turkeytop wrote:

I've always said I'd like to attend one of those Blyth productions. This will be the one.

One thing I've noticed when driving up through that area is the dearth of motels. It's about a two hour drive back to London from there.

If you take Highway 4, a few miles north of Blyth but south of Wingham you will pass the CKNX transmitter site. Four towers and a brick transmitter building.

There is also Cowbell Brewing just south of Blyth. I believe it is where the old tannery was located. They sell craft beer.
 

Maybe the whole gang of us could go together.

paterson1 wrote:

I am going to see if I can take in the play as well.

Still say that Wingham should have a bar called "Doc's Place" filled with old CKNX pictures, memorabilia, even equipment.  An original CKNX TV studio camera from 1955 is still kicking around along with some old monitors.. They could run a loop of old CKNX productions and commercials in the bar.  Everyone drives through Wingham on hwy 4, but Doc's Place would give people a reason to stop, have a snack or a beverage In "Canada's Radio and Television Town."   

What a great idea for radio enthusiasts! I'd take a drive there myself.

Not sure it would have a wide enough appeal to be sustainable after the novelty wears off.

I believe the old CKNX TV studios are still in Wingham. It would be interesting to see if there is anything left of the old TV station.

A lot of people pass through Wingham in the nice weather, but there isn't a lot of reasons to stop and spend some time.  Wingham was the smallest community in North America to have both a radio station and television station. 

Likely would be better to convert one of the existing bars or restaurants into "Doc's Place."  Anyone in Huron county would find some interest in a place like this.  You would still have colour TV's showing baseball or hockey, but the general theme would be CKNX and their radio and TV operation with it's long and interesting history.  Any tourist would find it memorable since there is nothing else like it around. 

Driving into Wingham the sign says "Canada's Radio and Television Town" but beyond the sign there isn't anything else that promotes the fact.  Doc's Place would help correct this, and would give Wingham and area something to promote. 

If it wasn't possible to open in Wingham, Hanover would be another town to consider.  CKNX Radio and TV was important to the growth of that booming community.  But Wingham for obvious reasons would be preferred. 

I wonder if Blackburn Media would be interested in something like this.  It is significant when Blackburn sold off the company decades ago, the only thing they kept from the original organization was CKNX AM and FM. 

Last edited by paterson1 (April 5, 2025 11:17 pm)

CTV News takes a look at the play dedicated to the formation of CKNX.

Media pioneer ‘Doc’ Cruickshank focus of latest Blyth play

The guy who wrote this play talks about the early roots of radio in Wingham, a small town with big broadcasting ambitions,

"They were getting letters from all over the place. I think during the early days, depending on the weather, they got a letter from Australia, someone had been able to hear them. So it was really cloud-dependent, but they were transmitting to the whole county, and they grew and grew and grew as the years went on."

Q&A: The true story of a Huron County radio trailblazer on at Blyth Festival

Aytononline wrote:

I listened to the cbc podcast. Nice to hear that 3 generations of Docs family were there on opening nice. CKNX tv was once a CBC affiliate, it was nice that they were willing to cover this.
A question for the group. Is this the first time something like this has been done about someone from Canadian broadcasting. Has anything been done about the early days for the Toronto broadcasters, also would this play even work in a big city setting.

I think a play or even movie on Gordon Sinclair would be of interest.  A Torontonian thru and thru, started his career in the 1920's at the Star and became their most popular columnist.  Took on various social causes as a newspaper reporter, travelled the world as a correspondent, covered WWII, moved to radio and became a star on CFRB.  And not only as a newsperson and commentator but also covering entertainment.  Had a big career on TV with CBC's Front Page Challenge. He was an outspoken political commentator long before it was common on radio and TV. 

He even had a hit record with The Americans and stood up and defended the US when nobody else would.   Remained active and memorable on Front Page Challenge and CFRB right up until his death at the age of 83.

The fact that many people know nothing about Sinclair doesn't matter.  He was colourful, controversial, and one of a kind, and his story if done properly would be of great interest anywhere. 

Last edited by paterson1 (August 31, 2025 11:37 am)

Passing through Wingham when I was a kid, in my dad's car, I wondered if there was a certain part of town where all the TV stars lived.

Good for you darcyh.  I hope to drive to Blyth and see the play soon.  Interesting your comments on the CKNX transmission site.  When I worked at CKNX on the radio side at least they always had first rate equipment.  Gerry Belanger headed up their technical department and both CKNX AM and FM always sounded great.  I thought somebody really did their homework with FM 102.  Consistent great full stereo sound and a signal with a huge coverage area.  

I will likely check out the play before it closes on the 20th.  Glad you and your wife enjoyed it.  It is a pleasant drive up to Blyth through the small towns and the green countryside.  Thanks for posting the video of the CKNX transmitters and site.  They always did keep everything in good shape.  

I went to see this last night. Here are a few thoughts.

I hope someone film's this program and puts it on tv or a streaming platform, lots of history here.

I think the first 5 minutes of the show should be sent to every media owner in the country as a reminder of what a radio and TV station is ment to be.
In the 2nd half, the moment of silence for the Canadian Military was very touching and just as relevant today as it was back in the day.

The focus on the CKNX Barn Dance and making reference to the many other shows worked. But not much focus on news. They continue to broadcast local hockey games to this day.

The great fire that destroyed everything must have hit the media community in Canada hard because the amount of support they received was impressive.

The end of the show they made reference to 3 companies that wanted to buy the station but only said one. I am wondering what the other 2 were.
They did sell to the Blackburn family and Blackburn has kept there word in keeping everything in Wingham to this day ( for the most part).

It was a very moving show and worth the trip the Blyth.

On a side note, who knew Blyth had a hotel 🏨,  I stayed here, it has 3 rooms and was almost sold out.

darcyh wrote:

Aytononline wrote:

I went to see this last night. Here are a few thoughts.

I hope someone film's this program and puts it on tv or a streaming platform, lots of history here.

I think the first 5 minutes of the show should be sent to every media owner in the country as a reminder of what a radio and TV station is ment to be.
In the 2nd half, the moment of silence for the Canadian Military was very touching and just as relevant today as it was back in the day.

The focus on the CKNX Barn Dance and making reference to the many other shows worked. But not much focus on news. They continue to broadcast local hockey games to this day.

The great fire that destroyed everything must have hit the media community in Canada hard because the amount of support they received was impressive.

The end of the show they made reference to 3 companies that wanted to buy the station but only said one. I am wondering what the other 2 were.
They did sell to the Blackburn family and Blackburn has kept there word in keeping everything in Wingham to this day ( for the most part).

It was a very moving show and worth the trip the Blyth.

On a side note, who knew Blyth had a hotel 🏨, I stayed here, it has 3 rooms and was almost sold out.

I believe they mentioned CKCO as a possible buyer - it was only mentioned once right near the beginning of the show when the 2 brothers were arguing who they should sell to.
 

I saw the play too.
A few points of note, not in the play:
As for the other two suitors, I assume they would have been CKCO-TV Kitchener and CFTO-TV Toronto (Baton Broadcasting). Electrohome had just acquired CKCO and opened up a repeater in Wiarton that year and would add repeaters in Oil Springs (Sarnia) and Dwight (Muskoka) a few years later. While anything's possible, it's easy to imagine that both CKCO and CFTO would have only wanted CKNX as a repeater.
But the Blackburns weren't able to save CKNX-TV forever because of the untimely death of scion Martha Blackburn in 1992 at the young age of 47.
Its affiliation with CBC ended in 1988. CKNX-TV eventually fell into the hands of CTV and became a CFPL-TV London repeater in 2009 (after using newscasts from CFPL since 1992) and then the over-the-air transmitter was turned off around 2018. 

Last edited by DX (September 14, 2025 2:57 pm)

When is a tv station no longer a tv station. I think the video is misleading because when this video was made CKNX tv had not had any local production in Wingham for years. This video basically made bell look good and said they would no longer use the call letters CKNX and no longer have a separate news feed. In my opinion the TV station closed when they moved production to London.
They made the announcement of the  production moving to London 1 day before Baton ( Owners of CFTO ) bought CFPL TV.
Of course there is no connection between the too. In my opinion the closing of CKNX had everything to do with the sale of CFPL going through or not.

Last edited by Aytononline (September 14, 2025 6:50 pm)