October 1, 1961: CTV goes on the air in Canada. It was the 1st, and remains the only, true English-language competitor to the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (Global Television Network trails them.)
In 1958, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, thinking that CBC wasn't being fair to his Progressive Conservative Party government, passed the Broadcasting Act, establishing the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), taking over the CBC's role as the arbiter of radio and television broadcasting in the country. This broke the CBC's monopoly, and the new CTV accepted offers for licenses from new stations. The originals were, from East to West:
* CJCH-Channel 5, Halifax.
* CFTM-Channel 10, Montreal, in French.
* CFCF-Channel 12, Montreal, in English.
* CJOH-Channel 13, Ottawa.
* CFTO-Channel 9, Toronto.
* CJAY-Channel 7, Winnipeg.
* CBXT-Channel 5, Edmonton.
* CFCN-Channel 4, Calgary.
* CHAN-Channel 8, Vancouver.
They broadcast some Canadian programming, from situation comedies to game shows; but also some American shows, like The Rifleman and The Andy Griffith Show; the British police drama Maigret; and Whiplash, borrowed from the Australian network Seven, kind of a "Down Under" version of a Western.
Quincy Jones' 1962 composition "Soul Bossa Nova" became the network's theme song, which explains how it also became the theme song to the Austin Powers films, created by, directed by, and starring Toronto native Mike Myers.
Since 2000, CTV has been owned by BCE, Bell Canada Enterprises -- in other words, their phone company.
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October 1, 1961 was a Sunday. These games were played on the final day of baseball's regular season:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. The only run of the game came in the 4th inning, when Roger Maris hit his record-breaking 61st home run of the season, off Tracy Stallard. Bill Stafford (3 hits over 6 innings), Hal Reniff (a perfect 7th) and Luis Arroyo (1 hit over 2) combined on a 4-hit shutout. I have a separate entry for this game.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Gibson pitched a 6-hit shoutout. Stan Musial appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente did not play. Frank Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk. Despite this game, the Reds had dethroned the Pirates as National League Pennant winners, and would face the Yankees in the World Series. The Yankees won in 5 games.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Duke Snider drew a walk as a pinch-hitter.
* A doubleheader was split at Milwaukee County Stadium. The San Francisco Giants won the opener, 8-2. The Milwaukee Braves won the nightcap, 3-2. Al Spangler singled Hank Aaron home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Over the 2 games, Aaron went 4-for-9, and Willie Mays went 3-for-7 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Norm Cash hit a home run, and Al Kaline had an RBI double as a pinch-hitter. This was the Tigers' 101st win of the year, but the Yankees won 109 to take the American League Pennant.
For the Twins, completing their 1st season after being "the old Washington Senators," Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk, and relief pitcher Pedro Ramos hit a home run, 1 of 3 he hit on the season, and 1 of 15 he hit in a surprisingly powerful career for a pitcher who was mainly a reliever.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat "the new Washington Senators," 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
* After providing a venue for the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels from 1925 through 1957, and the major league expansion team with the same name this season, the West Coast version of Wrigley Field hosts its last professional baseball game. The Halos are defeated by the Cleveland Indians, 8-5 in front of 9,868 fans. Wrigley West will be torn down in 5 years, to make room for an eventual public playground and senior center.
* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox completed their seasons the day before, against each other, with the O's winning, 4-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
These games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 24-21 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. This was the 1st event at what would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1969. I have a separate entry for that event. (The opener, not the renaming.)
* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 30-27 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the Minnesota Vikings, 34-33 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Dallas Cowboys, 25-7 at Cleveland Municipal Staidum.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions, 49-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 24-0 at Green Bay City Stadium (later renamed Lambeau Field).
* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And in the American Football League:
* The New York Titans beat the Boston Patriots, 37-30 at the Polo Grounds. The Titans became the Jets in 1963, and the Patriots became the New England Patriots in 1971.
* The Dallas Texans beat the Houston Oilers, 26-21 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963, and the Oilers became the Tennessee Titans in 1999.
* The Oakland Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 33-19 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Raiders wouldn't actually play a game in Oakland until 1962, moved to Los Angeles in 1982, moved back to Oakland in 1995, and moved to Las Vegas in 2020.
* And, the day before, the San Diego Chargers beat the Buffalo Bills, 19-11 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. This was the Chargers' 1st game as a San Diego team, after spending the AFL's founding year of 1960 in Los Angeles. They returned to Los Angeles in 2017.
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