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CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
I came across this very brief article from 1968 and can't make heads or tails out of it. It essentially says that the owners of CFRB at the time were desperately trying to get into TV and wanted channels 6 or 13. It also says Channel 6 had been reserved for London or Kingston.
But CBLT in Toronto was on channel 6 at the time. How could there possibly have been room for another station in London on that frequency? Also CKCO was already broadcasting on 13 in Kitchener. So how could CFRB have expected to snag either TV dial position? This whole story makes no sense to me and I'm obviously missing something. (It wouldn't be the first time!)
Ironically, CFRB ownership did end up finally getting a TV station years later when Bell took over the company. But you can only wonder what might have been.
How do you interpret this very brief but odd article published in November of '68?
- Hansa
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
Global ended up getting channel 6 in Paris, Ontario. Was CBLT's move to 5 already agreed to in 1968?
- RadioAaron
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
6 also did end up going to Belleville/Kingston
- RadioActive
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
But that doesn't completely explain it. The Global thing didn't happen until the 70s and I'm not even sure the original company was around then. So that would not have precluded a new station - other than the fact that CBLT was already there. (They didn't move to Channel 5 until Sept. 11, 1972.)
As for Channel 13, with CKCO Kitchener securing its place there in 1954, how could CFRB's owners even imagine they could put a new station in Toronto there?
From the hindsight of history, I can't figure this story out.
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Thread Starter- Skywave
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
This could have happened had all the pieces of the puzzle fallen into place. Standard Radio had reached an agreement with CKCO-TV Kitchener and WOKR-TV in Rochester to move both of them from Channel 13 to Channel 6. That would have opened up the possibility of CFRB using Channel 13 from a site near Hornby. Back then, low band VHF channels were thought to be superior because of the larger Grade B contour, and the need for less transmitter power.
Then things got in the way.
Bushnell Broadcasting applied, and in October 1971 was approved for a rebroadcasting transmitter of CJOH-TV Ottawa in Deseronto. This put an end to the possibility of the channel swap from 13 to 6 of WOKR.
Standard was obsessed with "VHF or nothing" for a new Toronto TV station. Cable was in its infancy, and there was obvious concern that UHF reception capability in Toronto was limited to those wanting to watch TVOntario on Channel 19, or WUTV on Channel 29.
In 1971, the CRTC was going to hear applications for a new Toronto TV station. Legend has it that the Chairman of the CRTC called a Standard executive and asked "where's your application for Channel 25?" The response was "do you think I'm crazy".
Channel 25 was allotted to Toronto but not yet applied for by CBC for French language service. A group led by Moses Znaimer applied for Channel 79, at the top end of the UHF band, correctly reasoning that no one would want it anyway. City-TV was awarded the license, and the rest is history.
Standard sold the land for the transmitter site to Maclean-Hunter Cable, which built a 500 foot tower and loaded it with head-end antennas aimed at Buffalo as well as the other Canadian stations in the area. That head-end site existed for many years until the purchase of Maclean Hunter Cable by Rogers. Ultimately the tower was dismantled as the site was in the planned route for Highway 407.
- RadioActive
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
Thanks for the explanation. Now it makes a lot more sense. Quite a remarkable plan.
But if CKCO had moved to Channel 6, what would that have meant for CBLT? An earlier move to Channel 5? Surely they could not have existed at the same time. It certainly was a labyrinth idea, but it almost sounds like it was more trouble than it was worth.
I suppose I can imagine the CFRB of those days - the #1 station in Toronto, if not the country then - getting into TV. Given how things have turned out, it was probably a good thing it never happened! Think of all the job losses!
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Thread Starter- Skywave
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
The CBC move from 6 to 5 was part of the plan that reserved Channel 6 for London and Kingston/Belleville. The CBC's superturnstile antenna on the Jarvis Street tower I believe was replaced to accomodate the TVO Channel 19 antenna at the top. The Channel 6 antenna was oriented so that, by reducing the power to the north-south pair of batwings, the required protection to (then) WHEN-TV Syracuse on Channel 5 could be achieved. When the appointed time came, it was a simple overnight tweak.
As to what might have been with CFRB-TV, imagine having unfettered access to the likes of Jack Dennett, Gordon Sinclair and Betty Kennedy. As the old cliche goes, it would have been radio with pictures.
- newsguy1
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
Glad they didn't get their TV station.
It was bad enough seeing Agar on screen when he was on the defunct Sun TV channel.
I can't listen to his voice on the radio for more than 10 minutes.
- RadioActive
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
Yes I actually thought of that. If nothing else, their newscasts might have been pretty amazing. Alas, we'll never know.
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Thread Starter- Hansa
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
RadioAaron wrote:
6 also did end up going to Belleville/Kingston
Which station was that?
- RadioAaron
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
6 also did end up going to Belleville/Kingston
Which station was that?
CJOH Ottawa repeater in Desoronto
- turkeytop
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
Back in the early 70s, I was living in Owen Sound. CKCO and CFTO had competing bids before the CRTC for a TV license in that area. CFTO planned to use CH 10 and CKCO was proposing to use CH 2.
In the end, CKCO won out.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- fybush
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Re: CFRB On Channel 6 Or 13. Would That Have Even Been Possible?
If WOKR had been moved to 6, and if the rest of history had played out as it eventually did, there would have been a funny outcome: we'd now have a WHAM-TV 6 in Rochester, just as we did at the start of TV in 1949.
(That original WHAM-TV moved to 5 in 1954, became WROC-TV in 1956 and moved again to 8 in 1962, of course.)