CITY-TV/79 Toronto

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

"City-tv" (CITY-TV) started life in 1972 on the almost
unheard of dial position of UHF Channel 79 with maybe
a couple of kilowatts of power.  This was probably the
rarest of occassions that anything closely resembling
a "full-power station" was used on such a high
numbered UHF channel.  In the 1950's a small amount of
stations like WMGT-TV/74, Pittsfield, MA (now
WCDC-TV/19, Adams, MA) did operate with (what was
considered) full-power on these high channels until
they moved down the dial to a more desirable dial
position. UHF Channels 70-83 were mainly used for
translators until the cell people gobbled them up.

Now back to CITY.  Since Metro Toronto was wired for
cable, many years before we ever heard of CATV here in
the States, CITY went on the air with a minimal
signal.  However, they were not going after the
off-air viewers per-say, but rather the cabled ones. 
All they needed was a solid signal to feed the
headend. The over-the air viewers were nothing but an
afterthought.  If they got it, fine.  CITY was famous
for their x-rated skin-flicks ("The Blue Channel")
later at night, totally in the clear, IF you had cable
or had a substantial antenna array.  I knew of some
people (not naming names, and NOT me) who lived in the
eastern suburbs of Rochester, NY (near the
Wayne/Monroe County line) and had a rather substantial
UHF antenna system and were able to get a 85-90%
full-quieting signal from Channel 79 back in the
1970's.  However, when CITY left Channel 79 for
greener pastures on Channel 57 in the late 1970's, the
"blue" movies went away and the station became what we
would call a "general entertainment" station.  CITY
has always been a very anemic station, power-wise. 
(Still is...) But then again, if you've got the cable
coverage and if your audience is 80%-90% cabled, why
overdo it? 

"City-tv" obviously was aiming toward a strictly
Canadian (Metro Toronto) audience.  Which may explain
why they purposely notched out any signal toward "The
States".  They also probably thought that back in the
1970's, people in "The States" were not ready for the
unique "fare" seen on Channel 79.  You could have
fooled anyone within the sound of that tiny UHF
sttaion, here in the States. (lol) OH, well.  73.


Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts           

=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

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