• My Account
  • Your Profile
  • Member Archives
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Cart / $0.00

No products in the cart.

Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links
No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
No Result
View All Result

Site of the Week 5/29/15: Toronto’s Corus Quay and CN Tower

Scott Fybush by Scott Fybush
October 18, 2015
in Free Content, Ontario, Tower Site of the Week
0

Text and photos by SCOTT FYBUSH

Think of Toronto and what comes to mind first? The iconic CN Tower, of course, which has stood since 1976 as the tallest self-supporting structure in North America (and, for quite a while, the entire world) – and which has served for just that long as the primary home of FM and TV in Canada’s biggest market.

You know what this is
You know what this is

Sixth level - FM combiners!
Sixth level – FM combiners!

If there’s any flaw at all in this massive communications monolith, it’s this: when it was built, its designers didn’t imagine Toronto would ever need more than a half-dozen TV stations or 10 big FMs. And so the stations that were privileged enough to be here early on get to enjoy the benefits of high-power transmission from 1800 feet above the heart of downtown, while later arrivals ended up at about half that height on the nearby First Canadian Place.

Control panels and transmitters
Control panels and transmitters

CHIN-FM 100.7
CHIN-FM 100.7

The transmitters of the CN Tower fill most of two small floors in the main pod about 1100 feet above ground, above the main public observation deck and restaurant. TV takes up most of the lower (fifth) level, including a big room shared by the CBC’s CBLT and CBLFT (and their original FM sister, CBL-FM 94.1) and TVOntario’s CICA. Up above them is the FM facility, which was originally designed to house charter commercial tenants CHFI (98.1), CKFM (99.9), CHIN-FM (100.7) and CHUM-FM (104.5) in neat rows adjacent to the big Marconi combiner that the stations all owned together under the aegis of “Master FM, Limited.” (You can read more about how that situation came to be over at the Canadian Communications Foundation website.)

CFNY 102.1
CFNY 102.1

CILQ 107.1
CILQ 107.1

Over the years that followed, more FM stations moved from downtown rooftops and suburban locations, while a few lucky broadcasters were able to start brand-new signals here. Both CFNY (102.1), which moved from Brampton, and CILQ (107.1), which had been elsewhere downtown, are now co-owned by Corus and occupy adjacent rooms just down the curving hallway from the master FM room. Both rooms have undergone recent renovations, and now boast pairs of Nautel transmitters. There are more rooms along this hallway, too, that we don’t get to see: Newcap’s CHBM (97.3) was a late arrival up here, signing on in the 1980s as CJEZ, and CJRT (91.1) has its own room as well. (And despite what you may read elsewhere – looking at you, Wikipedia! – classical CFMZ 96.3 transmits from over at First Canadian Place, not here at CN.)

Corus Quay
Corus Quay

The Corus lobby
The Corus lobby

In the 1970s, the CN Tower was the first tentative step toward revitalizing what had been a barren industrial area along the lakeshore west of downtown; four decades later, Corus is trying to do its part to revitalize the lakefront with its Corus Quay development at the foot of Jarvis Street on the east side of downtown. This building opened in 2010 (you can read more about it from Corus here), but still looked brand-new when we got our tour four years later.

The famous slide
The famous slide

Green wall and the lakefront
Green wall and the lakefront

Visitors enter from a lobby adorned with a cylindrical display of all of Corus’ many radio, TV and interactive properties. After a few minutes figuring out which of those stations we’d visited (not enough!) we head inside and down a five-story, wood-lined corridor that leads past two TV studios and control rooms to the glass-walled atrium that looks out to the lake. Yes,that’s an indoor slide above at left, leading down to the atrium from conference areas built atop the TV studios in the middle. No, we didn’t get to try it. Yes, we’d love to go back and fix that…

Entering the radio side
Entering the radio side

Radio studio hallway
Radio studio hallway

We were here primarily to see the radio stations, which line the outside part of the first floor on the west side of the building. A glass-enclosed rack room greets visitors heading in this way, leading to an L-shaped corridor that’s home to rocker CILQ (Q107) and “Talk 640” (CFMJ). Q107 gets the corner facing the lobby, while AM 640 gets the front wall of the building, starting with a control room that looks through the spacious main talk studio over to two small booths that lead off the corner newsroom, which is decorated with wallpaper featuring famous quotes from newspeople through the years.

Q107 studio
Q107 studio

AM640 control room
AM640 control room

AM640 studio
AM640 studio

AM640 newsroom
AM640 newsroom

Around the west side of the building, there’s another TV studio adjacent to the very unusual space occupied by CFNY (102.1 the Edge). If this studio looks bigger than most, there’s a good reason: the “studio” itself sits on a platform that overlooks a much larger space where bands can come in and perform. If it’s a nice day (as this warm September day was), the glass wall of the studio can be raised to open the whole thing up to the harborfront park outside. How cool is that?

102.1 the Edge studio
102.1 the Edge studio

...and live performance space
…and live performance space

Most of the radio offices are directly upstairs, where there’s also a suite of production rooms that overlook the atrium below.

Production rooms upstairs
Production rooms upstairs

TV master control
TV master control

We didn’t see too much of the rest of this building, but we did get to cross over to the other side of the second floor, where there’s a mammoth rack room that ties together all of the complex networking in this huge facility, as well as a big master control facility for all the cable TV networks that Corus originates here. It’s one impressive plant!

CALENDARS ON CLEARANCE

If you don’t have your 2023 Tower Site Calendar yet, now is the perfect time to get it. Because we have lowered the price to just $14.

The calendar has great photos of broadcast sites near and far (everywhere from Navajo Nation on the cover to Boston to Toronto to Texas, and beyond), plus a lovely “centerfold” you can keep on your wall for 2024.

It’s still shipping regularly, and you can have yours in just a couple of days!

Order your copy and you’ll see what we mean.

If you have already ordered your calendar, make sure you check out the other items in the store, too!

And don’t miss another big batch of Canadian IDs next Wednesday, over at our sister site, TopHour.com!

Next week: Heading for New York’s North Country

Share this:

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pocket
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Facebook
Tags: CFMJCFNYCHFICHIN-FMCILQCKFMCorus Quay
Previous Post

Boston Globe: WMEX will not carry Rush

Next Post

NERW 6/1/2015: No Country for Old Talkers

Scott Fybush

Scott Fybush

Editor/Publisher, NorthEast Radio Watch and Tower Site of the Week

Related Posts

WUHF transmitter room
Free Content

Site of the Week 2/3/2023: A Midsummer Miscellany

A few (very) random sites from some (very) random travels in the summer of 2022

by Scott Fybush
February 3, 2023
NorthEast Radio Watch 1/30/2023: FCC Picks Noncomm FM Winners
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 1/30/2023: FCC Picks Noncomm FM Winners

In this week’s issue… FCC picks noncom FM window winners - Audacy shifts NYC talent - ATSC 3 launches in Boston - Corus finishes Toronto morning shuffle - New FM in Quebec?

by Scott Fybush
January 31, 2023
NorthEast Radio Watch 1/23/2023: Remembering Philly’s Geator
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 1/23/2023: Remembering Philly’s Geator

In this week’s issue… Jerry Blavat, RIP - New leader at WMHT - Holy Family adds three - New morning shows in Toronto

by Scott Fybush
January 23, 2023
NorthEast Radio Watch 1/16/2023: Townsquare Silences More AMs
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 1/16/2023: Townsquare Silences More AMs

In this week’s issue… More AMs silenced - Remembering CT's Thompson, NYC's Gary Kline - WEEI completes new lineup - "Moose" roams NH lakes - New signals on Canada's Bruce Peninsula - CRTC considers revoking licenses 

by Scott Fybush
January 16, 2023
Next Post
NERW 6/1/2015: No Country for Old Talkers

NERW 6/1/2015: No Country for Old Talkers

Log In


Join Now | Lost Password?

Get Fybush.com Updates

Get Fybush.com updates emailed directly to your inbox!

Fybush.com Twitter List

My Tweets

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.