Milestone-Nomination:First television broadcast in Western Canada

Docket Number: 2009-10

Proposal Link: https://ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:First_television_broadcast_in_Western_Canada

In the space below the line, please enter your proposed citation in English, with title and text. Text absolutely limited to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons. NOTE: The IEEE History Committee shall have final determination on the wording of the citation

On 16 December 1953, the first television broadcast in Western Canada was transmitted from this site by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CBUT Channel 2.  The engineering experience gained here was instrumental in the subsequent establishment of the over 1000 public and private television broadcasting sites that serve Western Canada today.

---

The plaque will be installed on a wall near the main gate of the CBC Broadcasting Site on Mount Seymour.

The geodetic coordinates of the site are Lat: 49°21′13″N Lon: 122°57′24″W

CBC conducts frequent tours for students and the public.  All tours include a stop at this location.






Please also include references and full citations, and include supporting material in an electronic format (GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC) which can be made available on the IEEE History Center’s Web site to historians, scholars, students, and interested members of the public. All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. If you are including images or photographs as part of the supporting material, it is necessary that you list the copyright owner.

In the space below the line, please describe the historic significance of this work: its importance to the evolution of electrical and computer engineering and science and its importance to regional/national/international development.

The following Vancouver-area broadcasters have their transmitters on the forward slopes of Mount Seymour facing out over Metro Vancouver:
FM stations
CBU-1-FM 88.1 (CBC Radio One)
CBUX-FM 90.9 (Espace Musique)
CKYE-FM 93.1 (Red FM)
CJJR-FM 93.7 (JR-FM)
CFBT-FM 94.5 (The Beat 94.5)
CKZZ-FM 95.3 (Virgin Radio 95.3)
CHKG-FM 96.1 (Fairchild Radio)
CKLG-FM 96.9 (Jack FM)
CBUF-FM 97.7 (Première Chaîne)
CFOX-FM 99.3 (99.3 The Fox)
CFMI-FM 101.1 (Rock 101)
CFRO-FM 102.7 (Co-Op Radio)
CHQM-FM 103.5 (103.5 QM/FM)
CFUN-FM-2 104.9 (104.9 Fun FM)
CBU-FM 105.7 (CBC Radio 2)
CKAV-FM-2 106.3 (Aboriginal Voices Radio)
TV stations
CBUT-TV (CBC): VHF 2 (analog), UHF 58 (digital)
CHAN-TV (Global): VHF 8 (analog) UHF 22 (digital)
CIVI-TV-2 (rebroadcaster of CIVI-TV, A): UHF 17 (analog)
CBUFT-TV (Radio-Canada): UHF 26 (analog)
CIVT-TV (CTV): UHF 32 (analog), UHF 33 (digital)
CHNM-TV (OMNI): UHF 42 (analog)

What features or characteristics set this work apart from similar achievements?

Only three television broadcast stations had been established in Canada prior to CBUT in Vancouver; all were located in Eastern Canada and all were installed at relatively low elevations. For the CBC managers of the day, establishing the network’s fourth television transmitter so far West and at a high elevation was a bold and significant decision.

The relatively complicated topography of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia required that considerable care be taken to choose a broadcasting site that would provide the best coverage. Predicting and evaluating the coverage of a VHF broadcast transmitter in mountainous terrain is much different from the corresponding task for the MF broadcast transmitters that had been widely installed at low-level locations in the Lower Mainland during the 1930‘s and 1940‘s.

The quality of the initial site selection and engineering is underscored by the longevity of the CBC Broadcasting Site on Mount Seymour and the large number of other television and FM broadcast transmitters that are installed in the same general area today.

Please attach a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property.

The letter is necessary in order to process your nomination form. Click the Attachments tab to upload your letter.

IEEE_Milestone_CBC.pdf
Mt_Seymour_01.jpg
Mt_Seymour_02.jpg
Mt_Seymour_03.jpg
Mt_Seymour_Region_Senior_Staff.jpg