1953
There were some 3,000 television
sets owned by the 65,000 or so people living
in Kitchener and Waterloo at this time – and
only two TV stations available – CBLT
Toronto and WBEN Buffalo.
Central
Ontario Television Ltd. was formed by Famous
Players Canadian Corp. (owned by U.S. based
Famous Players Corp.), Carl A. Pollock,
President of local manufacturer Electrohome
Ltd., and Kitchener-Waterloo Broadcasting
Co. Ltd. (owner of CKCR Radio. Famous
Players had a 50% interest in the company,
with Pollock and Kitchener-Waterloo
Broadcasting each holding 25%.
In
November, the CBC Board of Governors
approved Central Ontario’s application for a
new television station at Kitchener. They
beat out a competing bid by Grand Television
Ltd., which was put together by a number of
local politicians and businessmen.
On
December 24, CKCO transmitted its first test
signal – the Indian Head test pattern. In
these early days, CKCO used a 5,000 watt
transmitter and broadcast on channel 13. The
old CFCA-FM tower at Baden Hill was used to
transmit the signal.
CKCO
was in a race to be the first
privately-owned television station in Canada
but was beat out by CKSO-TV in Sudbury and
CFPL-TV in London.
The call letters stood for:
Canada,
Kitchener,
Central
Ontario.
1954
At 6:00
p.m., March 1, CKCO aired its first regular
broadcast from studios in the Concordia Club
building at 864 King Street West. Power at
the Baden transmitter site was now 16,500
watts. Antenna height was 250 feet with
effective height of about 500 feet. CKCO
operated as a CBC affiliate and was on the
air only from six to eleven p.m.
CKCO went on the air
just in time for the NHL playoffs and
engineer Joe McIntyre became a hero when he
climbed a tower during an ice storm to
adjust the microwave antenna that brought
the games in from Toronto.
The club continued to
rent the basement at 864 King W. until the
end of the year. Until that time, it was not
unusual for a partier to stumble into the TV
studios during a live broadcast.
1956
CKCO increased power to 57,500 watts and
antenna height to 653 feet (1,000' ehaat)
from the same site.
By the end of the year,
CKCO was feeding programs to the CBC network
on a regular basis and produced some 75 live
shows each week. The station had a staff of
66 by this time. CKCO had now produced more
than 4,000 live shows in its studios.
1957
CKCO was a CBC affiliate, listed with an
effective radiated power of 31,400 watts
video and 16,900 watts audio (power
increased in 1956 though). Ownership of
Central Ontario Television Limited: Famous
Players Canadian Corp. Ltd. 49.4%, A.
MacCunn 0.1%, R. W. Bolstad 0.1%, J. J.
Fitzgibbons 0.1%, E. E. Fitzgibbons 0.1%, N.
S. Robertson 0.1%, J. E. Motz 0.1%,
Kitchener-Waterloo Broadcasting Co. Ltd.
24.7%, Mrs. E. Mitchell 0.1%, J. J.
Wintermeyer 0.1%, C. A. Pollock 24.8%, H. L.
Guy 0.1%, H. C. Krug 0.1% and Mrs. E. Watt
0.1%.
Carl Pollock was president of the company.
Eugene Fitzgibbons was manager. William
McGregor was operations and commercial
manager. Other management members were Bruce
Lawson (production supervisor), Don Martz
(program director), Alan Hodge (news
director), Tom Rafferty (sports director),
and Alexander (Sandy) Day (director of
engineering).
On September 16, CKCO-TV began telecasting
at 11:15 a.m. following a trend toward more
daytime television in Canada. This brought
the stations broadcast day closer to twelve
hours.
Gary
McLaren joins the news staff.
1958
CKCO increased effective radiated power
to 100,000 watts video and 54,400
watts audio with no change in antenna
height.
Since the beginning,
News had been a keystone of the station's
programming along with foreign and locally
produced programs. As the years progressed
news was aired at 12 noon, 6 o’clock and 11
o’clock in the evening, and for 25 years
each Newscast has been delivered in three
versions, each tailored to the different
parts of the station's coverage area.
Local talent was a
feature of the station with such shows as
"Silver Bar Ranch" hosted by Bob McKeown,
the Sales Manager, and featuring a band led
by Don Reinhart; "Polka Time" hosted by
Grammy winner Walter Ostanek; the K-W
Symphony did several seasons of concerts and
many children’s shows such as "Tree House"
featuring Danny Coughlan; "Oopsie", a puppet
show that ran for more than 10 years
featuring Bob McNea as Oopsie; "Romper Room"
hosted by Fran Pappert for CTV. Many service
and interview shows were featured over the
years, and a two hour feature of the week's
stories hosted by Gary McLaren. For over 40
years there was a weekly church service from
a local church on Sunday mornings.
1959
Carl Pollock assumed the
obligations of Kitchener-Waterloo
Broadcasting Ltd. in Central Ontario
Television Ltd., and the company became
locked with Mr. Pollock and Famous Players
each owning 50
1961
CKCO increased effective radiated
power to 325,000 watts. The tower height
remained the same, but the antenna was
increased in overall height to 715 feet
above ground at the same site, for an EHAAT
of close to 1,000 feet.
From its inception,
CKCO-TV employed remote units for the
broadcasts of local events throughout the
station's coverage area, and for events such
as Junior "A" hockey, and Santa Claus
Parades from Kitchener, Galt, London,
Windsor and Brantford. Oktoberfest Parades,
Golf and Curling Tournaments, and the
International Plowing Matches were covered.
1963
CKKW-AM was purchased by Central
Ontario Television Ltd.
1964
CKCO-TV switched networks, from CBC to
CTV.
1965
CKCO-TV had an effective radiated power
of 325,000 watts video and 160,000 watts
audio. Carl A. Pollock was president of
Central Ontario Television Ltd. and William
D. McGregor was manager of CKCO-TV.
1967
Central Ontario Television Limited
opened CFCA-FM.
1969
On April 17, the CRTC denied the
application by Famous Players Canadian Corp.
to transfer its Canadian broadcast interests
to a new corporation – Teltron
Communications Ltd. The Commission denied
the application because effective effective
ownership of Teltron would have remained
essentially the same as before. Famous
Players Canadian Corp. became an inelligible
licence holder under the new foreign
ownership regulations – it was a controlled
subsidiary of Paramount International Films
Inc. Famous had interests in Television de
Quebec Ltee, Central Ontario Television
Ltd., British Columbia Television
Broadcasting System Ltd., and numerous cable
companies.
1970
On July 20, the sale of Central
Ontario Television Ltd. (CKCO-TV, CKKW-AM
and CFCA-FM) by Famous Players Canadian
Corp. to a company to be incorporated,
represented by Carl .A. Pollock was
approved. Under the proposed structure, a
public company to be known as Electrohome
Communications Ltd. would own 100% of
Central Ontario Television Ltd. Electrohome
Ltd. would own apx. 55% of the holding
company (Electrohome Communications Ltd.).
Electrohome Ltd. was a large manufacturer of
radio and tv sets. Approx. 54% of the shares
of the new company would be owned by the
Pollock family.
On December 21, CKCO-TV
was awarded a licence for a rebroadcast
transmitter at Wiarton (Georgian Bay
region), operating on channel 2 with
effective radiated power of 100,000 watts
video, 13,500 watts audio, and antenna
height of 943 feet (omnidirectional). The
transmitter would be located near Lion’s
Head, about 15 miles north of Wiarton. A
competing application by CFTO-TV Toronto for
a transmitter at Owen Sound was denied.
1972
W.D. (Bill) McGregor became
president and director of Central Ontario
Television Ltd.
1974
On July 19, CKCO was given
approval to operate a transmitter at Oil
Springs (near Sarnia) on channel 42 with
effective radiated power of 527,000 watts.
1975
On May 16, CKCO was authorized to
operate a transmitter at Huntsville on
channel 11 with effective radiated video
power of 20,560 watts. It would rebroadcast
CKCO-TV-2 Wiarton, but offer two hours a
week of local news programming. A competing
application by Tel-Ad Co. Ltd. of North Bay
was denied. As a result of the addition of
this transmitter, CKVR-TV-1 at Parry Sound
would have to move from channel 11 to 12 and
CHEX-TV-2 Minden would change its channel
from 10
On November 5 CKCO-TV-3
serving the counties of Lambton, Kent and
Essex went on the air. The 985 foot tower
was located near Oil Springs.
1976
CKCO-TV-4 serving the Muskoka-Haliburton
area signed on the air on February 25. The
600 foot tower was located at Dwight, about
15 miles east of Huntsville.
1977
When CKCO-TV had its licence
renewed, it was told by the CRTC that it
must move immediately to meet its commitment
for a separate feed to rebroadcasters on the
late evening news and to staff regional news
bureaus accordingly. The station was also
told that separate commercials are to be
scheduled on the rebroadcasters only during
separate programming.
W.D. McGregor,
president of Central Ontario Television,
also became vice president of Electrohome
Ltd.
1979
In a review of television licenses in
the Toronto region, the CRTC told CKCO-TV
that more emphasis should be given to
community affairs coverage throughout the
region. The station should also play a
greater role in CTV programming. It was
noted that $1 million was being spent to
upgrade studio facilities.
The on-air team
included news anchor Ron Johnston and
weatherman Dave MacDonald.
1980
Construction began
on the expansion of the Central Ontario
Television building on King Street West. The
projected was expected to cost over a
million dollars and be completed by the
fall. Additions would include a new 50' x
45' production studio, dressing rooms,
administration, storage and property areas
for CKCO-TV. Space would be doubled for
news, public affairs, sports and program
offices. TV's control room would be
completely revamped and five Ampex VPR-2
one-inch machines had already been
installed.
New microwave
facilities were constructed to improve the
signal of the Huntsville TV rebroadcaster.
Until now, the off-air signal from the
Wiarton transmitter was picked up at Rosseau
and relayed to Huntsville. Both transmitters
were now served by the microwave network
which consisted of three hops to Markdale,
where the feed was split to cover the
additional hop to Wiarton and five hops to
Huntsville.
On July 3, Central
Ontario Television Ltd. was renamed C.A.P.
Communications Ltd., in honor of founder
Carl A. Pollock, who died in 1978. . This
followed the amalgamation of Central Ontario
Television Ltd. with parent company,
Electrohome Ltd.
CKCO channel 42 Oil
Springs changed to an omnidirectional
pattern to better serve the Windsor area.
Also, a system was installed so that
separate commercial and program feeds, such
as the regionally-edited newscasts could be
sent to any of the CKCO transmitters at any
given time.
1981
The CRTC held a
hearing about Canadian content and CKCO's
Bill McGregor noted that revenues from U.S.
shows helped to pay for Canadian production,
and that Canadian programs outside of prime
time sometimes win larger audiences than
those in the more competitive prime time
hours.
On June 1, the official
opening ceremonies took place to mark the
completion of the expansion project at 864
King Street West. CAP Communications doubled
the size of the facilities to more than
100,000 square feet at a cost of $2.2
million. Supervisor of engineering Joe
McIntyre said the building was virtually
gutted and rebuilt to accommodate CAP's
staff of 168 - recently increased by about
30, mostly in production and engineering.
Radio space was doubled and a new TV
production studio (50 x 60 x 18) was added,
along with production control rooms and
enlarged newsroom facilities.
Some on-air names: Ron
Johnston (anchor), Bill Inkol (sports), Dave
MacDonald (weather), Art Beaumonk
(reporter), Betty Thompson and Johnnie
Walters (program hosts).
1983
Chief engineer Paul Turchan and his crew
upgraded and enlarged the CKCO-TV
transmitter building. The upgrade included a
concrete floor to replace the old wooden
one. Six transmitters (main and standby for
CKCO-TV, CFCA-FM and CKGL-FM) had to be
moved three times in order to do the
construction work. All was done while
keeping the three stations on the air.
1986
CAP president Bill McGregor was
named to the Wilfred Laurier University
board of governors for a three year term.
1987
Fire hit CKCO-TV's
Wiarton rebroadcaster transmitter building
on December 31. The transmitter was off the
air for 18 hours while clean-up and repair
work was done. Channel 2 was back on the air
at 8:30 a.m. the next day with five per cent
power. The interior of the building suffered
extensive fire and smoke damage, caused by
severe hydro problems, causing the failure
of the high voltage power supply. The
building was constructed of clay brick and
had a concrete roof, so was fire-proof.
On December 31, CKCO
converted all of its transmitters to stereo.
In addition to Ron
Johnston, Brent Hanson and Jeff Hutchison
were news anchors. Dave MacDonald handled
weather. Steve Young joined the team of news
reporters.
1988
Following the end of 1987 fire at
the Wiarton transmitter site, CKCO-TV-2 was
operating at 50% power as of January 28. On
March 8, a new Harris TV-30L transmitter was
put into operation and things were pretty
much back to normal.
J.A. Pollock,
president, chairman and CEO, Electrohome
Ltd., announced the appointment of W.D.
McGregor to a newly established position,
president of Electrohome Communications Inc.
and vice president of Electrohome Ltd. D.L.
Willcox would be the new general manager of
CAP Communications Ltd. Willcox had been
program manager of CKCO-TV.
CKCO-TV was the first
television station in Canada to broadcast
local news closed-captioned.
R.H. McKeown, manager
and general sales manager of CKCO-TV,
announced the appointment of Alan G. Brooks
as program manager. Brooks had been with
Direction Video Inc. Before that, he spent
nine years with Mid Canada Television in
Timmins, where he served as manager of
programming and promotion.
C.A.P.
Communications purchased CFRN Radio &
Television in Edmonton from Sunwapta
Broadcasting Ltd.
1989
Don Wilcox, general manager of
CAP Communications announced the appointment
of Peter Jackman as station manager and
general sales manager of CKCO-TV. Jackman
had been with CKO Radio.
CAP Communications
received approval to increase effective
radiated power of CKCO-TV-4 Huntsville from
20,560 watts to 178,900 watts.
1990
CKCO completed two transmitter projects.
The main Baden site was upgraded with the
addition of a 30 kW Larcan solid state
transmitter. At Dwight, an
extensive rebuild increased power more than
eight times to 325,000 watts (178,900 watts
average). This vastly improved and extended
the service of the Muskoka rebroadcaster.
The Huntsville power increase happened on
July 29.
The anchor team
included Ron Johnston, Colleen Walsh, Jim
Haskins, Brent Hanson, Frank Lynn, Janine
Grespan, Daiene Vernile, Julie Marie Innes
and Laverne Atkinson. Sportscasters included
Bill Inkol, Jeff Hutchison, Randy Steinman,
Don Cameron and Wayne Kooyman. The weather
team included Dave MacDonald, Olaf Heinzel
and Linda Richards. Steve Young was among
the team of reporters and David Imrie was
farm editor.
1991
Pat Fitzgerald was
appointed manager of operations and
production while Henning Grumme was named
supervisor of operations and production.
Don Wilcox, general
manager of CAP Communications, announced the
appointment of Joe Brenner to the position
of manager of engineering, effective June 1.
Brenner started his career with CAP in 1970
on a part-time basis while attending
college.
Long-time on-air
personality Betty Thompson was named to the
newly created position of community
relations co-ordinator.
1994
CKCO-TV
celebrated 40 years on the air. The station
was noted for its live production work -
everything from parades to "Polka Time". The
station also produced the longest running
program on the CTV network - "Romper Room".
It ran for 20 years. Long-time personality
Bill Inkol made note of one story. He was at
a public event when a viewer came up to him
and said, "Aren't you the guy who does
Bowling for Dollars?" At the time, Inkol was
sitting next to Paul Newman and Joanne
Woodward!
CKKW-AM and CFCA-FM
moved out of the CKCO-TV building to their
own facility in Waterloo. The radio stations
had earlier been purchased by CHUM Limited.
Electrohome promoted
news director Ron Johnston to program
manager. He succeeded Alan Brooks who moved
to the same position at co-owned CFRN-TV in
Edmonton.
1995
To comply
with the Broadcasting Act, CKCO changed its
transmitters at Oil Springs and Wiarton from
rebroadcasters to television programming
undertakings. This was to reflect the
separate programming that was assembled in
Kitchener and split-fed to Oil Springs and
Wiarton, in addition to programming
originating from Kitchener.
After 35 years with the
company, Don Willcox, VP & GM of CKCO-TV,
retired in June. He was replaced by Dennis
Watson.
1999
Baton
Broadcasting changed its name to CTV Inc.
The CKCO
re-broadcasting transmitter at Huntsville,
covering Muskoka-Parry Sound area on channel
11, was switched to become a re-broadcaster
for CHNB-TV North Bay also owned by CTV.
2000
Rumours had
many of the big media companies eyeing CTV.
In a surprise move, late in February, BCE
(Canada’s telephone giant) through its
subsidiary BCE Media, proposed to purchase
CTV Inc., the largest transaction in
Canadian broadcasting. In March the CTV
board approved the deal, which required CRTC
approval.
In June BCE submitted
their brief to the CRTC with the largest
"benefits package" ever presented to the
regulative body. The benefits, money
allocated over the proposed seven year
licence term, were almost entirely to be
spent on new Canadian programming. Ivan
Fecan agreed to stay with the network under
BCE ownership. The CRTC hearing was held in
September and the purchase of CTV was
approved on December 7th.
2001
News anchor team: Darryl
Konynenbelt, Daiene Vernile, Brent Hanson,
Janine Grespan, Aphodite Salas, and
Julie-Marie Innes. Sports: Randy Steinman,
Greg Ross and Norman James. Weather: Dave
MacDonald, Tony Bitonti, Tom Knowlton and
Olaf Heinzel. Julie-Marie Innes and Nancy
Richards handled entertainment.
2005
On October 3rd, CKCO-TV was rebranded as
CTV South-Western Ontario.
2006
On July 21,
the CRTC approved an application for
ownership restructuring by Bell Globemedia (BGM),
parent company of CTV, stemming from a deal
in December 2005 that saw two new investors
added to the company. Thomson family's
Woodbridge Co. Ltd. increased its stake in
BGM to 40 per cent from 31.5 per cent, while
BCE Inc. reduced its holding to 20 per cent
from 68.5 per cent. Two other investors
were added to the deal, including Torstar
Corp. and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan,
each with 20 per cent.
On December 14th, it
was announced that effective January 2007,
Bell Globemedia would be renamed
CTVglobemedia Inc.
Written by Bill
Dulmage of
Canadian Communications Foundation
Updated February, 2009
Broadcasts began on March 1, 1954 from a
transmitter on the Baden Hill, just west of Kitchener. The 700
foot transmitting tower has become one of the most identifiable
landmarks for those who live in the area. Originally, like all
private television stations in Canada from 1953 to 1959, CKCO
was an affiliate of the CBC. It changed its affiliation to CTV
in 1964. It still broadcasts, on channel 13, from the Baden
tower, although it increased signal power in the early 1960s to
reach London, from which
Kitchener then received CBC affiliate
programs on CFPL-TV).
The following year, another deal gave Baton control over
CKCO-TV, while CHUM Limited took control over the other
southwestern Ontario stations (today operating under the "A"
brand). CTVglobemedia reacquired CFPL, CHWI and CKNX in 2007 as
a result of a takeover of CHUM Limited.