Toronto Trip Photos

Over the July 4th weekend, your co-editors went on an extended tower-hunting trip in southern Ontario. I (Garrett) brought with him a digital camera, with which these photos were taken.

Mile 0: getting gas. From my home in Brighton, Mass., I drove first to Scott's home in Brighton, N.Y. A secondary objective of this trip was to finish off US route 20 in Massachusetts, and get as much of it in New York as was feasible. This involved taking the Mass. Turnpike to Westfield, and then following US 20 all the way west to I-390 in Avon, N.Y.

Here, just over the Mass.-N.Y. border, US 20 diverges from SR 22, beginning the totally-new-to-me New York segment of US 20.

Not sure what this was.

When I reached Geneva, N.Y., I stopped by this building, the studios of WGVA and WNYR, with a single self-supporting tower out back.

In Canandaigua, I stopped at the studios of WCGR and WLKA. As seen in the window, WCGR had just completed its new facility on 1310 kHz; the old WCGR became WLKA. (There was also a picture of the WLKA tower off in the distance behind this building, but it did not come out at this resolution.

I having finally arrived in Rochester, Scott took me around to some of the tower sites near his home. Seen here are three of the four towers of Rochester's AM 950, WBBF. (The beacon of the fourth tower can just barely be seen to the far right of the frame.)

We then went out west of the city to the single, massively-built tower of clear-channel 1180, WHAM.

Early the next morning, before leaving for Toronto, Scott and I made one last tower visit in Rochester: the Pinnacle Hill site where Rochester's TV and FM stations reside.

Shown here is the transmitter building of WROC-TV, channel 8, at the base of one of the Pinnacle towers. Scott tells me that the WROC-TV sign, seen below the second-story window, has not been touched since the building was built. (Editor's note: Actually, I didn't say that; the building was built for WHAM-TV 6, so the sign can't be that old. But it has been untouched for at least 15 years or so. -S)

Having finally made it into Ontario, our first stop was at the Oakville site where 1250 CHWO and 1320 CJMR are diplexed on these six towers. CHWO uses four day and six night; CJMR uses all six full-time.

From Oakville we then high-tailed it into downtown Toronto where we had an appointment for a tour of the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, which is almost across the street from this building, the CN Tower, where all of Toronto's FMs and TVs are located.

Seen here is the (unlit) set of the CBC's flagship news program, ``The National''. The desk in front is where Peter Mansbridge sits; through the window in back is the national (TV) newsroom.

Scott and his incredibly patient wife Lisa pose outside the main public entrance to the Broadcast Centre, 250 Front St. West in downtown Toronto.

Shown here, a side view of the Broadcast Centre, built in the days when the CBC actually had money!

The four towers of news-talk CFRB 1010 at Hwy. 2 and Royal Windsor Drive in Mississauga.

Six towers (plus STL) of 1050 CHUM, just south of the CFRB site, along the shore of Lake Ontario.

The studios of CHWO 1250, in downtown Oakville. We actually drove past this inconspicuous building the first time, and had to circle around to get this picture.

The real highlight of our trip, the CBL/CJBC facility in Hornby, a little way northwest of Oakville, overlooking highway 401. From left to right, the main tower, a flag pole, and the STL tower; there is a backup off to the right shown in another photo.

A wider-angle view showing the full 207 meters (678 feet) of steel tower. This tower is 0.51 wave at 740 and 0.56 wave at 860---a very efficient transmission system. Sadly, this beautiful facility seems doomed for closure within a few short years, as CBL moves to the FM band in Toronto, and the mono and stereo (now one and two?) French facilities are consolidated outside of Quebec.

Off in the distance, closer to the 401, is the backup tower for both stations. From the appearance this looks to have been the original facility.

In the foreground, 106.1 CIMJ in Guelph. Behind it, three towers of sister station 1460 CJOY.

A side view of the same site, showing the arrangement of the towers.

Four towers of Cambridge's 960 CIAM, soon to move to 92.9 FM.

Five towers of CKGL 570 in Kitchener.

Nine towers of CKKW, 1090, of Kitchener.

CKPC-FM 92.1, north of its city of licensese, Brantford.

The studios of CKCO-TV.

CKCO-TV's tower, also home to CHYM-FM 96.7 and CFCA 105.3.

Little CJCS Stratford, the only non-directional commercial AM on our entire southern Ontario trip. (It might be the last one left in all of the region.)

CKDK-FM, 103.9 in Woodstock.

Overlooking the CFPL-TV studios, high atop a hill overlooking London, Ontario, we find---what else?---the CFPL-TV tower.

Back down on the plain again, and to the west of the city, we find the CBC tower site, which includes CBLN-TV, the English and French mono networks (on FM), and a couple of commercial FMs.

CJBX 92.7, alongside the 401 east of London.

CFPL 980 has four towers in a trapezoid. The city of London encompasses a large chunk of undeveloped land to the south; all of the London AMs transmit from this area, beaming north into the urbanized area.

Five towers in a line belonging to CKSL 1410.

Lots of towers belonging to 1290 CJBK, still in London.

The studios of the CKPC stations in Brantford.

The studios and remote truck of the late CHNR 1600 in Simcoe. It's now moved to FM as CHCD.

Four towers in a line of CHNR Simcoe, on the shores of Lake Erie.

Seen from a distance, the ten towers of CKOC 1150 south of Hamilton.

CHAM 820 in Hamilton. It just goes to show that, no matter how hard you try, two separate photos will never line up right for a panoramic view.

The transmitter building at ONtv's flagship station, CHCH-TV channel 11 in Hamilton. The tower is located on top of the Niagara Escarpment, overlooking the city on the shore of Lake Ontario.

The whole channel 11 tower. There's an FM up near the top as well.

CHCH's unusual backup antenna arrangement---it's just mounted directly on the ground!

We had hoped to see CHML (900) Hamilton on this trip, but we were only able to visit one of the two sites shown for it in the database. This is where CHML used to be, a long time ago, southeast of Hamilton. There were once two towers here; now CHML has an eight-tower site northwest of the city.

A large directional AM on the shore of Lake Ontario. (CFTR?)
CHOW 1470 in Welland: studios and part of the array.