What a difference seven years makes. That was a hot topic Wednesday night at CHEK Media Group’s Kings Road headquarters once conversations sparked by residual shock over Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential victory subsided.
“She’s an American [rescue dog], so she has renounced her U.S. citizenship,” quipped news anchor Tess van Straaten in response, clutching Bella, her adorable chihuaha/pug cross.
Bella and Stella, commercial production staffer Dave Lackmanec’s Doberman, are unofficial mascots for CHEK TV, which faced an uncertain future in 2009, when then-owner Canwest announced it would close it.
The community rallied and the station, now employee-owned, was saved by local investors, notably Levi Sampson, whose family implemented a similar model to save Nanaimo’s Harmac pulp mill.
“Things were pretty grim but I saw there was a huge movement afoot. They wanted to give it a go and keep local TV here,” Sampson recalled at CHEK’s 60th-birthday celebration.
“It wasn’t without its ups and downs and bumps along the way, but we’re in a very positive place right now and the future looks bright.”
While there were personnel changes, belt-tightening and employees having to diversify, a renewed sense of jubilation was palpable.
“It’s an incredible feeling to know we did it. Saving the station was such a huge thing,” said van Straaten.”The biggest change is the corner we’ve turned.”
Dozens of staffers and advertisers converged to celebrate CHEK’s successful return to its roots as an independent station while enjoying food courtesy of Garrett Schack, host of its Cookin’ on the Coast series.
It wasn’t just personalities such as weatherman Ed Bain, newscaster Stacy Ross or sportscaster Jeff King who stood out while Ben O’Hara-Byrne anchored the 6 p.m. news.
Dynamic newcomers who launched CHEK’s new weekend newscast on Saturday generated their own excitement — anchor Calvin To, weather presenter Ceilidh Millar and sportscaster Keven Charach.
So did Alex Robertson, the retired Cowichan Valley-based sportscaster who reiterated his support for the station, launched by Dave Armstrong and Charlie White on Dec. 1, 1956.
“CHEK still maintains that local community effort, and that’s always been its strength,” said Robertson, who left 11 years ago.
“I have no regrets, especially with the younger people who have taken over,” said Robertson, now a real-estate agent. “In my day all we had to do was be first, fast and sometimes right, and ad lib a couple of scripts. And from a technical standpoint, we certainly wouldn’t be able to do what they do today in terms of multitasking.”
When CHEK president Roy McKenzie joined the company two years ago, he said he was welcomed by employees who were ahead of the curve.
“If you follow the television industry over the past two years, CBC, CTV, Global and Rogers have all been suffering some layoffs. We did that in 2009,” he said.
“They understand the business. They’re owners and operators. They’re breaking all the norms because we’re the only standalone commercial TV station left in Canada.”
Veteran news photographers Don West and Rod Park said while there have been many technological changes, some things haven’t changed.
“When I started we were shooting on 16-millimetre film, which had great limitations but was the highest technology at the time,” recalled Park.
“We’ve always had a first-class working environment in our newsroom. Not all newsrooms are like that. Some can be quite toxic.”
West recalled having to evolve from studio work to news-gathering on the street.
“You have to come up with pertinent questions for a topic you sometimes know nothing about, plus maintaining audio and video quality and making sure the horizon stays straight,” he said with a smile.
Michael Woloshen, the director of creative services with a long history of writing, directing and producing news, commercials and locally sponsored shows, was feeling déja vu.
“Local TV is coming back, I think, certainly for us,” he said. “When I started in the 1980s, we had very vibrant local TV, with lots of commercials.”
Several dignitaries and politicians sent birthday wishes, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who termed CHEK’s survival as “a great Canadian success story of the little station that could.”
