Central Standard Time Zone
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The Central Standard Time Zone (CST) is a geographic region that keeps time by subtracting six hours from UTC (UTC-6).
In the United States, the time zone includes the entire area of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin; and portions of Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.
In Canada, the time zone includes all of Manitoba, nearly all of Saskatchewan, a slice of western Ontario, and central Nunavut.
The time zone also covers most of Mexico (not the extreme west), the Central American countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as the Ecuadorian province of Galápagos.
Daylight Saving Time is in effect in much of the time zone between early April and late October. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time (CDT) and is UTC-5. Saskatchewan and Galápagos do not observe the change, remaining on Standard Time year round.
Broadcasting Concerns
Due to the structure of broadcasting networks in the United States (mostly television but to a lesser extent radio), programming is aired simultaneously in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. This arrangement is mostly acceptable, though morning programming lineups designed for East Coast viewers may start too early for viewers in the Midwest. Similarly, media coverage of New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City often leave the Central Time Zone in a lurch. Late Night with Conan O'Brien, though produced in New York, regularly takes advantage of its later time slot to lampoon this inconsistency and produce its own countdown for television viewers in the Central Time Zone.
Canadian broadcasting networks, with six time zones to span, avoid these issues by airing prerecorded programs on local time. The problem is largely moot in Mexico and Latin America because of the lack of significant other time zones.