CBLT-DT
CRTC | |
| ERP | 106.9 kW |
|---|---|
| HAAT | 491.0 m (1,611 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°38′33″N 79°23′14″W / 43.64250°N 79.38722°W |
| Links | |
| Website | CBC Toronto |
CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on September 8, 1952, originally broadcasting on
CBLT originally broadcast from a series of smaller studios with the main one on Mutual Street nicknamed unofficially as "The Barn" next to the
In 1956, CBLT moved to VHF channel 6 and increased its
CBLT moved its transmitter facilities to the CN Tower when it opened in 1976; its signal was transmitted from the tower for the first time on May 31, 1976. It moved its operations to the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street in 1992.
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 rebranded as "CBLT Five", later simplifying it to "CBLT/5". In the late 1970s, the station was branded as "Toronto/5", with the then-new CBC logo substituting for one of the O's in "Toronto". During the 1980s, it was known mainly as CBLT-TV, although it used a "CBC 5" logo. Starting on January 1, 1986, the station was identified in print ads as "CBC Television Toronto/5", but the CBLT name was used for its local programs including its supper hour 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 analogue channel placement was phased out of the station's logo and advertising, as most cable placements did not match up with its VHF frequency.
News operation
CBLT-DT currently broadcasts 10 hours, 40 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with two hours each weekday, a half-hour on Saturdays and ten minutes on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the lowest local newscast output out of any English-language television station in the immediate Toronto market and the second lowest among the stations in the expanded Toronto–
On September 10, 1984, CBLT debuted one of the only locally produced morning television programs in Canada, CBLT Morning, which aired weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. The program was co-hosted by Dale Goldhawk and Leslie Jones, with news reported by Kevin Marsh.[4] At the time of the program's cancellation on April 4, 1986, it was watched by 20,000 viewers, more than the Canadian viewership of ABC's Good Morning America, but less than that of CTV's Canada AM.[5]
In the spring of 1995, according to
On October 15, 2011, CBLT debuted a half-hour 6 p.m. newscast on Saturdays; the station then launched a ten-minute news bulletin on Sundays at 11 p.m. the following day. A 30-minute newscast at 11 p.m. on weeknights was introduced on September 17, 2012. The additional local newscasts were part of a five-year strategic plan by the CBC called "2015: Everyone, Every Way", which featured local service improvements across the CBC's television, radio and internet platforms.[6]
Notable current on-air staff
- Dwight Drummond – weeknight anchor
Notable former on-air staff
- Guido Basso – music director (1963–1967)
- Bill Cameron – news anchor (1992–1995)
- Sharon Dunn – anchor of Newshour and Newsfinal/host of Reach for the Top (1979–1984)
- Dale Goldhawk – co-host of CBLT Morning (1984–1986)
- Bill Harrington – legislative reporter
- Ross Hull – meteorologist (2013–2014)
- Hilary Brown – anchor of Newshour (1984–1991)
- Fraser Kelly – co-host of Newshour (1981–1986)
- Jeffrey Kofman – anchor/reporter
- Claire Martin – weeknight meteorologist
- Anne-Marie Mediwake – weeknights anchor (2010–2016)
- Suhana Meharchand – news anchor (1995–2022)
- Steve Paikin – Queen's Park correspondent
- Percy Saltzman – CBLT's first weather person (1952–1972)
- Adam Vaughan – reporter (1994–2000)
Technical information
Subchannel
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
CBLT-DT | Main CBLT-DT programming / CBC Television |
Analogue-to-digital conversion
On January 30, 2004, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted CBLT permission to broadcast a digital signal on UHF channel 20; CBLT's began broadcasting programming in high definition on March 5, 2005.
CBLT shut down its analogue signal, over VHF channel 5, on August 31, 2011, the official date on which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20,[8] using virtual channel 5.
Coverage
The station's signal from its CN Tower transmitter adequately covers the immediate Greater Toronto Area, from Oshawa in the east, out to Halton Hills and Georgetown in the west, and from Hamilton and Niagara Falls in the south, to roughly Bradford.
In addition, CBLT serves as the default CBC Television station for cable and satellite subscribers in markets previously served over-the-air by CBLT's rebroadcast transmitters (see
The station is also carried on cable in several American communities, similar to sister stations
and CBMT in Montreal.Former transmitters
CBLT served much of Ontario through a network of over 35 rebroadcast transmitters, including all of Northeastern Ontario and most of Southwestern Ontario, with the exception of Windsor since CBET-DT serves the Windsor area. 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.[9] CBLGT in Geraldton and the CBLAT transmitters had operated since the early 1970s, while others were added as other CBC affiliates disaffiliated from the network or were bought by the CBC.
On August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 analogue repeaters within mandatory markets, including those in London and Kitchener. These analogue transmitters were given an extension until August 31, 2012, to continue in operation, by which time the transmitters had to be converted to digital or shut down. The CBC did not seek an extension for its Barrie transmitter, which it shut down on August 31, 2011; however, the remaining satellite rebroadcast stations remained in operation.
Reportedly due to federal funding reductions to the CBC in April 2012, the CBC made substantial cuts to their transmitting budget, including shutting down the CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analogue transmitters on July 31, 2012.[10] This included shutting down all the remaining CBC and Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters that had been "held over" using analogue transmitters during 2011–12. All of them have been decommissioned by the CBC, leaving rural Canadians and U.S. border regions with no free over-the-air CBC coverage, and those viewers have been instructed to subscribe to a cable or satellite provider or have been directed to the website available through pay internet providers.[11]
Rebroadcasters of CBLT
City of licence[12]
|
Call sign[13] | Channel | ERP (W) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Attawapiskat
|
CBLET | 12 ( VHF )
|
10 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
Beardmore
|
CBLAT-5 | 9 (VHF) | 8 | |
| Chapleau | CBCU-TV | 7 (VHF) | 101 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
| Elliot Lake | CBEC-TV | 7 (VHF) | 34,000 | Formerly CKNC-TV-1; originally a repeater of CKNC-TV/Sudbury until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
Fort Albany
|
CBLDT | 8 (VHF) | 491 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
Fort Hope
|
CBLHT | 12 (VHF) | 10 | This transmitter once repeated St. John's, NL
|
Fraserdale
|
CBLCT | 7 (VHF) | 10 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
Geraldton
|
CBLGT | 13 (VHF) | 22,000 | Formerly CBLAT |
| Hearst | CBCC-TV | 5 (VHF) | 5,300 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
| Hornepayne | CBLAT-6 | 13 (VHF) | 30,000 | |
| Huntsville | CBLT-TV-2 | 8 (VHF) | 115 | Formerly CKVR-TV-2, originally repeated present-day CKVR-TV/Barrie
|
| Kapuskasing | CBLT-9 | 2 (VHF) | 17 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
Kearns
|
CBLT-8 | 2 (VHF) | 70,000 | Also served CBMT Montreal ; originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002.
|
Little Current
|
CBCE-TV | 16 ( UHF )
|
23,700 | |
| Manitouwadge | CBLAT-1 | 8 (VHF) | 22,000 | |
| Marathon | CBLAT-4 | 11 (VHF) | 7,500 | |
| Moosonee | CBCO-TV-1 | 9 (VHF) | 9 | Originally a repeater of CFCL-TV/Timmins until that station became a CBLT repeater in 2002. |
| Nipigon | CBLK-TV | 16 (UHF) | 2,300 | Originally a CBC-owned repeater of CBC private affiliate CKPR-TV/Thunder Bay (currently a CTV affiliate)
|
| North Bay | CBLT-4 | 4 (VHF) | 100 | Operated as CHNB-TV, a separate station from 1955 to 1970, then it became part of the MCTV-CBC regional network from 1970 until the CBC's acquisition in 2002. |
| Parry Sound | CBLT-TV-3 | 18 (UHF) | 50 | The CBLT repeater was launched on channel 18 on September 1, 1995 CKVR/Barrie disaffiliated from the CBC and kept its channel 12 repeater at Parry Sound as an independent station. [15]
|
| Sault Ste. Marie | CBLT-5 | 5 (VHF) | 37,900 | Operated as CJIC-TV, a separate station from 1955 to 1970, then it became part of the Upper Peninsula in the United States.
|
| Sudbury | CBLT-6 | 9 (VHF) | 115,500 | Operated as CKNC-TV, a part of the MCTV-CBC regional network from 1971 until the CBC's acquisition in 2002. |
| Timmins | CBLT-7 | 6 (VHF) | 100,000 | Operated as CFCL-TV, a separate station from 1956 to 1970, then it became part of the MCTV-CBC regional network from 1970 until the CBC's acquisition in early 2002. |
| Wawa | CBLAT-3 | 9 (VHF) | 16,000 | |
| White River | CBLAT-2 | 12 (VHF) | 304 |
Rebroadcasters of CBLN-TV
The following is a list of transmitters that originally rebroadcast London, Ontario-based CBC outlet CBLN-TV. CBLN-TV first signed on in 1988 as a CBC outlet for southwestern Ontario outside of Windsor, broadcasting on UHF channel 40, replacing
| Call sign | UHF Channel[16] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatham | CBLN-TV-3 | 64 | |
| London | CBLN-TV | 23[17] | Began operation in 1988; formerly on channel 40 |
Normandale
|
CBLN-TV-6 | 44 | |
| Paris/Kitchener/Waterloo | CBLN-TV-1 | 29[17] | Formerly on UHF channel 56 |
| Sarnia/Oil Springs (Port Huron, Michigan) |
CBLN-TV-2 | 34 | |
| Wiarton | CBLN-TV-5 | 20 | |
| Wingham | CBLN-TV-4 | 45 | Replaced CKNX-TV as a CBC affiliate |
See also
- CBLFT-DT
- List of CBC television stations
References
- ^ "Canadian Communications Foundation – Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2007.
- ^ "The First Image on CBC English Television in Canada Was an Upside Down Station Id-Slide". January 27, 2018.
- ^ "2 new TV channels allotted". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario, Canada. October 4, 1968. p. 1. Retrieved June 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ McLean, Ross (September 22, 1984). "New morning show off to shaky start". The Globe and Mail. p. P13.
- ^ "News, drama programs saved from knife". Globe and Mail. April 4, 1986. p. A18.
- ^ CBC Toronto Launches Expanded Weekend News Service Archived December 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Broadcaster Magazine, October 14, 2011.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for CBLT
- ^ Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) Archived November 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2002-303
- ^ Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan
- ^ CBC-TV, TVO end analog transmission
- ^ a b TV & Cable Factbook (65th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Warren Communications News. 1997. p. B-308 and B-309.
- CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
- ^ Decision CRTC 94-744, Applications to establish new rebroadcasting transmitters of CBLT Toronto at Barrie, Huntsville and Parry Sound - Approved, CRTC, September 14, 1994
- ^ Decision CRTC 94-745, Disaffiliation of CKVR-TV Barrie from the CBC English-language television network - approved, CRTC, September 14, 1994
- ^ a b CBLN 40 Sign-Off 1993. capnvid47. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ CRTC. August 16, 2011.
External links
- CBC Toronto official website
- CBLT-DT at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
- CBLT in the REC Canadian station database