Weisberg ** Courtney Ketchen

Former Transmitters

CBC era

The translator in

Coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

, formerly CKRD-TV-1 on channel 10, later moved to channel 13, broadcasting the Edmonton CBXT signal since the 2005 disaffiliation from CBC; this translator would go dark on July 31, 2012, due to financial measures imposed by the CBC. The station also had a translator on channel 10 in

Banff Banff may refer to: Canada * Banff, Alberta, a town in Alberta, Canada ** Banff Airport ** Banff station ** Banff National Park ** Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity ** Banff (provincial electoral district) (1905–1909; 1975–1979) ** ...

, which has since gone dark.

CH/E! era

Alumni

* Dean Millard (at CFRN TSN Edmonton) * Heath Brown (at

CTV Calgary CFCN-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside cable-exclusive CTV 2 Alberta (based in Edmonton with sister station CFR ...

) * Nancy Carlson (at

Global Edmonton CITV-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Allard Way Northwest in the Pl ...

) * Barry Delay (at

Global BC CHAN-DT (channel 8), branded Global British Columbia or Global BC (formerly British Columbia Television or BCTV), is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Global Television Networ ...

) * Mike Dennis * Reid Fiest (was at

Global Calgary CICT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and has studios at the Calgary Television Centre on 23 Str ...

) * Dianne Finstad (at CKGY-FM Red Deer) * Todd Gallant (Digital Advertising, Founder, BizBOXTV) * Rob Gibson (at Shaw Calgary) * Erin Harrison (at

) * Barb Higgins * Carolyn Jarvis (16:9) * Tino Markis (at

Global Maritimes CIHF-DT (channel 8) is a television station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, it is a sister station to CHNB-DT in Saint John, New Brunswick. The ...

) * Daniel Moore (at Citytv Calgary) *

Tara Nelson Tara Nelson is a Canadian television journalist and news anchor, and most recently was the European bureau chief for Global Television Network's news division. In 2010, Nelson assumed the role as the anchor of the News at 6 at CTV Calgary, replacin ...

(at CTV Calgary) * Leslie Horton (at Global Calgary) * Jennifer Ivanov (at Global Edmonton) * Slav Kornik (at Global Edmonton) * Michael Kuss (at Citytv Toronto) *

(

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

, ''

'') * Jill Morgan (at Global Regina) * Michelle Murphy (last at CTV Calgary. Left in 1994 after developing a brain tumor, died in 2005) * Kevin O'Connel (at Global Edmonton) * Andrew Schultz (at Citytv Calgary) * Kim Scoular (Freelance) * Lorne Starko (deceased) * Bindu Suri (at Global Calgary) * Ron Thornton (at Speedwaymedia.com) * Gill Tucker (at Global Calgary) * Nicole Weisberg (at Global Maritimes) * Brienne Glass (at Global Calgary) * Dean Molberg (at Fan 960 Calgary) * Robert Howes (eventually became Vice President, Operations and Engineering at WTN London) * Peter Wunstorf, ASC

Digital television and high definition

As of its closure on August 31, 2009, CHCA-DT never signed on the air. CHCA-DT was allocated channel 28 for Red Deer, while its Edmonton and Calgary repeaters converted to digital as a

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive di ...

. Following the station's closedown and licence revocation, the allocations for its analog and digital frequencies became open for future stations. Should a new television station open up in Red Deer in the future, it would not be required to operate as a digital station, as Red Deer is not a mandatory market for

digital conversion The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

, which took place in most other markets on August 31, 2011.

References

External links

CHCA-TV
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chca-Tv HCA Television channels and stations established in 1957 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009 HCA Mass media in Red Deer, Alberta 1957 establishments in Alberta 2009 disestablishments in Alberta Former Corus Entertainment networks HCA-TV