CFSO-TV

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CFSO-TV

Cardston, Alberta
Branding	Channel 32
Slogan	More than Television, its our Community
Channels	32 (VHF), Cable 4 analog
Affiliations	KBYU-TV/BYU TV/PBS/Independent
Owner	Logan & Corey McCarthy
Founded	1983
Call letters meaning	none
Former callsigns	none
Former affiliations	CHEC
Transmitter Power	unknown
Website	channel32.ca

CFSO is a Canadian television station, licensed to and serving Cardston, Alberta. It is owned by Logan & Corey McCarthy, and is affiliated in part with KBYU-TV. It is branded as Channel 32. It transmits on channel 32 and cable 4 in Cardston.

1 Programming
2 History
3 Slogans
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Programming

CFSO airs locally produced programming as well as some affiliate programs such as Music & Spoken Word, Worship Service, and Day of Discovery.

[edit] History

Channel 32 began in 1983 when a group of businessmen formed a Video Society. Ron Pitcher offered the back-room of Pitcher Real Estate and Insurance Co. and Videotron donated some equipment. In 1983, the station broadcast music, spoken word, general conference, live basketball from the local high school team (the Cougars), a live news broadcast read by Ron Pitcher and Mel Cottle Tuesday evenings and a bulletin board as a public service, with audio from CHEC radio station Lethbridge.

By 1985, Videotron contracted with the Video Society to do service work in Cardston and Raymond, the Video Society hired Logan McCarthy part-time and he did service work for the cable company for the next 7-8 years as well as managing Channel 10.

In 1993, when the large cable company announced cuts for all small community channel, including Cardston Channel 10, they did not expect any complaints. However, the small community joined together to give their support, and there was such a surge of response from the community that Videotron realized that Cardston was willing to fight to keep their unique television station.

The Video Society decided to disband because of the cuts to funding. A representative from the town approached Logan McCarthy and his son Corey to see what could be done to keep Channel 10 on the air. The younger McCarthy had been involved along with his father in the Video Society and the community channel since he was 13 yrs old. The son had returned from his mission, and had gained computer expertise and technical ability, which enabled him to make the channel more technically advanced and capable of running with fewer staff.

With some financial support from the town and a different facility on the Waterton Highway #524, Channel 10 continued broadcasting on cable. After moving to a new location, channel 10 asked the community for help in purchasing a new satellite system. Donations started pouring in and within a short time were able to add a satellite dish to their operations.

In 1994, Channel 10 had to move again, this time to the southwest of town to Logan McCarthy's acreage south of the Agridome. McCarthy applied for a license to broadcast the community TV on a UHF channel. While waiting for the license approved, the channel was pre-recorded at his location and the tapes were played from the cable company's head-end in town, located in a shack east of the junior high. In 1996 the CRTC granted the license for CFSO Channel 32, and equipment was installed and the community channel continued broadcasting.

In 2002, Shaw Cable bought the Cardston cable system and shortly after converted it to digital; once again Channel 10 was in jeopardy of being removed from the cable system. When the potential removal of Channel 10 was announced, the community showed their support with numerous calls made to Shaw Cable by supportive citizens. The vice president of the western region and a local engineer met with Mr. McCarthy to see what made Channel 10 so popular with the people. They were amazed at what McCarthy and the community volunteers had accomplished with Channel 10. They reprogrammed their system to include the community channel 32 on their cable system rebroadcasting locally on Channel 4.

[edit] Slogans

More than Television, its our Community

[edit] References

Channel 32 History Page

[edit] External links

Broadcast television in the Lethbridge market

CKAL 2 (Citytv) - CISA 7 (Global) - CBRT-6 10 (CBC) - CFCN-5 13 (CTV) - CJIL 17 (Miracle) - CBXFT-3 23 (SRC) - CFSO 32 (IND/Religious)
See also, broadcast television in the Calgary, Great Falls, and Medicine Hat markets