CBLT-DT

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation started to plan for television. By the end of the year it had chosen five sites for TV stations and the CNR and CPR were working on a microwave relay system. The corporation had proposed two stations for Montreal and one each for Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton. TV programs from the U.S. would be piped into Canada via the Hamilton station. The first station would likely be in Montreal and there would be two outlets in that city because of the two distinct languages – English and French. One difficulty for the establishment of a Toronto outlet would be the use of 25 cycle power service which presented several technical issues. Ontario Hydro had plans for conversion to 60 cycles current to be implemented within a “few years”.

The CBC announced television production centres would be established in Montreal and Toronto, and if possible, would be designed for progressive expansion if and when required. Each of the stations would be equipped with 5,000 watt transmitters with provision for a second one in Montreal to provide French language service. The CBC’s plans for a television network would go ahead as soon as communications companies established links between different centres. The first link would likely be between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, through either coaxial cables or short wave. 

Fergus Mutrie and Aurele Seguin, two experienced CBC executives, were appointed directors fo the corporation’s television activities in Toronto and Montreal respectively.

Early in the year, the CBC started installing equipment in temporary television quarters in Toronto. The first equipment received included two camera chains on loan from Canadian Marconi. The temporary television facility included a studio of about 35 by 27 feet, a control room and offices, located at the CBC’s existing building on Jarvis Street. The facilities were to be used for training until completion of the permanent TV building, now under construction on the same property.

The CBC announced that television in Canada would be started sometime in January of 1952 in Toronto. It had earlier been hoped that September would see the first TV transmissions in Toronto. In Montreal, final confirmation of the use of the Mount Royal antenna site came in May. The Montreal station would likely be on the air next spring, but would be subject to change due to building shortages, particularly in steel. Toronto would have two studios – one with 5,000 square feet and one with 2,000 square feet – plus a film library and transmission rooms. The estimated cost was $2,000,000 for studios and equipment in Toronto. Toronto would be the main production centre in English at the outset, producing some three hours of programming per day, of which about two hours would have to be supplied to Montreal. The Montreal station would be bilingual, but most of its originations would be French. In the future, it was hoped that some English productions would be made in Montreal.

The CBC and Bell Telephone Co. signed a five year contract for the establishment of a TV network service. The plan called for the extension of the existing co-axial cable in Buffalo to Montreal and Toronto. The project was announced jointly by the New York and Canadian Bell companies. The Canadian phone company would undertake to lay cable between the two cities and a border point, where it would be connected to the Buffalo cable. 

There were some 146,000 television sets in Canada at this time, and in the Toronto area, rooftop antennas were pointed toward Buffalo to receive the only available TV signal in the region – WBEN-TV Channel 4 – owned by the Buffalo Evening News. 

On August 22 at 2:30 p.m., CBC television staff put CBLT on the air for the first time with test pattern telecasting and the opening of the 73rd edition of the Canadian National Exhibition by Governor General Vincent Massey. Things went pretty well except for the fact the CBC insignia slide was put in to the projector upside down. The airing of two hours of programming each afternoon and evening in the last week of August and first week of September from the Ex continued, with signals being fed two and a half miles from a mobile unit on the CNE grounds to the Jarvis street transmitter. During the test period, it became clear that CBLT was having favourable reception up to 100 miles away. However, when CNE video replaced the test pattern card, the area of good reception was reduced. CBLT was operating from a temporary antenna tower less than half the height of the 500 foot permanent one which was not expected to be operational until October.

Television finally came to Canada on September 6 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launched CBFT-TV in Montreal. That station broadcast in English and French. The CBC would open Toronto’s first station two days later – CBLT-TV. It was the country’s first English-language television station and the country’s second TV station. CBLT got its call sign by adding a “T” to the end of the existing CBC AM station’s (CBL) call letters. Before CBLT Channel 9’s official opening on September 8, the station was on the air with pictures of four bank robbers (Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Leonard Jackson, Steve Suchan and William Jackson) who sawed their way out of the death row cell block at the Don Jail. At 7:15 p.m., CBLT broadcast “Let’s See”, a review of the evening’s programs followed at 7:30 by “News Magazine”. The station’s opening ceremonies took place at 8:00 p.m. Those ceremonies included a message from Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and an hour-long entertainment program that featured Glenn Gould, Don Harron, Barbara Hamilton and Jan Rubes. There was a half hour of music from the Leslie Bell Singers then good luck greetings from CBC Montreal. Before signing off for the night at 10:30, the station repeated the earlier news broadcast, read by the “voice of doom”, Lorne Greene. CBC and government officials were on hand for the opening of both CBLT and CBFT.

Among the other staff members on hand for opening night: Norman Jewison, David Greene, Harvey Hart, Sydney Newman, Murray Chercover (studio director), Norman Campbell, Ross McLean, Percy Saltzman and Mavor Moore. Toronto Mayor Allan Lamport was a special guest. Don Robertson joined CBLT from CBC Edmonton. He was one of 26 technicians hired to help with the launch of CBLT. Stuart Griffiths was the station’s first program director.

CBLT had one large studio with 3 camera chain, smaller 2 camera studio, transmitter room for audio, video and CBL-FM, carpentry and paint shops, property room, dressing rooms, 2-car garage (now being used to shoot commercials), film rooms, telecine rooms, offices, announce booths, control rooms and repair shops. 916,400 square feet, 4-storey brick and steel building on Jarvis St. (similar extension made to the Radio-Canada building in Montreal). The giant studio A – 73′ x 58′ – was three storeys high – for large productions. Studio B where cameras picked up interview-type shows, dramas with small casts and commercials – was 37- x 58′ and two storeys high. Two motor vans house the generator, cameras and transmitter which made up each city’s mobile unit. Operating range was about 10 miles.

There was approximately 3 hours of programming per evening – a small portion exchanged by kinescope recording between CBLT and CBFT – likely to be this way for some time to come. In the first week of program service, the facilities combined to air a total of 4 hours of revue and preview, 1 hour of news and documentaries, 30 minutes of musicale, 1 hour of sports actuality and discussion, 2 1/2 hours of drama, 2 3/4 hours of interviews and miscellaneous items. Films took up five and a quarter hours. The CBC was also negotiating with U.S. networks CBS and NBC to bring some programs north of the border. Those talks were at a stalemate though.

After one week of Canadian television, WBEN-TV in Buffalo was still getting the largest slice of the Ontario audience. CBLT was credited with 36% while WBEN captured 64% of the total audience.

A boom in the sale of television receivers was experienced in Toronto and Montreal in August, according to the Radio-Television Manufacturers Association of Canada. During the month 12,790 sets were sold in Canada, more than twice the figure for the previous month.

Televised election results were seen for the first time in Canada when CBLT and the Globe & Mail teamed up for evening-long coverage of the vote which returned Mayor Allan Lamport to office for a second term.

Norm Marshall and Larry O’Brien shared broadcast duties for the first televised CFL Grey Cup football game, which aired on CBLT.

On September 29, Johns Hopkins Science Review started airing on CBLT and Montreal’s CBFT as the first U.S. network (DuMont) show regularly scheduled by the CBC stations. On October 1, CBLT aired another DuMont program, supplied on kinescope recording – a one hour boxing show.

The first educational program was telecast October 3 in a televised debate between two high school teams at Toronto. It was the first of eight such unsponsored Friday evening half hour programs to air on CBLT. Other televised programs for schools were being studied by the CBC, the Toronto Board of Education and the National Advisory Council on School Broadcasting. The CBC was also planning religious programs.

In December, WBEN-TV tripled its coverage area when it began operating from the second highest TV tower in this part of the world. It also increased its power. The changes meant a considerable improvement in the pictures received in about 100,000 Canadian homes in the region. The 1,057 foot tower was located 20 miles south of Buffalo. In comparison, CBLT’s tower was 500 feet.

NBC-RCA loaned the 26 episode series “Victory at Sea” to the CBC. It began airing on CBLT in December and was schedule to begin on CBFT Montreal on January 5 (1953).

The audience of CBLT dropped from over one-third to less than a quarter of the total audience available during its first month of operation. The average share of audience for the station during the first week of October was 22.2%. The only other station available here – WBEN-TV – had the remaining 77.8%. Westinghouse’s The Big Revue was CBLT’s top rated show. In the first week of November, CBLT saw a slight shift in its favour. It now had an average share of audience of 25.9%. CBLT saw a drop again in the first week of December. The average share of audience for the station was 22.9% with the remaining 77.1% going to WBEN. The two favourite Canadian shows were “The Big Revue” and “NHL Hockey”. The top show on WBEN: “I Love Lucy”. In comparison, Canada’s other TV station – CBFT – had no real competitors because there was only spotty and unreliable reception from the closest American stations.

Fergus Mutrie was CBLT’s program director.

At 10 p.m., January 19, network television service came to the Toronto area with the inauguration of a 66-mile microwave radio-relay system between Buffalo, N.Y. and Toronto. The system delivered American network programming obtained by the CBC for telecasting over CBLT. The first program, “Studio One”, from CBS, went on the air at 10 p.m.

At 7:30 p.m. on May 14, CBLT, CBFT (Montreal) and the not yet on-air CBOT (Ottawa) were linked by a 340-mile microwave relay system. For the record, CBOT signed on the air on June 2.

Plans for the development of a national TV network composed of privately-owned and CBC stations were tentatively agreed to in June. Present licensees agreed to carry a minimum of 10 1/2 hours of CBC-produced programs weekly.

The CBC announced plans to acquire a roller rink in August for use as a studio. An increase in daily hours of operation was the reason for an increase in needed studio space. The rink was located on Christie Street. When renovated it would provide a studio with more than the normal overhead and floor space and could accommodate an audience of about 500.

A September report on television viewing for the three Canadian stations on the air showed an audience increase where there was competition from American border stations. The report showed that about a third of the audience in the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara area now looked at CBLT while two-thirds still favoured US stations. Until now, the percentage had been about 1/4 viewing the Canadian station. The most popular shows on CBLT: Holiday Ranch (Canadian), Wrestling, and Playbill (Canadian).

Importation of more American network programs improved audiences of Canadian television stations where there was competition from U.S. border stations. A November ratings report showed sets-in-use figures were down slightly in the Toronto area but up slightly in Montreal and Ottawa. The most popular programs in the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara area on CBLT: NHL Hockey (Canadian), Dennis Day Show, Jackie Gleason Show, Toast of the Town and Kraft Theatre. The latest estimate for television receivers in Canada was 445,000 sets. The major number of sets – 222,500 – was in the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara area, within range of CBLT and Buffalo’s WBEN-TV.

CBC board chairman A. Davidson Dunton said that CBLT was running into the toughest competition for audience in the world. He said it was a bit discouraging to know that more people were watching WBEN-TV than CBLT. Dunton said that a lot of WBEN’s programming was network material, originating from New York and Hollywood.

The Bell Telephone Company’s Adelaide Street office was the terminal point in the new 407 mile microwave relay system – the recently inaugurated heart of Canada’s three station TV network. Rising 392 feet above the street (compared with the Bank of Commerce’s 400 feet and the tower of CBLT at 500 feet), this was one of 15 such units constructed by Bell to carry television programs and telephone conversations from Buffalo to Montreal via Toronto and Ottawa or any points in between. Engineering plans for a Montreal-Quebec City expansion were already prepared and others were being worked out to reach London. The Buffalo-Toronto hop needed only one relay site – at Fonthill, near Welland. The Toronto-Ottawa section had 8 stations (Uxbridge, Bethany, Hastings, Stirling, Enterprise, Westport, Smiths Falls and Stanley Corners). Three stations connect with Montreal – at Leonard, Maxville and Rigaud. The Ottawa installation is also on top of the Bell building there. Mount Royal was chosen for the Montreal station.

The CBC was expected to soon finish the 4th and 5th floors of the Toronto TV building. It was to be completed in September. The floors would house a variety of television equipment, air conditioning, and film recording units. When completed, CBC TV would have double the existing space.

CBLT was scheduled to increase its regular program schedule in October to include afternoon telecasting. Matinee Party would be a new afternoon program. It would also air on CBOT and CBFT. The program would originate from the 1,300 seat Eaton Auditorium. The regular cast would include fashion expert Rosemary Boxer and radio personalities Monty Hall and Larry Mann.

Harry Boyle was named director of programs for CBC Ontario – radio and television. He had been program director of the Trans-Canada network for eight years.

In January CFPL-TV became the fourth and newest link in Canada’s network of TV stations as the microwave relay system constructed and operated by Canadian National-Canadian Pacific was completed to the city. The network now stretched from Toronto to Montreal, via Ottawa, servicing CBC TV stations in each city, and four new microwave transmitters (Milton, Galt, Woodstock and London) completed the span from Toronto to London. The new transmitters would carry long distance phone calls and some 22 hours of network TV programs a week to CFPL-TV. Plans called for the extension of the system with short hops to CHCH-TV Hamilton and from the Galt unit to Kitchener’s CKCO-TV. From London the system would also be extended to CKLW-TV in Windsor. UPDATE: The link to Kitchener was to be completed on February 21. On this date it was expected that CKCO-TV would begin telecasting as a basic station in the CBC’s mid-eastern TV network. Completion of the link to CHCH-TV Hamilton was expected in April, and to CKLW-TV Windsor, early next year. There were also plans to link Montreal with CFCM-TV in Quebec City.

Dick MacDougall was emcee of the early evening show, Tabloid. Percy Saltzman did weather.

Bell Telephone Co. of Canada was awarded the contract to extend CBC-TV network service to Peterborough via microwave. Bell had now completed the extention to Kingston for the soon to open CKWS-TV. The addition of the two private stations would bring to ten, the number of points on the network. 

Bob McGall became program director in October. 

H.G. Walker was appointed CBC assistant director for Ontario by the province’s director, Ira Dilworth. 

The CBC had plans for power increases at CBLT and CBFT and for new studio and film recording equipment for both stations. 

Walter J. Blackburn (CFPL-TV) announced the formation of a co-operative organized to exchange TV news film among CBC and private stations. Founding members of the Canadian Television News Film Co-operative were CFPL-TV, CFQC-TV, CKCW-TV and the CBC. Membership was open to all stations. 

Canadian Professional Football games, including the Grey Cup final, would be seen live from Vancouver on inter-connected Eastern stations. Delayed telecasts would be seen on all other stations on either the Sunday or Monday following the game. The 10 connected stations in the East were: CBLT, CBOT, CBMT, CHCH, CFPL, CKCO, CKLW, CKWS, CHEX, and CKVR. These stations would carry 20-26 games. Fourteen games would be seen on CKSO, CJIC and CFPA…stations not connected to the microwave. In the West, seven stations would carry kinescopes of the games to be played in Western Interprovincial Football: CBWT, CKX, CKCK, CFQC, CHCT, CFRN and CBUT.

Newscaster Rick Campbell left CBLT when he was appointed by the government of Burma to establish a national radio network and film board.

On August 27, CBLT moved from channel 9 to channel 6 and increased effective radiated power from 25,600 watts video to 100,000 watts video and 50,000 watts audio. The station had been operating on channel 9 on a temporary antenna for the past three months while a new three bay bat-wing Canadian General Electric antenna was put on its 450 foot Jarvis Street tower. The antenna was 491 feet above ground level in downtown Toronto. The new transmitter was also from Canadian General Electric, and was a 5 kW air cooled unit with 35 kW water-cooled amplifier.

Bob McGall was named head of CBC Variety in August. He had been CBLT’s program director.

Telegram columnist Alex Barris hosted Barris Beat on CBLT. 

For the first time, a nation wide audience would be able to watch the CBC’s federal election coverage. CBC-TV was now connected to Calgary and Edmonton in the west and the four Maritime Provinces in the east. U.S. facilities would complete extension to British Columbia. 

Before CBLT opened in 1952, the CBC seemed able to get by with its converted girls’ school at 354 Jarvis Street and two or three concert studios as its Toronto home. Since television came along, two studio buildings were constructed on Jarvis Street and up to 17 buildings had been rented across the city. As of now, there were 13 buildings used at 11 different locations. There was still hope for a single establishment in Toronto but it would be some years yet according to press reports.

139 microwave units across Canada went into operation on July 1, carrying TV signals 3,900 miles over the longest microwave network in the world. The CBC’s Dominion Day program “Memo to Champlain” inaugurated the system. The network linked together Canada’s 40 privately owned TV stations and 8 CBC stations, providing live TV to 80% of the Canadian population between Victoria, B.C. and Sydney, N.S. Newfoundland was expected to be on the network in 1959. The CBC, in cooperation with CFRN-TV Edmonton, CKCK-TV Regina, CKLW-TV Windsor and CHSJ-TV Saint John, used the inaugural program as an electronic travelogue to visit 15 Canadian cities. The microwave network was called the Trans-Canada Skyway. 

H.G. Walker was named director for Ontario and for English networks, succeeding Ira Dilworth who became director of program evaluation. 

According to Elliott-Haynes CBLT reached a total of 757,989 adult viewers every day.

The CBC opened Studio 7 at 263 Mutual Street in Toronto. Programs to be produced here: General Motors Presents, The Wayne & Shuster Hour, Music Makers ’59, Showtime and One of a Kind. 

1989

Barb Ondrusek was now doing sports. Jeffrey Kofman and Naomi Loeb left. 

On April 27, the CRTC approved the application to amend the licence for CBLN-TV-3 Chatham by decreasing the effective radiated power from 4,000 watts to 2,000 watts. The CBC stated that this reduction in power conformed with the current technical facilities and that it would not affect the coverage of the station. The Commission also approved the application to amend the licence for CBLN-TV-l Kitchener by decreasing the effective radiated power from 268,000 watts to 130,170 watts. The CBC stated that this reduction in power conformed with the current technical facilities and that coverage would not be affected since CBLT Toronto and CBLN-TV London both provided service to the area.

1993

CBLT made its last telecast from historic Studio One on March 18. Following that broadcast, “Midday” moved to the new Broadcast Centre. CBLT’s first broadcast in 1952 was from Studio One. Only network master control remains in the Jarvis Street studios. It will be relocated to the Broadcast Centre by the end of the year. CBC Radio had been operating from the new facility since last year.

CBLN-TV-6 Normandale was opened on June 6.

News anchors now included Ron Izawa and Jeffrey Kofman.

Private affiliate CKVR-TV received permission to disaffiliate from the CBC. As a result, the network had to fill in the gap that would result from the loss of the Barrie station. The Corporation received approval for rebroadcast transmitters of CBLT at Barrie (channel 16 with effective radiated power of 180,000 watts), Huntsville (the former CKVR low-power rebroadcast transmitter, upgraded to full power – channel 8 with ERP of 43,000 watts) and Parry Sound (channel 18 with power of 50 watts). 

2002

CBLT was given approval to add rebroadcast transmitters at Elliot Lake, Little Current, Attawapiskat, Chapleau, Fraserdale, Fort Albany, Hearst and Moosonee. These transmitters were radiocommunication distribution undertakings, which rebroadcast the programming of the former MCTV stations. Transmitters were also approved for Temagami and Fort Hope. These transmitters were radiocommunication distribution undertakings, which rebroadcast the programming of the CBC Northern Television Service.

2009

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