CJCH was a founding station of the CTV network when it started in 1961. CJCB and CKCW were established as CBC stations in 1954. CKCW reaffiliated with CTV in 1969, adding sister station CKLT the same year, and CJCB affiliated with CTV in 1972.
CHUM Limited, a Toronto broadcaster, bought the four stations in 1971 and 1972, and merged them into the ATV system. In 1997 ATV was sold to the CTV network directly.
Although each station originally produced its own news and local programming in the beginning, they too were merged in the early 1980s. A side effect of this is that the newscast often includes stories about things like local politics that can be of little interest to viewers in other parts of the region, and a common complaint among residents of both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is that ATV News focuses too much on the other province. However, ATV has had some of the highest ratings of any local newscasts in Canada, although its presence and viewing audience is somewhat less in Prince Edward Island mainly as a result of competition from a local CBC station.
ATV's flagship early evening news magazine program "Live at 5" celebrated its 20th anniversary with a Maritime province tour in 2002. Long time host of "Live at 5" Nancy Regan left the program in April 2003. About a month later, co-host Ron Kronstein was allegedly fired because management couldn't argue a new contract. Current hosts of "Live at 5" are Starr Dobson and Bruce Frisko. The flagship 6 PM newscast is anchored by Steve Murphy.
Since television receiver expansion was impossible because no companies were producing sets, WPTZ moved its operations to its transmitter site in Wynmoor, Pa., and confined it programming activities to films, a few shows from New York, and remote programs like football, parades, and sporting events in Philadelphia.
As a matter of fact, because of the war and the scarcity of sets, there was practically no commercial activity in television, and very little experimentation in television on the part of advertisers in the Philadelphia area, with the exception of the Atlantic Refining Company.
Down through its 19 years of television WPTZ had led the way in many of the innovations that today are considered standards of the industry.
Each Atlantic 10 Football Conference team will appear on the Atlantic 10 Game of the Week at least once during the season, with defending regular season champion Williams & Mary (which shared the title with Hofstra, Maine, and Villanova) appearing twice.
The Atlantic 10 Television Network will begin its ninth year of production this season and is syndicated throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The Atlantic 10 is the first conference to sign with TFN.
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