Visiting the Global Village: The International Broadcasting Centre at Expo ‘67

In some ways Expo ’67 represented the aspirations of Canadians at the time of the country’s centennial. Futuristic and optimistic, the event celebrated peace, international cooperation, and modern technology, among other things. With over 50 million visitors, it was a tremendous success. The events of Expo were also viewed or listened to many times more than this, making Expo perhaps a physical manifestation of Marshall McLuhan’s theory of a “global village.” Indeed, the place of Expo in the mass media beamed around the world no doubt contributed to its high attendance. The media hub at Expo was the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), designed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. More than just a site of media production for 200 of the world’s broadcasters, the IBC was also a destination, with over three quarters of a million visitors (about 5,000 visitors a day).
On the occasion of Canada’s sesquicentennial, it is appropriate to explore how the IBC (now demolished) represented Canadian ideals fifty years ago. The building will also be read as exemplifying the goals of the CBC at an important moment in its history. This paper also argues that the broadcasting centre resonates with the spatio-media theories of McLuhan. As a site that responded to popular interest in the production of radio and television, IBC emphasized the spatiality of mass media. Laden with fleeting and ephemeral moments, sites of mass media, maybe more than any other building type, highlight the place of modern, layered experiences, yet their histories are very often overlooked.