Source: TV Guide, Lake Ontario edition
As this was the first full week that TV Guide listed the complete schedule of CFTO/9 Toronto (which had signed on the air for its first regular programming the previous New Year’s Eve), I thought it would be interesting to isolate only the Toronto market stations and give a glimpse of what Canadian TV was like that early in the game. Although CFTO was officially an Independent station (CTV wouldn’t get cranked up until later that year), it’s significant that most of the Stateside imports (nine of them) aired on CFTO were ABC series; ABC had held a minority stake in CFTO’s holding company until just before the station took to the air. Only two other CFTO prime time shows, Route 66 and The Andy Griffith Show, would come from another U.S. network (CBS). In addition to the Buffalo and Syracuse stations, and WICU-TV/12 in Erie, Pennsylvania, the Lake Ontario edition also listed two other Ontario stations, CKVR-TV/3 Barrie and CKCO-TV/13 Kitchener; being CBC affiliates, most of their programming duplicated CBLT/6 Toronto’s schedule, so I plan on posting those under a separate listing.
Each of the Toronto and Hamilton stations aired a lot of U.S. first-run imported series, often running episodes before NBC, CBS or ABC would. I’ve added the U.S. networks and nights for the first-run episodes of these series to each such listing. Oddly, although CHCH-TV was (and continues to be) a local-strength signal to the Toronto metropolitan area, it was programmed as if Hamilton was a distinctly separate market, with CBC network programs being duplicated on CBLT and CHCH-TV; in one case, episodes of the same syndicated series (Lock Up) were aired at the same time on both CFTO and CHCH-TV.
And, yes, I was surprised as well to notice one major hit series was absent from all the schedules here: NBC’s Bonanza, which starred Lorne Greene (whose first broadcasting success came as the CBC’s main newscaster during the World War Two).
STATIONS
6 CBLT (CBC) Box 500, Terminal “A”, Toronto
9 CFTO (Independent) Box 9, Agincourt
11 CHCH-TV (CBC) 163 Jackson Street West, Hamilton
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1961
MORNING
11:30
11 Joindre Les Deux Bouts
AFTERNOON
12:00
6 Live and Learn (educational)
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
9 Your Special Day
12:20
9 Farm Report (Larry Burt)
12:30
6 Movie (Sundown in Santa Fe, the Allan “Rocky” Lane 1948 Western)
9 Movie (Riders of the Northwest Mounted)
11 Movie (The Big Show, the Gene Autry 1937 Western, also featuring Smiley Burnette)
1:30
11 The Adventures of Robin Hood
2:00
6 All-Star Golf (Jimmy Demaret challenges last week’s winner; Jim Britt comments)
9 Movie (Thunderbirds, 1952 military drama, with John Derek)
11 Double Feature Movies (The Phantom Plainsmen, The Three Mesquiters Western, and Corpus Christi Bandits, the Allan “Rocky” Lane Western)
3:00
6 Sports Special (Basketball game between the YMHA Blues and the University of Toronto; Steve Douglas comments)
3:55
9 News (Iris Cooper)
4:00
6 Toronto Bowling (Keith Barrett challenges last week’s winner)
9 To Be Announced
11 Cartoons
4:30
9 Hi Time (Ted Curl hosts vocal duo The Dukes)
11 The Roy Rogers Show (“Peril from the Past”)
5:00
6/11 Long Haul (documentary about truck drivers Jim Dalawrack and Joe Ellison on a trip from Vancouver to Calgary)
9 Hobby House (education)
5:30
6/11 Cartoon Party
EVENING
6:00
6 Speaking French (education)
9 News
11 The Ford Show with Tennessee Ernie Ford (Shari Lewis and her puppets Lamb Chop and Charley Horse are the guests, and The Top Twenty chorus perform a medley of songs from Porgy & Bess; NBC Thursdays)
6:15
9 Sports Interview (Johnny Esaw)
6:30
6 Mr. Fixit (Peter Whitall shows how to install shelves without nailing walls)
11 Father Knows Best (CBS Tuesdays)
6:45
6 News
7:00
6/11 Dennis the Menace (“Dennis the Campaign Manager,” the same episode CBS ran the following night)
9 Guestward Ho! (ABC Thursdays)
7:30
6 Red River Jamboree (Stu Davis, Peggy Neville and The Altones perform)
9 The Jane Wyman Show (Preston Foster in “Tunnel Eight”)
11 Sea Hunt
8:00
6 Aquanauts (CBS Wednesdays)
9 Q.E.D. (Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is tonight’s guest; Dr. Marcus Long and Rabbi Abraham Feinberg are among the regular panellists)
11 Gunsmoke (CBS Saturdays)
8:30
9 King Ganam (music)
11 Jamboree (variety)
9:00
6/11 Hockey Night in Canada (Chicago Black Hawks at Toronto Maple Leafs; Bill and Foster Hewitt comment)
9 Naked City (Theodore Bikel in “Murder is a Face I Know”; ABC Wednesdays)
10:00
9 Boxing (Paul Pender defends his World Middleweight Championship against British Middleweight Champion Terry Downes at Boston Arena; Don Dunphy comments. This is picked up live from ABC.)
10:15
6/11 Juliette (singer Jean Roger is this week’s guest)
10:45
6/11 King Whyte
11:00
6/9/11 News
11:15
9 Movie (The Harder They Fall, the 1956 drama in which Humphrey Bogart gave his final performance. Somewhat ironic that CFTO would run this movie, about corruption in boxing, after carrying the boxing match the previous hour.)
11:30
6 Manhunt
11 Movie (Call Northside 777, 1948 drama, starring James Stewart)
12:00
6 The Midnight Zone (variety)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 1961
MORNING
9:00
11 Oral Roberts
9:30
11 This Is The Life
10:00
11 The Christophers (this week’s guest actor is Jerry Colonna)
10:30
11 Movie (to be announced)
AFTERNOON
12:00
6 Live & Learn
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
9 Your Special Day
12:30
6 Face to Face (John Freeman interviews Rhodesian Prime Minister Sir Roy Welensky)
9 Stories for Sunday (sports columnist Trent Frayne tells the story of “The Prodigal Son”)
11 Family Playhouse (“Girl Not Wanted”)
1:00
6 The Good Life (religion)
9 Grass Roots (agricultural magazine hosted by Doug Robinson)
11 Life & Learning (debut episode; leading Canadian educators are questioned on the role of universities in Canadian society)
1:30
6/11 Country Calendar (agriculture)
9 Playhouse (Peter Lawford, Craig Stevens and Reginald Denny in “Mason-Dixon Line”)
2:00
6 Junior Magazine
9 Neighbors (Al Pierce)
11 Hockey (Kitchener Greenshirts at Hamilton Junior B’s)
2:30
9 Movie (The Great Dawn, 1946 Italian drama)
3:00
6 Heritage (religion)
3:30
6 Silents Please (a condensed edit of Yankee Clipper, the 1927 Cecil B. de Mille production; Ernie Kovacs wouldn’t become host of this series until after it replaced his game show Take a Good Look on the ABC schedule the following May)
3:55
9 News (Iris Cooper)
4:00
6/11 The Twentieth Century (“The Battle of Cassino”; Interestingly, the CBC aired this CBS-produced program 150 minutes before CBS itself would run it)
9 Playhouse (John Agar and Joan Leslie in “Old Man’s Bride”)
4:30
6/11 Citizens’ Forum
9 Hockey (St. Catharines Teepees at Toronto Marlboros; Bill Hewitt and Johnny Esaw comment)
5:00
6/11 News Magazine
5:30
6 The Nature of Things
11 The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp (ABC Tuesdays)
EVENING
6:00
6 Walt Disney Presents (“Davy Crockett and The River Pirates,” starring Fess Parker; ABC Sundays)
9 Great Hymns
11 Tiny Talent Time
6:30
9 News
11 The Donna Reed Show (ABC Thursdays)
7:00
6/11 National Velvet (NBC ran this episode one hour later)
9 Things We See (Alan Jarvis visits the studios of young artists Louis De Niverville, Lutz Dille and Michael Snow)
7:30
6/11 The World of Music (Wally Koster hosts singer Patrice Munsel and vibraphonist Peter Appleyard)
9 The Donna Reed Show (ABC Thursdays)
8:00
6/11 The Gershwin Years (Richard Rodgers hosts Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, Maurice Chevalier, Julie London and Florence Henderson on this 90-minute special paying tribute to George Gershwin. A CBC simulcast from CBS, on which it pre-empts The Ed Sullivan Show and the first half-hour of General Electric Theater.)
9 Movie (All About Eve, the 1950 classic drama starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Marilyn Monroe)
9:30
6/11 Four Just Men
10:00
6/11 Angel (CBS Thursdays)
10:30
6 Fighting Words (panel discussion)
9 News
11 This Week (Jack Burghardt visits the National Youth Orchestra and interviews Toronto Symphony conductor Walter Susskind)
11:00
6/11 News
9 Movie (Laughter in Paradise, 1951 British comedy, with Alastair Sim)
11:30
6 Time to Remember (Sir Ralph Richardson narrates this documentary about the Treaty of Versailles and soldiers returning home at the end of World War One)
11 Movie (Rebecca, the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders)
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, THROUGH THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1961
MORNING
9:00
11 Romper Room
9:30
11 Movie (Monday: Uncle Harry, 1945 mystery, with George Sanders; Tuesday: Double Indemnity, 1944 classic noir, with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck; Wednesday: Luck of the Irish, 1948 comedy, with Tyrone Power; Thursday: That Lady in Ermine, 1948 drama, with Betty Grable and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)
11:00
11 A.M. (variety)
AFTERNOON
12:00
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
6 News (Rae, Marsh)
9 Your Special Day
12:20
9 Farm Report (Larry Burt)
12:30
6 Movie (Monday: Twenty Million Sweethearts, 1934 musical, with Dick Powell and Pat O’Brien; Tuesday: Aunt Clara, 1953 British comedy, with Margaret Rutherford; Wednesday: Kathleen, 1941 drama, with Shirley Temple; Thursday: Dangerously They Live, 1941 World War Two spy drama, with John Garfield and Raymond Massey)
9 Playhouse
12:45
11 News
1:00
9 Lunch Party (variety)
11 Movie (Monday: The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp, 1954 British fantasy, with Diane Cilento; Tuesday: Tall, Dark and Handsome, 1941 drama, with Cesar Romero; Wednesday: Black Beauty, 1946 family classic, with Mona Freeman; Thursday: Straight, Place & Show, 1938 Ritz Brothers comedy)
1:30
9 Women’s Show (Carroll, Hicks)
2:00
6 Chez Helene (children)
9 Movie (Monday: Portrait of Claire, 1950 British drama, with Margaret Johnson; Tuesday: The Loves of Carmen, 1948 drama, with Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford; Wednesday: Laughter in Paradise, repeating Sunday night’s 11:00 movie; Thursday: Come to the Stable, 1949 drama, with Loretta Young and Celeste Holm)
2:15
6/11 Nursery School Time
2:30
6/11 Open House
3:00
6/11 Reflections
3:30
6 The Verdict is Yours (CBC simulcast from NBC)
11 Public Service Guide
3:35
11 Music For You (Joe Calo)
3:55
9/11 News (Iris Casper on CFTO)
4:00
6 Eve Arden (Monday only)
6 Fighting Words (panel; Tuesday only)
6 Sweet Success (Jack Douglas; Wednesday only)
6 The Toronto File (Ed McGibbon; Thursday only)
9 Professor’s Hideaway
11 Popeye & Pals
4:30
6 Junior Roundup (except on Wednesday)
As this was the first full week that TV Guide listed the complete schedule of CFTO/9 Toronto (which had signed on the air for its first regular programming the previous New Year’s Eve), I thought it would be interesting to isolate only the Toronto market stations and give a glimpse of what Canadian TV was like that early in the game. Although CFTO was officially an Independent station (CTV wouldn’t get cranked up until later that year), it’s significant that most of the Stateside imports (nine of them) aired on CFTO were ABC series; ABC had held a minority stake in CFTO’s holding company until just before the station took to the air. Only two other CFTO prime time shows, Route 66 and The Andy Griffith Show, would come from another U.S. network (CBS). In addition to the Buffalo and Syracuse stations, and WICU-TV/12 in Erie, Pennsylvania, the Lake Ontario edition also listed two other Ontario stations, CKVR-TV/3 Barrie and CKCO-TV/13 Kitchener; being CBC affiliates, most of their programming duplicated CBLT/6 Toronto’s schedule, so I plan on posting those under a separate listing.
Each of the Toronto and Hamilton stations aired a lot of U.S. first-run imported series, often running episodes before NBC, CBS or ABC would. I’ve added the U.S. networks and nights for the first-run episodes of these series to each such listing. Oddly, although CHCH-TV was (and continues to be) a local-strength signal to the Toronto metropolitan area, it was programmed as if Hamilton was a distinctly separate market, with CBC network programs being duplicated on CBLT and CHCH-TV; in one case, episodes of the same syndicated series (Lock Up) were aired at the same time on both CFTO and CHCH-TV.
And, yes, I was surprised as well to notice one major hit series was absent from all the schedules here: NBC’s Bonanza, which starred Lorne Greene (whose first broadcasting success came as the CBC’s main newscaster during the World War Two).
STATIONS
6 CBLT (CBC) Box 500, Terminal “A”, Toronto
9 CFTO (Independent) Box 9, Agincourt
11 CHCH-TV (CBC) 163 Jackson Street West, Hamilton
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1961
MORNING
11:30
11 Joindre Les Deux Bouts
AFTERNOON
12:00
6 Live and Learn (educational)
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
9 Your Special Day
12:20
9 Farm Report (Larry Burt)
12:30
6 Movie (Sundown in Santa Fe, the Allan “Rocky” Lane 1948 Western)
9 Movie (Riders of the Northwest Mounted)
11 Movie (The Big Show, the Gene Autry 1937 Western, also featuring Smiley Burnette)
1:30
11 The Adventures of Robin Hood
2:00
6 All-Star Golf (Jimmy Demaret challenges last week’s winner; Jim Britt comments)
9 Movie (Thunderbirds, 1952 military drama, with John Derek)
11 Double Feature Movies (The Phantom Plainsmen, The Three Mesquiters Western, and Corpus Christi Bandits, the Allan “Rocky” Lane Western)
3:00
6 Sports Special (Basketball game between the YMHA Blues and the University of Toronto; Steve Douglas comments)
3:55
9 News (Iris Cooper)
4:00
6 Toronto Bowling (Keith Barrett challenges last week’s winner)
9 To Be Announced
11 Cartoons
4:30
9 Hi Time (Ted Curl hosts vocal duo The Dukes)
11 The Roy Rogers Show (“Peril from the Past”)
5:00
6/11 Long Haul (documentary about truck drivers Jim Dalawrack and Joe Ellison on a trip from Vancouver to Calgary)
9 Hobby House (education)
5:30
6/11 Cartoon Party
EVENING
6:00
6 Speaking French (education)
9 News
11 The Ford Show with Tennessee Ernie Ford (Shari Lewis and her puppets Lamb Chop and Charley Horse are the guests, and The Top Twenty chorus perform a medley of songs from Porgy & Bess; NBC Thursdays)
6:15
9 Sports Interview (Johnny Esaw)
6:30
6 Mr. Fixit (Peter Whitall shows how to install shelves without nailing walls)
11 Father Knows Best (CBS Tuesdays)
6:45
6 News
7:00
6/11 Dennis the Menace (“Dennis the Campaign Manager,” the same episode CBS ran the following night)
9 Guestward Ho! (ABC Thursdays)
7:30
6 Red River Jamboree (Stu Davis, Peggy Neville and The Altones perform)
9 The Jane Wyman Show (Preston Foster in “Tunnel Eight”)
11 Sea Hunt
8:00
6 Aquanauts (CBS Wednesdays)
9 Q.E.D. (Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is tonight’s guest; Dr. Marcus Long and Rabbi Abraham Feinberg are among the regular panellists)
11 Gunsmoke (CBS Saturdays)
8:30
9 King Ganam (music)
11 Jamboree (variety)
9:00
6/11 Hockey Night in Canada (Chicago Black Hawks at Toronto Maple Leafs; Bill and Foster Hewitt comment)
9 Naked City (Theodore Bikel in “Murder is a Face I Know”; ABC Wednesdays)
10:00
9 Boxing (Paul Pender defends his World Middleweight Championship against British Middleweight Champion Terry Downes at Boston Arena; Don Dunphy comments. This is picked up live from ABC.)
10:15
6/11 Juliette (singer Jean Roger is this week’s guest)
10:45
6/11 King Whyte
11:00
6/9/11 News
11:15
9 Movie (The Harder They Fall, the 1956 drama in which Humphrey Bogart gave his final performance. Somewhat ironic that CFTO would run this movie, about corruption in boxing, after carrying the boxing match the previous hour.)
11:30
6 Manhunt
11 Movie (Call Northside 777, 1948 drama, starring James Stewart)
12:00
6 The Midnight Zone (variety)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 1961
MORNING
9:00
11 Oral Roberts
9:30
11 This Is The Life
10:00
11 The Christophers (this week’s guest actor is Jerry Colonna)
10:30
11 Movie (to be announced)
AFTERNOON
12:00
6 Live & Learn
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
9 Your Special Day
12:30
6 Face to Face (John Freeman interviews Rhodesian Prime Minister Sir Roy Welensky)
9 Stories for Sunday (sports columnist Trent Frayne tells the story of “The Prodigal Son”)
11 Family Playhouse (“Girl Not Wanted”)
1:00
6 The Good Life (religion)
9 Grass Roots (agricultural magazine hosted by Doug Robinson)
11 Life & Learning (debut episode; leading Canadian educators are questioned on the role of universities in Canadian society)
1:30
6/11 Country Calendar (agriculture)
9 Playhouse (Peter Lawford, Craig Stevens and Reginald Denny in “Mason-Dixon Line”)
2:00
6 Junior Magazine
9 Neighbors (Al Pierce)
11 Hockey (Kitchener Greenshirts at Hamilton Junior B’s)
2:30
9 Movie (The Great Dawn, 1946 Italian drama)
3:00
6 Heritage (religion)
3:30
6 Silents Please (a condensed edit of Yankee Clipper, the 1927 Cecil B. de Mille production; Ernie Kovacs wouldn’t become host of this series until after it replaced his game show Take a Good Look on the ABC schedule the following May)
3:55
9 News (Iris Cooper)
4:00
6/11 The Twentieth Century (“The Battle of Cassino”; Interestingly, the CBC aired this CBS-produced program 150 minutes before CBS itself would run it)
9 Playhouse (John Agar and Joan Leslie in “Old Man’s Bride”)
4:30
6/11 Citizens’ Forum
9 Hockey (St. Catharines Teepees at Toronto Marlboros; Bill Hewitt and Johnny Esaw comment)
5:00
6/11 News Magazine
5:30
6 The Nature of Things
11 The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp (ABC Tuesdays)
EVENING
6:00
6 Walt Disney Presents (“Davy Crockett and The River Pirates,” starring Fess Parker; ABC Sundays)
9 Great Hymns
11 Tiny Talent Time
6:30
9 News
11 The Donna Reed Show (ABC Thursdays)
7:00
6/11 National Velvet (NBC ran this episode one hour later)
9 Things We See (Alan Jarvis visits the studios of young artists Louis De Niverville, Lutz Dille and Michael Snow)
7:30
6/11 The World of Music (Wally Koster hosts singer Patrice Munsel and vibraphonist Peter Appleyard)
9 The Donna Reed Show (ABC Thursdays)
8:00
6/11 The Gershwin Years (Richard Rodgers hosts Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, Maurice Chevalier, Julie London and Florence Henderson on this 90-minute special paying tribute to George Gershwin. A CBC simulcast from CBS, on which it pre-empts The Ed Sullivan Show and the first half-hour of General Electric Theater.)
9 Movie (All About Eve, the 1950 classic drama starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Marilyn Monroe)
9:30
6/11 Four Just Men
10:00
6/11 Angel (CBS Thursdays)
10:30
6 Fighting Words (panel discussion)
9 News
11 This Week (Jack Burghardt visits the National Youth Orchestra and interviews Toronto Symphony conductor Walter Susskind)
11:00
6/11 News
9 Movie (Laughter in Paradise, 1951 British comedy, with Alastair Sim)
11:30
6 Time to Remember (Sir Ralph Richardson narrates this documentary about the Treaty of Versailles and soldiers returning home at the end of World War One)
11 Movie (Rebecca, the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders)
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, THROUGH THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1961
MORNING
9:00
11 Romper Room
9:30
11 Movie (Monday: Uncle Harry, 1945 mystery, with George Sanders; Tuesday: Double Indemnity, 1944 classic noir, with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck; Wednesday: Luck of the Irish, 1948 comedy, with Tyrone Power; Thursday: That Lady in Ermine, 1948 drama, with Betty Grable and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)
11:00
11 A.M. (variety)
AFTERNOON
12:00
9 News
11 Cartoons
12:15
6 News (Rae, Marsh)
9 Your Special Day
12:20
9 Farm Report (Larry Burt)
12:30
6 Movie (Monday: Twenty Million Sweethearts, 1934 musical, with Dick Powell and Pat O’Brien; Tuesday: Aunt Clara, 1953 British comedy, with Margaret Rutherford; Wednesday: Kathleen, 1941 drama, with Shirley Temple; Thursday: Dangerously They Live, 1941 World War Two spy drama, with John Garfield and Raymond Massey)
9 Playhouse
12:45
11 News
1:00
9 Lunch Party (variety)
11 Movie (Monday: The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp, 1954 British fantasy, with Diane Cilento; Tuesday: Tall, Dark and Handsome, 1941 drama, with Cesar Romero; Wednesday: Black Beauty, 1946 family classic, with Mona Freeman; Thursday: Straight, Place & Show, 1938 Ritz Brothers comedy)
1:30
9 Women’s Show (Carroll, Hicks)
2:00
6 Chez Helene (children)
9 Movie (Monday: Portrait of Claire, 1950 British drama, with Margaret Johnson; Tuesday: The Loves of Carmen, 1948 drama, with Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford; Wednesday: Laughter in Paradise, repeating Sunday night’s 11:00 movie; Thursday: Come to the Stable, 1949 drama, with Loretta Young and Celeste Holm)
2:15
6/11 Nursery School Time
2:30
6/11 Open House
3:00
6/11 Reflections
3:30
6 The Verdict is Yours (CBC simulcast from NBC)
11 Public Service Guide
3:35
11 Music For You (Joe Calo)
3:55
9/11 News (Iris Casper on CFTO)
4:00
6 Eve Arden (Monday only)
6 Fighting Words (panel; Tuesday only)
6 Sweet Success (Jack Douglas; Wednesday only)
6 The Toronto File (Ed McGibbon; Thursday only)
9 Professor’s Hideaway
11 Popeye & Pals
4:30
6 Junior Roundup (except on Wednesday)