CityNews are local newscasts on the Citytv system in CKEM-TV Edmonton, CKAL-TV Calgary, and CITY-TV Toronto, Canada.
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CityNews Toronto
History
The newscast premiered on March 23, 1977 in Toronto under its original title CityPulse. On August 2, 2005, it was renamed CityNews. While the station often claims that it was the "first" news show to abandon the traditional anchor desk, CBS News in the United States had done this as early as the 1950s under Edward R. Murrow. Its main contribution and innovation in television news was to inject its reporters into their stories in a more participatory role that is still considered controversial by more traditional journalists.[citation needed] CityNews/CityPulse also presents its programs in such a manner to emphasize a more emotional feel to the show to get a reaction out of the audience than most other local news stations (examples include stories related to Paul Bernardo, the Mike Harris government in Ontario and the Caledonia land dispute).
By the mid-1980s, the newscast's style, pioneered by Moses Znaimer, was promoted as a "format" for local news shows to copy around North America. The show has also been duplicated by other television stations owned by CHUM Limited as well, and its format has been licensed to several television stations around the world such as Citytv Barcelona and Citytv Bogotá.
Until 1987, the anchors on CityPulse sat behind an anchor desk in a dark studio, accompanied only by the two orange-red-black striped beams and a television set between the two anchors. CityPulse at Six was anchored by Gord Martineau and Dini Petty for much of the years 1980-1987. Weather presenters in that era included CHUM Radio veteran Jay Nelson, Brian Hill, Greg Rist, and David Onley. Sports anchors included Jim McKenny, Russ Salzberg, John Saunders, Debbie Van Kiekebelt, and Ann Rohmer
CityPulse Tonight, originally known as CityPulse at 10 prior to 1981, was anchored by Bill Cameron, later by Gord Martineau, and then Anne Mroczkowski. In 1987, Anne moved to the supper-hour show to co-anchor with Martineau, and J.D. (John) Roberts began his news anchoring career as anchor of CityPulse Tonight after several years as an entertainment reporter and MuchMusic VJ.
On May 4, 1987, CityPulse moved into its current newsroom set at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, following the move of the station's operations from 99 Queen Street East. The set was heavily grey with red accents until late 1990, when it began to darken towards the current look.
As of March 2008, CityNews Toronto is struggling in the ratings, coming in third (with an average of 100,000 viewers) after CTV (326,000 viewers) and Global (126,000). On January 21, 2008, CityNews at 5 debuted, drawing a scant 1% share of the Toronto market at 5 p.m..[1]
On April 27, 2007, Gord Martineau won a lifetime achievement award for best newscast for 30 years for working at Citytv Toronto and CP24.
In July 2008, Rogers filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a separate 24-hour news station to be affiliated with Citytv Toronto, and to be known as CityNews Toronto. The application was approved on December 10, 2008. This new station will be in direct competition with CP24.
In August 2009, the CityNews and Citytv websites were completely revamped, effectively merging CityNews.ca within the Citytv.com domain.
CityNews on CP24
Prior to 2008, CityNews and local cable news channel, CP24 were a combined operation. CP24 was launched in 1998 as a spinoff of Citytv's news programming. CP24 simulcasted programming like Breakfast Television, CityPulse/CityNews and special coverage. CP24 also reran CityPulse/CityNews programming immediately after it was done airing and Citytv reporters would anchor the CP24 newsflow. Both stations also shared the same newsroom/studio space at 299 Queen Street West.
In July 2006, Bell Globemedia, now CTVglobemedia, announced a takeover of Citytv/CP24 parent CHUM Limited. A year later, the CRTC approved the sale on the condition that the Citytv stations be sold. CTVgm was permitted to keep any of the channels they wished, including CP24. Shortly thereafter, Rogers Media purchased the Citytv stations.
For a short period, things were left as-is: Citytv anchors continued to anchor and contribute to CP24 and shows were simulcast between the two channels. In November 2007, CTVgm began hiring new CP24-only personalities, while Rogers began hiring new Citytv Toronto-only personalites and also began separating the remaining staffing between the Citytv Toronto and CP24 news departments. In addition, the "CityNews.ca" logo on the CP24 enriched screen was replaced with a "CP24.com" logo for several months before the new CP24 website was officially launched in August 2008. It has a look similar to CP24's enriched screen on television. During the soft launch, CP24.com was redirected to the CityNews website (CityNews.ca). In January 2008, CTVgm launched Live at Five, Toronto's first 5 p.m. news show one week prior to Rogers planned launch of CityNews at Five. Two different sets of anchors did their respective programs metres apart. CP24 wrapped up its show within 15 minutes before going to talk shows and then joining CityNews at Six.
In November 2008, CTVgm unveiled a new look for CP24 including a new newsroom and studio on the second floor of 299 Queen Street West. CP24 continued the simulcast of CityNews programming up until December 10, 2008 when the CRTC granted approval for a digital licence for the launch of CityNews Toronto, a new 24-hour news channel focusing primarily on the Greater Toronto Area. CP24 is licensed to target all of Southern Ontario. CTVgm pulled the simulcast of almost all Citytv news programming with the exception of Breakfast Television. That night, CTV News at Six replaced CityNews at Six which has remained in place since the channel began broadcasting in 1998.
One of the final ties was severed on March 26, 2009 when CP24 dropped its simulcast of Breakfast Television (BT) and launched its own morning show, CP24 Breakfast. In the months prior to the change, Citytv hosts constantly referred to Breakfast Television being "only on Citytv, Cable 7". Likewise, when BT went to break, CP24 anchors did extended morning updates similar to the arrangement with A-Channel Barrie when that station was airing the simulcast of Breakfast Television until September 5, 2008, when it launched its own morning show, A Morning on September 8, 2008.
Citytv Toronto moved out of 299 Queen Street to their new studios at 33 Dundas Street East on September 8 2009.
CityNews Weather
CityNews is the only newscast in Canada that currently operates its own 11 (now expanded to 20) weather transmitter stations[2] across the Greater Toronto Area. In addition to the 11 weather stations, on August 24, 2007, CityNews introduced a CityNews Weather LiveEye a mobile unit that can monitor the weather anywhere [3].
On June 21, 2007, CityNews launched "CityNews Weather Online", a live weather streaming system which makes seeing the weather forecast easier through your desktop that at citynews.ca, which requires logging on. The new program has similar features to the CityNews website including 11 weather stations across the GTA and Top News stories. When a weather watch or warning is issued, two beeps will sound and a weather watch or warning appear on the weather toolbar. There is also a warning symbol displaying a red TV with a "!" mark appearing on the CityNews icon which is on the taskbar where the start button and other application windows are located. The system is currently only in use for Microsoft Windows computers.
In November 2008, CityNews launched Citynews Weather Webcast. It is the only station that is doing a weather webcast for all of Ontario. The Weather Webcasts start early weekday mornings with Weather Specialist Frank Feragine, then mid-day with Meteorologist Adam Stiles, then in the evening and next day with Chief Meteorologist Michael Kuss, and then on the weekends is Weather Specialist Sangita Patel.
CityNews Webcast
On February 14, 2007, CityNews created the CityNews Webcast, a downloadable news podcast based in Toronto. Before February 14. 2007, Citytv had the CityNews Podcast. There are two editions of the webcast, one recorded live on Breakfast Television every weekday morning and the other recorded in the afternoon. Before February 14, 2007, the CityNews Afternoon Webcast was known as CityNews @ Work and was not available for download. The CityNews Webcast can be downloaded to the computer with a podcatcher and viewed with the computer or any video-capable portable media player, or online. The PM webcast now consists of the first 10–15 minutes of CITY's CityNews at Noon.
Theme music and opens
The CityPulse newscast originally began with the instrumental version of "Masterpiece" by The Temptations. In 1979, it was changed to "Gotta Fly Now" by Maynard Ferguson (a Montreal jazz musician). The theme for CityPulse Tonight continued to be "Masterpiece" until the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s until the early 1990s, "Pentatus" by Graham Shaw was used as the theme music for CityPulse Tonight. Meanwhile, "Gotta Fly Now" was used until 1989 for the supper-hour newscast. The current theme is a custom composed music piece.
On January 21, 2008, the new CityNews at 5, and the other CityNews newscasts airing on Citytv Toronto unveiled new graphics and music that includes helicopter sounds and more swooping city views.
CityNews in other markets
CityPulse was launched in Vancouver in 2002 when CKVU-TV was re-named Citytv Vancouver. With the expansion of Citytv from two to five stations in August 2005, the newscasts on all five Citytv stations were renamed CityNews.
On July 12, 2006, coincident with the announcement of CTVglobemedia's plans to take over CHUM Limited, all primetime CityNews programs, with the exception of those on CITY-TV in Toronto, were immediately cancelled and 281 CHUM employees across the country were laid off. On CKAL and CKEM, CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight was replaced with a new half-hour newsmagazine called Your City. CHMI had been slated to launch its own version in January according to a news release[4], however, CHMI has not produced a version of Your City as of June 22, 2007. CKVU's full newscasts have not been replaced although a noon newscast based on the Breakfast Television format called Lunch Television was launched in early 2009. Calgary and Edmonton still run CityNews at noon.
When the show made the transition to CityNews, it lost multiple features, such as the CityPulse Webtest, which had existed since the 1980s as a phone-in contest. The new format on CHMI, which previously was called A-Channel News (which is now used by CHUM's NewNet stations), had lost nearly half of its audience for the 6 p.m. newscast before its cancellation.
On June 8, 2007, the CRTC approved the CTV takeover of CHUM, However the five Citytv stations were unable to be sold to CTVglobmedia as a result of concentration of media ownership regulations. On June 11 Rogers Media announced that it would buy five Citytv stations from CTVglobemedia. The sale was approved on September 28 and became official on October 31. CTVglobemedia retained ownership of CP24, the 24 hour Toronto local news station that shared many programs and personalities with Toronto's Citytv station, including CityNews. CP24 has slowly been severing ties with Citytv, and as of December 2008, the only Citytv program still aired on CP24 was the popular morning show Breakfast Television. In March 2009, CP24 discontinued its simulcast of Breakfast Television and launched a new morning show called CP24 Breakfast.
CityNews International
Soon after the cancellation of the local CityNews broadcasts in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg, a new half-hour program called CityNews International was launched. The program is produced in the Citytv Toronto studios and features many of the same on-air personalities as the local Citytv Toronto's CityNews. CityNews International airs at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. in Calgary and Edmonton. In Winnipeg it runs at 11:00 p.m. and in Vancouver it airs at 6 p.m. and 11:35 p.m.
In Toronto, Citytv airs the newscast at 11:35 p.m. Previously, the program was shown through the CityNews website to be hosted by Gord Martineau, Amber MacArthur and Beatrice Politi. Gord Martineau is the host of the program. Substitutes are Merella Fernandez, Anne Mrscrowzski & Dwight Drummond.
Your City
The replacement program in Calgary and Edmonton for the evening/late-evening program is a magazine type of show called Your City.
The show airs five nights a week at 6:00 p.m. with a repeat at 11:00 p.m. (11:30 p.m. when the late movie runs long). The format of the show consists of a top story, a look at theatre/other cultural life, various restaurant and wine reviews and an assortment of other general interest stories such as dating and a weekly debate (seen only on the Calgary edition).
The Calgary edition is anchored by Sandra Jansen. Weather is presented by comedian Jebb Fink, who had previously worked with the station when it was A-Channel as the remote host on The Big Breakfast, which is now Breakfast Television.
The Edmonton edition is anchored by Rob Hislop and weather is presented by the station's web host, Carla Turner.
In both cities, the show makes use of the newsroom setup that originated in Toronto. Both editions still display the CityNews logo on the set.
Anchors and reporters
Citytv Toronto
CityNews in Toronto replaced the former CityPulse news as the main 6pm news format. There are some differences between the old and new formats.
- Audra Brown, videographer
- Hugh Burrill, sports anchor
- Mark Dailey, anchor, CityNews at Five and CityNews Tonight; also Citytv's continuity announcer
- Laura DiBattista, co-anchor, CityNews at Noon; health specialist, CityNews
- Marianne Dimain, news reporter
- Dwight Drummond, co-anchor, CityNews at Five; crime specialist
- Francis D'Souza, co-anchor, CityNews at Noon; reporter, CityNews
- Merella Fernandez, co-anchor, CityNews at Five; reporter, CityNews
- Frank Ferragine, weather specialist, BT-BreakfastTelevision; gardening specialist, CityNews
- Kevin Frankish, main host, BT-BreakfastTelevision
- Kathryn Humphreys, sports anchor.
- Michael Kuss, meteorologist (CMOS-certified)
- Richard Madan, political specialist, CityNews
- Gord Martineau, co-anchor/reporter, CityNews at Six; anchor, CityNews International
- Jim McKenny, sports anchor
- Anne Mroczkowski, co-anchor/reporter, CityNews at Six.
- Cynthia Mulligan, education specialist/reporter CityNews
- Farah Nasser, anchor, CityNews Weekend; reporter/fill-in anchor, CityNews
- Sangita Patel, weather specialist (currently on maternity leave)
- Roger Petersen, anchor, CityNews Weekend; reporter/fill-in anchor, CityNews
- Andrea Piunno, reporter, CityNews
- Dina Pugliese, co-host, BT-Breakfast Television.
- Kris Reyes, fill-in anchor, CityNews; host of City OnLine; host of BT-ONLINE for BT-Breakfast Television.
- Pam Seatle, news reporter, CityNews
- Michael Serapio, reporter
- Adam Stiles, meteorologist
- Jennifer Valentyne, LiveEye host, BT - BreakfastTelevision
- Tara Webber, reporter, CityNews
Citytv Winnipeg
CityNews was to be replaced by Your City news magazine after the merger of Bell Globemedia and CHUM Limited, but the show has not been materialized yet. The only newscast shown on Citytv currently (aside from news coverage on Breakfast Television), is CityNews International, a national newscast covering Canada and the world.
- Jon Ljungberg, Host, Breakfast Television
- Jenna Khan, Host, Breakfast Television
- Brian Yasui, News Reporter, Breakfast Television
- Mark Jardine, Reporter, Breakfast Television
- Heather Steele, Weather Specialist, Breakfast Television
Citytv Calgary
CityNews newscasts were dropped, except for CityNews at Noon while reporters were re-assigned to Your City.
- Andrew Schultz, Meteorologist, CityNews and Breakfast Television
- Daniel Moore, Reporter
- Jill Belland, Entertainment Reporter
- Aisling Slattery, Anchor, Breakfast Television and CityNews
- Alexandra Bell, Lethbridge correspondent
- Jebb Fink, remote weather host, Your City
- Judy Gabriel, Entertainment Reporter
- Mike McCourt, Reporter
- Mike Yawney, Reporter
- Sandra Jansen, Anchor, Your City
Citytv Edmonton
CityNews newscasts were dropped, except for CityNews at Noon while reporters were re-assigned to Your City.
- Rob Hislop, Anchor, Your City
- Bridget Ryan, Host, Breakfast Television
- Ryan Jespersen, Host, Breakfast Television
- Wendy Sandwith, Host, Breakfast Television
- Michele McDougall, Weather Specialist/Host, Breakfast Television
- Stacey Brotzel, National Correspondent
- Asha Tomlinson, Reporter
Citytv Vancouver
All CityNews newscasts were dropped. The station also offered newsbreaks for many years after that ran during the regular program day. However, these were dropped after the launch of Lunch Television in mid-January 2009.
- Mark Docherty, News Anchor, Breakfast Television
- Greg Harper, Reporter, Breakfast Television
- Dawn Chubai, Host & Weather Specialist, Breakfast Television,
- Kyle Donaldson, Host, Lunch Television
- Michel McDermott, Weather reporter Lunch Television Traffic Reporter Breakfast Television
- Riaz Meghji, Host, Breakfast Television
- Thor Diakow, Entertainment Reporter, Breakfast Television
Notable ex-contributors
Citytv Toronto
- Dr. Karl Kebasele, (officially joinned CP24 & hosts new show: On-Call with Dr. Karl) former CP24/CityNews Medical Specialist
- Muhammad Lila, (joined CBC and reports for CBC Toronto and fills in for Diana Swain)
- Bob Hunter. He was a founder of Greenpeace and then later died after a prolonged battle with cancer on May 2, 2005
- Thalia Assuras, who later moved to ABC and then CBS
- Bill Cameron, who later moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Denise Donlon, later CEO of Sony Canada
- Mary Garofalo, who later moved to WNYW-TV in New York; now hosting 16x9: The Bigger Picture on Global
- Avi Lewis, who later moved to CBC and is now with Al Jazeera English
- Stephen Lewis who provided a commentary for the program until his appointment as Canadian ambassador to the United Nations
- David Onley, science and technology specialist, CityNews; anchor, CP24; host, Homepage; became the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario in September 2007.
- Beatrice Politi, former CityNews A-Channel, CP24 political specialist (Ottawa specialist), now with Global Ontario.
- Dini Petty, later a talk show host (The Dini Petty Show)
- Tonya Rouse, former CityNews/CP24 fitness specialist and host of CP24's Perfect Fit.
- Lance Chilton former CityNews/CP24 reporter now with A-Channel in Barrie.
- Alex Pierson former reporter now with Global News in Toronto
- John Roberts (credited as J.D. Roberts), an entertainment reporter and weekend anchor now with CNN's American Morning News program weekdays
- John Saunders, a sportscaster who later moved to ESPN
- Russ Salzberg, a sportscaster who later moved to WWOR-TV in New York
- Tracy Moore, former reporter, BT-Breakfast Television and CityNews; now hosting Citytv's CityLine
- Lorne Honickman, former CityNews (before called CityPulse) Legal Specialist. Now on CP24 as Legal Specialist and host of Legal Briefs.
- Omar Sachedina, former CityNews reporter. Now on CP24 as a weeknight anchor.
- Melissa Grelo, former CityNews anchor/reporter. Now on CP24 as co-host of CP24 Breakfast and weekday anchor.
- Chris Potter, former Meteorologist for CityNews on weekends. Now on CP24 as weekday afternoon meteorologist
- Nalini Sharma, former CityNews weather/entertainment specialists at noon. Now on CP24 as a weather specialist on CP24 Breakfast and a weekday morning weather specialist.
- Amber MacArthur, former CityNews new media specialist. Now on CP24 as a new media specialist.
- Zuraidah Alman, former CityNews reporter. Now on CTV TORONTO as a reporter.
- Ann Rohmer, former CityNews Anchor and City OnLine Host. Used to be the Breakfast Television host, now at CP24 as the Lead Anchor.
- Mika Midolo, now at CP24 as Transit Specialist. Former TTC Specialist for CityNews & Toronto Transit Commission.
- Bob Summers, now at CP24 as Traffic Specialist. Former Breakfast Television Traffic Centre and CHUM FM.
Citytv Vancouver
- Roger Petersen, former anchor, CityNews at Six, CityNews Tonight, now weekend anchor, Citytv Toronto
- Julie Nolin, former anchor, CityNews at Six
- Elaine Yong, former anchor, CityNews Weekend, now consumer reporter, CHAN-TV
- Moira McLean, former Legislative reporter, CityNews
- Dag Sharman, former senior reporter, CityNews,
- Leigh Morrow, former reporter, CityNews, now realtor
- Marke Driesschen, former weather specialist, CityNews, now weekend weather specialist, CTV Vancouver
Citytv Edmonton
- Jennifer Martin, former anchor, CityNews at Six, now ACCESS TV anchor on Alberta Primetime
- Kristi Gordon, former meteorologist, CityNews at Six, CityNews Tonight, now weekend meteorologist, Global BC
- Jamie Thomas, former sports anchor, CityNews at Six, now sports anchor, Sportsnet
- Kris Laudien, former sports reporter, CityNews, now at CurlTV
- Christine Chorley, former sports reporter, CityNews
- Scott Fee, former reporter, CityNews, now 5pm/6pm anchor, CHEK News
- Sudha Krishnan former Legislative reporter, CityNews, now OMNI News: South Asian anchor, OMNI Edmonton
Citytv Calgary
- Ted Henley, former anchor, CityNews at Six, CityNews Tonight, now morning anchor, 660News Calgary's All News Radio, and freelance contributor to Your City
- Rob Gibson, former sports director, CityNews at Six
- Tim Butcher, former sports reporter, CityNews Weekend
- Derek Bidwell, former sports anchor, CityNews Tonight
- Leah Sarich, former anchor, CityNews, Your City
- Bryan Labby, former reporter, CityNews, Your City, now reporter, CBC Calgary
- Christine Osunde, former reporter, CityNews, Your City
Citytv Winnipeg
- Glen Kirby, former anchor, CityNews at Six
- Lisa Saunders, former anchor, CityNews at Six, CityNews Tonight
- Ashlea Kay, former anchor, CityNews Weekend, now producer, CP24
- Bill Fortier, former reporter, CityNews, now weekend 11:30pm anchor, CTV Edmonton
- Meera Bahadoosingh, former reporter, CityNews, now Prairie Correspondent, Global National
- Derek Taylor, former sports anchor, CityNews
- Bridget Brown, former morning anchor, now reporter for A Barrie
References
External links
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