CJBN-TV (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CJBN-TV**, VHF analogue channel 13, is a CTV-affiliated television station licensed to Kenora, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned by Shaw Communications under its cable systems unit. CJBN's studios are based alongside Shaw's local offices on 10th and Front Streets in Keewatin, and its transmitter is located near Norman Dam Road in Kenora. The station is carried on Shaw Cable channel 12, Bell Satellite TV channel 224 and Shaw Direct channel 320.

It is, with just 178 watts of power, the lowest-powered television station operating on a regular license in North America. This distinction was formerly tied with KJWY in Jackson, Wyoming (now WDPN-TV in Wilmington, Delaware/Philadelphia), until that station increased its power to 270 watts at the time of the digital television transition in the U.S. It is therefore the lowest-powered Canadian television station affiliated with a major network. Its main method of distribution is via sister company Shaw Cable, and other cable and satellite services.

## History

CJBN-TV first signed on the air in 1980, with a transmitter power output of 17.5 watts; the station was started by local businessmen Carl Johnson and Bertil Nilson. It was co-owned with Norcom Telecommunications, whose cable systems served Kenora and surrounding areas. With a potential audience of only 5,800 households, it was Canada's smallest television market. It remains the smallest designated market area in Canada, and the second smallest in North America (behind Glendive, Montana).

The station came about after Norcom applied to operate a Central Time Zone Satellite Relay Distribution System (SRDU), and as such, needed a CTV signal. Winnipeg's CKY-TV, which was the closest CTV affiliate to Kenora, was unavailable, so Norcom applied for, and was successful in gaining their own CTV station. The company also planned to set up a series of rebroadcasting stations to expand into nearby areas, but when Cancom secured the main licence for the Northern Service uplink, Norcom was left with just CJBN. With the local economy dependent on the pulp and paper industry, the station's future remained precarious, especially with the increase of competing satellite services available in the area.

In 1983, the station proposed setting up rebroadcast transmitters in nearby communities:

* CJBN-TV-1 Dryden
* CJBN-TV-2 Fort Frances
* CJBN-TV-3 Sioux Lookout
* CJBN-TV-4 Ignace
* CJBN-TV-5 Red Lake
* CJBN-TV-6 Ear Falls

In 1985, CJBN-TV increased its power to 177.5 watts. In 1988, the station told the CRTC that they could not afford to construct the rebroadcast transmitters, and would remain with just one transmitter in Kenora. In place of the rebroadcast transmitters, the station was carried on cable in Red Lake, Sioux Lookout and Ear Falls, and later on, was added to the cable systems in most towns in Northwestern Ontario, including Dryden, Fort Frances, and Ignace.

In 1999, the station was brought before the CRTC to explain the lack of Canadian content, but two years later, its licence was renewed, once evidence of renewed effort toward Canadian content was proven. In 2000, CJBN started to brand itself as "**CJTV**", but would revert to the CJBN-TV designation after its purchase by Shaw Communications. And in 2004, cable systems in nearby areas and national satellite services began to carry CJBN.

On August 9, 2006, Shaw Communications announced an agreement to purchase Norcom, including CJBN.

Shaw Cable-TV Winnipeg announced in April 2007 that it would add CJBN to the digital signals offered to Winnipeg subscribers and placed CJBN on ch. 68.

Shaw Communications acquired Canwest assets, including the Global Television Network, in 2010. In response to deficiency questions from the CRTC regarding its application to acquire those assets, made public in July 2010, Shaw stated that it had no plans to disaffiliate CJBN from CTV and make the Kenora station a full Global O&O.

## Programming

The station's programming is primarily sourced from CTV, with the remainder of the schedule rounded out by Global and syndicated programming, although the exact balance varied from season to season. As with many smaller independently owned Canadian stations, there are also several infomercials throughout any given day's schedule. The station was examined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1999 for not airing enough Canadian content. Since this occurred, the station aired the required amount of Canadian programming - including local production *The Weekend Adventurer* and *Urban Rush*.

## Newscasts and local programming

Despite being the only full-fledged station in the area, CJBN has not produced much local content. A full-fledged news department was not considered feasible for the station due to the market's small population. Instead, the stations simulcast most local news programs produced by CTV's Winnipeg sister station CKY-DT (with the exception of that station's Saturday 6 p.m. newscast). For many years, the station's only newscasts are two-minute segments, which are combined into a review program at the end of the week.

In 2008, CJBN began airing a news and issues show called *Points North* which aired eight times per week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at 6:30 and 11:30 p.m., and weekend evenings at 6:30 p.m. It also aired other special programs aimed at tourists and local residents. In late 2011, *Points North* became a lifestyles show and its airtime was cut back to weekend evenings at 6:30 p.m. The show was later cancelled in February 2013 to make way for *The Weekend Adventurer*, which launched in April 2013.

CJBN also airs a half-hour regional news program, *Northwest Newsweek*, which is produced in Thunder Bay by Thunder Bay Television. CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield began her career at the station.