CHAT-TV (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CHAT-TV** (analogue channel 6) is a television station in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, affiliated with CBC. Owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, the station has studios at 10 Boundary Road SE in the nearby town of Redcliff, and its transmitter is located near the Trans-Canada Highway and Range Road 80, northwest of Redcliff.

CHAT also operates rebroadcasters in Pivot (CHAT-TV-1, channel 4) and Maple Creek, Saskatchewan (CHAT-TV-2, channel 6).

## History

CHAT-TV began broadcasting on September 14, 1957, on VHF channel 6, with a transmitter power output of 5,700 watts. The station was owned by Monarch Broadcasting Company Ltd., which was operated by J. H. "Hop" Yuill, and was co-owned with local radio station CHAT (1270 AM, now on 94.5 FM). CHAT-TV was the fourth television station in Alberta to sign on the air, and its launch was presided over by then-premier Ernest Manning.

CHAT-TV's first general manager was R.J. "Bob" Buss. The station operated from a modernized studio and office building, and transmitted from a 403-foot (123 m) tower located at Redcliff. Sid Gaffney was the first chief engineer, and Merv Stone was the production manager. In the beginning, the station began its daily operations at 5:30 p.m., with the only live programming being the 6 p.m. news bulletin. The remainder of programming arrived via train and consisted of 16 mm kinescope films of CBC programming that had originated one or two weeks earlier. Around 10% of the local commercials were done live, with the announcers having to ad-lib enough to last the full 60 seconds.

Other early CHAT-TV staff members include Bernie Pascall, Gary Buss, George Lund, Mike Darow and Duff Roman. Early local productions of note include Sock-Hop, a teenage dance show, quiz shows such as Teen Challenge and Cartoon Quiz, cooking shows, farming programs, and two music programs, Country Roundup (concentrating on western music), and Music For the Moderns, featuring local musicians.

Later that year, the station joined the Trans Canada Microwave relay, increasing the station's broadcast hours to from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. In 1961, a full-power rebroadcast transmitter was installed near Pivot, near the Alberta–Saskatchewan border, which improved the station's signal reach. In 1967, colour programming from the CBC arrived on CHAT, and local colour programs started in 1972.

In 1981, the main transmitter was relocated to Bowell, Alberta, and its power was increased to 58,000 watts. Other rebroadcasters were added in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, and at Oyen, Alberta (which was owned by the community).

In 1992, W.H. "Bill" Yuill, son of "Hop" Yuill, became the owner and president of Monarch Communications, which had expanded into other broadcasting and cable properties in Alberta and British Columbia. Over the years, Bob Buss was followed as general manager by Orv Kope, Dwaine Dietrich, Brian Bolli, Brian Ellis, and again by Dwaine Dietrich in 1996. David Sherwood took over in 2007 following the retirement of Dwaine Dietrich.

In 2000, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved the sale of Monarch's radio and television holdings (including CHAT-TV) to the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, a division of the Jim Pattison Group.

## News operation

CHAT-TV presently broadcasts 12 and a half hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with two and a half hours each weekday); the station does not produce any weekend newscasts. CHAT-TV's local newscasts are titled Newswatch; the station carries 30-minute newscasts at noon and 11 p.m., and a an hour-long early evening news block from 5:30 p.m. A half-hour review of the week's news stories airs Sundays at 4:30 p.m.

## Digital television

As of 2020, CHAT has not yet begun broadcasting a digital signal.

According to a 2009 CRTC decision, CHAT-TV is not required to activate its digital signal, as Medicine Hat is not a mandatory market for digital conversion, which took place in most other markets on August 31, 2011. When CHAT-DT signs on its digital signal, the station will broadcast on UHF channel 40, using PSIP to list CHAT-DT's virtual channel as 6.