LONDON – Ed Jarmain, the man widely considered to be the first to bring cable television to Canada died yesterday. He was 99.
Born and raised in London, Ont., Jarmain originally ran his father’s dry cleaning business in the city in the 1930s through the ’60s. In the 1950s, however, as one of the first families in London with a TV set, he suffered through spotty reception from U.S. signals (there were no local broadcasters at the time). As an engineer, he thought there must be a better way to get these signals.
After reading about cable and then visiting U.S. industry pioneer Marty Malarkey in Pottsville, Pa., where he got a look at the books of the 1,800-customer system, Jarmain told me when I interviewed him in 2002, “We stayed there two days, and before we left he opened up his books – and I could see pretty quickly that it was a lucrative business, so I said that’s for me."
(At the time, Jarmain’s fellow traveller was Harry Anderson, a car radio installer and repairman. Eventually, Anderson would start his own cable business in Woodstock backed by Francis Shaw, the father of JR Shaw.)
So, in 1952 Jarmain built a huge antenna in his back yard which, fortuitously, was on just about the highest spot in rather flat London, and wired up 15 people nearby, loaning TV sets to most of them. Signals came from Detroit and Cleveland but sometimes even Buffalo could be picked up. (Jarmain passed away Tuesday in the very same home on Commissioner’s Road he originally built and ran his cable company from.)
Of the original testers, 13 became customers (for $4 a month) and the beginning of what was to become the largest MSO in Canada, was born.
In 1974, when their systems served 100,000 homes, the Jarmains merged their interests into Canadian Cablesystems Ltd., a public company.
But in 1979, Canadian Cablesystems was purchased in a hostile takeover by Rogers. At the time, it was David (Rogers had about 200,000 customers) taking over Goliath (CCL had about 500,000).
Even though feelings were hurt then, Rogers Communications vice-chairman, Phil Lind, has nothing but warm memories of the man. “Ed Jarmain was probably the foremost gentleman the cable industry has ever had or ever will have,” said Lind today.
“He was patient, persistent and treated everyone with the utmost in dignity and respect… and he was relentless in his dedication and improving the cable television business.”
And after the Rogers takeover? “He was able to rise above the fray at the time and after we took over the company, with him, it was like nothing had happened,” said Lind.
Jarmain (pictured) 
and his company were involved in a number of pioneering efforts – most notably as the first cable operator, likely in the world, to test fibre optic cable in the delivery of TV signals. In the mid1970s (ages before anyone else), Jarmain and his technical team spearheaded the first fibre optic field trial in cable television.
With backing from Maclean-Hunter Cable, Rogers Cable, Premier Cable and the federal government, CCL installed an 8 km fibre trunk in London from CFPL to its headend. It was enormously expensive and completely successful recalls former Rogers Cable chief technology officer Nick Hamilton-Piercy, who headed up CCL’s engineering department at the time.
Lit up in 1978, it then transmitted multiple channels at 300 Mbps and was fully digital. Of course, it was well ahead of its time as fibre didn’t really become affordable for another decade.
Pioneering efforts like this were a Jarmain hallmark, said Hamilton-Piercy. “Ed was always a visionary and knew where things were going even then,” he said. In 1974 he was already using computers to model network designs.”
When Rogers purchased CCL, Jarmain was worried about the company’s technical advancement and told Hamilton-Piercy, who of course was hired by Rogers, to “make sure Ted Rogers keeps the engineering going.”
In fact, Jarmain was instrumental in bringing professionally trained engineers into cable in the first place, which had been ruled by self-taught technicians. “Ed started Canadian Cable Television Research,” recalls Hamilton-Piercy, a body set up to research and develop cable technology. It was a precursor, really, to CableLabs, a cable engineering consortium set up years later in Colorado which counts several Canadian cable companies as members.
“Ed believed that professionally grounded engineers should be in the cable industry… rather than the service-shop approach,” said Hamilton-Piercy. “That’s why Canadian cable was so far ahead of the U.S.”
But despite his engineering background and nonstop technical tinkering, Jarmain learned a thing or two about customer service from his time as a dry cleaner. Technical advancements are great but should only be done “because it will do something for the customer,” said Hamilton-Piercy. “He always told us to start with the customer first. If you do that, even if you screw up, they will forgive you.”
Jarmain received a number of honours. In the mid-sixties, he headed the Canadian Cable Television Association and, in 1973, he was appointed to its Honours List. In 1980, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada; for the remainder of his life, he proudly wore the Order of Canada pin on his lapel. In 1988, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario.
“Beyond his many achievements, Ed will be remembered as warm-hearted and generous,” reads his obituary in today’s Globe and Mail and London Free Press, “especially toward young people for whom he often was a mentor. At the same time, he was noted for his practical and reasoned way of dealing with situations and problems. People felt that they always could talk with him. These qualities earned Ed wide respect and loyalty from those who came in contact with him. He was a truly decent man. While old age finally began to catch up with Ed in the past few years, he didn’t complain and his spirit was amazing.”
Jarmain is survived by five children: Ted (Anna), Kelly (Hannah McCurley), Lowell (John Barron), Eric (Anne) and Julie (Larry Steinman); 20 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In 2001, Ed was predeceased by his wife of 64 years, Ruth Winifred (Secord.
Visitation is from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on Friday, May 11th at the Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Road North, London, Ontario, telephone 519 641-1793.
A memorial service will be held in the chapel at Westview Funeral Chapel on Saturday, May 12th at 2pm. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Foundation Western, The University of Western Ontario, Alumni Hall, London, ON N6A 5B9 or to the Salvation Army, 371 King Street, London, ON N6B 1S4.
