CFCN – better known as CTV Calgary – celebrates 65 years on the air

Sixty-five years ago, the first edition of CFCN News hit the air. We look at how that shaped the station you're watching and the city you live in.

CFCN, also known as CTV Calgary, is celebrating 65 years on the air.

When viewers tuned in on Sept. 9, 1960, they saw owner H. Gordon Love officially launch the station – Canada’s first independent TV station – followed by a half-hour newscast and two movies.

The broadcast came from a brand-new building built on an open hill in southwest Calgary, topped with a 173-foot antenna that rose higher than anything else in the city.

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The station, expanded to accommodate a larger newsroom, still stands atop broadcast hill.

For Jim Smith, who joined as a news photographer in January 1961, the early years felt like a rush of discovery.

“It was a pretty big deal because it was new,” he said. “We were at the beginning of it. We were involved in important things. We had a real impact; that’s why I think it was one of the best times of my life.”

“You were in the middle of everything. Anything important that was going on, it was either coming through the station, or you were in on it.”

Smith said being part of Calgary’s first real television newsroom gave him a sense of purpose.

“I thought, ‘this is going to be a marvelous thing for people to learn things in communication’ – and it is, there’s no doubt about it, but back then it was a big deal. There’s no doubt about it.”

Just over a decade later, Brian Vos walked into the building after being hired as a videotape operator.

He went on to be a producer, director, promotions manager and director of communications at CFCN.

Vos says the station’s culture gave young broadcasters space to succeed.

“I remember (station president) Ted Chapman walking in and introducing himself to me – I think maybe on my third week or fourth week – and asked me, ‘Hey, where’d you grow up? Where’d you go to school? What do you want to do?’”

Vos said Chapman told him, “If you’ve got nothing to do in videotape, go play on a camera in the studio.”

“Innovation was encouraged,” Vos said. “We could experiment; we could try things.”

Vos says the show he remembers most fondly is a five-part Big Band series called The Pro-Band Presents.

“We did five different genres; big band country, big band rock, big band vocal, and it was those shows that, it was a total experiment and total trust from management to say, ‘Hey, could we do a show that has a 26-piece orchestra and a six-piece rhythm section and special guests?’”

“People still watch that show – and there were lots of Christmas specials too that we shot at the Jack Singer Concert Hall with Frank Mills and Jann Arden and George Fox.

“All of those shows gave everyone that worked on the show, everyone on crew, loads of experience and opportunity.”

Vos now maintains a public YouTube channel of archived CFCN programming.

Other programming included In Conversation, a long-running and beloved weekly talk show hosted by Marie Hotanz.

The show wasn’t just a favourite of viewers, Hotanz’s keen preparation and genial style had both Canadian and international stars vying for interviews on CFCN.

“Pierre Burton appeared seven times on In Conversation,” Vos said. “He came to Calgary at his own expense, with his publicist every time he finished a book, and the one person that he would want to be interviewed by was Marie Hotanz.”

“In those days Farley Mowat or Ted Knight or Betty White – all those people came through her show. For the studio crew and everyone that worked here it was exciting.”

Early on CFCN defined itself as a bastion of news and current events coverage with stalwart anchors and reporters like Gord Kelly and Peter Kent, along with weather anchor Don Wood and sports icons like Henry Viney, Russ Peake and Ken Newans.

Former vice president of news and current affairs Thompson MacDonald says the newsroom itself was a powerhouse of creativity and talent.

“We had a hell of a group of people,” he said. “Some really smart people.”

MacDonald also credited the station’s commitment to covering stories beyond Calgary and Canada’s borders.

“We felt that was a smart way to build audience — to serve the audience — so they would come and see. because the interests of Calgarians weren’t just what was happening locally; there were things going on around the world that had direct impact here, and so we pursued them.”

If there was one face that defined CFCN’s newscasts and solidified its place as Calgary’s number one station, it was Darrel Janz.

He joined the anchor desk in 1973 and held it for more than three decades, including 21 years alongside Barb Higgins and close to four decades with meteorologist David Spence.

Janz covered the International Olympic Committee’s announcement in Germany that Calgary would host the 1988 Winter Games, and in the 1990s, he followed Operation Christmas Child from Calgary to Bosnia, calling it “the true highlight of my career.”

Janz once admitted that when he signed his first five-year contract, he thought CFCN would be a short stop before Toronto.

Instead, he said, “I have stayed and have no regrets about it whatsoever because I couldn’t have thought about a better place to make my career than here.”

Janz became a trusted nightly presence in Calgary homes.

From municipal elections to international stories, he carried the station’s reputation for credibility and warmth.

Even after leaving the anchor desk in 2010, he returned to reporting, producing hundreds of Inspired stories about everyday Albertans.

Janz retired in 2023.

When he died in 2024, tributes described him as a legacy-maker himself, and a journalist who influenced generations of viewers and colleagues.

CFCN though, was more than just news.

Among the most beloved programs was The Buckshot Show.

Launched in 1967, the lunch-hour children’s series ran every weekday at noon for three decades.

At the time of its cancellation in 1997, it was the longest-running children’s program in Canadian history.

Hosted by Ron Barge — always in his battered cowboy hat — with sidekicks Benny the Bear and Clyde the Owl, Buckshot became a Calgary institution.

Generations of southern Albertans grew up watching cartoons, celebrating on-screen birthday wishes and learning from visiting police, firefighters and paramedics.

Even after the cameras stopped, Barge and Benny remained fixtures at community events, embodying the bond between CFCN and its audience.

Vos says that connection with Calgarians was the real measure of success, saying participating in things like the Calgary Stampede was meaningful.

“It was a very costly adventure, and it meant basically moving our entire operation to the Stampede grounds and then building out programming there,” he said. “The people that came to see us was just unbelievable. Hundreds of thousands.”

“It was that embracement with the community that I think really created great inroads and trust.”

From pioneering instant replay in western Canada to producing the first CFL game from the Prairies for CTV, to launching careers through talent shows and variety specials, CFCN reflected Calgary back to itself.

For six-and-a-half decades, it has been the station covering the city’s biggest stories while becoming part of residents’ daily life.