CICI-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = CICI
station_
station_slogan = News for the North.
station_branding = CTV Northern Ontario
analog = 5 (VHF)
digital = 8 (not yet on air)
other_chs = CICI-TV-1 3, Elliot Lake
CKNY-TV-11 11 Huntsville (former CKCO-TV, then CKNY-TV rebroadcaster)
affiliations = CTV
founded = October 25, 1953
location = Sudbury, Ontario
callsign_meaning = none known
former_affiliations = CBC (1953-1971), BBS (secondary, 1992-1997)
former_callsigns = CKSO (1953-1980)
owner = CTVglobemedia
homepage = [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/1065552962668_60956580 CTV Northern Ontario]

CICI (also commonly known as CTV Northern Ontario) is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Sudbury, Ontario. It is an O&O of CTV.

CICI also broadcasts on Channel 3 in Elliot Lake and Channel 11 in Huntsville. The rebroadcaster in Huntsville (CKNY-TV-11) was originally a CKCO-TV repeater (CKCO-TV-4), but switched to CKNY-TV as its source, and then to CICI-TV, but has not changed its call letters yet.

History

The station was launched on October 25, 1953 by Sudbury businessmen George Miller, W. E. Mason, Jim Cooper and Bill Plaunt, and was the first private television station to hit the air in Canada. Its original call sign was CKSO-TV. The station was a CBC affiliate, receiving programs by kinescope until a microwave relay system linked the station to Toronto in 1956. The station originally broadcast only from 7 to 11 p.m., but by the end of its first year in operation it was on the air from 3:30 p.m. to midnight.http://www.ckso.com/beginning.html]

CKSO remained affiliated with the CBC from its launch in 1953 until 1971, when it joined CTV. A new CBC affiliate, CKNC, went to air in Sudbury the day of CKSO's affiliation switch. CKSO's first rebroadcast transmitter, CKSO-TV-1, was established in Elliot Lake shortly after CKSO launched. A second transmitter, CKSO-TV-2, was established in Timmins in 1971 when CKSO switched to the CTV network. When CKSO changed to CICI in 1980, the Timmins station changed to CITO-TV and became its own standalone station.

Until 1980, CKSO and CKNC aggressively competed with each other for advertising dollars, leaving both in a precarious financial position due to the Sudbury market's relatively small size. In 1980, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the merger of the two stations, along with their co-owned stations in North Bay and Timmins, into the MCTV twinstick. CKSO changed its call letters to CICI at that point.In 1990, the stations were acquired by Baton Broadcasting. Baton subsequently became the sole corporate owner of CTV, and sold CKNC to the CBC in 2002.

CICI produces all of the CTV Northern Ontario stations' local programming, except for local news segments of the system's newscasts.

Famous people

Onetime CKSO employee Judy Jacobson was the first woman in Canadian broadcasting history to work on air as a television weather reporter. She later became a federal Member of Parliament for Sudbury's Nickel Belt riding.

Other past employees of the station include journalists Kris Reyes, Sarika Sehgal and Susan Hay. All are now associated with major market stations in Toronto.

Former hockey players Cummy Burton and Frank Salive have also worked as sportscasters at the station.

Canadian sportscaster Brendan Connor is the son of Michael Connor, a longtime news anchor from the station's days as CKSO.

References

External links

* [http://www.northernontario.ctv.ca/ CTV Northern Ontario]
*
* [http://www.ckso.com/ CKSO.com: An historical retrospect of CKSO AM, FM & TV in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/stations/tv/ckso.html CKSO-TV History at Canadian Communications Foundation]