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I was going through my inbox and I stumbled across this little treasure, among others, which I never got around to putting online, until now. Thanks again to Dan Kowal over at CTV Montreal.

The others, which include a CFCF-12 copy trade ad for Lunchtime Theatre, pics of Johnny Jellybean, Bill Merrill, Don McGowan, Dick Irvin and Art Leonard from 1963 can all be found on the facebook page.

CTV, what’s your age again?

Courtesy of Dan Kowal, CTV Montreal Engineering Supervisor

Why there’s a lot of contradictory information on the web regarding the exact age of the network and how a lot of it is the fault of their own PR.

Those who’ve been following up on the 50th anniversary of the CTV stations in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, among other places may have accidentally stumbled upon this awkwardly worded CTV national PR campaign stating that they are celebrating 50 years of providing local news. You’ll notice on the web page that, strangely enough, there’s no mention of when the CTV network itself actually went on the air or what or exactly happen 50 years ago that led to the creation CTV’s local news.

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CTV Montreal DTV is now over-the-air

The bad news: no more US Super Bowl commercials on HD cable

You no longer need cable to watch CTV in HD in Montreal. CFCF-DT was on the air testing as of Friday, and a press release put out on Monday seems to imply that the signal is now official.

 

Watching CTV Montreal's DTV signal on 12-1

50 years of CFCF-12 Montreal in a nutshell

Magic Tom - CFCF-TV 12

CFCF is celebrating 50 years of local TV on January 20th. As a result, I thought it would be a good idea if I gave myself permission to republish an edited and updated version of the history of Channel 12 from my old TV Hat website (now defunct).

On a side note, if you’re looking for images and video of CFCF’s past, the CTV Montreal website has pretty much opened up the floodgates and put up a whole bunch of memories. Plus, a special 50th retrospective will air during the second half of the news on Jan. 20 at 6 and again the next day on the noon broadcast.

Also, Fagstein offers a few thoughts on CFCF and why local shows aren’t being produced anymore. And finally, a reminder, you can also find images, like the one above, on my TV Montreal Media Fun Facebook page, including those of Johnny Jellybean, Magic Tom, other vintage CFCF-12 pics and some provided by Producer and Director Sidney M. Cohen.

CFCF-12 (CTV)

History

This station began operation on January 20th, 1961, in a small temporary studio below a dance hall. The exact location was the old Avon Theatre at 215 Laurier Street. The early broadcasts of Pulse News were a sound engineers’ nightmare on Friday nights as music from upstairs crept down into the newsroom during the show. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before the station moved into its permanent home at 405 Oglivy Avenue in Montreal’s north end Park Extension neighbourhood, where it remained for forty years. In 2003, they moved to 1205 Papineau Avenue.

A case study of CTV and CFCF-12 the day local TV got cancelled

Former CFCF Channel 12 logo

Did increased competition and corporate convergence have an impact on local Canadian programming? CTV Montreal in 1997 may provide the best case study.

This is because the Montreal channel once had a reputation for airing more local shows than any other CTV affiliate. Unfortunately, the station’s decisions in the ’90s would prove that they suddenly became more concerned about their bottom line than about quality programming, especially in 1997.

Read my full article.