CKPG-TV
Encyclopedia
CKPG-TV is a television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 in Prince George
Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is owned by Jim Pattison Group
Jim Pattison Group
The Jim Pattison Group is Canada’s third largest privately held company and, in a recent survey by the Financial Post, The Jim Pattison Group was ranked as Canada’s 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur is the Chairman, President, CEO, and sole owner of the Jim Pattison...

, and operates on VHF channel 2 and cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 channel 3. It is an independently-owned affiliate of Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is one of Canada's largest communications companies, particularly in the field of wireless communications, cable television, home phone and internet with additional telecommunications and mass media assets...

' Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

 system.

The station also operates translators in Hixon
Hixon, British Columbia
Hixon is an unincorporated community at the northern edge of the Cariboo region of the Central Interior region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Fraser River, and is about midway along BC Highway 97 between the cities of Prince George and Quesnel...

 (CKPG-TV-1, channel 10), Mackenzie
Mackenzie, British Columbia
Mackenzie is a District Municipality within the Fraser-Fort George Regional District in central British Columbia, Canada. The settlement is located at the south end of Williston Lake. The townsite, established by Alexandra Forest Industries, was named for Sir Alexander MacKenzie . Mackenzie's two...

 (CKPG-TV-4, channel 6), and Quesnel
Quesnel, British Columbia
-Demographics:Quesnel had a population of 9,326 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 7.1% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Quesnel was $54,044, which is slightly above the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709....

 (CKPG-TV-5, channel 13), and is available via the Bell TV (channel 260) and Shaw Direct (channel 325) satellite services.

History

The station began operations on August 20, 1961, with a power output of 8,300 watts. It was co-owned with the local radio station of the same name, and was a CBC affiliate from its inception. The station's president and general manager, Bob Harkins, was one of the first people to appear on air.

In 1965, the station put a re-broadcaster in Quesnel on channel 13 into operation. In April 1969, both the radio and television stations were purchased by Vancouver's Q Broadcasting Ltd., owners of CHQM
CHQM-FM
CHQM-FM is a Canadian radio station in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia. It broadcasts at 103.5 megahertz on the FM band with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from a transmitter on Mount Seymour and airs an adult contemporary format...

 in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

.

In 1973, Gord Leighton became the new general manager of both stations. By 1985, the station had six rebroadcasting stations, including three owned by the CBC, in operation in Hixon, Mackenzie, Quesnel, Vanderhoof, Fort Fraser and Ft. St. James.

On November 2, 1986, Bob Harkins was awarded the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award for his contributions to local history and the community. He also served two terms as an alderman, and was involved with the station's operations until moving to rival radio station CJCI
CJCI-FM
CJCI-FM, branded as The Wolf @ 97FM, is a Canadian radio station, which airs a country music format at 97.3 FM in Prince George, British Columbia.The station was launched in 1970 by Central Interior Radio, broadcasting on 620 AM...

. He would return to CKPG-TV in the early 1990s, seen regularly on the program Community Close-up, on news segments Harkins Comment and Harkins History, and on a station-produced video, Portraits: Bob Harkins.

In 1988, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) renewed the network licence for CKPG-TV and CFTK-TV
CFTK-TV
CFTK-TV is a television station in Terrace, British Columbia, broadcasting on channel 7 , channel 3 , channel 324 , channel 256 . It is owned by Astral Media and is the CBC Television affiliate in that city...

 Terrace
Terrace, British Columbia
Terrace is a city on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. The Kitselas people, a tribe of the Tsimshian Nation, have lived in the Terrace area for thousands of years. The community population fell between 2001 and 2006 from 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 to 11,320 and...

, which allowed the two CBC affiliates to use the Corporation's microwave equipment to transfer syndicated programming, when it wasn't being used for CBC programming.

In 1990, Q Broadcasting Ltd. sold Radio Station CKPG Ltd., and its CKPG Television Ltd. subsidiary, to Monarch Broadcasting.

Bob Harkins died on November 28, 2000 at the age of 69. Nearly a month later, on December 21, the CRTC approved the buyout of Monarch Broadcasting by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, a division of the Jim Pattison Group
Jim Pattison Group
The Jim Pattison Group is Canada’s third largest privately held company and, in a recent survey by the Financial Post, The Jim Pattison Group was ranked as Canada’s 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur is the Chairman, President, CEO, and sole owner of the Jim Pattison...

, which included CKPG-TV and its retransmission stations.
In 2001, CKPG-TV and its sister radio stations were a part of the 24-hour Relay for a Friend, held May 5 and 6. This event raised $260,000 for cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 research and services.

In July 2002, Ken Kilcullen became General Manager of CKPG-TV along with its sisiter stations CKKN-FM and CKDV-FM.

In Fall 2003, Bell ExpressVu added the station to its basic services, and in February 2004, Star Choice did the same.

In May 2004, CKPG-TV received the Special Program of the Year award from the BC Association of Broadcasters for its special Crossing The Line, which looked at softwood lumber. On August 27 that year, the CRTC renewed CKPG-TV's licence, recognizing the station's commitment to local news (over ten hours of programming per week) and extending its CBC affiliation to August 31, 2008. Starting in September 2004, CKPG-TV and its sister radio stations were moved into new facilities at 1810 3rd Avenue.

CKPG's newscast, CKPG News, is seen weekdays at 12 noon-12:30 p.m., 5 p.m.-6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-11:30 p.m.; as well as CKPG News Week in Review on weekends, recapping the week's top local news stories.

When CBC Television went to a 24-hour schedule in October 2006, CKPG-TV increased the amount of CBC programming in its schedule. Along with the increase in overall hours of programming, the station provides over 12 hours a week in local programming including daily news and information programming focused on the issues affecting citizens in the city of Prince George and Northern British Columbia.

In September 2007, CKPG announced plans to disaffiliate from the CBC effective on August 31, 2008. Documents filed with the CRTC indicate the station will henceforth receive programming from Canwest. As a Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...

 station CHAN
CHAN-TV
CHAN-DT is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, broadcasting over-the-air on digital channel 22, and available via cable providers in the area on channel 11. Owned by Shaw Communications as a part of its Shaw Media division, it is the West Coast flagship station of the...

 already broadcasts over-the-air in Prince George (via a broadcast translator), the station became an E! affiliate, as did Kamloops affiliate CFJC
CFJC-TV
CFJC-TV is a television station in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, that is owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. It is an affiliate of Rogers Media's Citytv system....

. It was announced that the transmitters of CKPG will not be replaced by the CBC, and no transmitters are scheduled to be installed for the future. CBUT
CBUT
CBUT-DT is the CBC's television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the flagship CBC Television station for the Pacific Time Zone. The station transmits its main terrestrial signal from a tower atop Mount Seymour....

 is now available on cable and satellite in Prince George.

It was announced that the transmitters of former CBC affiliate, E! affiliate CHAT-TV
CHAT-TV
CHAT-TV is a television station in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It is owned by Jim Pattison Group, and operates on VHF channel 6 and cable channel 3. It is a privately owned affiliate of Rogers television system Citytv....

 Medicine Hat will not be replaced by the CBC, and no transmitters are scheduled to be installed for the future in this area. All three areas are to be served by Jim Pattison Group and one other television network. However, despite the light Francophone population in the absence of an Anglophone network, Radio-Canada stations CBUFT
CBUFT
CBUFT-DT is Radio-Canada's television station in Vancouver, serving the French-speaking population of British Columbia.The station also has rebroadcast transmitters in Chilliwack, Dawson Creek, Kamloops, Kelowna, Kitimat, Lillooet, Logan Lake, Prince George and Terrace.CBUFT was launched on...

 Vancouver is still available over-the-air in Prince George and Kamloops, and CBXFT
CBXFT
CBXFT-DT is Radio-Canada's television station serving Franco-Albertans in Edmonton and some parts of Alberta.The station also has rebroadcast transmitters in Bonnyville, Falher, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Hinton, Red Deer, Jean Côté, Lac la Biche, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Peace River.The...

 Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 is still available in Medicine Hat.

On July 14, 2009, Pattison announced that CKPG and its other E! affiliates would begin receiving programming from Rogers Media
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., which owns Canada's largest publishing company, Rogers Publishing Limited, which has more than 70 consumer and business publications. Rogers Media Inc...

 starting September 1, effectively affiliating them with the Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

 system, although it does not appear the stations will carry any form of "Citytv" branding. CKPG and CFJC will also be part of a new regional sales initiative known as "inTV". Canwest had previously announced it would sell or close its E! stations, leaving the Pattison stations without a programming source.

The "Spinner" Spencer Incident

On December 12, 1970, Brian "Spinner" Spencer
Brian Spencer
Brian Roy "Spinner" Spencer was a Canadian Professional ice hockey player who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins.-Career:Brian Spencer was drafted in the 5th Round, 55th overall by the...

, a rookie hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

 from Fort St. James
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof...

, was called up to play with the Leafs in what would be his first NHL game on television. He called back home to his father, Roy Spencer, to tell him to watch the game that night on Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...

. Spencer was to be interviewed between periods of the game. However, CKPG-TV instead aired a game featuring the Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...

 versus the California Golden Seals
California Golden Seals
The California Golden Seals were a team in the National Hockey League from 1967–76. Initially named California Seals, the team was renamed Oakland Seals part-way through the 1967–68 season, and then to California Golden Seals in 1970. The Seals were one of six teams added to the league as part of...

 instead of the Maple Leafs versus the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...

. Infuriated, Roy Spencer drove 135 kilometres (83.9 mi) to CKPG-TV's studios in Prince George and ordered the technicians at gunpoint to broadcast the Maple Leafs game instead. The station complied but as Roy Spencer left the station he was confronted by the RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

. After a brief stand-off Roy Spencer was shot and killed. A 1993 television movie titled "Gross Misconduct" was directed by Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...

 and features this event.

On-air staff

  • Dave Barry - News Director
  • Sandra Clermont - News Anchor
  • Ashlee Morgan - News Anchor/Reporter
  • Allan Bristowe - Sports Anchor

News reporters

  • Cheryl Jahn
  • Joe Perkins
  • Catherine Hansen
  • Dave Branco

Transmitters

Station City of licence
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....

Channel
Channel (broadcasting)
In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies assigned by a government for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or television channel. In common usage, the term also may be used to refer to the station operating on a particular frequency.-See also:*Broadcast...

ERP
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...

HAAT
Height above average terrain
Height above average terrain is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is actually much more important than effective radiated power in determining the range of broadcasts...

Transmitter Coordinates
CKPG-TV-1 Hixon
Hixon, British Columbia
Hixon is an unincorporated community at the northern edge of the Cariboo region of the Central Interior region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Fraser River, and is about midway along BC Highway 97 between the cities of Prince George and Quesnel...

10 (VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

)
0.009 kW NA 53°28′43"N 122°38′5"W
CKPG-TV-4 Mackenzie
Mackenzie, British Columbia
Mackenzie is a District Municipality within the Fraser-Fort George Regional District in central British Columbia, Canada. The settlement is located at the south end of Williston Lake. The townsite, established by Alexandra Forest Industries, was named for Sir Alexander MacKenzie . Mackenzie's two...

6 (VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

)
0.008 kW NA 55°1′52"N 122°53′44"W
CKPG-TV-5 Quesnel
Quesnel, British Columbia
-Demographics:Quesnel had a population of 9,326 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 7.1% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Quesnel was $54,044, which is slightly above the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709....

13 (VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

)
0.008 kW NA 52°53′0"N 122°20′10"W


CKPG-TV was originally repeated on CBC-owned transmitters in Vanderhoof
Vanderhoof, British Columbia
-External links:**...

 (CBCB-TV-1, channel 18), Fort Fraser
Fort Fraser, British Columbia
Fort Fraser is an unincorporated community of about 1000 people, situated near the base of Fraser Mountain, close to both Fraser Lake and the Nechako River. It can be found near the geographical centre of British Columbia, Canada, west of Vanderhoof on the Yellowhead Highway...

 (CBCB-TV-2, channel 13) and Fort St. James
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof...

 (CBCB-TV-3, channel 7); these transmitters switched to CBUT following CKPG-TV's disaffiliation from the CBC.

Digital television and high definition

As of September 2008, CKPG-DT has not yet begun broadcasting in digital.

According to a 2009 CRTC decision, CKPG-TV is not required to activate its digital signal, as Prince George is not a mandatory market for digital conversion
Digital television in Canada
Digital television in Canada is transmitted using the ATSC standards developed for and in use in the United States. Because Canada and the U.S...

, which takes place in most other markets on August 31, 2011. When CKPG-DT signs on its digital signal, it will broadcast on its current assigned channel number, 34. However, through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...

, digital television receivers will display CKPG-DT's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....

as 2.1.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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