Repelling into Breakfast TV

In the fall of 1995 the Army Reserve units based at Fort York Armoury were planning a recruiting open house. To increase public awareness at minimum cost Captain Roberts was asked to help, despite the fact he was still at LFCAHQ, two levels up the chain of command. After a co-ordinating meeting it was agreed to approach City-TV "Breakfast Television". Roberts was to investigate the feasibility of having soldiers repel down the outside of the studio building during the 6:30am to 9:00am program to promote the open house. He contacted the program host Ann Rohmer, who was very receptive to the plan. On the day before the open house about 20 repel qualified members of The Toronto Scottish and The Royal Regiment of Canada used two ropes to descended several stories from the roof to a patio. On the patio Ms. Rohmer interviewed Roberts about the transferable skills that Reserve soldiers brings to a civilian employer. The segment lasted eight minutes.

A building owned by Molson's Brewery is located next to Fort York Armoury. Both buildings are immediately south of the elevated six lane wide Gardiner Expressway, that is used by approximately 200,000 vehicles daily. Molson's has a very large two sided electronic sign on the roof of the building targeting motorists on the Gardiner, especially those stuck in rush hour- traffic. Roberts called them and arranged to have a notice posted on the billboard, at no cost, for the week leading up the open house.

Next he spoke to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), to ask if it was possible to access the electronic bulletin board service used in the subway system. This time for a $50 dollar administrative fee, an announcement ran in all the TTC subway stations for the week prior to the open house.

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