sowny.net | The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum


You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

September 28, 2022 11:25 am  #1


CityTV Turns 50 Today!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjDfT-1PB9A/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If CFNY was the spirit of radio, then once upon a time, CityTV was the spirit of local television and Toronto.

A couple of cool clips from back in the day and familiar faces and voices are featured in this Instagram post.

Fond memories and wishful thinking.

Happy anniversary CityTV. 🥂🍾

Last edited by betaylored (September 28, 2022 11:25 am)

 

September 28, 2022 12:13 pm  #2


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

To give you an idea of how weak CITY's signal was, I came home from 1st year university for 1972 Thanksgiving to my parent's home in Oakville. My dad had recently added one of those flytrap looking UHF heads to the VHF chimney mounted antenna to improve reception of ch 17, 19 and 29. It did. Crystal clear on all three. I arrived home on the Friday to watch CITY's late night Baby Blue Movie. Nothing but snow. No whiff of a signal period. And that is maybe 25 miles from their transmitter. Even in the digital era, when my parents had a tower with a rotor, if the antenna wasn't pointed at the CN Tower, there would be major pixelation. Never any problems with the Omni's, Global or CTV.

 

September 28, 2022 12:27 pm  #3


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

This was mailed to households in parts of Toronto just before City's big sign-on. (Anyone remember Keeble Cable?)


 

September 28, 2022 12:29 pm  #4


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

Retrontario is Livestreaming vintage Citytv content all-day!
https://youtu.be/b_q_nV7jY6s

 

September 28, 2022 3:40 pm  #5


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

mace wrote:

To give you an idea of how weak CITY's signal was, I came home from 1st year university for 1972 Thanksgiving to my parent's home in Oakville. My dad had recently added one of those flytrap looking UHF heads to the VHF chimney mounted antenna to improve reception of ch 17, 19 and 29. It did. Crystal clear on all three. I arrived home on the Friday to watch CITY's late night Baby Blue Movie. Nothing but snow. No whiff of a signal period. And that is maybe 25 miles from their transmitter. Even in the digital era, when my parents had a tower with a rotor, if the antenna wasn't pointed at the CN Tower, there would be major pixelation. Never any problems with the Omni's, Global or CTV.

I think at that time they werent (wasnt built) CN tower - in 76 they went up on channel 79 and also heard they were the highest radiating antenna (the top tip piece that had signatures when built) is where the baby blue movies beamed.

 

September 28, 2022 3:48 pm  #6


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

My memory of the early Channel 79 was of a very blurry picture. The signal did not have a lot of strength to where I was living then (mid-North York) and sometimes, there was ghosting and even colour shifts in the picture. But then everything back then was done on the extreme cheap.

My late friend, Clint Nickerson, who worked there in those early days, used to compare its early local programming to SCTV. In fact, he used to say that talented troupe of performers were emulating a "second City." Perhaps he was right!

(I know for a fact that at least one moment on that show was based on something that happened on City. They were doing some very cheesy local election coverage not long after signing on, and one of their reporters - it might have been a pre-anchor Anne Mroczkowski - stuck a mic in a candidate's face, a guy who'd been accused of some scandal or other. She asked him about it point blank. And he simply stared back at her, refusing to say a word. They stayed on this thing for a good minute or so, as she kept pressing him - and the guy refused to talk to her, leaving a ton of awkward silences between her queries.)

I think I saw that many years later on one of those "Mellonville Votes" things they did on SCTV.

 

September 28, 2022 4:34 pm  #7


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

markow202 wrote:

mace wrote:

To give you an idea of how weak CITY's signal was, I came home from 1st year university for 1972 Thanksgiving to my parent's home in Oakville. My dad had recently added one of those flytrap looking UHF heads to the VHF chimney mounted antenna to improve reception of ch 17, 19 and 29. It did. Crystal clear on all three. I arrived home on the Friday to watch CITY's late night Baby Blue Movie. Nothing but snow. No whiff of a signal period. And that is maybe 25 miles from their transmitter. Even in the digital era, when my parents had a tower with a rotor, if the antenna wasn't pointed at the CN Tower, there would be major pixelation. Never any problems with the Omni's, Global or CTV.

I think at that time they werent (wasnt built) CN tower - in 76 they went up on channel 79 and also heard they were the highest radiating antenna (the top tip piece that had signatures when built) is where the baby blue movies beamed.

Correct. This was years before the CN Tower was around. I had heard that their tower was around Jane/Eglinton. No idea if this was true.

 

September 28, 2022 4:40 pm  #8


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

RadioActive wrote:

This was mailed to households in parts of Toronto just before City's big sign-on. (Anyone remember Keeble Cable?)


Interesting the one channel missing was WUTV ch 29. They began operating in December 1970. Is it possible that they had an inferior signal that wasn't strong enough for cable delivery or more likely, the CRTC had not yet given its blessing for approved viewing by Canadian cable subscribers.
 

 

September 28, 2022 4:41 pm  #9


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

mace wrote:

markow202 wrote:

mace wrote:

To give you an idea of how weak CITY's signal was, I came home from 1st year university for 1972 Thanksgiving to my parent's home in Oakville. My dad had recently added one of those flytrap looking UHF heads to the VHF chimney mounted antenna to improve reception of ch 17, 19 and 29. It did. Crystal clear on all three. I arrived home on the Friday to watch CITY's late night Baby Blue Movie. Nothing but snow. No whiff of a signal period. And that is maybe 25 miles from their transmitter. Even in the digital era, when my parents had a tower with a rotor, if the antenna wasn't pointed at the CN Tower, there would be major pixelation. Never any problems with the Omni's, Global or CTV.

I think at that time they werent (wasnt built) CN tower - in 76 they went up on channel 79 and also heard they were the highest radiating antenna (the top tip piece that had signatures when built) is where the baby blue movies beamed.

Correct. This was years before the CN Tower was around. I had heard that their tower was around Jane/Eglinton. No idea if this was true.

There is still a tower at Jane/Eglinton today - pretty big one too.   Wonder what thats for 

 

September 28, 2022 5:18 pm  #10


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

The original channel 79 transmitter was located on the Canada Square building on the south-west corner of Yonge & Eglinton

 

September 28, 2022 6:22 pm  #11


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

Bill Dulmage wrote:

In Phase, do you know if the Yonge/Eglinton tower still stands?

That tower (mast really), that wasn't all that tall, is long gone.  It was removed when Citytv moved to the CN Tower.  There is a cell phone tower there now.
 

 

September 28, 2022 7:09 pm  #12


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

markow202 wrote:

There is still a tower at Jane/Eglinton today - pretty big one too. Wonder what that's for 

That's on the southwest "corner" above the golf course parking lot and in the corner of a public school's yard. I've heard it's a communication tower for Toronto Police Service.
 

 

September 28, 2022 7:09 pm  #13


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

The station has lots of vintage video and a story on the anniversary on its website. A lot of memories for those who remember it back in 1972 and beyond.  

 

September 28, 2022 7:44 pm  #14


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

From Gord Martineau's Linked In page. Nice to see there are apparently no hard feelings. 

 

September 28, 2022 8:01 pm  #15


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

RadioActive wrote:

The station has lots of vintage video and a story on the anniversary on its website. A lot of memories for those who remember it back in 1972 and beyond.  

I was there in 1976.  What a place!  And is was fantastic to there.
 

 

October 1, 2022 9:29 am  #16


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

Produced promos for Citytv for years, highlight of my career! Too bad Rogers changed that for me, and many others.

 

October 3, 2022 10:07 pm  #17


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

I worked for CityPulse for 17 years and managed to snag this mug with the old frequency, plus shirts from every election as well.

Last edited by The Foxer (October 3, 2022 10:12 pm)

 

October 3, 2022 10:15 pm  #18


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

Hi RA
can't seem to upload the mug photo...any pointers for this old guy?

 

October 3, 2022 11:16 pm  #19


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

Hey Foxer:

Someone wrote a relatively easy guide to doing this on the Oldies Music Board. Here's the link. See if you can follow the directions, which are accompanied by step-by-step pictures. (Both are Boardhost boards, so the instructions are the same on both.)

If you can't make it work, let me know by sending me a DM on the Inbox and I'll have more advice for you. 

 

October 6, 2022 1:20 pm  #20


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

The Foxer wrote:

I worked for CityPulse for 17 years and managed to snag this mug with the old frequency, plus shirts from every election as well.

The Foxer was having trouble posting this, so I will do it for him. That's quite a mug you've got there, Foxer. (Just to be accurate, I was referring to the cup not your face!)

 

October 8, 2022 9:33 am  #21


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

What I always liked about City tv was the fact it had a format like a radio station.  With City it was either News, Movies or Music/Lifestyle.  When City was bought out by CHUM the station really came into it's own and was very local and doing things that other stations or networks hadn't even thought of. 

Time moves on and today City is becoming more of a network and is really no different than other stations on the dial.  But for about 40 years it was one of a kind and we were lucky to have a fun and innovative station that you couldn't find anywhere else. 

 

October 8, 2022 2:27 pm  #22


Re: CityTV Turns 50 Today!

paterson1 wrote:

What I always liked about City tv was the fact it had a format like a radio station.  With City it was either News, Movies or Music/Lifestyle.  When City was bought out by CHUM the station really came into it's own and was very local and doing things that other stations or networks hadn't even thought of. 

Time moves on and today City is becoming more of a network and is really no different than other stations on the dial.  But for about 40 years it was one of a kind and we were lucky to have a fun and innovative station that you couldn't find anywhere else. 

You'd think someone would be smart enough to look at what City was like back then and recreate the experience and sense of community, updated of course, but that would require imagination, effort and an investment in the people to find, write, produce and front the stories.

City gave us a flavour of the different Toronto neighborhoods, the excitement of the downtown scene and ideas on what to do and where to visit for sports, and entertainment, often without the need for big bucks.

While we're at it, wouldn't a 2022-2023 radio station that had the same forward thinking attitude about music like 102.1 the Edge had back in the day be a welcome addition to the Toronto media landscape. There's an entire resurgence of brand new 1980's style music out there and a built-in audience listening to Boom because it's the only thing available for them right now, tho Boom does do a great job.

There is money to be had in reinventing the tried and true. Think of television before HBO took a gamble, pun intended, on The Sopranos.

Last edited by betaylored (October 9, 2022 9:09 am)

     Thread Starter