CBKST,
VHF analogue channel 11, was a
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as t ...
, Canada, which operated from 1971 to 2012. The station was owned by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
. CBKST's
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
facilities were located in the
Hutchinson Building
The Hutchinson Building is a landmark building located in downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and ...
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
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
with its own associated network of repeaters; it aired separate commercials and (until the 1990s) its own local news broadcasts. On
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
, the station was available on
Shaw Cable
Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...
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), the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(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. 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
CFQC-DT (channel 8) is a television station in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, the station has studios on 1st Avenue North and 23rd Street East in the Central ...
, 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
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
stating reasons including cost-cutting by the government and the fact CFQC already existed to provide CBC programming.
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
''Hymn Sing'' was a Canadian television series taped in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for CBC Television. The program featured hymns, spirituals and inspirational music sung by a sixteen member choir. The series was broadcast nationally on Sunday afternoon ...
''.
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.
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. 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
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
counterpart,
CBKFT.
In 2002, CBC purchased former
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...
affiliate
CKBI from previous owner
Bell Globemedia
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
(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
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'', according to the 2002 edition of the ''
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' (and noted in previous editions), CBKST acquired 1,144 episodes of the British soap from
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
on May 31, 1971, the largest number of TV shows ever purchased in one transaction. (CBC's English flagship,
CBLT
CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). B ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, was the first to televise ''Coronation Street'' in Canada, in 1966.
)
On May 16, 2008, CBKST was given approval by the CRTC to delete its transmitters in
Big River and
Tisdale 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
North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The Batt ...
.
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.
Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan
/ref> None of CBC or Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters were converted to digital.
Former transmitters
See also
*List of CBC television stations
CBC Television is a Canadian English language public television network made up of fourteen owned-and-operated stations. Some privately owned stations were formerly affiliated with the network until as late as August 2016. This is a table listing ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:CBKST
BKST
Television channels and stations established in 1971
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2012
BKST
BKST