1 of 1- RadioActive
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CFRB-TV? It Could Have Happened
Back in the heyday of 1010, when it was riding high at #1 in the ratings, the owners of the station were determined to get into television. At the time, they were eyeing channel 13 to start their own TV presence in the Toronto market, although how that would have worked with CKCO Kitchener already occupying that spot isn't clear. And neither is why Channel 6 had been assigned to London or Kingston, when CBLT was already on that frequency.
While CFRB-TV never did make it to the tube, its eventual owner, Bell, has many television outlets, so in a way you could say they finally got what they wanted.
This is from Nov. 1968:
- RadioAaron
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Re: CFRB-TV? It Could Have Happened
I believe Toronto and Kingston could have both used channel 6. Ottawa is closer and used 6.
Ottawa, Kingston, and Hamilton all had 11’s.
Kingston and Toronto both have 96.3 (and 93.5, but Toronto’s is tiny)
- RadioActive
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I wonder if they ever got their deposit back from the CRTC?
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Thread Starter- Skywave
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Re: CFRB-TV? It Could Have Happened
CFRB's plan was to transmit Channel 13 from a 500 foot tower near Hornby. They would pay for CKCO Kitchener and WOKR Rochester to switch from Channel 13 to Channel 6. The low band VHF channel had a larger Grade B contour, and that would be the motivation for Kitchener and Rochester to accept the proposed change.
The CRTC instead licensed Channel 6 to Global at Paris (Ayr), and for a rebroad of CJ.OH Ottawa at Deseronto.
If CFRB had been willing to go to UHF Channel 25, they would probably have won the license hands down.
Some trivia. The CFRB site was sold to Maclean-Hunter cable who used it for their major head-end for the GTA. It also served as the starting point for the CUC cable network feeding North Bay, Sudbury, and Timmins. When Rogers took over Maclean-Hunter, the site was decomissioned, and ultimately expropriated for the 407 ETR.
- RadioActive
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Further research indicates this wasn't the first time the then-owners of CFRB tried to get into the TV biz. Check out their programming promises from an application made in 1960, this time for a station that would have been based in Newmarket. Does not look like a station that would have had much appeal to me, but would have been more appropriate for CHIN - which did not exist at the time.
Toronto would get another TV station on Dec. 31, 1960, when CFTO Channel 9 officially signed on the air. 
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Thread Starter- Forward Power
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Speaking of the channel 6 allocation for the Belleville-Kingston area, here's a peek at the transmitter for that now-dark signal, CJOH-TV-6 Deseronto, as it appeared on this day in 2012; I was at the Mount Carmel transmitter site, assisting with some work at the co-located FM, Napanee's CKYM 88.7. CJOH-6 previously had a tube transmitter (I don't recall if it was a GE or Marconi unit) but after a sister CTV station went digital, this Larcan M-series rig went live on channel 6 and powered the signal til the end.
Note one of the CBS "Max Brothers" in the second equipment rack. 
Last edited by Forward Power (October 20, 2025 9:53 am)
- Ale Ont
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In doing research for a presentation, Frank Ryan, the owner of CFRA, was one of the six or so applicants for the second television licence in Ottawa. They thought for sure they would be awarded the station. They weren't and from what I found out were very bitter. The licence went to Ernie Bushnell. Among his many attributes that he wanted to be a "maker" and not a "taker" of programming.
- Evuguy
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With majority of antennas in Toronto fixed facing south at that time, a transmission site due west of Toronto for CFRB-TV would have been a ghostly viewing experience! Thinking about it, CFTO must have suffered a similar fate broadcasting from 401/McCowan until their move to the CN Tower.
For CJOH-TV-6 Deseronto, they were still on air up until a fews years ago. I could hear the audio at times when in east Scarborough on 87.7 FM. It's hard to believe that the last NTSC broadcasts in the GTA were 14 years ago. That time has gone quickly.