At the Beginning CKSO  Television first signed on the air on October 25th, 1953 in Sudbury, Ontario Canada.  In doing so has retained the distinction of being Canada's first privately owned TV station.  Seen on Channel 5, CKSO originally broadcasted at 2,020 watts video 1,210 watts audio.  This was just a year after television broadcasting arrived in Canada.  Until CKSO TV there were only publicly owned stations - the CBC's  CBFT in Montreal which started broadcasting on September 6, 1952 and CBLT in Toronto soon followed. This endeavour was headed by Sudbury business men George Miller, Q. C., W. E. Mason (owner of the Sudbury Star), Jim Cooper Q.C, and Bill Plaunt (President of CKSO Radio). There had been no direct exposure to television in the Sudbury area prior to CKSO signing on.  There were television stations in the United States and only the CBC stations in Toronto and Montreal. CKSO TV was also CBC's first private Network affiliate Network as such received programs by kinescopes from Toronto.  Normally these arrived by air, but from time to time would need to be rushed by automobile particularly when weather caused havoc for air transport.  CKSO was successful in generating a mixture of locally produced programs, theatrical films in addition to the kinescopes of CBC productions.  The station was able to maintain such ingenuity for about three years until 1956 when the microwave system linked CKSO to Toronto. So novel was television back then that people could be seen gathered in front of appliance stores in downtown Sudbury to watch the "Indian Head" test pattern on TV sets in the store windows! Original Programming In the beginning of the CKSO TV broadcast days, programming would typically start at 7:00 in the evening and run through until 11:00 pm.  Although by the end of its first year, CKSO's programming was expanded from 3:30 in the afternoon until mid-night. The Sudbury area proved to be ripe for this new technology.  The demand and sale of television sets grew quickly thanks to the area's affluent population.  Inco (International Nickel Company) kept plenty of people in work with its operations in the area.  In fact it was in September of 1953 that INCO began construction of an iron ore plant near Copper Cliff adding to its various operations.  The Sudbury area has been dubbed the Nickel Capital of the World created by mining giants INCO and Falconbridge.  Back in the mid 1950's, Sudbury was considered to be the sixth largest market in Ontario. With television broadcasting local to the area, it was estimated that 36 percent of homes in the area had a television set.  This figure rose to nearly 80 percent ten years later!  Not only were people buying televisions, but business was buying advertising keeping the CKSO books in the black. CKSO RADIO The CKSO call letters were well in use by the time TV signed on in 1953.  CKSO Radio signed on the air in 1935 at 780 on the dial broadcasting at 1,000 watts.  The company was owned by W. E. Mason.  In 1941 the station moved up the dial to 790, still at 1,000 watts.  In 1945, CKSO Radio increased its daytime power to 5,000 watts while broadcasting only at 500 watts at night.  The radio station was under new ownership in 1949 operating under CKSO Radio Limited.  Home Page This site designed and powered by McCann & Cambrian E-Media Services  (c) 2006