Western Canada
Western & Central Canada
Summary
For the purposes of this guide, Western and Central Canada covers:
- British Columbia
- Alberta
- Saskatchewan
- Manitoba
- Ontario
- Quebec
(See full list below)
This page does not include the run of Saskatchewan Repeats or the kinescope broadcasts in CKPG Prince George, CFTK Terrace, CBWBT Flin Flon, which are dealt with in the Kinescopes section.
For all these stations the 26 episode run series started on 23 January 1965 and ended on 2 July 1965. (No episode aired on 6 February 1965.)
The Wednesday episodes began on 14 April 1965. Some stations dropped episodes or transmitted at different times due to time zone shifts. See the Regional Variation notes following the Airdates table.
All transmissions were via the live Microwave network feed from Toronto.
AIRDATES
| No | Date | Day | Typical Time | Ep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 Jan 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | A1 |
| 2 | 30 Jan 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | A2 |
| 3 | 13 Feb 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | A3 |
| 4 | 20 Feb 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | A4 |
| 5 | 27 Feb 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B1 |
| 6 | 6 Mar 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B2 |
| 7 | 13 Mar 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B3 |
| 8 | 20 Mar 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B4 |
| 9 | 27 Mar 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B5 |
| 10 | 3 Apr 1965 | Sat | 17:00 | B6 |
| 11 | 14 Apr 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | B7 |
| 12 | 21 Apr 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | C1 |
| 13 | 28 Apr 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | C2 |
| 14 | 5 May 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D1 |
| 15 | 12 May 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D2 |
| 16 | 19 May 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D3 |
| 17 | 26 May 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D4 |
| 18 | 2 Jun 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D5 |
| 19 | 9 Jun 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D6 |
| 20 | 16 Jun 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | D7 |
| 21 | 23 Jun 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | E1 |
| 22 | 28 Jun 1965 | Mon | 17:00 | E2 |
| 23 | 29 Jun 1965 | Tue | 17:00 | E3 |
| 24 | 30 Jun 1965 | Wed | 17:00 | E4 |
| 25 | 1 Jul 1965 | Thu | 17:00 | E5 |
| 26 | 2 Jul 1965 | Fri | 17:00 | E6 |
CBC stations covered by this Profile
| Station | Ch | City | Prov | # of eps | Signal Source | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBUT | 2 | Vancouver | BC | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CHEK | 6 | Victoria | BC | 10 | Live | Private |
| CHBC | 2 | Kelowna | BC | 26 | Live | Private |
| CFCR | 4 | Kamloops | BC | 26 | Live | Private |
| CJDC | 5 | Dawson Creek | BC | 26 | Live | Private |
| CBXT | 5 | Edmonton | AB | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CKSA | 2 | Lloydminster | AB | 26 | Live | Private |
| CHCA | 6 | Red Deer | AB | 26 | Live | Private |
| CHCT | 2 | Calgary | AB | 15 | Live | Private |
| CJLH | 7 | Lethbridge | AB | 26 | Live | Private |
| CHAT | 6 | Medicine Hat | AB | 26 | Live | Private |
| CKCK | 2 | Regina | SK | 21 | Live | Private |
| CFQC | 8 | Saskatoon | SK | 26 | Live | Private |
| CKOS | 3 | Yorkton | SK | 26 | Live | Private |
| CJFB | 5 | Swift Current | SK | 26 | Live | Private |
| CKBI | 5 | Prince Albert | SK | 26 | Live | Private |
| CBWT | 6 | Winnipeg | MB | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CKX | 5 | Brandon | MB | 25 | Live | Private |
| CBWAT | 8 | Kenora | ON | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CKPR | 2 | Thunder Bay | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CKSO | 5 | Sudbury | ON | 25 | Live | Private |
| CFCH | 10 | North Bay | ON | 25 | Live | Private |
| CFCL | 6 | Timmins | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CJIC | 2 | Sault St. Marie | ON | 10 | Live | Private |
| CBLT | 6 | Toronto | ON | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CKVR | 3 | Barrie | ON | 21 | Live | Private |
| CKNX | 8 | Wingham | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CFPL | 10 | London | ON | 10 | Live | Private |
| CKLW | 9 | Windsor | ON | 0 | Live | Private |
| CHEX | 12 | Peterborough | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CKWS | 11 | Kingston | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CBOT | 4 | Ottawa | ON | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CHOV | 5 | Pembroke | ON | 26 | Live | Private |
| CBMT | 6 | Montreal | QC | 26 | Live | CBC |
| CKMI | 5 | Quebec City | QC | 26 | Live | Private |
Regional Variation Notes
- Stations that only transmitted the ten Saturday episodes:
- CHEK Victoria
- CJIC Sault St. Marie
- CFPL London
- Station that transmitted the ten Saturday episodes and the last five episodes only:
- CHCT Calgary
- Stations that did not transmit on 1 July (Canada Day):
- CKX Brandon
- CKSO Sudbury
- CFCH North Bay
- Stations that did not transmit the last five episodes (28 June – 2 July):
- CKVR Barrie
- CKCK Regina
- Stations that aired no episodes:
- CKLW Windsor
Regional Air Time Variations
British Columbia Saturday Episodes
Stations CBUT Vancouver, CHEK Victoria, CHBC Kelowna and CFCR Kamloops aired the ten Saturday episodes at 4:00 PM. This was necessary as ice hockey telecasts began at 5:30 PM in British Columbia; essentially the Calgary Delay Centre released the episodes to British Columbia and Alberta at the same time (5:00 PM in Alberta, 4:00 PM in those areas of British Columbia that observe Pacific Time).
CBWAT Kenora (Ontario)
The air time for the first 13 episodes (23 January to 28 April) was 4:00 PM. After that the air time was 5:00 PM.
The reason why this happened is that after 28 April, CBWAT Kenora switched its signal feed from Toronto to Winnipeg. Though part of Ontario, Kenora is in the same time zone as Winnipeg which is an hour behind Toronto.
CKPR Thunder Bay (Ontario)
The air time for the first 12 episodes (23 January to 28 April) was 5:00 PM. After that the air time was 4:00 PM.
The reason why this happened is that in 1965, Thunder Bay did not follow Daylight Savings Time so when the clocks changed in Toronto on 25 April 1965 Thunder Bay found itself an hour behind Toronto.
Cable TV Operations
In the 1960’s, several small cable TV operations in Canada employed consumer-grade videotape equipment to record TV broadcasts with the tapes shipped to a remote cable TV installation for playback. One such operation known to exist at that time is the cable TV system in Thompson, Manitoba (CESM-TV Ltd.). CESM recorded TV broadcasts in Winnipeg and shipped the tapes to Thompson (some 760 km away).
We have accessed two newspapers from Thompson, The Thompson Citizen and The Nickel Belt News, for all of January to the end of July 1965 (there were no editions available after August) and there were no listings at all for Doctor Who. What is odd however is that both newspapers usually just printed the word "Movie" from 1pm to 5:30pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 5pm for the other six days of the week. Unless more than one movie was screened during that four hour slot, it’s possible that Doctor Who did in fact air at 5pm on Saturdays as it did elsewhere, but for some reason did not get a billing of its own.
From 14 April 1965, the series shifted to Wednesdays airing at 5pm or 5:30pm in the other regions. The 5pm slot on CESM was occupied by a programme called "School Telecast", and the 5.30pm slot by "Razzle Dazzle" or "Popeye Playhouse". However, as it had been on Saturdays, the lengthy 1pm to 5pm slot had a single listing in the newspaper, which was often the generic "Movie" or specifically the long-running series "Playhouse 90"; as the title suggests each play ran for 90 minutes, and as such could not have filled the entire slot on its own. So, did Doctor Who screen during this four hour slot but for some reason as before never received its own billing?
If the newspaper listings are to be taken as read, then the answer is probably "No".
It's worth noting that even if CESM had aired Doctor Who episodes that had been pre-recorded on tape there is virtually no chance such tapes survived as they would have almost certainly been reused.
A 1970 lawsuit brought against CESM-TV by Warner Bros listed CESM as starting operation in 1964. The lawsuit listed other cable systems similar to CESM as being located in Pine Point and Tar Island in the Northwest Territories as well as WHTV in Whitehorse, Yukon.
The Cable TV operation in Whitehorse, Yukon (WHTV) was regularly supplied a small package of films by the CBC up to 1966 (before it too started to videotape TV like CESM). An examination of 1965 TV listings for WHTV had no Doctor Who entries.
Research and Text © Randy Howell, Jon Preddle and H M Pearson
