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The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located 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 anch ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and
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 sw ...
point for 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. ...
's English-language television and radio services. It also contains studios for local and regional French-language productions and is the headquarters of the
North American Broadcasters Association The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is a non-profit group of broadcasting organizations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is "committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally." As a member ...
. The analogous facility for CBC's French language services is
Maison Radio-Canada Maison Radio-Canada (English: ''CBC House'') is the broadcast headquarters, studios and master control for all French-language radio and television services of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as ''Société Radio-Canada''/S ...
in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, while corporate headquarters are located at the
CBC Ottawa Production Centre The CBC Ottawa Production Centre is the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The office and studio complex is located on Queen Street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The building hosts the originating studios for both the CB ...
. The Canadian Broadcasting Centre is at 250 Front Street West in
downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Str ...
, with additional entrances at 205 Wellington Street West and 25 John Street, directly across from the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre Metro Toronto Convention Centre (originally and still colloquially Metro Convention Centre, and sometimes MTCC), is a convention complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada along Front Street West in the former Railway Lands in downtown Toronto. ...
. It is within walking distance of
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, the Rogers Centre, and the
CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...
and connected to the city's
PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...
underground walkway network.


History

The 13-storey Broadcast Complex is partly located on the site of the
First Ontario Parliament Buildings The First Ontario Parliament Buildings (or the Third Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada) were built between 1829 and 1832 near Front, John, Simcoe and Wellington Streets in what was then York, Upper Canada (now Toronto, Ontario). They served as t ...
(or the Third Parliament Building of
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
), which stood on the block bounded by Wellington,
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
,
Front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...
, and Simcoe streets between 1832 and 1903. Constructed at a cost of
Cdn$ The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
350 million (excluding technology renewal), the Canadian Broadcasting Centre complex entered service in 1993. Previously, the CBC's Toronto operations had been based at a smaller facility on Jarvis Street, near the former television transmitter. Its architectural, structural and infrastructural design features eventually incorporated, among others, the emergent concepts and information technologies underlying Digital HDTV, Digital Radio Broadcast, IT platform as a "Global Information Server and MultiMedia Cloud" integrated with the Internet. The project's leading aim was much needed integration of large number of CBC employees who were located at more than 20 separate facilities throughout Toronto and modernization of the CBC corporate automation infrastructure in preparation for the 21st century.Mehmet T. Sindel, BC Intranet Chief Architect and Project Manager, 1988–90 The project required over twelve years of planning with particular emphasis (1988–90) on critical IT strategic planning, digital archives, multimedia, interactive TV, corporate office automation and high-capacity advanced corporate intranet technology design dependent on physical considerations including fibre-optics and electromagnetic interference from within and nearby sources such as the CN Tower. It took another four years for construction completion, corporate IT platforms, communication backbone, and skeletal communication structure erection and S/W applications refurbishment. Without the loss of one minute of airtime, the personnel and the systems migrated to the new facility, which was recognized to be the most advanced of its kind in the world with a minor technology challenge posed only by the CNN facilities in Atlanta, USA. Television production is located on the upper floors (with many programs recorded in the three rooftop studios), and radio on the second and third floors. Some of the larger sound stages are rented out to outside movie, television and commercial productions, such as
Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...
's Canadian versions of ''
Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a. ...
'', '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', YTV's ''
Life with Boys ''Life with Boys'' is a Canadian teen sitcom that aired in Canada on YTV (TV channel), YTV from September 2011 through August 2013. The show stars Torri Webster, Madison Pettis, Nathan McLeod, Michael Murphy, Jake Goodman, and Sandy Jobin-Bevans. ...
'', and a multitude of commercials for Ford, Canadian Tire, and others. The entire structure sits on 3,000 massive hard-rubber pads to reduce unwanted noise and vibrations. For that reason, all studios are located in the core of the building. The complex also has four 1250-kilowatt Cummins generators to provide power to critical loads during a power failure. The atrium was named for
Barbara Frum Barbara Frum, OC (September 8, 1937 – March 26, 1992) was an American-born Canadian radio and television journalist, acclaimed for her interviews for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Personal life Barbara Frum was born Barbara Rosbe ...
, a noted Canadian journalist. It is used as the venue for special broadcasts, including federal election coverage and the '' 2000 Today'' millennium special, and episodes of '' Canadian Antiques Roadshow''. The building contains three radio studios (including the Glenn Gould Theatre), 19 radio production studios, three television studios, two local television studios, two all-purpose studios, and one national news studio. Local programming for the Toronto stations
CBLA-FM CBLA-FM (99.1 MHz) is a non-commercial Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the station is the flagship station of the CBC Radio One network, broadcasting a mix of news and tal ...
(
CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...
),
CBL-FM CBL-FM (94.1 MHz) is the flagship station of the CBC Music network. It is a non-commercial station, licensed to Toronto, Ontario, and is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBL-FM's studios and offices are located at the Canadian B ...
( CBC Music), CJBC (
Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) is a Canadian French-language radio network, the news and information service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known as Société Radio-Canada in French), the public broadcaster of ...
),
CJBC-FM CJBC-FM is a public Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 90.3 MHz in Toronto, Ontario. A French-language station, it airs the programming of Radio-Canada's Ici Musique network. CJBC's studios are located in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, ...
(
Ici Musique Ici Musique (stylized as ICI Musique) is the French-language music radio service of Canada's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (''Société Radio-Canada''). It is the French equivalent of the English CBC Music, al ...
),
CBLT-DT CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). Bo ...
( CBC Television), and CBLFT-DT ( Ici Radio-Canada Télé) are produced in these studios, in addition to national programming for CBC's television and radio networks. The former
CBC Museum The CBC Museum was dedicated to the preserving the physical heritage and archival materials relating to the history of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It was located in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre at 250  Front Street   ...
, dedicated to preserving the memories and physical artifacts of the national broadcaster's heritage, was located on the first floor of the building. Exhibits included the original "Tickle Trunk" from ''
Mr. Dressup ''Mr. Dressup'' is a Canadian children's television series, starring Ernie Coombs, a former understudy of Fred Rogers, in the title role. It originally ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996, soon becoming an iconic presence in Canadian media. Producti ...
'' (Casey's treehouse from the same series is on display in the lobby just outside the entrance to the museum), a portion of the original set used for '' Friendly Giant'',
Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
puppets from '' Sesame Park'', video clips from numerous programs, and original sound and tape equipment. Additional exhibits of memorabilia from CBC's history are also located in other areas of the first floor. The museum closed in 2017 and its collection was transferred to
Ingenium Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation, formally the National Museum of Science and Technology, is a Canadian Crown corporation responsible for overseeing national museums related to science and technology. The name is based on ...
, the federal Crown corporation which operates Canada's national science and technology museums. In 2015, the CBC announced that it was considering selling the building and leasing back parts of it. Due to zoning restrictions, the CBC opted to retain ownership of the building while leasing out parts of it. The analogous facility for CBC's French-language networks is
Maison Radio-Canada Maison Radio-Canada (English: ''CBC House'') is the broadcast headquarters, studios and master control for all French-language radio and television services of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as ''Société Radio-Canada''/S ...
in Montreal. The CBC's corporate headquarters are located in Ottawa in the
CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre The CBC Ottawa Production Centre is the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The office and studio complex is located on Queen Street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The building hosts the originating studios for both the CB ...
.


Security and threats

The so-called Toronto 18 terrorists included the building in their list of targets in a
2006 Ontario terrorism plot The 2006 Ontario terrorism case refers to the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006 counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 14 adul ...
. In 2010, the broadcast centre was inside of the secure zone due to the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests and employees were not allowed to leave the building during portions of the rioting when gates into and out of the zone were locked down. A
Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
regional office is located on Front Street West directly across from the CBC broadcasting centre, and helped identify suspicious packages and led to the arrest of a suspect in 2011. The CBC building in downtown Toronto had to be evacuated in November 2015 after someone taking stock of inventory in the archives stumbled upon what looked like a military shell. Police and military bomb technicians were called in and determined the shell was inert. In 2018, a user on website incel.me called on other users to attack the CBC and shoot employees, leading to increased security and Toronto Police Service being called.


Television studios

*Studio 40 – 13,287 square feet (1234 m2) – Located on the 10th floor of the building, with a ceiling height of 18 m (60 feet), this studio is described by CBC as "the largest purpose built multi-camera capable studio soundstage in Canada." Productions filmed in this studio have included ''
Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...
'', ''
Canada's Smartest Person ''Canada's Smartest Person'' is a Canadian reality television competition series. Contestants compete in a series of different challenges based on American psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to earn the title of "Canada ...
'', ''
Deal or No Deal Canada ''Deal or No Deal Canada'' is the Canadian-English version of the show ''Deal or No Deal'', which premiered on February 4, 2007. The show ran on the Global Television Network, and lasted five episodes. The host of the U.S. version, Canadian-b ...
'' and various '' Paris By Night'' shows. *Studios 41 and 42 – 11,070 square feet (1024 m2) each – Also on the 10th floor, these two studios are almost identical, and have been used by many of CBC's comedy programs, including ''
Air Farce Live ''Royal Canadian Air Farce'' (broadcast as ''Air Farce Live'' during 2007, and ''Air Farce—Final Flight!'' in 2008), and often credited simply as ''Air Farce'', was a Canadian sketch comedy series starring the comedy troupe Royal Canadian Air F ...
'', '' Rick Mercer Report'', ''
The Ron James Show ''The Ron James Show'' is a Canadian television comedy show, which debuted on CBC Television on September 25, 2009. Starring comedian Ron James, the show intersperses filmed and stage sketches with clips of James performing his stand-up routi ...
'' and ''
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 ...
''. Studio 41 is rented by Sportsnet to serve as the studio for its NHL coverage, including ''
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 ...
''. *Studios 43 and 65 – 4,345 square feet (404 m2) each – Located on the 6th floor, these smaller studios have been used for CBC's talk show and lifestyle programming, including ''
George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight ''George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight'' (originally known as ''The Hour'') is a Canadian television talk show hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos that aired on CBC Television from 2005 to 2014. As ''The Hour'', the show was so named, as it was a da ...
'', '' Steven and Chris'' and '' The Goods''. The classic children's television show ''
Mr. Dressup ''Mr. Dressup'' is a Canadian children's television series, starring Ernie Coombs, a former understudy of Fred Rogers, in the title role. It originally ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996, soon becoming an iconic presence in Canadian media. Producti ...
'' was taped in former Studio 4 at Yonge and Marlborough until the broadcast centre opened in 1992. *Studio 50 – size unknown – The studio for CBC's 24-hour news channel, ''
CBC News Network CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
''. *Studio 55 – size unknown – Home to CBC's flagship national news program '' The National''. *Studio 73 – 1,386 square feet (129 m2) – Located on the 5th floor, this studio is equipped with a large green screen, and is used to tape the hosted segments of ''
CBC Kids ''CBC Kids'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian children's television series, children's Block programming, block on CBC Television. The block was launched as Hodge Podge Lodge in 1987 and contains programming targeted at children. The block a ...
'', among others.


See also

* CBC Toronto (English TV) * CBC Toronto (French TV)


References


External links

* {{CBC Television Office buildings completed in 1993 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation buildings Buildings and structures in Toronto John Burgee buildings Philip Johnson buildings Barton Myers buildings PATH (Toronto) Mass media company headquarters in Canada Postmodern architecture in Canada Tourist attractions in Toronto 1993 establishments in Ontario