The following is a list of media in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Contents
Daily newspapers
Ethnic media
Weekly/monthly newspapers
Neighborhood newspapers
Defunct
Magazines
Television stations
There are five English-language stations and one French-language station based in Winnipeg that supply free programming to the city. Most homes subscribe to cable television through Shaw Communications, or IPTV through MTS. There are also two satellite services available through Shaw Direct and Bell TV. Some homes use grey market satellite dishes to bring in signals from American satellite services.
Additionally, American network affiliates broadcasting from Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota are available over-the-air in many parts of Winnipeg and Southern Manitoba. Until the mid-1980s, KRDK-TV (then known as KXJB) and KVLY-TV (then known as KTHI) from Fargo were available on Winnipeg's cable service. These channels were replaced by WDIV-TV and WJBK from Detroit, later WTOL from Toledo. Currently, WCCO-TV and KARE from Minneapolis, Minnesota are available to Winnipeg via cable. WDAZ-TV from Grand Forks is still available on Winnipeg cable TV systems.
For decades, the Fargo/Grand Forks stations depended heavily on advertising in Winnipeg, as Winnipeg has more than double the population of the Fargo/Grand Forks market. WUHF, the Fox-affiliate from Rochester, New York, has been available on cable since December 1994. Fargo Fox affiliate KVRR operates a repeater, KNRR, in border town Pembina, North Dakota; it reaches Winnipeg over-the-air. However, its weak signal requires either a rooftop VHF antenna aimed south or being located on a high floor of a tall building.
KNRR was intended to target Winnipeg, but is not carried on any Winnipeg-area systems due to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission concerns that Winnipeg businesses will advertise on KNRR rather than Winnipeg stations. Ironically, some Winnipeg businesses advertise on WDAZ, which is carried on cable TV in Winnipeg, as many Winnipeg residents shop in Grand Forks (and Fargo) to take advantage of lower taxes. However this is sometimes ineffective due to simultaneous substitution. This practice requires cable systems to replace WDAZ's signal with that of a Winnipeg station (usually either CKY or CKND) whenever the same program and episode air simultaneously.
The PBS member network for North Dakota, Prairie Public Television, has been carried on Winnipeg cable systems for over four decades by way of its Grand Forks outlet, KGFE. Winnipeg is almost as large as the entire American population of Prairie Public's footprint, and has long been a significant supporter of the network.
Locally based national cable television channels
Former locally based national cable television channels
Radio
Winnipeg is home to 24 AM and FM radio stations. The most popular station for many years has been CJOB, a talk-oriented station famous for its coverage of major storms and floods. After an absence of many years, Winnipeg is now home to two English-language and one French-language campus radio stations. NCI is devoted to Aboriginal programming, and CKJS is devoted to ethnic programming. CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2 broadcast local and national programming, and two Radio-Canada stations also broadcast French programming. There are several rock and pop oriented stations, two country stations, and one tourist information station.
Notes
In 1922, George Melrose Bell of Calgary was licensed to launch a radio station in Winnipeg known as CKZC-AM but this station never made it to the airwaves as he was too busy putting stations on the air in Calgary and Regina, and the license expired. Another defunct station, CKZC was launched by Lynn V. Salton in 1922. It is currently unknown of what happened to CKZC.
On January 23, 2012, the CRTC ruled that campus radio stations in Canada could no longer use students as on-air DJs, and instead would follow the definition of a community radio station. This move meant that CKIC was to be the first station forced off the air due to such a decision. On July 4, 2012, at 4 PM, the station indeed shut down its operation as an over-the-air broadcaster and turned in the corresponding license to the CRTC. Starting in the Fall of 2012, it plans to return to the air as an internet-only radio station.