CBC

CBC (1965)

Channel Profile

PREMIERE; Toronto Globe & Mail, 23 January 1965

TONIGHT"S TV; Toronto Globe & Mail, 23 January 1965

The CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (CBC) is a publicly-owned network, operating numerous affiliate stations and relay transmitters across the whole of Canada.

Canada stretches across five time zones; each channel broadcast its own schedule of programmes, but via the microwave link the network affiliates were often able to screen the same programme at the same time, but with allowances for the five-hour east coast to west coast time variance.

An alternative method for nationwide screenings was that for some shows the CBC made film copies to be distributed to each affiliate.

Another distribution method was that as one station was broadcasting, others in the chain would tape those transmissions for later playback.

It is not known which of the second two methods was used with Doctor Who in 1965; but it is not unreasonable to assume there may have been multiple copies of Marco Polo in circulation in May and June...

Stories bought and broadcast

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Five stories, 26 episodes:

Change of date?; Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 1965

Marco Polo; Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 1965

Marco Polo, part two; 12 May 1965

Winnipeg Free Press,13 June 1965 preview

A	An Unearthly Child	4
B	The Daleks	7
C	Inside the Spaceship	2
D	Marco Polo	7
E	The Keys of Marinus	6

CBC therefore bought GROUP A of the William Hartnell stories.

The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints with English soundtracks.

Origin of the Prints?

The CBC would have received a fresh set of prints from the BBC.

Transmission

Generic "JUVENILE" listing, Toronto Globe & Mail

Dr Who starts; 23 January 1965; Toronto Daily Star. NOTE Channel idents

Dr Who starts – NOTE the affiliate channels; 23 January 1965; Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

Generic 5.00pm regional listing, Winnipeg Free Press

Generic Saturday 5.00pm regional listing Winnipeg Free Press: NOTE: the 4pm timeslot

Generic Saturday 5.00pm regional listing, Winnipeg Free Press

Generic Wednesday 5.00pm regional listing, Winnipeg Free Press

The series started on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday, 23 January 1965, at 5.00pm (*). From 21 April, the series moved to Wednesdays, in the same timeslot. (The Winnipeg Free Press stated that the date change was from 14 April, which appears to be incorrect.)

The week of 18 April 1965 Winnipeg Free Press, in its write-up for the new serial starting on 21 April, does identify the story as Marco Polo rather than Inside the Spaceship. However a TV listing for channel CBLT dated 12 May does identify that evening's episode as being The Singing Sands.

To coincide with the start of Vacation Time, the series shifted to weekday screenings, from Monday, 28 June to Friday, 2 July 1965. The last serial to air was The Keys of Marinus.

CBC did not screen the original series again.

Affiliates

CBC affiliates that aired Doctor Who in 1965 include (but not limited to) the following:

Station	City	Channel
CKPR-TV	Port Arthur / Fort Williams	2
CKCK-TV	Regina	2
CKSA	Lloydminster	2
CHCT	Calgary	2
CHBC	Kelowna	2
CKPG	Prince George	2
CBUT	Vancouver	2
CHJIC	Sault Sainte Marie	2
CKCW	Moncton	2
CBHT	Halifax	3
CKVR	Barrie	3
CFTK	Terrace	3
CBOT	Ottawa	3
CKOS	Yorkton	3,6,7,8
CFJC	Kamloops	4
CHSJ	St John/Fredericton	4
CJCB	Sydney	4
CKX-TV	Brandon	5
CJFB	Swift Current	5
CKBI	Prince Albert	5
CBXT	Edmonton	5
CJDC	Dawson Creek	5
CKSO	Sudbury	5
CHRO	Ottawa-Pembrooke	5
CKMI	Quebec City	5
CBYT	Corner Brook	5
CBLT	Toronto	6
CBWT	Winnipeg	6
CBMT	Montreal	6
CHAT	Medicine Hat	6
CKRD	Red Deer	6
CFCL	Timmins	6
CJLH-TV	Lethbridge	7
CBWBT-1	The Pas	7
CBXAT-1	Peace River	7
CBWAT	Kenora	8
CKNX	Wingham	8
CFQC	Saskatoon	8
CBNT	St Johns	8
CKLW	Windsorr	9
CFCE	Antigonish	9
CBWBT	Flin Flon	10
CBXAT	Grande Prairie	10
CFCH	North Bay	10
CFPL	London	10
CKWS	Kingston	11
CHEX	Peterborough	12
CFCY	Charlottetown	13

(*) Doctor Who screened in the same 5.00pm slot nationally (although CBWAT in Kenora aired it an hour "earlier" at 4.00pm). The series would have been broadcast centrally from Toronto and Montreal, but aired one hour 'earlier' in Halifax to the east, and three hours 'later' in Vancouver in the west. On CBWBT and CBWBT-2, the series aired at 5.30pm.

In later years some of these CBC affiliates (such as CFQC and CKCK) changed their affiliation to rival network CTV.

In his book, Script Doctor, Doctor Who script-editor Andrew Cartmel recalls having watched The Daleks on CJAY-TV channel 7 in Winnipeg when he was young; he might actually be misremembering, as the only CBC affiliate in Winnipeg in 1965 was CBWT Channel 6, whereas CJAY was part of the CTV network...

Fate of the Prints?

The Canadian prints may have been sent to the nearby island of Bermuda, which was one of just tree countries to have screened only those five Hartnell serials.

TV listings

TV listings have been obtained from the newspapers Globe and Mail, Toronto Daily Star, Winnipeg Free Press and CBC Times

The papers called it "Doctor Who" or "Dr Who". The Globe labelled it as "(Juvenile)" in the listings.

The CBC Times issue dated 15 January 1965 would have been one of (if not the) first Canadian publications to mention Doctor Who.

The 23-29 January issue of the CBC Times contained a one-page warning to viewers about a new series called Doctor Who. Issued by the CBC Head Office, this mock memo urged viewers to watch out for the Doctor, who may influence young minds. The article was illustrated with photo of William Hartnell and an image taken from The Sensorites — a story that was never aired by the CBC!

This TV listing magazine also gave brief synopses for the listings, some of which describe an episode other than the one which should be screening – for instance, on 27 February, the episode description seems to be for part one rather than part two of The Daleks; 6 March is part two rather than part three; for 21 April and 28 April, the synopses given for each instalment of Inside the Spaceship belongs to the other episode! All other synopses accurately describe the correct episode of that week.

The Globe had a "HIGHLIGHTS ON 6" box-out for the new series. This paper carried listings for CBLT Toronto (CH 6) and CKVR Barrie (Ch 3), although from 28 June, when the series shifted to its new weekday slot, it was no longer listed under CKVR.

The Free Press for the week of 18 April 1965 previewed the new story starting on the Wednesday ("Dr Who In New Series"), but identified it as being Marco Polo, rather than Inside the Spaceship (It's possible the writer thought they were both of one long 9-part serial?)

The paper also stated that "there will be repeats of the best of Doctor Who ... on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays"; however it would appear that these planned repeats never eventuated.

And the Free Press gave the final serial a large write up, under the heading "The Vicious Voords Menace To Dr Who"; the article confirmed the dates on which the six-part serial – named as The Keys of Marinus - would air. The article identified the first part being "sub-titled" "The Sea of Death".

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