Blast from decades past: What we found inside the walls at CTV Kitchener's former home

A former employee of CTV Kitchener has found a few memories buried in the walls of our old home at 864 King Street West.

Phil Molto worked in a number of behind-the-scenes roles at CKCO, later renamed CTV Kitchener, between 1986 and 2015. He remembers stashing something in the wall of an old control room during renovations in 1990.

“It’s funny, in TV, stuff just comes to you in the spur of the moment in the control room, in the newsroom,” Molto recalled. “I was doing my paperwork, finishing up, I thought, wait a minute, they’re doing another renovation. I’ve got to stick this in the wall so at some point in the future someone’s going to see it and say: ‘Wow, look at that. They used paperwork back in 1990!’”

Former CTV Kitchener employee Phil Molto with a paper log from 1990, found in a wall at 864 King St. West during demolition. (Krista Simpson/CTV News)

The papers were a log of shows and commercials, numbers and lengths. An operator would sign the time each one aired, initialing it so if there were any questions about what went to air, there was a physical record.

Some of the items left inside a wall in the former CTV Kitchener newsroom during renovations in 2004. (Krista Simpson/CTV News)

Molto was also the one who pulled those papers out of the wall 34 years later.

“I didn’t realize it would be me that would actually be uncovering it here in 2024,” he said laughing.

Some of the items left inside a wall in the former CTV Kitchener newsroom during renovations in 2004. (Krista Simpson/CTV News)

Downstairs, in the area that was the CTV’s newsroom for years, another discovery: a glass partition signed by staff in April 2004 and numerous items placed inside a wall when it was put up during a time of technological change at the station.

“It was the first time that all the news programs [were] going to playback digitally,” Molto recalled. “No more tapes – that was the end. It was all computer based.”

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Among the items recovered: copies of The Record and Elmira Independent newspapers, The Milk Producer magazine, CTV newsletters, staff memos, newsroom schedules, a MII videotape, VHS tape and Beta SX tape.

On the glass wall, employees also left handwritten messages.

Some of them still work for CTV Kitchener today.

Phil Molto with a CKCO mobile truck circa 2000. (Courtesy: Phil Molto)

Seeing the names was nostalgic for Molto, who arranged the visit with the building’s new owners and the company doing the demolition work.

“We were able to go in there, and see people's names, of people who left their mark in the community, local television and were great people to work with,” Molto added.

Phil Molto in front of a digital playback machine circa 1990. (Courtesy: Phil Molto)

What's next for 864 King Street West

Work to remove bricks from the front façade of the building has already started.

“We're going to begin the demolition with the machines next week, on Tuesday, from in behind the building and work our way to the front,” said Noah Romeo, the president of Romeo Demolition.

While the teardown is expected to happen quickly, the clean up will last much longer.

Still, Romeo said: “within the next four to six weeks you should see the whole building down.”

Barriers put up around the former CTV Kitchener building on 864 King Street West.

Vive Development acquired the property in February and has submitted a plan to Kitchener city council to building a 44-storey tower of rental units on the site. They’re hoping for formal approval of the project soon.

Vive’s chief development officer, having been being born and raised in Kitchener, understands CTV’s role in the community and even has a childhood photo of himself sitting on the front steps, waiting for the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day parade.

Stephen Litt said the items pulled from the walls ahead of demolition could end up in the new building.

“All of our projects, we try and have something in our lobby that commemorates the historic use,” he said. “We’ll do some of the CTV media stuff in the lobby.”

Litt added that the building’s yet-to-be determined name will also pay tribute to the site’s history.

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“That branding, that legacy that ties it to something in the community, is important.”

Those ties ensure the story of 864 King Street West will continue, even as this chapter closes.