Canadian Broadcasting Centre
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The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, located in Toronto, is the broadcast headquarters and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English-language television and radio services. It also contains studios for local and regional French language productions.
[edit] Building History
The 13-storey building was opened in 1993 and was constructed at a cost of CAD 350 million, in order to accommodate CBC employees who were housed at the time in various buildings throughout downtown Toronto. It took over 12 years of planning and a further 4 years to build the complex. Television production is located in the upper floors (with many programs recorded in the three rooftop studios), and radio below, on the second and third floors. Some of the larger sound stages are rented out to outside movie productions. The building itself is isolated from the surrounding land, with the whole building sitting on rubber pads as to reduce unwanted noise and vibrations. And for that reason all of the studios are located in the core of the building.
The atrium was named for Barbara Frum, a noted Canadian journalist. It is best known as the place where CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge based all of CBC's operations during CBC 2000 Today, the network's coverage of the millennium. It has been a venue for federal election coverage, as well as episodes of Canadian Antiques Roadshow.
The building also contains the Glenn Gould Studio, a performance and recording studio. The CBC Museum, which is dedicated to preserving the memories and physical artifacts of the national broadcaster's heritage, is also located on the first floor of the building. A Toronto campus of the International Academy of Design and Technology, focusing on film production—which is not directly affiliated with the CBC—is also contained within the building.
The Canadian Broadcasting Centre is located at 250 Front Street West in downtown Toronto, directly across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and within close walking distance of Union Station, the Rogers Centre, and the CN Tower. Public tours are available on occasion.
The analogous facility for CBC's French-language networks is Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal. The CBC's corporate headquarters are located in Ottawa in the CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre.
[edit] Facts and Figures
- Architects: Bregman + Hamann Architects & Engineers and John Burgee Architects
- Stories: 13
- Completed: 1992
- Building size: 1.72 million square feet
- When finished it contained: 3 radio studios (including the Glenn Gould Theatre), 19 radio production studios, 3 television studios, 2 local television studios, 1 national news studio, and 2 other all purpose studios.
[edit] External links
- Canadian Broadcasting Centre architecture
- CBC Museum
- Glenn Gould Studio
- Google Maps placemark file for the Canadian Broadcast Centre
