CTV Kitchener marks 60 years of local broadcasting

CTV Kitchener 60: The stories Celebrating 60 years of CTV Kitchener: Meghan Furman looks at the triumphant and tragic stories we’ve covered over the past six decades.

At 6 p.m. on March 1, 1954, CTV Kitchener took to the airwaves for the first time.

With the mayors of Galt, Preston, Kitchener, Waterloo and Brantford in attendance, a special broadcast introduced viewers across the region to the new kid on the television block.

Before CTV Kitchener hit the air, local viewers were limited to televised offerings from Toronto and Buffalo. Our arrival changed that, delivering local stories to local audiences for the first time.

Station founder Carl Pollock proclaimed that the new station would “provide an entertaining and an educational service which, we hope, will become a welcome and an interesting home companion for you.”

With television still in its infancy, a little bit of everything filled our schedule in those early years. Along with news and sports coverage, cooking shows, music showcases and children’s programming were staples of CTV Kitchener’s early lineup.

Beginning in 1967, viewers across southwestern Ontario could watch Romper Room, Canadian Bandstand and our other offerings of that era in colour for the first time.

Broadcasters who have passed through CTV Kitchener’s King Street home and gone on to national stardom include Jeff Hutcheson, Joy Malbon and CTV Chief News Anchor Lisa Laflamme.

On a local level, talents like Elaine Cole, Bill Inkol, Gary McLaren, Reg Sellner, Betty Thompson and Johnnie Walters graced CTV Kitchener programming for decades, becoming familiar faces in their own right.

The people, technology and ownership have changed over the past 60 years, but our mission remains the same: to share stories from Waterloo Region and beyond.