| CBLT | |
|---|---|
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| City of license | Toronto, Ontario |
| Branding | CBC Television |
| Slogan | Canada Lives Here |
| Channels | Analog: 5 (VHF) Digital: 20 (UHF) Virtual: 5.1 (PSIP) |
| Translators | see below |
| Affiliations | CBC |
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| First air date | September 8, 1952 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Great Lakes Television |
| Sister station(s) | CBL-FM, CBLA-FM |
| Former channel number(s) | 9 (1952-1956) 6 (1956-1972) |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 38 kW (digital) |
| Height | 463.3 m (analog) 491 m (digital) |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 43°38′33″N 79°23′14″W / 43.6425°N 79.38722°W |
| Website | CBC Toronto |
CBLT is a television station serving Toronto, Ontario and outlying regions and is an owned and operated station of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the oldest television station in Ontario, and the second oldest in Canada after its Radio-Canada sister station CBFT in Montreal. It is also the flagship television station of the CBC Television network, and houses the studios for most of CBC's programs, news, and shares studios with CBC News Network.
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History
CBLT launched on September 8, 1952, on channel 9. The station's first broadcast was prefaced by the inadvertent incorrect display of the CBC's national network logo. Conflicting accounts say it was either upside-down or backwards, due to incorrect insertion of the slide. No such error was made two days earlier with CBFT in Montreal.[1]
On January 19, 1953, a microwave link between Buffalo, New York and Toronto was activated, allowing live airing of programs from the American television networks. A few months later, on May 14, 1953 CBC Television stations in Montreal and Ottawa became the first connections within the Trans-Canada Microwave system.
In 1956 the station moved to Channel 6 and increased its effective radiated power from 25 to 100 kW. This was done to accommodate the eventual licensing of a second privately owned local station for Toronto, which eventually became CFTO when that station was licensed at the end of 1960. Then in 1972, it switched to Channel 5 in order to allow two new stations (CKGN in Paris and a CJOH repeater in Deseronto) to use the frequency.
The CN Tower opened in 1976, and CBLT moved its transmitter to the facility and started transmitting from it on May 31, 1976. It currently broadcasts from studios at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street. However, it originally broadcast from a series of smaller studios (which now house the National Ballet School) on Jarvis Street next to its old transmitter.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) licensed CBLT on January 30, 2004 to use UHF channel 20 for HDTV broadcasting, and CBLT's first HDTV broadcast occurred on March 5, 2005.
Branding
CBLT has used a variety of on-air brands since its inception. From 1957 to 1972, it was known as Channel 6. Following its move to Channel 5 in 1972, it became known as "CBLT Five", later shortened to "CBLT/5". In the late 1970s it was known as "Toronto/5". During the 1980s it was known mainly as CBLT-TV, although it used a "CBC 5" logo. Starting in late 1985 the station was identified in print ads as "CBC Television Toronto/5", but the CBLT name was used for its local programs including its supperhour newscast CBLT Newshour. By the 1990s it was known simply as "CBC Toronto", although the CBLT calls were used from time to time in local programming, and on the CBC website. As with most Canadian television stations, the use of the analog channel placement was phased out of the station's logo and advertising, as most cable placements didn't match up with its VHF frequency.
Local news
CBLT newscasts have consistently faced very stiff competition in the Toronto market, consistently behind CTV affiliate CFTO since it surged to the number one spot in 1970, and behind CITY-TV since 1982.
Between September 10, 1984 and April 4, 1986, CBLT had one of the only locally produced morning television shows in Canada, CBLT Morning, which was broadcast from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays. The program was co-hosted by Dale Goldhawk and Leslie Jones, with news reported by Kevin Marsh.[2] At the time of the cancellation of the program it had 20,000 viewers, more than the Canadian viewership of ABC's Good Morning America, but less than CTV's Canada AM.[3]
As of Spring 1995, according to BBM Canada, CBLT's evening newscast CBC Evening News had 117,000 viewers in the Toronto-Hamilton market, putting it in fourth place behind Global News on CIII at 141,000, CITY's CityPulse at 229,000, and CFTO's World Beat News at 409,000. Only CHCH, the only other station based in the market with a 6 p.m. newscast, had fewer viewers throughout Toronto-Hamilton than CBLT, at 77,000 viewers.
Personalities
- Nick Czernkovich, CBC News: Toronto' meteorologist
- Steven DeSousa, CBC News: Toronto reporter
- Natasha Ramsahai, CBC News: Toronto meteorologist
- Beatrice Stucki, CBC News: Toronto reporter
- Diana Swain, news anchor CBC News: Toronto
- Mike Wise, CBC News: Toronto reporter
Former CBLT staff
- Guido Basso, former music director (1963–1967)
- Ona Fletcher, former news anchor, CBC News at Six
- Dale Goldhawk, former co-host CBLT Morning (1984–1986)
- Leslie Jones, former co-host CBLT Morning (1984–1986)
- Percy Saltzman, CBLT's first weather person (1952–1972)
- Brian Slemming, former Executive Producer of CBLT Morning (1984–1986)
Transmitters
CBLT serves much of Ontario through a network of rebroadcast transmitters, including all of Northeastern Ontario and most of Western Ontario with the exception of Windsor. The station only served Southern Ontario and a few rural Northern Ontario communities until 2002, when it took over the CBC affiliates of the MCTV twinstick. CBLGT in Geraldton and the CBLAT transmitters have operated since the early 1970s, while others have been added as other CBC affiliates have disaffiliated from the network or have been bought by CBC.
Semi-satellite are in bold italics
1 -- Originally a repeater for CBLFT; Radio-Canada moved to channel 53 to make ch.40 available for CBC.
Coverage
The station's signal from the CN Tower adequately covers the immediate Greater Toronto Area, from Oshawa in the east, out to Halton Hills/Georgetown in the west, and from Hamilton and Niagara Falls in the south, to roughly Bradford. The station is also carried on cable in several American communities, similar to CBUT, CBET and CBMT.
In the Caribbean, CBLT is carried on cable systems in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Turks and Caicos Islands and Jamaica.
Digital television and high definition
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on August 31, 2011 [4], CBLT will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition and post-transition channel number, 20. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CBLT's virtual channel as 5.1.
Transition standards and procedures will vary for CBLT's repeaters.
See also
References
- ^ Canadian Communications Foundation - Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes
- ^ McLean, Ross (September 22, 1984). "New morning show off to shaky start". Globe and Mail. p. P13.
- ^ "News, drama programs saved from knife". Globe and Mail. April 4, 1986. p. A18.
- ^ http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html
External links
- CBC Toronto
- Canadian Communications Foundation - CBLT History
- Query the REC's Canadian station database for CBLT
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