CBLT-DT

CBLT logo from 1940 to 1958.

The station first signed on the air on September 8, 1952, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 9. It is the oldest television station in the province of Ontario, and the second oldest in Canada after Ici Radio-Canada Télé flagship station CBFT in Montreal. The station's first broadcast was prefaced by the inadvertent incorrect display of the CBC's national network logo; conflicting accounts say it was either displayed upside-down or backwards, due to the incorrect insertion of the slide. No such error was made two days earlier when CBFT signed on.[1]

CBLT originally broadcast from a series of smaller studios (which were torn down and replaced by a building that now houses the National Ballet School) on Jarvis Street, next to its old transmitter. On January 19, 1953, a microwave link between Buffalo, New York and Toronto was activated, allowing the live telecast of programs from the American television networks. A few months later, on May 14, 1953, CBC Television's stations in Montreal (CBFT) and Ottawa (CBOT) became the first connections within the Trans-Canada Microwave system.

In 1956, CBLT moved to VHF channel 6 and increased its effective radiated power from 25 to 100 kW. The change in frequency was made to accommodate the eventual licensing of a second privately owned local station for Toronto, which eventually became CFTO (channel 9) when that station was licensed at the end of 1960. Then in 1972, CBLT relocated to channel 5 in order to allow two new stations – CKGN (now CIII-DT) in Paris and a repeater of Ottawa-based CJOH in Deseronto – to use channel 6.

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.

Former logo used for local promotions and/or programs, used from 2015–2019

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.

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–Hamilton–Barrie market as a whole (behind CTV 2 owned-and-operated station CKVR-DT, which airs seven hours of newscasts each week). CBLT's newscasts have consistently faced very stiff competition in the Toronto market, consistently rating behind CTV station CFTO since it surged to the number one spot in 1970, and behind CITY-TV (channel 57) since 1982.

On September 10, 1984, CBLT debuted one of the only locally produced morning television programs in Canada, CBLT Morning, which aired weekdays from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. The programme was co-hosted by Dale Goldhawk and Leslie Jones, with news reported by Kevin Marsh.[2] 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.[3]

In the spring of 1995, according to BBM Canada, CBLT's evening newscast CBC Evening News had a total audience of 117,000 viewers in the Toronto-Hamilton market, putting it in fourth place behind Global News on CIII at 141,000, CITY's CityPulse at 229,000, and CFTO's World Beat News at 409,000. Only CHCH (channel 11), the only other station based in the Toronto-Hamilton market with a 6:00 p.m. newscast, had lower viewership at 77,000 viewers.

On October 15, 2011, CBLT debuted a half-hour 6:00 p.m. newscast on Saturdays; the station then launched a ten-minute news bulletin on Sundays at 11:00 p.m. the following day. A 30-minute newscast at 11:00 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 will feature local service improvements across CBC's television, radio and internet platforms.[4]

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 affiliate for cable and satellite subscribers in markets previously served over-the-air by CBLT's rebroadcast transmitters (see below), as well as the Thunder Bay and Peterborough television markets, after CKPR-DT in Thunder Bay disaffiliated from the network September 1, 2014 and CHEX-DT in Peterborough and its sister station CHEX-TV-2 in Oshawa both followed August 31, 2015, in both cases to become affiliates of the CTV Television Network.

The station is also carried on cable in several American communities, similar to sister stations CBUT in Vancouver, CBET in Windsor and CBMT in Montreal.

In the Caribbean, CBLT is carried on cable providers in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Turks and Caicos Islands and Jamaica.

• CBLFT-DT
• List of CBC television stations

• CBC Toronto official website
• CBLT-DT history – Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC Canadian station database for CBLT
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CBLT