CHEK-DT (channel 6) is an independent television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, serving Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. The station is owned by the CHEK Media Group, a consortium made up of station employees and local investors. CHEK-DT's studios are located on Kings Road in Victoria, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Warburton Pike on Saturna Island. History CBC and CTV affiliation The station first signed on the air on December 1, 1956. Originally operating as a CBC affiliate, it was founded by David Armstrong, owner of local radio station CKDA (1220 AM, now CJZN-FM on 91.3); Armstrong originally applied to assign the CKTV call letters for the station, which was changed to CHEK-TV prior to the station's sign-on. Its original studio facilities were located on Epsom Drive in Saanich. Initially, the radio and television stations shared staff such as Andy Steven (who was CHEK's first news director) and Keith MacKenzie (who served as its sports director). CHEK was the only local television station that operated on Vancouver Island for many years, until CHUM Limited signed on CIVI-TV (channel 53) in October 2001. The station was the first (and is currently the oldest) privately owned television station in British Columbia. Only CBC owned-and-operated station CBUT-DT (channel 2) in Vancouver has been on the air longer, having signed on in December 1953. In 1963, the station was purchased by businessman Frank Griffiths, who also owned Vancouver CTV affiliate CHAN-TV (channel 8, now a Global owned-and-operated station). By September of that year, CHEK's schedule consisted of some CTV programming and simulcasts of CHAN-originated shows mixed in with the CBC network schedule, along with CHEK-based local productions and syndicated programs not aired on CHAN; this setup continued into the late 1960s and early 1970s, when CHAN started to timeshift network programs. CHEK would also air CBC programs during the afternoon and primetime while running CTV shows such as University of the Air and Canada AM in the morning (simulcast with CHAN). In 1972, CHEK, which had simulcast CHAN's News Hour since the Griffiths purchase (and would continue to do so until 2001), began producing its own news program, News Hour Vancouver Island. It aired at 5:30 p.m. before the CHAN News Hour simulcast (in some cases, CHAN's News Hour would only be broadcast on CHEK due to other programming commitments, primarily Vancouver Canucks hockey), and at 11:15 p.m. following CBC's The