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CKWS Kingston Anchor Looks Back On 34 Yrs. After Being Cut By Corus
Bill Hutchins is a name that's familiar to anyone who ever turned on a TV set in Kingston, but he got his start in Toronto, at radio stations like CKLN, CKEY and CKFM. After the recent cuts at Corus, he discovered the headlines had stopped, after more than three decades as the main anchor for the 6 o'clock news.
But he's not bitter and looks back at his career with a great deal of satisfaction. Even if you've never seen him, his TV journey is certainly an interesting read.
But there's one part of this story at the link below that puzzles me. It quotes Hutchins as saying he was a news obsessed kid from an early age, after listening to a TV newscast on the radio.
“For some reason, the frequency of one of the local TV stations there was picked up on the radio on AM so I could listen to the newscast,” he explained. “And I was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing. I want to do that.’ I just kept listening to it over and over. I’d listen to the anchors and hear the reports, and this fascinated me.”
I know when CBLT was on Channel 6, it could be received on the higher end of the FM dial. But a Toronto TV station on AM? Is that even possible? If so, which one? That has to be a mistake.
Longtime CKWS anchor Hutchins reflects on his lifelong love affair with news
- Hansa
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Re: CKWS Kingston Anchor Looks Back On 34 Yrs. After Being Cut By Corus
He may be misremembering. You could pick up channel 6 on the edge of the FM dial - that would have been Global until recently but in the 60s, as you mentioned, it would have been CBLT before their move to channel 5.
Last edited by Hansa (July 29, 2024 7:51 pm)
- Glen Warren
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Re: CKWS Kingston Anchor Looks Back On 34 Yrs. After Being Cut By Corus
CJOH also had an analog repeater in Desoronto / Brighton / Belleville on channel 6.
CBLT Toronto had to move from the Channel 6 assignment in 1972 ??? This was to make way for Global's main CKGN transmitter at Ayr/Paris on channel 6 at 100Kw.
When CBLT vacated channel 6, CJOH applied for and was granted permission to operate a rebroadcaster at Desornto.
- RadioActive
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Re: CKWS Kingston Anchor Looks Back On 34 Yrs. After Being Cut By Corus
CBLT had to move channels twice in its existence. It started out on Channel 9 and made its way to Channel 6 in 1956, so the CRTC could licence what eventually became CFTO. 
Then, as noted, on Sept. 11, 1972, they flipped again, this time to Channel 5 so Global could use the vacated frequency. (This was the move that drove me insane - not a long drive! - when they all but obliterated WBEN on Channel 4 due to interference. Fortunately, my father fixed it with something we called the "trap," a tiny gizmo that you attached to the back of the set and which allowed you to tune out the worst of the interference and receive the Buffalo station again. Maybe that's the source of my animosity towards CBC-TV!)
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: CKWS Kingston Anchor Looks Back On 34 Yrs. After Being Cut By Corus
RadioActive wrote:
CBLT had to move channels twice in its existence. It started out on Channel 9 and made its way to Channel 6 in 1956, so the CRTC could licence what eventually became CFTO.
Then, as noted, on Sept. 11, 1972, they flipped again, this time to Channel 5 so Global could use the vacated frequency. (This was the move that drove me insane - not a long drive! - when they all but obliterated WBEN on Channel 4 due to interference. Fortunately, my father fixed it with something we called the "trap," a tiny gizmo that you attached to the back of the set and which allowed you to tune out the worst of the interference and receive the Buffalo station again. Maybe that's the source of my animosity towards CBC-TV!)
And now in the digital era, CBLT operates on ch 20.