CBNT-DT

CBNT-DT

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Branding	CBC Television
Slogan	Canada Lives Here
Channels	Digital: 8 (VHF) Virtual: 8.1 (PSIP)
Affiliations	CBC
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
First air date	October 1, 1964
Call letters' meaning	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Newfoundland Television
Sister station(s)	CBN, CBN-FM, CBAF-FM-17, CBAX-FM-2
Former callsigns	CBNT (1964-2011)
Former channel number(s)	8 (Analog, 1964-2011)
Transmitter power	14.54 kW
Height	252.9 m
Transmitter coordinates	47°31′59″N 52°47′26″W / 47.53306°N 52.79056°W / 47.53306; -52.79056
Website	CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

CBNT-DT is the CBC Television owned-and-operated television station, serving the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador that is licensed to St. John's. It broadcasts a high-definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter located just south-southwest of George's Pond in St. John's.

Owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, its studios are located at 95 University Avenue, near the intersection of Westerland Road and the Prince Philip Parkway, in St. John's. This station can also be seen on Rogers Cable and Bell Aliant TV channel 3. There is a high definition feed offered on Rogers Cable digital channel 51, Bell ExpressVu channel 200, Bell Aliant TV channel 400 and Eastlink channel 601. The station has additional cable coverage throughout the province.

The station normally utilizes the Atlantic Time Zone feed of the CBC network schedule; as a result, most CBC programs air half an hour "later" on the island, which is on the Newfoundland Standard Time Zone, compared to other areas of Canada. The station's local newscast, CBC News: Here and Now, airs from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. NT.

History[edit]

The station went on the air on October 1, 1964, as previous CBC affiliate CJON-TV switched networks to CTV. CBNT originally broadcast from the Browning Harvey Building on Water Street West in downtown St. John's. It was the second TV station to sign on in the Metro Area (CJON-TV, the previous CBC affiliate, was the first to open just nine years earlier in 1955). In 1966, the present TV building, located on 95 University Avenue, opened.

On April 30, 2007, CBC Radio's operations out of the old Avalon Telephone building on 342 Duckworth Street in downtown St. John's were moved to the TV building on the Parkway after renovations to accommodate the radio broadcasts were completed.

Programming[edit]

Newscasts[edit]

CBNT's supper-hour newscast, CBC News: Here & Now, is anchored in St. John's by Debbie Cooper and Jonathan Crowe. The title Here and Now is used in place of the "CBC News: (region) at (time)" monikers now used in most other regions. The ninety-minute program airs at 5:30 p.m. NT / 5:00 p.m. AT (Atlantic Time being the time zone used in most of Labrador).

Here & Now was the name of the newscast for decades prior to 2000, when CBC budget cuts forced it to be cut to a half hour from an hour and integrated into Canada Now. CBNT restored its old newscast in late 2005, with Canada Now airing at 7:00 NT until February 16, 2007. When CBNT first signed on, its local newscast was known as CBC Regional News. In the mid-1970s, it adopted the Here and Now name. The current Here & Now originally aired from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. until September 2009, when most CBC stations expanded their local news programming.

In addition to the main Here and Now newscast, CBNT also airs a Saturday half-hour newscast and short ten-minute summaries at 11:30pm from Sunday - Friday.

Other local programming[edit]

Current non-news local programming on CBNT includes Land and Sea, a regional documentary series in production since 1964, making it likely one of the longest-running television shows in Newfoundland and Labrador. Land and Sea is currently aired on Sunday afternoons. On January 15, 2007, CBNT premiered a new local program, Living Newfoundland and Labrador; it aired at 3:30 p.m. NT (3:00 Labrador), and was repeated Tuesday to Friday at 7:00 (6:30 Labrador). Living was cancelled in August 2009.

Since 1984, CBNT has been the home of the annual Janeway Children's Miracle Network Telethon, which usually airs the weekend following the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Up until the early 1990s, the telethon was produced in cooperation with Avalon Cablevision Cable 9 (now Rogers TV). It was taped at the Avalon Cablevision studio, using CBC personalities, and Cable 9 volunteers. The Cable 9 feed was simulcast on CBC stations across the province, until the rebranding of Avalon Cablevision Ltd. to Cable Atlantic. At that time, the Cable Atlantic offices and studio underwent major renovations. CBNT then started using their own studio facilities. This telethon moved to NTV in 2012.

Other CBC programs previously produced in Newfoundland and Labrador include Reach for the Top, which was hosted by Bob Cole for many years, then later by Art Andrews and Peter Miller; As Loved Our Fathers, written by Tom Cahill [1]; Soundings; Yarns from Pigeon Inlet, TV adaptations of stories written by Ted Russell; Skipper and Company, which featured Ray Bellew; Where Once They Stood, a community profile series [2]; Yesterday's Heroes [3]; the 1997 five-part series East of Canada: The Story of Newfoundland [4]; the Ryan's Fancy show [5]; and from 1982 until the late 1990s with a brief gap in the middle of the decade, Newsfinal (CBC's local late night news show, anchored at times by Deborah Collins, Karl Wells, Glenn Tilley, etc.).

Other scheduling notes[edit]

CBNT generally adheres to the network's Atlantic Time feed.

Until September 2009, to accommodate Here and Now's 6:00 p.m. timeslot, the network provided a separate Newfoundland Time feed of its weekday afternoon schedule between 4:00 and 6:00 local. The 7:00 p.m. NT timeslot was then taken by Land and Sea (Monday) and repeats of Living Newfoundland and Labrador (Tuesday-Friday). As a result, the network program normally aired at 3:30 local (such as the Great Canadian Food Show) was pre-empted entirely. With few exceptions, this separate feed ended when Here & Now expanded to 90 minutes in September 2009.

As CBNT's master control operations are now handled directly from the CBC's facilities in Toronto, it is unlikely there is any remaining direct technical obstacle to the station carrying a full Newfoundland Time schedule. However, given the added difficulty of coordinating such a schedule with live national news or sports broadcasts (e.g. The National), as well as viewer familiarity with the current scheduling practices across all channels, such a switch is not likely in the near future.

On-air staff[edit]

Here and Now news team[edit]

Anchors

• Debbie Cooper (Monday - Friday)
• Jonathan Crowe (Monday - Friday)
• Jane Adey (Here and Now: Late Night)
• Carolyn Stokes (Here and Now: Weekends)

Weather meteorologists

• Ryan Snoddon

Reporters Note: This list includes reporters from CBC Radio 1.

• Vik Adhopia - national radio reporter
• Lindsay Bird – Grand Falls-Windsor
• David Burke - Corner Brook
• Colleen Connors - Corner Brook
• Peter Cowan - Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• Gary Moore - Corner Brook
• Glenn Deir - St. John's
• Jeremy Eaton – Corner Brook
• Deanne Fleet - St. John's
• Paula Gale (also with Radio Noon)
• John Gaudi - Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• Doug Greer - Corner Brook
• Zach Goudie - St. John's
• Cecil Haire (also on the St. John's Morning Show covering traffic)
• Glenn Payette - St. John's
• Lee Pitts - St. John's
• Mike Power - Western Labrador
• Mark Quinn - St. John's
• Carolyn Ray - Grand Falls-Windsor
• Azzo Rezori - St. John's
• Curtis Rumbolt - St. John's
• Melissa Tobin - Corner Brook
• Chris O'Neill Yates - St. John's
• Nancy Walsh - (also on the St. John's Morning Show reading News)
• Cherie Wheeler – Corner Brook
• David Zelcer - Gander

Local program hosts[edit]

On Point TV and On Point Radio

• David Cochrane - host; also political reporter

Land and Sea

• Pauline Thornhill - host

On the Go CBC Radio - 2003 to

Ted Blades - host

Ingrid Fraser - producer

Past on-air staff[edit]

This television-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Note: some of these people are still at CBC Newfoundland, but in different capacities.

• George Aaron - sports (retired in Quebec)
• Shilpa Acharya-Downton - weather fill-in
• Art Andrews (deceased)
• Hal Andrews (Land and Sea)
• Juanita Barry (reporter)
• Ray Bellew - host of Skipper and Company (deceased)
• Martine Blue (reporter)
• Marilyn Boone (reporter)
• Doug Brophy (deceased)
• Andrew Brown (reporter)
• Harry Brown - local and national CBC TV and radio host and announcer (deceased)
• Des Browne (Land and Sea)
• Anne Budgell (Here and Now co-anchor and On Camera host; also a longtime Radio Noon host on CBC Radio One; retired April 27, 2007)
• Tom Cahill - writer and producer (deceased)
• Bill Callahan (weekly political panel)
• Jay Callanan (reporter; currently lineup producer of Here and Now)
• John Calver (weekly political panel)
• Lynda Calvert (reporter and fill-in anchor)
• Rab Carnell (Land and Sea)
• Mike Chisholm (reporter; now with Global Vancouver)
• Natalie Clancy (currently a national reporter)
• Bob Cole (Here and Now anchor and local CBC TV host; currently on Hockey Night in Canada)
• Deborah Collins (reporter and Newsfinal anchor)
• Herb Davis (Land and Sea)
• Tony Dawson (Labrador; currently co-hosts Labrador Morning)
• Mike Downey (Labrador)
• Rod Etheridge (reporter)
• Peter Fenwick (weekly political panel for Here and Now)
• John Foster (Land and Sea; also did the nationally-seen This Land when it was on the air)
• Noreen Golfman (commentary)
• Fred Greening - (reporter, Land and Sea)
• Peter Gullage (national reporter; now the news director)
• Ray Guy (weekly commentary for Here and Now)
• Paul Harrington (Land and Sea)
• Michael Harris (Here and Now 1978)
• Kevin Harvey (reporter; now with CBC Nova Scotia)
• Krissy Holmes (reporter)
• Larry Hudson (reporter and contributor)
• Amy Joy (moved to Rogers TV St. John's in 2009)
• Natalie Kalata (reporter)
• Tom Kavanagh (reporter)
• Bill Kelly (longtime Land and Sea host)
• Kate Kyle (reporter
• Carl Lake (Here and Now, Sports, 1978–1985) (now owner/operator of thesportspage.ca)
• Ken Lawton (Here and Now)
• Terry LeDrew (reporter)
• Jay Legere (Labrador)
• Doug Letto (reporter and anchor; currently the senior producer of Here and Now)
• Doug Laite (Television & Radio personailty)
• Christina Marshall (to be based in Sarnia, Ontario)
• Mike Martin (Land and Sea and Here and Now)
• Rick MacInnes-Rae (reporter; now hosting Dispatches on CBC Radio 1)
• Darrow MacIntyre (currently a national reporter)
• Mary McKim (reporter)
• David MacQuarrie (currently with CBC Toronto)
• Ken Meeker (reporter/writer/researcher)
• Peter Miller (CBC Radio host, Reach for the Top - regional host) (retired)
• Joe Mullins (reporter and Janeway Telethon host) (deceased)
• Stacey Munro
• Rex Murphy (currently on The National)
• Brenda Murray (reporter)
• Shirley Newhook (Coffee Break - host)
• Fergus O'Byrne (The Ryan's Fancy Show)
• John O'Mara (Here and Now reporter and anchor) (deceased)
• Dermot O'Reilly (The Ryan's Fancy Show) (deceased)
• Paul Piggott
• Dave Quinton (longtime Land and Sea host, also creator of "Land and Sea")
• Brion Robinson (Central Newfoundland)
• Art Rockwood (deceased)
• Bill Rowe (weekly political panel for Here and Now; currently on VOCM)
• Denis Ryan (The Ryan's Fancy Show)
• Rick Seaward (reporter)
• Reg Sherren (moved to Country Canada in 2000)
• Del Simon (reporter)
• Randy Simms - (weekly commentary)
• Carmel Smyth (reporter)
• Peter Soucy (aka "Snook") (currently on rival station NTV)
• Greg Stamp (reporter and Here and Now co-anchor)
• Erin Sulley (Living Newfoundland and Labrador); moved to Rogers TV St. John's in 2009
• Pamela Tennant (reporter)
• Glenn Tilley (longtime Here and Now and Newsfinal anchor)
• Jason Turnbull (sports; now with CBC Sudbury)
• Jim Turner (Here and Now 1976-78; retired in South America)
• Marie Wadden (reporter)
• Bob Wakeham (executive producer of many CBC Newfoundland shows)
• Peter Walsh (reporter) moved to Rogers TV St. John's in 2009
• Russell Wangersky (reporter)
• Karl Wells (weather and Newsfinal anchor; retired July 27, 2007)
• Patricia White (weather)
• The Wonderful Grand Band

Transmitters[edit]

CBNT had a very large system of 89 rebroadcast transmitters, spread throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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 on July 31, 2012.^[1] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

As a result of the closedown, some cable systems in Newfoundland and Labrador owned by EastLink replaced CBNT with CBHT-DT Halifax, due to what EastLink claimed were "technical issues" involving CBNT. Furthermore, in most of these affected communities, high-speed broadband internet, which could be used to watch regional programming from CBNT online, is not available.^[2]

See also[edit]

• List of CBC television stations

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CBNT History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CBNT
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CBNT