Vancouver TV 1933

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Vancouver TV 1933

Postby cart_machine » Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:33 am

The New York Sun of Feb. 25, 1933 had the following story on its radio-television page:

Canada's Log of Television Stations
There are now eight television stations In Canada on the air with experimental programs, according to information received from the Department of Commerce in Washington. The list of stations are as follows:
VE9EC, Montreal, P. Q., 2,000 to 2,100 kilocycles.
VF9DS, Montreal, P. Q., 2,100 to 2,200 kilocycles.
VE9BZ, Vancouver, B. C., 2,750 to 2,850 kilocycles.
VE9AC, London, Ont., 2,000 to 2,100 kilocycles.
VE9AR, Saskatoon, Sask., 2,850 to 2,950 kilocycles.
VE9RM, Toronto, Ont., 2,000 to 2,100 kilocycles.
VE9ED, Mont Joll, P. Q.,2,850 to 2,950 kilocycles.
VE9AF, Montreal, P. Q., 2,850 to 2,950 kilocycles.

The Vancouver station was owned by Radio Service Engineers, a company owned by Cyril Trott and Norman Hill. Does anyone know if it ever broadcast?

cArtie.
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby jon » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:51 am

The March 18, 1931, edition of the Globe and Mail lists only four licenses granted up to then across Canada: all "experimental". None of the Quebec stations listed in 1933 had yet been granted.

The wording in the G&M article is interesting: "Canadian radio broadcasters have not neglected to make preparations for the possible advent of television, in some form or another, at any time now."

No details on the owners, other than the registered name, or the status of the stations in the G&M article.

What I never realized before though is that these frequencies are not far above the AM broadcast band, just above where Ship to Shore would be found in the 1960s, and Police Radio before that.

That same G&M issue lists what they claim is a complete list of Shortwave radio stations, in the normal broadcast sense. An even dozen. To me, the most interesting point is that Ted Rogers, Sr. had a TV experimental license, but no Shortwave license at all. Rogers' CFRB would later be well known among hobbyists for its shortwave repeater.
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:01 pm

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby jon » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:26 pm

Now that is cool. Just wish we had a scan of the other side so we can see the exact date.
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:42 pm

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:04 pm

Vancouver's second religious station, broadcasting from the First Congregational Church with a 50 -watt transmitter and a licence obtained under the call sign of CKFC.
The new station went on the air on September 7, 1924. The station was moved in 1929 to Chalmers United Church at 12th and Hemlock. The shortwave station, VE9CS, which had an output of two watts, carried church services up through the interior of British Columbia.
This is the radio station where Laurie Irvine, founder of BCIT's Broadcast Communications programme, first got his start...

See page 23 of 102 at: http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Arc ... lumbia.pdf
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby cart_machine » Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:32 pm

Hi, John. Thanks for looking it up. Too bad there's no answer to my question about whether the TV station actually made it on the air. I'm familiar enough with the two radio stations that Trott managed for the church.

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:47 am

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:29 am

cart_machine wrote:Hi, John. Thanks for looking it up. Too bad there's no answer to my question about whether the TV station actually made it on the air. I'm familiar enough with the two radio stations that Trott managed for the church.

cArtie.


Some things, Jim, I don't have to look up... ;-)
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:02 am

Many of those early TV licences may only have been construction permits.
Given this was "mechanical television" broadcast on AM, it might be easier to find out if anyone in Vancouver ever actually owned a mechanical television receiver at the time... sometimes called a "Televisor"

Image

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby cart_machine » Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:00 pm

J Kendrick wrote:Many of those early TV licences may only have been construction permits.
Given this was "mechanical television" broadcast on AM, it might be easier to find out if anyone in Vancouver ever actually owned a mechanical television receiver at the time... sometimes called a "Televisor"


There was a store selling TV sets (or perhaps it was kits to build them) in Vancouver in 1928. Lord knows what they would pick up then.
It's possible the license was for a construction permit, but that should have been indicated on the license, like it was in the later 40s when the FCC granted them.
I'd like to think Trott did some test broadcasts, maybe one of a church service, and satisfied himself with that.
I tried finding his obit in the Mission newspaper to see if it had something but have come up empty.

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:25 pm

There's a couple of recorded interviews with Cyril Trott listed in the archives of the Royal BC Museum

Cyril Trott pictured with the broadcast equipment of CKFC at Central Presbyterian Church in 1925...
See:
http://www3.telus.net/vanradiomuseum/imagine-p18.jpg
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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby cart_machine » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:12 pm

J Kendrick wrote:There's a couple of recorded interviews with Cyril Trott listed in the archives of the Royal BC Museum


No, John. "There ARE a couple of recorded interviews...."

Thank God the old broadcasters who got training in the toolies know their grammar, not like those kids today.

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Re: Vancouver TV 1933

Postby J Kendrick » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:52 pm

cart_machine wrote:
J Kendrick wrote:There's a couple of recorded interviews with Cyril Trott listed in the archives of the Royal BC Museum


No, John. "There ARE a couple of recorded interviews...."

Thank God the old broadcasters who got training in the toolies know their grammar, not like those kids today.

cArtie.


Your point is debatable... "Couple" is a collective noun, which means it can be treated as both, either singular or plural.
"A couple" can be considered as singular, and there is no acceptable contraction for "There are".
It can also depend on whether you are talking about American English or British English.
... and, now that you come to mention it, you're much more likely know a great deal more about "those kids today" than this old geezer... ;-)

Now, where did I hide my old CP Stylebook?
I know it's here somewhere....
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