THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

OCTOBER 31, 1960

Art Jones was once a Vancouver Sun photographer. But he had much grander ambitions in life, and in 1948 he left to form his own photo company, Artray, with fellow Sun photographer Ray Munro. Artray was quite successful in the 1950s, but Jones harboured even bigger ambitions. In 1959, Jones’ Vantel Broadcasting was one of five applicants for Vancouver’s first private television station. Jones faced some stiff opposition — the Metropolitan Television bid headed by CKNW’s Frank Griffiths was co- owned by ’ NW, CKWX, The Vancouver Sun and The Province. But Jones was granted the licence by the Board of Broadcast Governors in Ottawa, and on Oct. 31, 1960, CHAN- TV went on the air, broadcasting from 4: 30 p. m. to 12: 40 a. m. on Channel 8. ( It was Vancouver’s second TV station: The local CBC station began broadcasting on Dec. 17, 1953.) Stories at the time estimated it cost about $ 1.5 million to launch CHAN, which had around 100 employees and was initially located at Artray’s headquarters at 1219 Richards St. downtown. Shortly after the launch, it moved out to a new $ 800,000 studio at Lake City in Burnaby. The first evening program included shows like Route 66, The Rifleman, and a local news show called Probe, which covered subjects such as Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa as well as “the use of narcotics.” The station was independent for a year before joining the fledgling CTV network in October 1961. In 1963, Griffiths bought the station from Jones. In 1973, the station became known as BCTV, and in 2000, as Global- BC. After he sold CHAN, Jones produced films, opened up a couple of film studios, co- owned an ad agency, was president of the Variety Club of British Columbia, and hosted the cable TV show Art Jones and Company. He died in 2006 at the age of 80.