CJBR-DT

CJBR was launched on November 21, 1954, as a privately owned Radio-Canada affiliate owned by Lower St. Lawrence Radio Inc. and associated with Central Public Service Corp. Ltd., both companies owned by the family of Jules Brillant, who also owned CJBR radio. The station would later be linked to Radio-Canada's microwave network, on August 7, 1957, and would add a repeater in Edmundston, New Brunswick, CJBR-TV-1 (now CBAFT-2) on April 1, 1962.

The Brillants would sell CJBR-AM-TV Telemedia in 1970, who, in turn, would sell the stations to Radio-Canada on August 1, 1977.[1][2]

CJBR switched from channel 3 to channel 2 on March 12, 1984, but the Maritimes Edition of TV Guide still had it listed as channel 3 until the Maritimes Edition folded in 2005. CJBR, however, was seen on Cogeco cable channel 3 in the Rimouski area.

CBGAT was founded by Radiodiffusion de Matane (Matane Broadcasting) as CKBL-TV on August 19, 1958. In the beginning, the station was a semi-satellite to CJBR, and broadcast on channel 9. CKBL was linked to Radio-Canada's microwave network on November 15, 1958.

By 1961, the station moved its transmitter to a new location, which took the signal off the air for around a month. From 1962 to 1976, Hydro-Québec broadcast CKBL/CBGAT's signal on its own repeaters. Radio-Canada purchased the station on November 10, 1971, and the station received its current callsign sometime in 1972. Radio-Canada moved CBGAT's signal from channel 9 to channel 6 on November 29, 1978.

Radio-Canada launched CBST as a retransmitter of CBGAT on October 23, 1973, broadcasting on channel 13. CBST gained its own newscast on November 1, 1982.[3]

On December 5, 1990, the CBC enacted substantial budget cuts across the organization. As part of the cutbacks, the CBC ended the local operations of CJBR-TV, CBGAT, and CBST. All three stations became full-time satellites of CBVT in Quebec City.

However, local news would return in a different form five years later. Starting in September 1995, a new regional newscast, entitled Québec Ce Soir Est, was launched,[4] which is now entitled Le Téléjournal/Est du Québec. This newscast was, however, produced in Quebec City at the studios of CBVT.

In 2009, Radio-Canada applied to the CRTC for permission to convert CJBR back into a full-fledged station, with CBGAT and CBST as its satellites. CJBR would once again provide distinct local news programming from CBVT.[5] The application was approved by the CRTC on March 19, 2010.[6]

On September 1, 2011, CJBR switched to digital broadcasting, broadcasting on digital channel 45 with a PSIP of 2.1. However, Radio-Canada was not obligated to convert or close down this station, as Rimouski was not a mandatory market for digital conversion.[7]