Cellular and paging providers

• Bell Mobility

• Rogers Wireless

• Motorola

Communications

• Bell Canada

• Toronto Transit Commission

• Amateur radio repeaters "2-Tango" (2 meter VHF) and "4-Tango" (440/70 cm UHF) – owned and operated by the Toronto FM Communications Society, under callsign VE3TWR.

Facts and figures

The CN Tower, as seen from Trinity Bellwoods Park on the west side of Toronto

A bolt of lightning strikes the CN Tower

• The CN Tower is 13 metres taller than Moscow's Ostankino Tower, is almost twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and is the tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

• The CN Tower is struck by lightning over 78 times a year.

• One person died during the building of the CN Tower.

• The CN Tower has a wind tolerance level of 420 km/h (260 mph).

• The elevators ascend and descend at over 22 km/h (15 mph), taking 58 seconds to reach the Lookout (indoor observation deck) and 61 seconds to reach the 360 restaurant levels respectively.

• The Glass Floor can withstand 4,100 kPa (600 lbs/sq in).

• In winds of 120 mph the tower sways 1.07 m (3½ ft) from centre at the Antenna, 0.46 m (1½ ft) from centre at the Space Deck, and 22.9 cm (9 inches) from centre at the Sky Pod.

• The CN Tower has a mass of 117,910 metric tonnes (a weight of 130,000 tons), and was built using 40,524 m³ (53,000 cu. yd.) of concrete, enough to build a sidewalk from Toronto to Kingston, Ontario, about 250 km (155.3 mi) away.

• A Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter nicknamed 'Olga' was used to lower the communications antenna into place on the tower. The helicopter was piloted by Larry Pravecek.

• The CN Tower is designed to withstand an earthquake of 8.5 on the Richter Scale.

• In 1979, Norman Alexander and Joe Squire hauled a 440 lb. piano up the stairs in 7½ hours.

• On July 23, 1999, Ashrita Furman became the fastest person to go up the CN Tower using a pogo stick.

• In 2001, a group of environmentalists illegally scaled the outside of the Tower, in order to place a banner protesting the policies of United States President George W. Bush.

• The tower is the only landmark from Canada that appears in the city-building/simulation computer games SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4.

• The CN Tower was included in the Namco pilot simulation game Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. The tower rests in a fictional metropolitan area named November City.

• The tower is occasionally mistaken by some for the Seattle Space Needle, due to their similar appearances. While filming in Toronto, American talk show host Conan O'Brien staged a mock fight on his show between two men costumed as the respective towers.

• The CN Tower can be accidentally seen numerous times during scenes in the Police Academy series.

• The CN Tower celebrated 30 years as the world's tallest freestanding tower on June 26, 2006.

• The tower was featured in the 1995 film Canadian Bacon.

• A segment of "Weird Al" Yankovic's live concerts contained a short video mockumentary about why it is inadvisable to throw bananas from the top of the CN Tower.

• The song "The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead" by Owen Pallett makes obvious reference to the Tower.

• The CN Tower was featured on the front cover of the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records.

• The CN Tower is featured in the music video of Another Postcard, a song on the 2003 Everything to Everyone album by the Barenaked Ladies.

• In April 2006, Braden Fox, a Humber College firefighting student climbed the stairs in full turnout gear to raise money for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). His time of 20 minutes 43 seconds beat the previous record for such a feat by over two full minutes.

• The CN tower can be seen easily on a clear day from the other side of Lake Ontario at Niagara on the Lake.

ANNOTATIONS

Comprehension Check Exercises

I. Fill in the blank with the correct word:

1. A Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter nicknamed 'Olga' was used to lower the communications antenna into … .

2. The CN Tower was featured on the front cover of the 1996 … .

3. The CN Tower is designed to withstand an earthquake of … on the Richter Scale.

4. Several rivals have been proposed and most schemes … .

5. The CN Tower is almost twice as tall as … .

II. Find out whether the statement is true or false according to the information in the text:

1. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

2. The CN Tower has been and continues to be used as a communications tower.

3. The Guinness Book of World Records officially states the CN Tower as World's Tallest Building and Free-Standing Structure.

4. The CN Tower is 13 metres taller than Moscow's Ostankino Tower, is almost twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and is the tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

5. The CN Tower can be accidentally seen numerous times during scenes in the Police Academy series.

III. Questions:

1. Name the main TV broadcasters.

2. How many times a year is the CN Tower struck by a lightning?

3. When did the CN Tower celebrate 30 years as the world's tallest freestanding tower?