CKWS-DT
CKWS-DT (channel 11) is a television station in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios on Queen Street in downtown Kingston, and its transmitter is located near Highway 95 on Wolfe Island, south of the city.
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Channels | |
Branding | Global Kingston (general) CKWS News on Global Kingston (newscasts) |
Programming | |
Affiliations | Global (2018–present) |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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CHEX-DT, CIII-DT, CFMK-FM, CKWS-FM | |
History | |
First air date | December 18, 1954 |
Former call signs | CKWS-TV (1954–2013) |
Former channel number(s) | Analogue: 11 (VHF, 1954–2013) |
CBC (1954–2015) CTV (2015–2018) | |
Call sign meaning | The Kingston Whig-Standard |
Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
ERP | 9.4 kW |
HAAT | 312.5 m (1,025 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 44°9′59″N 76°25′28″W |
Translator(s) | See below |
Links | |
Website | Global Kingston |
History
CKWS signed-on December 18, 1954, as an affiliate of the CBC network. It was originally a joint venture between Roy Thomson and the Davies family, owners of The Kingston Whig-Standard (the source of its callsign). The station has been sold three times: to the Kanatec Corporation, bought by Power Corporation in 1977 and to Corus in 1999.
Children across the country were exposed to CKWS programming in the late 1970s and 1980s by the Harrigan series – a particularly innocent and low budget show about a leprechaun, starring Barry Dale.[2] Shelagh Rogers of CBC Radio fame started out presenting the weather for the station's newscasts.
During its days as a private CBC affiliate, it aired the minimum amount of CBC programming (40 hours per week).
On May 20, 2015, Corus and Bell Media announced an agreement whereby Corus' CBC affiliates, including CKWS, would leave the public network and instead "affiliate" with CTV. The switch took effect on August 31, 2015.[3] Most TV service providers serving the region also carry CBC owned-and-operated station CBOT Ottawa, and any that do not will have to add a CBC affiliate such as CBOT to their basic services to comply with CRTC regulations.[4] Legally, the affiliation was described as a "program supply agreement", and not as an "affiliation" (a term with specific legal implications under CRTC rules), as Corus maintained editorial control over the stations' programming and the ability to sell local advertising, and did not delegate responsibility for CTV programs aired by the station to Bell Media. Affiliations also require the consent of the CRTC.[5]
The switch was approved by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission on August 27, 2015, when it dismissed objections by Rogers Media (who argued that the change was an "affiliation" and thus required CRTC consent to implement, and was not in the public interest because it created duplicate sources of CTV programming), and by a resident who complained that as he only received television over the air, he would lose his ability to receive CBC Television as a result of the disaffiliation.[6]
On August 14, 2018, it was announced that CKWS' affiliation agreement with CTV would expire on August 27; the station subsequently became a Global owned-and-operated station, rebranding itself as Global Kingston.[7]
News programming
CKWS produces 28 hours per week of local news programming, with 5½ hours each weekday, and a half–hour on Saturday.[8] The station does not air any news programs on Sunday.
In September 2016, CKWS began to align its news programming with Global News rather than CTV News; it added airings of Global National in September 2016, and introduced a local morning show, The Morning Show (which is patterned after the program of the same name aired by sister and Global flagship station CIII-DT in Toronto, and the Global News Morning format used in other markets), on October 17, 2016, replacing CTV's national morning show Your Morning. At the same time, the station's noon newscast was shortened to half an hour, the CTV National News was dropped, and the station rebranded its newscasts from Newswatch to CKWS News.[9][10][11][12]
Notable current on-air staff
- Bill Welychka – anchor; also producer
Technical information
Subchannels
Channel | Video | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
11.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | CKWS-DT | Main CKWS-DT programming / Global |
2.1 | CIII-DT | Global Toronto (CIII-DT) |
Analogue-to-digital conversion
In January 2013, CKWS applied to the CRTC to convert its main Kingston transmitter to digital.[14] The station had not announced plans to convert its transmitters in Prescott and Smiths Falls to digital,[15] but did convert its Brighton translator CKWS-TV-1 to digital channel 30 on August 31, 2011 as its former analogue UHF channel 66 is now out-of-band. The Brighton digital signal was not initially broadcast in HD as it went on-air before CKWS converted its cable TV feed (and, later, its main signal) to high-definition digital TV.[16]
The main CKWS transmitter at Wolfe Island/Kingston flash cut to digital on July 5, 2013 on its existing frequency, VHF channel 11.[17] The station was not obligated to convert this transmitter, as Kingston was not one of the 31 markets in which the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) imposed a mandatory analogue shutdown on August 31, 2011.[18]
Transmitters
Station | City of licence | Channel | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CKWS-DT-2 | Prescott | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 26 |
0.13 kW | 118.2 m (388 ft) | 44°49′55″N 75°31′16″W |
Former transmitters
Station | City of licence | Channel | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates |
CKWS-TV-3 | Smiths Falls | 36 (UHF) | 10 kW | 100 m (328 ft) | 45°0′42″N 76°3′16″W |
CKWS-DT-1 | Brighton | Digital: 23 (UHF) Virtual: 30 |
0.938 kW | 158.6 m (520 ft) | 44°2′40″N 77°47′35″W |
Although CKWS' Smiths Falls repeater overlapped its signal with that of CBC owned-and-operated station CBOT/Ottawa while CKWS was a CBC affiliate, CKWS-TV-3 usually serves the Brockville area, along with the station's Prescott rebroadcaster.[19] In 2018, Corus applied to the CRTC to shutdown several of its transmitters, including CKWS-TV-3.[20]
As a result of a CRTC decision[21] in December 2020, CKWS-DT-1 shuttered its transmitter in Brighton on August 31, 2022. CKWS-DT-1 is now available via sub-channel on CHEX-DT out of Peterborough. CKWS-DT-1 briefly broadcast on UHF 23 (PSIP 30) before ultimately being shuttered as it was required to vacate UHF 30 as a result of the DTV repack.
References
- Ownership Chart 32D – CORUS – Radio & TV
- Harrigan (Series, 1969–1985), TVarchive.ca
- "Corus Entertainment's Eastern Ontario Television Channels Enter into a Program Supply Agreement with Bell Media to Broadcast CTV Programming". Corus Entertainment. 2015-05-20. Archived from the original on 2015-05-28. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- "Broadcast Distribution Regulations (ss. 17(d) and 17(f))". Justice Laws Website. Department of Justice (Canada). 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2015-403". CRTC. 27 August 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- "CBC drops local TV affiliates in Oshawa, Peterborough and Kingston". Toronto Star. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
- "CKWS will be a fully global station this fall". Global News. Corus Entertainment. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
- "What's On NOW". CKWS TV. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
- Newswatch, CKWS. "Big changes ahead including a new live morning show and CKWS rebranding". CKWS Kingston. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
- Faguy, Steve (September 2016). "Global expands network after CBC abandons affiliates". Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- "'Global National,' 'The Morning Show' expanding into new areas". Global News. Corus. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- "Big changes ahead including a new live morning show and CKWS rebranding". CKWS Newswatch. Corus Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- RabbitEars TV Query for CKWS
- https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/DocWebBroker/OpenDocument.aspx?AppNo=201300657 >
- http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130329/CURR04/703299982
- "Kingston News | Weather & Traffic - Latest Sports | Breaking News".
- CKWS TV is going digital!
- "Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., to the Banff World Television Festival, to the Banff World Television Festival, Banff, Alberta". Archived from the original on 2010-07-20. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
- "CBC: Broadcast coverage map of CBC Television stations in Southern and Eastern Ontario" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
- "Corus asks CRTC to shut down 44 Global TV transmitters | Fagstein". 13 November 2018.
- "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2020-391". 4 December 2020.
External links
- Global Kingston
- CKWS-DT history – Canadian Communications Foundation
- Fybush tower site descriptions – September 5, 2008 – Kingston, Ontario
- CKWS in the REC Canadian station database