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Who Was The First Person Ever Seen On Toronto TV?
He was the original face Canadians saw on Toronto television and he came to be a well known personality who continued there for years. It was 1952 and CBLT was the first station on the air here. And the announcer that viewers saw that day was none other than Percy Saltzman, who ended up as the local weatherman here, with his infamous piece of tossed chalk.
The article below also lists some of the shows you could watch in that inaugual year, and one of them is still on the air to this day - Hockey Night In Canada.
You can see the rest here.
- mace
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Re: Who Was The First Person Ever Seen On Toronto TV?
As soon as I read this headline, I knew it was Mr. Chalk Tosser.
- DX
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I love how the teens in those family pictures were pictured playing the game where they guzzled Michelob every time Percy Saltzman tossed the chalk.
- newsguy1
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Re: Who Was The First Person Ever Seen On Toronto TV?
Growing up in Vancouver I remember the first people I saw on local TV in the days when nobody really knew what a TV "person" should look like.
The first local CBC news anchor, whose name I can't remember was a sort of chubby bald guy.
The set behind him as he read was just a map of Canada.
There were still newspaper pictures to illustrate the stories.
- Hansa
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Re: Who Was The First Person Ever Seen On Toronto TV?
The article says:
When CBFT Montreal launched, it could only reach about 30 per cent of Canadian households at first.
When CBLT Toronto launched, the two CBC stations together could reach that same 30 per cent of Canadians, a figure that exceeded the number of Canadians who owned TV sets at the time.
How is that possible? With no one else using channel 2 in Canada (or apparently the northeast US, WGR in Buffalo didn't go on the air until 1954 and WGBH Boston wasn't on until 1955) was CBFT receivable throughout Eastern Canada? Could it be received in Toronto before WGR hit the airwaves?
- mace
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Re: Who Was The First Person Ever Seen On Toronto TV?
Hansa wrote:
The article says:
When CBFT Montreal launched, it could only reach about 30 per cent of Canadian households at first.
When CBLT Toronto launched, the two CBC stations together could reach that same 30 per cent of Canadians, a figure that exceeded the number of Canadians who owned TV sets at the time.How is that possible? With no one else using channel 2 in Canada (or apparently the northeast US, WGR in Buffalo didn't go on the air until 1954 and WGBH Boston wasn't on until 1955) was CBFT receivable throughout Eastern Canada? Could it be received in Toronto before WGR hit the airwaves?
I suppose it would be possible under tropo conditions. At my parent's home in Oakville, with the help of a rotor, Detroit's channel 2 and 4 could be viewed under those conditions. When CBLT signed off for the day, a snowy WTVH Syracuse or WEWS Cleveland was available depending on the antenna position.