Television in St. Lawrence

Television in the Federal Republic of St. Lawrence was introduced in August 1960 upon the first commercial (fully English-speaking) broadcast made by Laurentian Television (LTV, now known as Central Television Network STLMK). Even before that, during the early 1950s, a number of academic experiments had been done and replicated by Laurentian engineers and students. The network that introduced it, Central TV, is currently the leading network in terms of ratings, reach, and revenue.

The early years (1954-1962)
Fernando Lopez, a former Filipino politician and engineer dubbed the "father of Laurentian television," began assembling transmitters and established the St. Lawrence Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on May 17, 1952. A year later, he was the first to apply for a license in the Laurentian Congress to establish a television station. After a year, on May 19, 1954, his request was granted. Due to the scarcity of raw materials and strict import control since 1948, he was compelled to branch into radio broadcasting instead.

Lopez's attempt to put up a television station did not go to waste. Judge Dan Charest, brother of then-President Eddy Charest, had been trying to get a license from Congress that would allow him to put up a television station. The Congress, however, denied him from getting such license for the fear that he might use it as vehicles for propaganda for his brother who was then running for a second term in the presidential elections of 1953. Because of this, he bought a 70% share in SLBC, which earned him to indirect control a television franchise.

Before the television station was formally launched, it faced several obstacles. The Central Bank, for instance, refused to grant Charest dollar credit from the bank, saying that the said venture was too risky. For this reason, Charest asked help from his friend Marvin Gray, whose family was a friend of David Sarnoff, then president of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Through the intervention of Gray, Charest was able to get assistance from RCA.

Prior to the first telecast, Charest initiated the importation of 120 television sets through the 60,000 Laurentian dollars loan that he received from the owner of Joe's Electric, who was, in turn, became the first to be bestowed with the right to sell television sets in the country.

Finally, on August 9, 1960, Charest marked the first official television broadcast in the St. Lawrence with the launching of LTV's (the TV counterpart of SLBC) SFSF channel 3. With the help of RCA, four men underwent technical training in the United States. Unfortunately, they were not the first. Laurentien Français Télévision (LFT), a French-speaking public broadcaster, beaten them by 9 weeks.

The LTV studio was a makeshift barn along Nepal Avenue in Outer Norwich (a suburb of Norwich, where the Champlain International Airport is located). With the transmitter acquired from RCA, the telecasts were received clearly not only in Norwich but also in the neighboring provinces and cities. Except for the four engineers who was sent to the US for training, most of the personnel at LTV learned TV operations on the job. The first transmitter for the station was located in Reagan City.

SFSF 3 started out on a four-hour-a-day schedule, from six to ten in the evening. Although LTV was able to round up 52 advertisers for the premier telecast, selling spots for regular programming had proven to be difficult since buying radio ad spots was more cost-effective for advertisers. During this time, TV sets costs less than an automobile, and TV reception depended on electrical power, which was not always available.

The programs aired at that time were usually borrowed films from the foreign embassies, imported old cowboy movies, and actual coverage of a variety of events. When the station ran out of presenting any new feature, stage plays were transported to television. In 1953, less than a month after the first telecast, Fr. James Reuter, SJ, who had radio and television training, produced the first play on Laurentian television entitled Cyrano de Bergerac. The three-hour-long play was aired live and all the talents were students.

In the beginning, Laurentian TV networks would buy the rights of airing mediocre American TV programs and serials since it was cheaper than producing local shows. In order to entice advertisers, as well as to encourage increased viewership, simultaneous airing of programs on radio and television resorted to promotional gimmicks. Many popular radio shows, including, Student Canteen and It's Time!, started their life on TV this way.

In 1962, Radiowealth Inc., a radio manufacturer, began manufacturing television sets. Other local outfits such as, Carlsound and Rehco, also started setting up assembly plants. Also that year, the high taxes previously imposed on imported television shows were removed, which made American shows less expensive than locally produced live programming.

Rising popularity and international networks (1965–1979)
TV sets became the most sellable appliance in the urban areas in the mid to late 60s. Also within this period, other VHF and UHF TV stations (including American) opened. These include the SJWC channel 26 of CBS (opened also in 1960, but a month after SFSF), SNBC-TV channel 5 of NBC (in 1961), and SRSN-TV (now SRSN-DT) channel 34 of the Racing Sports Network.

Among the top rated programs in the mid and late 1960s were The Nida Blanca-Nestor de Villa Show, Artistic Life, and Lance Loves Claudine. News programming was also one of the top-rated programs in St. Lawrence during this era. It included SFSF's Newswatch and SFFT's Ce soir Saint-Laurent.

LTV's SFSF Channel 3 staged in 1964 the first-ever test television broadcasts in color and would broadcast in color in 1966.

Radiowealth Inc., in 1967, pioneered in the production of 19-, 21- and 25-inch models of color TV sets. Moreover, it was favored by advertisers like Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, Del Rosario Brothers, and Caltex.

In 1969, Laurentians witnessed the live television coverage of the Apollo 11 historic moon landing. It was the first live telecast via satellite in the country. Channels 1 (the earlier-mentioned LFT), 6 (Harlech) and 12 (an independent one, now with Koopa Troop Television Network) tied up for the said project, while LTV produced its own color coverage.

By 1974, St. Lawrence, through Radiowealth Inc., had become the fourth country in the world to manufacture color TV sets. By January 1972, the growth of the Laurentian television industry was unstoppable. Aside from LTV's pioneer satellite broadcasts, stations opened up one after the other in many parts of the country beginning in 1961, when SFTR-TV Channel 27, the pioneer provincial television channel, was opened in Murdochville, Trois-Rivières, bringing four hours of locally produced programming with relays of Norwich programs.

International networks domination (1975-2007)
St. Lawrence was affected by the domination of American TV networks in the country starting 1975, taking independent stations across the country. However, there were actually four American stations that had their own stations before that happened: NBC, CBS, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), and DuMont Television Network. These international TV stations had made their own stations:


 * TVA: 1982 (actually a local one)
 * STLTV: 1984, an American Broadcast Network counterpart)
 * ITV: 1986
 * ABS-CBN: 1989
 * KTTN: 1993

Even more, the earlier aforementioned LTV, was bought in 1982 by Central Television Network, a Canadian TV network, and thus, was renamed CTN St. Lawrence (the branding of Central at that time). In 1987, CTNSL's ratings slumped into no. 3, and then planned to bankrupt in the following year, but rose from the ruins. The best programming, at that time, were many. That also included the first airing of The Centralist and Good Morning St. Lawrence, which would soon to be widely recognized.