As some here know, I’ve long been fascinated by radio history. And on Tuesday, I came across a tiny tidbit of what-might-have-been, a moment that nearly had an Ontario radio station broadcasting on TV – and not on channel 6.
 
It happened in 1957 when there was a fire at CFOR in Orillia. Here’s the brief excerpt as it was published back then in Broadcasting Magazine:
 
“WHEN fire destroyed the transmitter building and equipment of CFOR Orillia, Ont., permission was granted by the Canadian Department of Transport to transmit CFOR through the facilities of CKVR -TV Barrie, Ont.
 
“This unique setup meant that CFOR listeners would have been able to hear the radio station from sign-on to mid -afternoon by turning their tv sets to ch. 3, Barrie. The unusual relay was the idea of Ralph Snelgrove, owner of CKVR -TV.
 
“When he heard of the fire in Orillia, Mr. Snelgrove offered equipment and personnel to CFOR to aid the station in returning to the air, and also obtained permission for the relaying of signals.
 
“The relay system was not used, however, since CFOR was able to return to the air within 24 hours after the fire.”
 
Imagine having to turn on Channel 3 in Barrie to hear a local radio station for several hours. I’m not sure if that’s ever happened before in Canada. Turns out it didn’t happen but the fact it was so close is quite remarkable. I’m guessing CKVR may not have been on fulltime in those years, which is what would have allowed for the unique set-up.

These days, of course, CFOR would have continued to broadcast over the Internet and none of it would have been necessary. The station is now CICX-FM, having abandoned the AM dial in 1993. It's currently owned by Bell Media.

I found this info on a great site called American Radio History.com, which features a ton of reproduced publications chronicling various aspects of the broadcasting industry.

If you're into it, you can see what's there here.