Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Brandon mourns loss of CKX
Local TV station shuts down as newscast ends
The 54-year-old station was shut down after potential buyer Bluepoint Investment notified CTV it was pulling out of its deal to buy the station for $1.
"It just feels like you've lost part of the household because it's been part of our lives here in Brandon and Westman for as long as I've ever been here," said Mayor Dave Burgess. "It's really sad to see it go."
Without a television broadcaster, the broad exposure to many of the aspects that keeps people interested in life in the Wheat City has been eliminated in one fell swoop.
"It really removes one of the avenues of getting out to the public," Burgess said.
Brandon Souris Conservative MP Merv Tweed said while he lobbied to help save the station, the government cannot interfere with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's reluctance to grant CKX satellite carriage.
"If I could reach in and make them change their mind, it's something I would do, but they're independent," Tweed said. "It's been a tough period for all industries and the media is no different. I just regret they couldn't get it done."
Brandon bakery owner Harold Kuipers, who was "absolutely devastated" by the news, said he's known far and wide across Westman for his "good buns" commercials broadcast over the years on CKX.
"Next to the Brandon Sun, where are people going to get their new information on what's going on with Brandon's business community?" he asked. "It reaches far... this community will truly feel the loss of this."
The station's closure will also have a ripple effect on the next generation of local broadcasters. Assiniboine Community College's media productions program has relied on CKX to be the training ground for hundreds of green broadcasters over the years. "CKX has a long and storied history," said ACC instructor Greg Sherris. "It's been an important part of our community and it's also created opportunities for young people from our area to launch careers that have taken them to places far and wide. "
"CKX has meant the world to ACC," he said.
The shock waves created by the closure of CKX have also rocked the lives of many of its former employees.
"That job was such a gift to me. I'll never get another job like that," Karen Chrest, former host of the CKX Noon Show, said. "It allowed me to really be creative, get out in the community and be an advocate for the community. That's what CKX did -- they were a huge advocate for the Westman area."
Wanda Kurchaba, a former CKX reporter and producer who now enjoys a public relations job at Assiniboine Community College, said she looks back at her time at CKX with true fondness.
"I remember doing stories on everything -- from school board to potato harvest -- and being out there in my high heels, being a rookie reporter out in the middle of a field," she remembered, laughing.
CTV has been struggling to keep stations afloat in some local markets. Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX:SJR.B) had agreed to buy the CTV stations in Brandon, Windsor, Ont., and Wingham, Ont., but pulled out in late June.
The decision left CTV scrambling to find alternative solutions for the three stations. Earlier this month, the broadcaster announced it would keep its A Channel station in Windsor, Ont., open until at least Aug. 31, 2010.
Meanwhile, it had also applied to the CRTC to turn its Wingham, Ont. station into a full re-broadcast of the A Channel station in London, Ont.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 3, 2009 A8
- Rate this

-
-
We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.
You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.
Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.
The comment period for this story has ended.
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Local
-
Working in Winnipeg
A close-up look at the jobs people do and why they do them
-
Helping Haiti
Where to make donations
-
Open Secrets
Red River students mine government data banks
-
Ski with WFP
Register here to ski Asessippi with the Winnipeg Free Press
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Your encounters with goodness
Poll
Most Popular
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Should have been listening, Tiger
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- Body found in Delta airplane wheel well after arriving in Tokyo from New York
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Storm warning issued
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- City streets very slippery; several vehicles involved in crashes
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Extended family pulls together
- Water pressure drop caused by power outage: city
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Avoid Perimeter: RCMP
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Winter storm warnings issued for Winnipeg, southern Manitoba
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Cheap Vancouver rentals, if tiny's OK
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- Take one downtown, fill it with people
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- City looking at adding bike lane on Pembina
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Got more trash? It'll cost you
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Sick days spike during blizzard
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Shielding buyers, or 'cash grab'?
- Bad cocaine results in grave illness, hospitalization
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom
- Arrest tape kills auto-theft case
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Don't dock students for missing deadlines: NDP
- Alleged mobsters seek to stay
- RCMP investigating after video shows police beating suspect
- U.S. fighter slams Canada's 'Third World' health system
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Drunk cop crashes motorbike, gets fined
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Iran playing its hand
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- First female boss for Destination Winnipeg
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Food for thought
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- Cyclist getting his klicks
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- A super-lab to fight superbugs
- Hutterite biography to debut despite legal chill
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- 'Tough guys' wanted as film extras
- Nylons still smooth as silk
- Bath & Body Works coming to St. Vital
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Winnipeg desserts are a piece of cake
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- VIDEO: A winter wonderland?
- Harper really is dangerous
PREVIOUS

1 Comments
Posted by: deanowen
October 4, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Thanks for the great article Allison. You captured the true impact of a station closure - the effect on the people in the area. We experienced the same reactions when our local Red Deer TV station, CHCA-TV closed in August of this year.
Many of the small stations across Canada have the same history. They were started by people with vision and determination but were eventually killed by corporations that seem to have forgotten the magic formula that made these local stations grow and become successful. It's all about people.
There is no doubt that we need, want and support local TV and the value it brings to our community. Since large broadcasters don't seem capable of providing this, it's up to us to take control of the situation and use some of the new web technologies to bring local news coverage back to the people of our communities.
It's not that far-fetched. When small stations went on-air fifty or more years ago television was a new technology. Currently the internet and the web is the technology and culture of communication. Small towns and cities and the people in these communities can make use of it to fill the void major broadcasters have created by closing down our stations. What we need are people of vision and drive to step up and give us back our local news.