International Broadcasting Centre
The Canadian Broadcasting Company built a completely functioning broadcasting facility for Expo 67. Located in the Cité du Havre section of Expo, the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) was a rectangular building with Greek-inspired colonnade.Inaugurated in late 1966, the IBC began operating before Expo 67's opening. It was designed as a permanent structure that would last beyond Expo's 6-month run.
A pedestrian walkway joined the Broadcasting Centre with Place d'Accueil:
The Broadcasting Centre had a vast plaza which featured an exhibit that focussed on radio and it's role in everyday life.
Inside, visitors could wander along an elevated passageway that let them observe actors, technicians and producers at work in the TV studios and controls booths.
As well as servicing the CBC, the International Broadcasting Centre provided all participating nations every televisual and radio service they needed, free of charge. These facilities included 6 radio studios, a tape-recording centre, makeup and dressing rooms, a workroom for sets, and any other amenity needed for radio and television production.
The CBC also operated 5 mobile units for location filming on the Expo site:
Click here to see a photo of the IBC as it appeared in 1997.images: (1-2-4-5) personal collection
(3) expo67.ncf.ca (6) oldradio.com
Labels: I ♥ CBC, pavilions-a-gogo, tv-topia
posted by Jason Stockl @ 9:15 pm
5 Comments:
All the pics are ace, but that one with the monitors is really fab. The architecture of the IBC building recalls the golden age of television in general, where they were actually aiming at something Educational, Informative, and Cultured. Heh; that didn't take long to ruin, eh?
Very nice pics / post!
Many things seemed more glorious in "the good old days"...
Thanks for your comment!
Unfortunately, this building has been demolished a few years back: the land lease with the Montreal Port Authority had expired, and there was talk of building a hotel for the Casino. It is as june 2009 an empty, grass covered lot.
I've actually worked in the building in the '90s. The stair photo was taken in what was to become a cafeteria area. I've done many commissioned portraits in this room. So strange.
There was a good deal of memorabilia left at that time, especially furniture and a couple of exibits.
The place was a wonderfully well equipped tv studio. I've covered many big shows over there as a stills/publicity photographer. Shows I remember was Celine dion's comeback (after plastic surgery!)somewhere in 1987 maybe, then the Autobus du Showbusiness was taped over there. A few "Teletheatres" as we called them.
Then it became a studio for the new fangled daily soaps such as "Marilyn" and later, "Virginie" for a number of years. The huge studio allowed for the complete sets to be left standing year-long, including half a gymnasium, locker rooms, a trendy restaurant, a snackbar, room classes, school offices, school cafeteria and what not. There was a second smaller studio for special scenes in unregular sets. The back of the building was travestied as the school entrance, where I remember shooting a student riot, with full riot squad.
Rooms were still left for training personnel.
Hope you like these stories.
My dad absolutely loved working here for the CBC at Expo 67. He was proud of the IBC, the unbelievable quantity of content, and working with international crews such as the Japanese and the Australians (and Czechs I think). A wonderfully exciting time, with daily visits from international heads of state and stars from entertainment. Many great photos, including the queen, de Gaulle, and more.
- Chris
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