TVO started on September 27, 1970 (50 years ago today) as the Ontario Educational Communications Authority.

I don't know when their branding changed to TV Ontario, but in the ensuing 50 years, one could argue it's morphed into something quite different.  Probably by necessity.
 

Last edited by Peter the K (September 27, 2020 11:02 am)

Unlike some stations, which ignore their own history, TVO has chosen to highlight its anniversary with a great article about the sometimes troubled beginnings of CICA Toronto on Channel 19. I never realized it caused interference problems with WNED for some (I never experienced that.) And the problems of getting it carried on a still young cable TV dial was another surprise. 

‘A whole new world of television’: How TVO’s launch avoided disaster and won over critics 

[Edit: Just had a look at my TV Guides from 1970. I have only one from the time in question, from early October. Channel 19 wasn't listed there at the time, which either meant they were slow on the uptake, the station didn't have a firm schedule or they weren't able to send the listings out to the publication by then. Not sure exactly when it became available on a regular basis in the Guide, but it wasn't there at the launch.]   

Last edited by RadioActive (September 27, 2020 11:30 am)

I would argue that CBC Radio One fills the role in a way.
There are morning shows for the different regions of the province, A province-wide midday show and regional drive home shows.  If there's important breaking news anywhere it's on the national news.  For example, the police closure of Wasaga Beach last night made Radio One's hourly news all evening.

paterson1 wrote:

Has the time come for Ontario to have an NPR style or format of radio?  Looking at the Arbitron ratings in the US, university and public radio stations seem to be reasonably popular.

There is no real equivalent of CBC radio in the US and naturally this would need to be taken into account if Ontario were to have it's own public radio service available.  The programming and general content would need to be different than CBC and with focus possibly more on education and programming that currently isn't available.  

Should TVO to be involved and to what extent?  Should one or two stations be owned and operated ?   Or could some of Ontario's 24 university and college radio stations carry some of the programming?  Would CJRT be an affiliate, or involved somehow?   Should funding be a similar model as NPR, and could  funding come from foundations, motivated individuals, and listener support?   How much programming could this service pick up from equivalent broadcasters in the US, even the UK or Australia?

What do you think, would this work in Ontario? Do you think there is any demand for this and would it be viable?
How do we promote and make sure that Ontario's almost 15 million population is aware of this new service, which would be unlike anything available now?

Lots of questions, hope you have some thoughts on this....
  

There's no demand from either universities or public or secondary schools for educational radio broadcasts. Open College on CJRT ended several years ago because Ryerson and York can deliver extension courses online and don't need radio (or television) broadcasts. Same with programes like Seneca Telecollege and I believe it was Guelph that used have a few courses carried on TVO and/or community channels. Same with audio content for schools. It would be great if TVO produced more podcasts but they don't need radio stations to air them when they can just put them on their website and on podcasting platforms and have them available on demand. 

Last edited by Hansa (September 27, 2020 6:44 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

I wasn't thinking of a news network but more of a co-op of mostly existing stations (university/college/community) that could be affiliated, and even contribute to some of the programming.  News however, would be part of the mix and affiliated stations could provide some content of a story or event from their area.  All of the stations would still have their own schedules and do not need to carry all shows, other than some Ontario wide features, or call in shows.  

I don't agree that there is a need, desire, business case, or even infrastructure to create an ontario-wide radio service.  however, your statement above is an interesting idea.  like if they all contributed to a province or country wide burli-type news system from which to draw reports, or shared music driven blocks between each other.  each station pays into a fund... maybe run by the CCRA or something.... and the programming expenses can be drawn from that.

Of course, there are some crtc regs that prevent too much syndicated or non-local programming, but ya, it's not a bad idea paterson1.  Wanna combine to form a consulting agency for this??

splunge wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

I wasn't thinking of a news network but more of a co-op of mostly existing stations (university/college/community) that could be affiliated, and even contribute to some of the programming.  News however, would be part of the mix and affiliated stations could provide some content of a story or event from their area.  All of the stations would still have their own schedules and do not need to carry all shows, other than some Ontario wide features, or call in shows.  

I don't agree that there is a need, desire, business case, or even infrastructure to create an ontario-wide radio service.  however, your statement above is an interesting idea.  like if they all contributed to a province or country wide burli-type news system from which to draw reports, or shared music driven blocks between each other.  each station pays into a fund... maybe run by the CCRA or something.... and the programming expenses can be drawn from that.

Of course, there are some crtc regs that prevent too much syndicated or non-local programming, but ya, it's not a bad idea paterson1.  Wanna combine to form a consulting agency for this??

This is why I posed the question to get a handle if it was feasible, desire, need etc.  I had forgotten about CKUA, Alberta's provincial radio network.  Thanks Prod Guy.

CCRA? Are you referring to the CRTC's Canadian Content Development Contributions? Sounds like we may be talking about a few different things here.   

Personally I doubt they would consider this now..    With the internet, cost of running transmitters and above all else...  it would likely be stuck on the AM band, due to frequency availability on the FM band.   

It would be cheaper for anything like this to involve all the college/community radio stations and build an affiliate network, where locally they provide programming, and share others.     Sadly a CBC type network, is highly unlikely. NOR is there a demand for it from listeners. 

Unfortunately, public broadcasting, radio in particular, is more of a legacy medium than anything else. Valuable to have and should be preserved and nurtured but not something that is likely to be created when it doesn't already exist. This also means that if a public broadcaster is privatized or closed it's very unlikely to ever come back which is why politicians like O'Toole who promise to abolish the CBC (at least CBC Television) should be challenged. O'Toole claims he won't touch CBC Radio but he also says he'd end funding for CBC's digital services - not sure what that means but given that the future of radio is podcasting and digital delivery it's hard to see how this promise - apart from being very short-sighted in an era when private media is closing down local news operations - wouldn't harm CBC Radio by cutting it off from basically everyone under 50 or so who consumes media from digital platforms. 

At least the Ontario Tories, under Harris and Ford, knew enough to leave TVO alone despite wanting to privatize everything else. (Actually, it looks like the Ford government is trying to use TVO to shift students away from in-class learning on a permanent basis for at least part of their education.) 

Last edited by Hansa (September 28, 2020 11:49 am)