CBLT-DT
CBC flagship television station in Toronto
CBLT-DT (channel 5, cable channel 6) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). The two stations share studios at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street West in downtown Toronto, which is also shared with national cable news channel CBC News Network and houses the studios for most of the CBC's news and entertainment programs. CBLT-DT's transmitter is located atop the CN Tower.
History
The station conducted test broadcasts from August 15 to 22, 1952. CBLT began regular programming on September 8, 1952, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 9. It is the oldest television station in the province of Ontario, and the second oldest in Canada after Ici Radio-Canada Télé flagship station CBFT in Montreal. The station's first broadcast was prefaced by the inadvertent incorrect display of the CBC's national network logo; conflicting accounts say it was either displayed upside-down or backwards, due to the incorrect insertion of the slide. No such error was made two days earlier when CBFT signed on.
CBLT originally broadcast from a series of smaller studios with the main one on Mutual Street nicknamed unofficially as "The Barn" next to the transmitter tower (the old management building, nicknamed "The Kremlin", is now part of the National Ballet School on Jarvis Street).
“CBLT-DT” enters the record as cBC flagship television station in Toronto. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what CBLT-DT, flagship and television can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“CBLT-DT” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, CBLT-DT, flagship and television provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2931030. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “CBLT-DT”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow CBLT-DT primary sources, CBLT-DT archive and CBLT-DT research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “CBLT-DT”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “CBLT-DT” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.