CBWT-DT

CBC Winnipeg Building at 541 Portage Avenue

Planning for CBWT started in November 1952, when the Government of Canada announced its intention of setting up a television station in Winnipeg.[1] The station was announced by J. R. Finlay at a Cosmopolitan Club meeting at the Marlborough Hotel on September 16, 1953. At the time, the station was projected to become western Canada's first television station (before Vancouver's CBUT), but was delayed.[2] There was an entry for CBWT in the 1953 MTS telephone book.[3] In September 1953, CBC Winnipeg moved into a new 5,000 m² (50,000 sq ft) facility at 541 Portage Avenue.[4]

A few months later, on May 31, 1954,[5] CBWT began as a bilingual station on channel 4 with an effective radiated power of 60,000 watts.[6] In the same year KXJB-TV began broadcasting on channel 4 from Fargo, North Dakota, and there were concerns of interference between the two stations.[7] CBWT's first equipment consisted of an RCA Victor TT10AL transmitter and a 60-metre (196 ft) 6-section Super Turnstile Type TF-6AM antenna, located atop the station's roof.[8]

One of CBWT's first large mobile production was Ice Revue, broadcast from the Winnipeg Winter Club in March 1956.[9] However, the equipment was different and there were complains of television receivers becoming stuck in the vertical or horizontal hold when the mobile unit switched cameras. Older tube-television sets had a sync generator which was blamed for the reception problem.[10]

On September 30, 1956, the station connected to the Trans-Canada Microwave Relay System, which allowed Winnipeggers to watch CBC Television programming on the same day it was broadcast in Toronto and Montreal.[11] To celebrate this link, CBC Television produced a special one-hour program, Along the Tower Trail, the Winnipeg segment featured a view of the CPR's Marshalling Yards, the Saint Boniface Cathedral, a prairie harvest clip, and a musical piece sung by the Andrew Mynarski School choir.[12] By late 1957, it was decided to move CBWT from channel 4 to channel 3.[13] The changeover occurred in April 1958.

Eye-To-Eye was a weekly local current affairs program broadcast from 10:15 to 11 p.m. every Tuesday and was the predecessor to 24Hours. It debuted on October 20, 1959, and was similar in style to Close-Up on the national network. The first topics covered were: "The Slums of Winnipeg", "Civic Politics – A Sick Joke" and "Interview – Two Young Ladies".[14] Eye-To-Eye was produced by Ken Black and Warner Troyer.

On April 24, 1960, the station became English-only, while French programming moved to the newly launched CBWFT. At the same time two video tape recorders, worth $75,000 each, were installed at the station to replace the kinescope system used previously.[15] The local version of Reach for the Top debuted in 1962 and was hosted by Bill Guest, alternately by Ernie Nairn. The program ran until 1985.[16]

On November 16, 1964, CBWT swapped channels with CBWFT and higher-powered transmitters were installed on a new 324-metre (1,064 ft) antenna mast near Starbuck, Manitoba. This enabled reception as far as 113 kilometres (70 mi) away,[17] and improved reception in the towns of Portage la Prairie, Gimli, Carman, Winkler, Morden, Morris, Letellier, Emerson, Altona, and Dominion City. It continues to be the tallest free-standing structure in the province.[18] The move to VHF channel 6 also permitted people in the coverage area to hear the English feed's audio on FM radios tuned to 87.7; this option was no longer available after the station shifted to digital and shut down the analogue transmitter.

There was a large National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) strike throughout the CBC organization in the spring of 1981, and production of 24Hours was halted. Strike action began at 10:30 p.m. on May 3.[19] Shortly after the Mulroney government came to power in 1984, they made major cuts to the CBC, and as a result, 86 staff members were let go at CBWT.[20] A second round of major cuts in December 1990, had a negative effect on local production, especially on the resources of 24Hours.

On February 27, 1997, CBC Manitoba announced that it would update and expand its studio facilities by 2,700 square metres (29,063 sq ft) at a cost of $2.8 million.[21] In 1998, CBC Manitoba's newsroom and studios were expanded into a new building, after essentially using portables and an abandoned church for many years. The new studio featured a window looking down onto Portage. It was one of the first CBC stations to transition to a new digital Betacam SX format. The first television broadcast from the new studio occurred on Monday, September 21, 1998.

Previous programs produced at CBWT include Fred Penner's Place, It's a Living, and Disclosure.

CBWT is CBC Television's flagship station for the Central Time Zone, airing the main CBC schedule one hour after stations in the Eastern Time Zone. This differs from other Canadian television networks, whose Eastern and Central time zones stations air programs simultaneously.

Country Canada, CountryWide and a local edition of CBC News at Six (formerly the local segment of CBC News: Canada Now from 2000 to 2006 and 24Hours from 1970 to 2000) have been produced at CBWT. In addition, The National has an investigative unit based at the station.

• CBC Manitoba
• CBWT-DT history – Canadian Communications Foundation
• CBWT in the REC Canadian station database