CFPL-DT (channel 10) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...
, Canada, part of the
CTV 2
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cab ...
system. It is
owned and operated
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
alongside
Kitchener-based
CTV station
CKCO-DT
CKCO-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Part of the CTV Television Network, it is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside London-based CTV 2 station CFPL-DT, although the two stations mainta ...
, channel 13 (although the two stations maintain separate operations). CFPL-DT's studios and local transmitter are located on Communications Road on the southwestern side of London, and its
Wingham-area rebroadcast transmitter is located on Tower Road in
South Bruce.
History
CFPL was founded by Walter J. Blackburn, who also owned London's major
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
, the ''
London Free Press
''The London Free Press'' is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario.
History
''The London Free Press'' began as the ''Canadian Free Press'', ...
'', as well as radio station CFPL on both the
AM and
FM bands. The television station first came on the air on November 28, 1953, with four hours of programming per day. That night, there was a major fire in London, on which CFPL's news program was able to report almost immediately during its first news hour. The station's transmitter was originally located atop the CFPL Television Tower, which was completed that year.
CFPL was the second privately owned station in Canada (CKSO-TV in
Sudbury, now
CICI-TV
CICI-TV ( analogue channel 5) is a television station in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, and has studios on Frood Road (near Lasalle Boulevard) in Sudb ...
, was the first). Its news program was the first to be scheduled at 6:00 p.m., during "the supper hour", which set the standard for other stations in Canada. In 1973, the station expanded its supper-hour news to a full hour. CFPL also later became one of the first in Canada to broadcast in
colour
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
. From the day it began broadcasting, CFPL was affiliated with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
. In 1961, CFPL-TV began transmitting its signal from a tall
guyed tower
A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...
located in London, which is one of the oldest
supertall
A supertall building is an occupied "supertall" structure higher than and beneath . A form of skyscraper, it falls midway between a common minimum definition of "skyscraper" (a building taller ) and a " megatall" building (taller than ).
Diff ...
television towers in Canada. In 1964, it became the CBC affiliate for Kitchener as well after CKCO-TV switched to CTV.
CFPL was the CBC's largest private affiliate, but wanted to produce and broadcast more local programming. This caused its relations with CBC to worsen over the years. CBC required affiliates like CFPL to carry a minimum amount of its schedule, and, according to station management, CBC programming was less lucrative by that time. Nonetheless, CFPL was a very successful station, and posted good profits. It finally disaffiliated with CBC and went
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
on September 4, 1988. CFPL's slogan following disaffiliation was "The fun is here!", but the slogan did not last. With no CBC programming, such as ''
The National'' and ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'' to attract viewers, ratings plummeted and so did revenues. By the end of 1989, the station was almost bankrupt, but tried to hang on as an independent station for another few years, even though its programming schedule did not have much beyond news to attract viewership.
In 1992, amid poor ratings and low revenues, the station was sold to Baton Broadcasting. In 1994, the various Baton stations, including CFPL, merged to form first "Ontario Network Television", then renamed
Baton Broadcast System
:''This is about the defunct television system owned by Baton Broadcasting. For the history of Baton Broadcasting itself, see Bell Media.''
The Baton Broadcast System ( ), also known as BBS, was a Canadian system of television stations located in ...
. Baton greatly increased CFPL's news department, hiring dozens of people and rebranding the newscast as ''News Now''.
[ ] While Baton focused much of energy on news programming, it cut much non-news local programming from many stations, including CFPL. The long-time lifestyles program ''One O'Clock Live'' was cancelled in early 1997, for example.
As The New PL
![Thenewpl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Thenewpl.svg)
In 1997, Baton sold CFPL and some of its other television stations to
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...
. Under CHUM, CFPL joined the NewNet system and was accordingly rebranded "The New PL" in September 1998. This was not done without controversy. In April 1998, CHUM fired news co-anchor Al McGregor, which generated harsh criticism of the station's new owners. News director George Clark replaced him as co-anchor for some time, but he left the station in early 2001. In October 2002, Kate Young moved on to a community relations position at the station, and reporter Kathy Mueller replaced her as anchor at 6 p.m. Dan MacLellan joined the station from
A-Channel
A-Channel (proposed as The Alberta Channel) was a Canadian television system initially owned by Craig Media from September 1997 to 2004, then by CHUM Limited from 2004 to 2005 through A-Channel, Inc. It consisted of Craig's television stations in ...
station
CKEM-TV
CKEM-DT (channel 51) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CJEO-DT (channel 56). Both stations share studios with Rog ...
in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
(now a
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
owned-and-operated station) at that time, and became her co-anchor.
In February 2005, CHUM announced plans to consolidate the
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
operations for CFPL,
CKVR,
CHRO,
CHWI and
CKNX at
299 Queen Street West in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, and consolidating the traffic and programming departments at CFPL in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, resulting in the loss of approximately 13 staff members from CFPL. On June 3, 2005, at approximately 10:00 a.m., the London master control signal came to an end, as the new consolidated master control took to air.
As A-Channel London
On August 2, 2005, CFPL was rebranded as A-Channel as part of CHUM Limited's rebranding of the NewNet stations. While
Craig Media
Craig Wireless Systems, Ltd. (initially Western Manitoba Broadcasters Ltd., then Craig Broadcast Systems, Inc., & next Craig Media, Inc. before its current branding) is a Canadian company which offers Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service i ...
's A-Channel stations merged into Citytv following CHUM's acquisition of Craig Media in 2004. ''NewsNow at Noon'' was cancelled one month earlier. On July 12, 2006, CTV owner CTVglobemedia announced plans to purchase A-Channel owner CHUM Limited for , with plans to divest itself of the A-Channel stations and the
Access Alberta
CTV 2 Alberta is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it oper ...
cable channel.
On April 9, 2007,
Omni Television
Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultural t ...
owner
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
applied to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) to purchase all of the A-Channel stations (including CFPL),
CKX-TV
CKX-TV, VHF analogue channel 5, was a television station licensed to Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, which served as a private affiliate of CBC Television. Owned by CTVglobemedia, it was the first privately owned television station in Manitoba. It ...
and several cable channels being put up for sale in the wake of CTVglobemedia's pending acquisition of the CHUM group.
[ ]
On June 8, 2007, the CRTC announced its approval of CTVglobemedia's purchase of CHUM Limited, but added a condition that CTVglobemedia must sell off CHUM's Citytv stations to another buyer while keeping the A-Channel stations (including CFPL), in effect cancelling the planned sale of A-Channel to Rogers Media.
On June 22, 2007, all of the CHUM Limited channels (with the exception of Citytv) were officially taken over by CTVglobemedia. On July 26, 2007, CTVglobemedia named Richard Gray the head of news for the
A-Channel
A-Channel (proposed as The Alberta Channel) was a Canadian television system initially owned by Craig Media from September 1997 to 2004, then by CHUM Limited from 2004 to 2005 through A-Channel, Inc. It consisted of Craig's television stations in ...
stations and CKX-TV.
As A London
![A logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/A_logo.svg)
On August 11, 2008, CFPL was rebranded as A as part of CTVglobemedia's rebranding of the A-Channel stations. A rebranding campaign began earlier in June 2008 with newscasts being referred to by the station's employees as ''
A News
A News, or Netnews Version A, originally known simply as news, was the first widely distributed program for serving and reading Usenet newsgroups. The program, written at Duke University by Steve Daniel and Tom Truscott, was released on a tape gi ...
''. Following the closure of sister station, CKNX-TV in Wingham on August 31, 2009, that station became a repeater of CFPL.
On September 10, 2010, BCE announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including CFPL (and the entire A
television system
In Canada, a television system is a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding and programming, but which for some reason does not satisfy the criteria necessary for it to be classified as a television network under Cana ...
). Under the deal, Woodbridge Company Limited,
Torstar
Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes daily and community newspapers. In addition to the ''Toronto Star'', its flagship and namesake, Torstar also publishes daily newspapers in Hamilton, Peterborough, Ni ...
, and the
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (french: Régime de retraite des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario) is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the Canadian pr ...
would together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE will also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge will also regain majority control of the Globe and Mail Inc., with Bell retaining a 15% interest.
The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011.
On April 1, 2011, Bell Canada finalized its purchase of the assets of CTVglobemedia it did not already own, with CFPL (along with the rest of the A system) officially becoming part of
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
.
As CTV Two/CTV 2 London
On May 30, 2011, Bell Media announced that the A television stations, including CFPL, would be rebranded as CTV Two on August 29, 2011. On that date, CFPL rebranded from "A London" to "CTV Two London". At the same time, ''A News London'' became ''CTV News London'', also the station began carrying programming (excluding newscasts for the time being) in a
high definition format.
On
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
, 2012, riots were started by students of
Fanshawe College
Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology, commonly shortened to Fanshawe College, is a public college in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. One of the largest colleges in Canada, it has campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock ...
. A news van of CFPL-DT was set on fire.
On June 27, 2016, it was announced that Bell Media filed a proposal with the CRTC to shut down CKNX-TV, which is among 40 of its television transmitters (all rebroadcasters of other stations) slated for closure, due to maintenance costs, high cable and satellite viewership, and no generation of revenue.
This was part of Bell's regular periodic license renewal process, which began on February 11, 2016. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:
"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."
At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of
CTV 2 Atlantic
CTV 2 Atlantic is a Television in Canada, Canadian cable television, cable television channel serving Atlantic Canada owned by Bell Media, with its studios located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operat ...
(formerly ASN) and CTV 2 Alberta (formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV2 Alberta.
Local programming
Programs produced in the past
*
London Tigers
The London Tigers were a professional Double-A Minor League Baseball team that played in the Eastern League from 1989 to 1993. They played at Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, and were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. At the time i ...
baseball (1989–1993)
* ''
Reach for the Top
''Reach for the Top'' (also known simply as ''Reach'') is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online through Reach ...
''
* ''
The Red Green Show
''The Red Green Show'' is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States (airing on more than 100 PBS affiliates a ...
'' (1993–1994, in association with
YTV)
* ''
Take Your Choice
''Take Your Choice'' was a Canadian game show from 1960 to 1971 on CFPL-TV in London, Ontario, Canada.
The regular panelists included Sheilah White, Bob Wood, Elise Jenkins, Jock McKeen
John Herbert Ross McKeen (born October 19, 1946), is a Ca ...
'' (1960–1971)
News operation
CFPL-DT presently broadcasts seven hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour each on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays). During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ward Cornell anchored sports before moving on to ''Hockey Night in Canada''. Prior to 1972, Hugh Bremner, anchor of ''Panorama Newsreel'', became anchor of the new ''FYI''. A half-hour summer replacement program at 5:30 p.m. (preceding the news) called ''Pie in Your FYI'', a spoof of ''FYI'' was played one summer in the 1960s. It began with a CFPL personality being hit in the face with a pie, and featured skits and spoofs of advertising.
From 1972 to 1981, the flagship newscast, ''FYI'' was anchored by
Jack Burghardt
John O. (Jack) Burghardt (19 September 1929 – 28 September 2002) was a Canadian television news broadcaster, politician and church minister.
Born in Port Colborne, Ontario, Burghardt became one of the first on-air personalities on CHCH-TV in ...
. During the 1980s, ''FYI'' was anchored first by
Eric Sorensen (1981–1984), then Neil Stevens (a former weather anchor at
CBET Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
). In January 1985, CFPL hired its first female anchor,
Kate Young, who co-anchored ''FYI'' with Stevens. Despite female news anchors becoming commonplace across Canada and the United States by the mid-1980s, this was a controversial move, and many London viewers were very upset by there being a female anchor. Young continued to anchor the 6:00 p.m. newscast for the next 17 years, and she became a well-known and respected face in the London community. Tragically, her co-anchor Stevens was killed in a car crash near
Alvinston, Ontario early on July 17, 1987. Al McGregor was appointed as Young's co-anchor in 1988, a post he held for the next 10 years. Throughout the 1980s, the sports anchor was Pete James (now with
CJBK
CJBK is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting in London, Ontario, Canada, on the assigned frequency of 1290 kHz. The station, owned by Bell Media, has an antenna system input power of 10,000 watts, as a Class B station. CJBK's studios are loca ...
radio),
and the weather forecaster was Jay Campbell.
During the station's ownership by Baton, the newscasts were retitled ''News Now'', which carried over into the CHUM era. When CHUM took over, the previously standard news format gave way to one replicating that used by then-sister station
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
and other NewNet stations, in which anchors read the news standing up from a large open newsroom referred to as the "news environment".
Anchor Kathy Mueller resigned as of August 19, 2008 after a 13-year career at the station to pursue a new career with the
Canadian Red Cross
The Canadian Red Cross Society ()[Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...]
, assisting with relief efforts resulting from the
2004 tsunami disaster.
Jay Campbell also retired as CFPL weather specialist on October 16, 2009, after a 28-year career at the station, and was replaced by 11 p.m. weeknight weather specialist, Julie Atchision on October 19, 2009. On September 8, 2010, Atchision left the station due to maternity leave and was replaced by
Ross Hull
Ross Hull (born August 25, 1975) is a Canadian actor and television personality. He is known for his role as Chris Sheppard on Canadian sitcom ''Student Bodies'' and as Gary, the leader of the Midnight Society, on the television series ''Are Yo ...
, who was the weather specialist for the 6 and 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts until he left to work as a weather specialist for CTV station CKCO-TV in Kitchener. Hull is now a meteorologist with Global owned-and-operated station
CIII-DT
CIII-DT (channel 41) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, CIII-DT maintains studios at 81 Barber Gree ...
in Toronto.
On March 4, 2009, CFPL replaced ''
A Morning'' with six back to back repeats of the previous night's 11 p.m. newscast as part of a larger series of cutbacks which axed 118 jobs at the A stations.
On December 24, 2011, CFPL's 6 p.m. main news anchor, Dan McLellan was arrested and was subsequently charged with several counts of assault, and as a result, he resigned from his duties at the station.
CTV London 6:00 p.m. News Anchor Facing Multiple Assault Charges
AM980 News, retrieved December 30, 2011 Tara Overholt subsequently became the anchor of the 6:00 p.m. weekday newscasts.
Technical information
Subchannel
Analogue-to-digital conversion
On August 31, 2011, when Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
* Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
* Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, a ...
transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts, CFPL-TV flash cut
A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.
In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...
its digital signal into operation on VHF channel 10.[Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)](_blank)
References
External links
*
Canadian Communications Foundation – CFPL-TV History
*
Mirror Mirror...: Looking back through the eyes of the CFPL news camera
online exhibit on Archives of Ontario website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cfpl-Dt
Mass media in London, Ontario
FPL-DT
Television channels and stations established in 1953
FPL-DT
Thomson family
1953 establishments in Ontario