At the time of its creation, STRANGE PARADISE was an unusual production – an original continuing drama produced independent of any U.S. network affiliation, marketed directly to local television stations across North America. It broke new ground as the first dramatic series on American television released exclusively in first-run syndication. Because of its independent status, SP was brought to life with financing originating outside of the major U.S. networks (quite an accomplishment in its own right). Ultimately, three other players in the broadcast industry joined forces to make STRANGE PARADISE a reality – the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Metromedia, and Kaiser Broadcasting. 

The CBC is the broadcaster most commonly associated with SP, despite its being only one of three entities backing Krantz Films Inc’s production of the series. (This is probably due in large part to the show’s being filmed in Ottawa, and the producers’ heavy reliance on Canadian performers.) The CBC first became a force in the broadcasting community in September 1952, when it brought three television stations to the airwaves, establishing itself as Canada’s national public television broadcaster. Over time, further stations were added to its stable, and for nearly a decade even privately owned stations within Canada were required to have a CBC affiliation. However, this practice had been relaxed by the time that STRANGE PARADISE made its debut on the CBC on October 20, 1969 originating over station CJOH. 

Metromedia, in 1969, was an entertainment-oriented business concern consisting of television and radio stations, a tv production and distribution company, and various forms of live entertainment such as the Ice Capades and the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. It took the name Metromedia in 1961, but was actually formed from the holdings left after the demise of the very first licensed commercial television network, DuMont. After shutting down its network operations in 1955, DuMont’s surviving broadcast operation was re-named the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation in 1957, before ultimately adopting the name Metromedia four years later. After almost another quarter of a century on the air, Metromedia’s television stations were sold to the News Corporation in 1985, establishing the fledgling incarnation of today’s Fox Broadcasting Company. Currently, the Metromedia name is still alive in conjunction with several sports and entertainment related projects, but no longer bears any connection to television broadcasting as it did in its days with STRANGE PARADISE.

Kaiser Broadcasting entered the world of television communications modestly with the purchase of a station in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1958. However, it soon moved to expand its broadcast holdings on the U.S. mainland by securing licenses from the FCC to construct new UHF stations in major markets across the country. The operation this created was a group of independent television outlets broadcasting on the UHF band. Kaiser did much to attract viewers to the newly emerging UHF market, aggressively promoting off-network programming and movies, and certainly STRANGE PARADISE was among these efforts. This strategy met with success, and Kaiser Broadcasting flourished for nearly two decades. They left the television field quietly in 1977, selling their holdings to Chicago-based Field Communications.
  

Don’t see a listing for the station that aired STRANGE PARADISE in your area? Give me a shout at strangeparadiselibrary@yahoo.com and me know about it.

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