1961
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launched its own television station in Edmonton on October 1. CBXT operated on channel 5. Until this time, CBC network service had been provided in the region by privately-owned CFRN-TV. CBXT was one of the first TV stations in North America to use an automated broadcast system.
1962
CBXAT Grande Prairie signed on the air October 22 to rebroadcast CBXT. It was followed on October 26 by CBXAT-1 Peace River.
1965
CBXT received approval to operate rebroadcast transmitters at Whitecourt and Athabasca. There was agreement between the CBC and CFRN-TV to share a new tower for the Whitecourt transmitter.
CBXT Edmonton operated with an effective radiated power of 318,000 watts video and 159,000 watts audio. CBXAT Grande Prairie operated on channel 10 with an ERP of 36,000 watts video and 18,000 watts audio. CBXAT-1 Peace River, operating on channel 7, had an ERP of 720 watts video and 360 watts audio.
1966
On March 23, CBXAT-2 High Prairie began broadcasting.
CBXT-2 began operations at Whitecourt on June 20. It was followed on September 26 by CBXT-1 Athabasca.
1967
CBXT-3 Hinton and CBXT-4 Jasper signed on the air on December 1.
1968
On March 20, CBXT-5 Lac La Biche signed on the air.
CBXAT-3 Manning began broadcasting on October 7.
1969
The CBC was authorized to add a transmitter at Fort McMurray, operating on channel 9 with a directional power of 33 wats video and 3.3 watts audio. It would broadcast CBC programming on a delayed basis.
1970
CBTA-TV-3 commenced operations at Fort McMurray on January 25.
1973
CBXT was authorized to add transmitters at High Level (channel 8, 468 watts, directional – receiving programming from CBXAT-3 Manning), and Fort Vermilion (channel 11, 277 watts, directional, receiving programming from the new High Level transmitter).
CBTA-TV-3 Fort McMurray was authorized to change from being a Frontier Coverage Package transmitter (delayed programming) to being a full rebroadcaster of CBXT Edmonton. The call sign was changed to CBXT-6.
The CBC was given permission to acquire the following low power transmitters from Alberta Broadcasting Corporation and operate them as transmitters of CBXT Edmonton: CFNA-TV-5 Chinchaga (channel 5 - 5 watts - directional), CFNA-TV-6 Rainbow Lake (channel 11 - 5 watts - directional) and CFNA-TV-1 Battle River (channel 9 - 5 watts - directional).
1974
CBXAT-4 High Level and CBXAT-5 Fort Vermilion began operations on March 1.
The CFNA transmitters acquired in 1973 were re-launched as CBXAT (Grande Prairie) rebroadcasters on March 8.
1977
CBXAT-9 Jean D’or and CBXAT-10 Fox Lake commenced broadcasting on October 22.
CBXAT-7 Chateh signed on the air on October 24.
1978
CBXAT-11 Slave Lake began broadcasting on December 1.
CBXAT-14 Beaverlodge opened on December 5.
On December 15, CBXT-7 Fox Creek began operations.
1979
CBXAT-12 Wabasca opened on June 5.
1980
CBXT-8 Plamondon opened on January 23.
1984
The Daysland transmitter – CBXT-11 – opened on August 4.
CBXT installed two new NEC 20 kw transmitters at Edmonton. They ran in a parallel arrangement.
1985
Dana Lewis was a news anchor at CBXT.
1986
On January 13, approval was granted for an increase in effective radiated power for CBXT-12 Forestburg from 28,460 watts to 28,476 watts and for the relocation of the transmitter site.
On January 21, CBXT-12 Forestburg signed on the air.
Ken Mason passed away at 56 on December 19. After working for the Edmonton Journal, he joined CBXT when it opened in 1961. He left soon after for CBC Ottawa, where he worked until 1975.
1989
By this time, CBXT operated the following rebraodcast transmitters: CBXT-1 Athabasca, CBXT-2 Whitecourt, CBXT-3 Hinton, CBXT-4 Jasper, CBXT-5 Lac La Biche, CBXT-6 Fort McMurray, CBXT-7 Fox Creek, CBXT-8 Plamondon, CBXT-9 Viking, CBXT-10 Two Hills, CBXT-11 Daysland, CBXT-12 Forestburg, CBXAT Grande Prairie, CBXAT-1 Peace River, CBXAT-2 High Prairie, CBXAT-3 Manning, CBXAT-4 High Level, CBXAT-5 Fort Vermilion, CBXAT-6 Battle River, CBXAT-7 Chateh, CBXAT-8 Rainbow Lake, CBXAT-9 Jean D'Or, CBXAT-10 Fox Lake, CBXAT-11 Slave Lake, CBXAT-12 Wabasca, CBXAT-13 Jean-Côté and CBXAT-14 Beaverlodge.
1990
As a result of CBC budget cutbacks that led to the cancellation of the local supper-hour newscast on CBRT in Calgary, CBXT has its local supper-hour newscast Newsday replaced by Alberta Newshour, co-produced by the two stations.
Bob Blakey of the Calgary Herald criticized the new Alberta Newshour, which was later named CBC Alberta News, for being "a sad mishmash of clumsily edited news clips and desperate attempts to embrace Calgary and Edmonton in the same breath."
1991Because of budget cuts announced on December 5, 1990 by the CBC, CBRT-TV Calgary was authroized to receive its programming from CBXT. CBRT would not become a rebroadcast transmitter, but operate as a contributing bureau. It would maintain its master control facilities, allowing it to continue to broadcast station identification, public service announcements, occasional specials, and commercial messages.
1995
On January 18, CBXT received approval to increase the effective radiated power for CBXT-3 Hinton from 350 watts to 580 watts.
2000
As of 2000, CBXT operated the following rebroadcast transmitters: CBXT-1 Athabasca, CBXAT-14 Beaverlodge, CBXAT-7 Chateh, CBXT-11 Daysland, CBXT-12 Forestburg, CBXT-6 Fort McMurray, CBXAT-5 Fort Vermilion, CBXT-7 Fox Creek, CBXAT-10 Fox Lake, CBXAT Grande Prairie, CBXAT-4 High Level, CBXAT-2 High Prairie, CBXT-3 Hinton, CBXT-4 Jasper, CBXAT-13 Jean Côté, CBXAT-9 Jean D'or, CBXT-5 Lac La Biche, CBXAT-3 Manning, CBXAT-6 Paddle Prairie, CBXAT-1 Peace River, CBXT-8 Plamondon, CBXAT-8 Rainbow Lake, CBXAT-11 Slave Lake, CBXAT-12 Wabasca, and CBXT-2 Whitecourt.
2003
On August 1, CBXT was authorized to operate a transmitter at Fort Chipewyan (CBXBT) on channel 10 with a transmitter power of 8.9 watts. This transmitter was already operated by the CBC as radiocommunication distribution undertaking, which rebroadcast the programming of the CBC Northern Television Service. Improvements in satellite feed technology now enabled it to provide viewers in Fort Chipewyan with the full programming schedule of CBXT Edmonton. It was no longer necessary to hold separate RDU licences for CBXBT.
In November, CBC Edmonton was scheduled to move to a new, modern digital broadcast facility downtown, bringing all operations (French and English, Radio and TV) under one roof. The old TV facility on 75th Street had 70,000 square feet while the Radio building on 51st Ave. had 48,000 square feet. The new combined facility was 38,700 square feet and was located at the Edmonton City Centre on Winston Churchill Square.
2004
On Febraury 20, CBXT-4 Jasper received approval to increase effective radiated power from 9 watts to 50 watts, and to change effective height above-average terrain of the antenna from 12.4 metres to -55.2 metres. These changes would be the rsult of a relocation of the transmitter to a site owned by CN near the town of Jasper.
On February 26, CBXT was authorized to operate transmitters in Coronation and Red Deer, enabling viewers in those locations to receive the full CBC network schedule. The transmitter in Coronation would operate on channel 10 with an effective radiated power of 98,000 watts. The transmitter in Red Deer would broadcast on channel 10 with an ERP of 180,000 watts. These transmitters would be the former CITV-TV-1 (ch 10) Red Deer and CKRD-TV-1 (ch 10) Coronation. CKRD-TV was granted authority to disaffiliate from the CBC and would donate the above transmitters to the CBC at no cost. Global and the CBC would enter a co-siting agreement where both would share Global's facilities at Red Deer and the CBC's facilities on Old Coach Road, Calgary and at Sherwood Park (Edmonton).
On June 9, CBXT was authorized to delete relay transmitter CBXAT-13 Jean-Cote (ch 31). Following the installation of satellite receiver facilities at CBXAT Grande Prairie and CBXAT-1 Peace River, the Jean-Cote transmitter was no longer needed.
2005
On March 7, CBXT was given approval to operate transmitters in Coronation and Red Deer. The Coronation transmitters would operate on channel 13 with an average effective radiated power of 80,600 watts (antenna height of 212.5 metres, located at new site to be developed and operated by the CBC on the same hill currently used by CKRD-TV-1 Coronation). The Red Deer transmitter would broadcast on channel 22 with an average effective radiated power of 417,500 watts (antenna height of 215.7 metres, using the CBXFT-4 tower). The CBC had not implemented the new transmitters granted in February of 2004.
On August 16, CBXT was authorized to change the channel of its television transmitter in Coronation, from ch 13 to ch 10 and to increase the average effective radiated power from 80,600 to 98,000 watts. The CBC stated it had concluded an agreement with Global Communications Ltd. to purchase its CKRD-TV-1 transmitter in Coronation operating on channel 10.
On September 1, CBXT-13 Red Deer signed on the air, followed on September 5 by CBXT-14 Coronation.
2009
On May 12 the CRTC renewed CBXT's licence, including the following rebroadcast transmitters: CBXAT Grande Prairie, CBXAT-1 Peace River, CBXAT-10 Fox Lake, CBXAT-11 Slave Lake, CBXAT-12 Wabasca, CBXAT-14 Beaverlodge, CBXAT-2 High Prairie, CBXAT-3 Manning, CBXAT-4 High Level, CBXAT-5 Fort Vermillion, CBXAT-6 Paddle Prairie, CBXAT-7 Chateh, CBXAT-8 Rainbow Lake, CBXAT-9 Jean d'Or, CBXBT Fort Chipewyan, CBXT-1 Athabasca, CBXT-11 Daysland, CBXT-12 Forestburg, CBXT-13 Coronation, CBXT-14 Red Deer, CBXT-2 Whitecourt, CBXT-3 Hinton, CBXT-4 Jasper, CBXT-5 Lac La Biche, CBXT-6 Fort McMurray, CBXT-7 Fox Creek, and CBXT-8 Plamondon. Quebec: CKSH-TV Sherbrooke, CKTM-TV Trois-Rivieres, CKTV-TV Jonquire and CKTV-TV-1 Saint-Fulgence.
Written by Bill Dulmage - Updated October, 2009
