Vintage Kingston

1954-2024 :(

We’re Kingston Television Rewind today. This photo shows the TV studio at 170 Queen St. in 1954, the year that CKWS Television started broadcasting on channel 11. And this post is a followup to the one we published on Thursday, when Toronto-based Corus Entertainment laid off nearly everyone who worked at 170 Queen. The dust is settling now, and it’s clear that there’s almost no one left at the TV station downstairs and the two radio stations upstairs. Big FM/96.3 and Fresh Radio/104.3 are devoid of local DJs. And there is nothing but network programming on “Global Kingston.” Longtime evening news anchor Bill Hutchins acknowledged his layoff and the disappearance of local news in a note he posted to X (Twitter) on Thursday. He thanked his colleagues and viewers and concluded: “The vast number of job cuts today mark the end of an era for CKWS-TV and 70 years of local broadcasting history.” The history that Bill refers to is well-represented by this photo: In fact, that’s Channel 11’s very first news anchor and its very first news set at the left edge of the picture. The news was sponsored by Maxwell House, and the man sitting at the anchor desk is Torben Wittrup (who went on to CFRB Radio in Toronto and became one of the most listened-to news anchors in Canada). The man seated on the right of the talk-show set is Bill Luxton, the program director of CKWS AM-FM who transitioned to CKWS-TV and then to CJOH Television in Ottawa (where some Kingston kids eventually got to know him as Uncle W***y on CJOH's long-running “W***y and Floyd” children’s show). By the way, this studio — built for the new, state-of-the-art, Radio-Television Centre at 170 Queen St. — was the largest in Canada when it became operational in 1954. It is still in place, but dark now. The latest indications are that there are a half-dozen or so staff left in the 22,000 square-foot building. A few are reporters, and Corus has said that it’s ‘reimagining’ supper and late-night TV news for Kingston. There’s speculation that the reporters will generate local stories that will then be packaged elsewhere into some sort of hybrid national/local newscast. Corus, meanwhile, has said that it will continue to “aggressively” cut costs across its media holdings, as it tries to contend with about a billion dollars in debt and a dramatic revenue slump from a “challenging advertising environment.” Shares in Corus — which traded for $25 each in 2013 — were trading for 11 cents yesterday.

We’re distressed at this afternoon’s news that parent company Corus Entertainment has laid off the entire on-air staff of FM stations 96.3/Big FM and 104.3/Fresh Radio in Kingston. Those two stations, based at 170 Queen St., are the descendants of the original CKWS Radio. Corus says other jobs have been cut in the newsroom, shared by the radio stations and their sister television station, Global Kingston. But we don’t yet know the full extent of the layoffs in either radio or TV, because Corus won’t say. A statement from the company does say that the two radio stations will stay on the air, but it also hints that they will now be largely automated. It’s the second dramatic downsizing by Toronto-based Corus in the 24 years that it’s owned the radio and TV stations at 170 Queen. In 2008, it shut down venerable 960, the former CKWS-AM, which had been operating since 1942. Today’s news comes on the heels of Bell Media’s sale of its two Kingston radio stations, 98.3/Move and 98.9/Pure Country, to a Renfrew-based network of small and medium-market stations. That was in February. A Bell executive said at the time that radio “is not a viable business anymore.” Corus, for its part, is facing strong financial headwinds and says it has to make cuts. As we digest this afternoon’s troubling news, we want to share something from a happier time… when the stations at 170 Queen St. thrived under largely local ownership, enlightened management and a different media environment. This is the cover of a special eight-page supplement to the Whig-Standard that was published in December 1967, when the original CKWS-FM, at 96.3, boosted its power and switched from mono to stereo. The first line of red type says “Our World is Widening.” It was a moment to celebrate. Today, we’re saddened.

Bowes & C***s Realty, Kingston 1972. May someone you know/knew. Thanks Richard Gallagher

Pride - 1990

1986 - Welcome back to Queen's

Price's Dairy pint milk bottle..1960's?

Does anyone know who the firefighter is?

Anyone remember Sparky the Fire Dog? The Dalmation has been around for about 70 human years (490 dog years?) as the mascot of the U.S. National Fire Protection Association. But he shows up in Canada too, and that’s him — or part of him — in this 1962 snap. He's flanked by CKWS AM-FM’s program director, Carl Cogan, and an unidentified Kingston firefighter (whose sleeve appears to carry captain’s bars). Sparky helps get children interested in fire protection, and from the look of things here (CKWS mobile unit and all) we’re guessing that 960 and the fire department were collaborating on some sort of safety promotion for Kingston kids.

another great radio rewind post

We’ve seen that some CKLC staff alum are having a reunion on Saturday. We wish them warm weather and cold beer! And we’ll take advantage of the occasion to offer this bit of nostalgia from the walk-up at Brock and Wellington. So… c’mon now, admit it: When you were 13 or thereabouts, you picked up a Tiger Beat magazine or two, right? (Or Fave? Or 16?) But did you know that Kingston had its very own teen fan mag 60 years ago? It was published by the original CKLC, and here’s the front and back cover of the July 1964 edition. “Disk” wasn’t as thick or as slick as Tiger Beat and the others; it was four pages and it petered out after a few issues. But it was free and fun while it lasted. And it was good promotion, as 1380 distanced itself from the “old music” format (as ‘LC called it) that it had adopted a few years earlier. (A format of mainly instrumentals, or “beautiful music,” as Program Director C.J. Bermingham described it in the Whig-Standard in 1963.) So when CKLC set aside old music and embraced rock ’n' roll, “Disk” helped establish the station’s credentials with teenagers. And so did youthful-sounding DJs like Russ Gordon and Bob McCord, pictured on Disk’s back cover. (Bob went on to stations in the U.S. midwest and southwest before he settled in Edmonton, where he was a pop-rock jock on local powerhouse 630/CHED, and then one of the founders of CISN Country 103.9. Oh, the guy on Disk’s front cover — Paul McCartney — did OK for himself too.)

Shoal Tower, winter 1937

The Wolfe Islander seen through the Time statue , winter 1978

A frequent visitor to Kingston over the years, The Florida Razors played Our Place on Bath Rd in 1983

I am sure some of you have visited here, and still going strong. Ad from 1991.

Vancouver band the Grapes of Wrath at the Lakeview Manor, 1987

Engineering students at their Grease Pole, 1985

Guard and fenced off Leonard Field during Olympics, 1976

Fontainbleu Matchbook and Ad from 1974 - Thanks Michael Blanck for the matchbook

Interior of The Silver Grill restaurant, 314 Princess St., 1950s

Hotel LaSalle, Princess and Bagot, breakfast menu circa 1950

Le Roi Motel (Leroy) circa 1959; it was on Highway 2 west, and is now the location of Peach Tree Plaza. phone # LI 2-9398. :)

One of yesterday's comments mentioned the Whistle Stop - Ad, 1973

Town & Country postcard, 1950s

Tearing down the goal posts after a football game at the main campus Richardson Stadium, 1969

One of my favourite spots in the 1980s and 1990s

Tallships in Kingston, 1998. Does anyone know which one this ship is?

Town Crier Chris Whyman in 1985, after winning his second successive provincial crier championship.

Does anyone remember the PFM After Hours club? (1982)

Genesis at Bartlett Gym, Nov. 9, 1973. B.Y.O.W.😉

Moore's Garage 206-208 Wellington 1912c

We’re just outside the old A&W, late in the summer of 1962. It’s Tuesday night, and that means 960 is broadcasting its “Top 20 Show” live from the restaurant. So the music out of the CKWS loudspeakers includes Little Eva’s Loco-Motion… Breaking Up Is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka… and Bryan Hyland’s Sealed with a Kiss. That’s DJ Art Watkins near the centre of the photo, just behind the young lady in her carhop uniform. Morning man Ken Horton is at the right edge of the picture, using someone’s back to sign an autograph. Other fans are milling about, enjoying free food and root beer. These remotes were a big draw for the drive-in, which used to stand on Bath Road across from the Collins Bay Institution.

A fun little mag I purchased from etsy that some of you may like.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1502067267/growing-up-ygk-a-nostalgia-zine-about?gpla=1&gao=1&