CISA-TV

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For other meanings of the four-letter initialism, see CISA

CISA-TV

Lethbridge, Alberta
Channels	7 / cable 9 (VHF) analog
Affiliations	Global Television Network
Owner	CanWest Global
Founded	1955
Former callsigns	CJLH (CJOC-AM and the Lethbridge Herald, 1955-1972) CJOC (CJOC Radio, 1972-1976) CFAC-TV7 (CFAC-TV Calgary, 1977-1990)
Website	Global Lethbridge

CISA-TV is a Canadian television station serving Lethbridge, Alberta. It is owned by CanWest Global Communications, and is affiliated to their Global Television Network. It is branded as "Global Lethbridge". It transmits on channel 7 and cable channel 9 in Lethbridge.

1 History
2 Previous Logos
3 Programming
4 Technical information
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] CJLH-TV

The station began as CJLH-TV, broadcasting for the first time on November 20, 1955. It broadcasted on channel 7 with a power output of 167,000 watts visual, and 33,400 aural from a 638 foot tower located at what was the city limits of Lethbridge.

The station was a joint venture between local radio station CJOC (the CJ in the call sign) and the Lethbridge Herald (the LH). It was managed by CJOC's owners, Taylor Pearson and Carson, and began life as an affiliate of the CBC. Network programs on kinoscope arrived between a few days to a week after they went to air live in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, or the U.S. networks.

Three months after CJLH went to air, measurement services showed that the station had a potential audience of 9,400 homes, but within a year, that grew to 19,200, and of those, 16,000 had bought TV sets. At the time, CJLH was the only station in the Lethbridge area.

Local programming at the time included:

Local news, sports and weather
Channel 7 Spotlight, showcasing area talent
Remember When, a series of programs hosted by Harry Baalim using slides, pictures and relics to tell the history of Southern Alberta. Many old timers were guests on that show, and
Home Gardener, featuring many experts in the field demonstrating proper horticultural technique:

These programs (amongst others) earned the station many awards, including seven Liberty Magazine awards in the 1950's and 1960's.

In 1958, the Eastern Time problem the station had in relation to networked programming was eliminated when they were connected to the network and the Calgary time-delay centre. The problem still existed for live sports events, such as hockey and football.

In 1961, CJLH expanded into the Crow's Nest Pass area, by opening a repeater station at Burmis on channel 3. In 1967, The Lethbridge Herald sold its 50% holding to Selkirk Holdings Ltd., the successor to Taylor Pearson & Carson. Also that year, an application from CFCN-TV Calgary to open a repeater station in Lethbridge was unsuccessful.

However, a year later in 1968, an agreement was reached between CFCN and CJLH to share space on the CJLH tower and building for technical equipment. On September 3, CFCN went on the air with a repeater station on channel 13. Also in 1968, the station's first 2" black and white video tape recorder was installed, and a repeater in Brooks was made operational, transmitting on channel 3 at low power.

[edit] CJOC-TV

In 1970, production was increased significantly when they became a two-camera operation. Two years later, in 1972, CJLH changed its call sign to CJOC-TV, and continued local production with shows such as

Time Out
Ski Reports
Our Town
Sunday Hour
Thought for the Day
Focus on University
College Campus
and numerous specials

In 1974, CJOC went full colour with two colour cameras and three colour 1" VTRs. CFCN moved out of the CJOC building and into its own that year.

[edit] CFAC-TV

In 1975, CFAC-TV in Calgary, also owned by Selkirk, disaffiliated from the CBC, and became an independent station. CFAC and CJOC co-operated to protect local advertisers when CFAC was put on local cable services. In 1976, CJOC disaffiliated from the CBC and became a semi-satellite of CFAC, with the calls CFAC-TV-7. It added a satellite dish to get a news feed from Global Television. The station took on the same 2&7 branding as CFAC. In 1979, the station increased its power to 167,000 watts video and 33,400 watts audio.

Local programming continued to play an important role at the station, with successful shows such as:

Sky West, which was syndicated to CHCH-TV Hamilton, BCTV Vancouver and CFCF-TV Montreal. It was also judged best syndicated show in the country at the time.
We Won’t Let Him Die, which won the CanPro Founders award in 1983
Kids Belong Together (1990) and Key to Literacy (1992), both shows won the CAB Gold Ribbon Award for community involvement.

[edit] CISA-TV

In 1989, Maclean Hunter bought Selkirk Communications Ltd., and CFAC-TV-7 was purchased by Western International Communications., and joined the Westcom TV Group. A year later, the station became a full-fledged station once again as CISA-TV.

Through the years, CISA's commitment to local programming has continued to reap both industry awards, making it one of the country's most awarded stations, and audience numbers in its local area.

In 1998, the Griffiths family sold WIC to Shaw Communications and CanWest Global. In 1999, agreements were lodged with the CRTC which would see WIC assets split between CanWest Global, Corus Radio and Shaw. The CRTC approved the purchase in 2000, which saw WIC Television sold to CanWest Global, and saw CISA-TV become Global Lethbridge on September 4 that year.

CISA was the last Global station to have its website integrated into the canada.com network.

[edit] Previous Logos

CISA's last logo before going "Global"

Global Lethbridge's logo, used from 2000 to 2006

[edit] Programming

CISA's overall programming schedule comes from CICT Calgary, along with newscasts from 6-9am, 12pm-12:30pm & 5pm. This station also airs "Global National" which is a national broadcast that is produced in Global BC studios and is seen on all Global stations across Canada. The station produces the only live newscasts originating from Lethbridge, between 6:00 - 7:00pm and 11pm-11:30pm. On weekends, the station's newscasts air at 6-6:30pm and 11-11:33pm. Global Lethbridge also produces a local community affairs program, "Scene and Heard," hosted by Mark Campbell from 12:30pm-1:00pm in place of the 2nd half of the Global Calgary noon newscast, and at 11:30pm-12:00am on weekends. It also produces a weekly talk show called "Elisha," hosted by long-time Lethbridge celebrity, Elisha Rasmussen.

[edit] Technical information

[edit] Alberta transmitters

Lethbridge (CISA-TV, channel 7, with an ERP of 325kw)
- Brooks (CISA-TV-2, channel 3, with an ERP of 0.01kw)
- Waterton Park (CISA-TV-4, channel 12, with an ERP of 0.001kw)

[edit] Montana transmitters

(All transmitters in Montana are owned either by local governments or television associations.)

Chinook (K65BR, channel 65, with an ERP of 0.07kw)
Conrad (K12DJ, channel 12, with an ERP of 0.01kw)
East Glacier Park (K08IU, channel 8, with an ERP of 0.01kw)
Sweetgrass (K63AQ, channel 63, with an ERP of 0.24kw)
Toole (K36DK, channel 36, with an ERP of 1.26kw)

[edit] Cable television carriage in Montana

Via Bresnan Communications:

Shelby (cable ch. 10)
Havre (cable ch. 11)
Kalispell (cable ch. 6)

[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

Broadcast television in the Great Falls market (Nielsen DMA #190)
KRTV 3 (CBS) - KFBB 5 (ABC) - CISA 7 (Global) - KBBJ 9 / KBAO 13 / KBGF-LP 50 (NBC) KMTF 10 (The CW) - KTGF 16 (FOX) - KLMN 26 (MNTV) - K53DW (TBN)
Broadcast television available on cable only:
KUSM 9 (PBS)
See also: Broadcast Television in Helena, Lethbridge, Missoula, and Western ND

CanWest Global Communications Corp.

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