CityNews

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CityNews are local newscasts on the Citytv system in Canada. Previously seen on all five Citytv stations, it is currently only seen on Citytv Toronto and CP24.

Contents

CityPulse at Six open titles, 2003
CityPulse at Six open titles, 2003

The newscast originated in 1977 in Toronto under its original title CityPulse until August 2, 2005 when it was renamed CityNews. While the station promotes the myth that it was the "first" news show to abandon the traditional anchor desk, this is in fact, not true as 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 highly controversial by more traditional journalists. 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 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 familiar 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.

CityNews opening titles from 2005, still seen on Citytv Calgary and Edmonton
CityNews opening titles from 2005, still seen on Citytv Calgary and Edmonton

CityPulse launched in Vancouver in 2002 when CKVU-TV was re-branded as 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 with 281 CHUM employees across the country being 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[1], however, CHMI has not produced a version of Your City as of June 22, 2007. CKVU's newscast has not been replaced. 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.

Ratings for Toronto's CityNews have taken a dramatic nosedive over the past year. The flagship newscast for CityTV is now ranked a distant #4 in the Toronto market, outpaced by CTV, Global and even CH News (which actually focuses its local news coverage on the Hamilton/Halton/Niagara region). In addition, since Global's relaunch of its news package in February 2006, CityNews' numbers are down 15% among 18- to 49-year-olds.[2]

On April 27, 2007, Gord Martineau won a lifetime achievement award for best newscast for 30 years for working at Citytv Toronto and CP24.

On June 8, 2007, the CRTC approved the CTV takeover of CHUM, However the five Citytv stations could not be sold to CTVgm 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. CP24 has been retained by CTVglobemedia, Citytv Toronto and CP24 will continue to share resources until at least 2008. However, in September 2007, Rogers entered an agreement to acquire 20 per cent interest in CablePulse 24. [3] Neither CTV nor Rogers has, to date, announced whether this application will change future plans for the station.

David C. Onley after taping an episode of Home Page.
David C. Onley after taping an episode of Home Page.

Notable contributors to the Toronto show included:

The CityPulse newscast originally began with the theme music "Masterpiece" by the Temptations. In 1985 it was switched to "Gotta Fly Now" by Maynard Ferguson (a Montreal Jazz musician). The current theme is a custom composed music piece.

CityNews is the only newscast in Canada that currently operates its own 11 now 20 weather transmitter stations[4] across the Greater Toronto Area including:

In addition to the 11 weather stations, On August 24, 2007 CityNews and CP24 introduced a CityNews Weather LiveEye a mobile unit which can monitor the weather anywhere. [1]

On June 21, 2007, CityNews and CP24 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, CP24's website including 11 weather stations across the GTA and Top News stories. When a weather watch or warning is issued, 2 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 appication windows are located. The system is currently only in use for Microsoft Windows computers.

On March 30, 1998, CHUM Limited launched CablePulse 24 (commonly known as CP24), a Toronto cable TV station that is Canada's only 24-hour local news channel. It currently shares the same staff as the Citytv Toronto newscasts. As of June 22, 2007 the channel is under the ownership of CTVglobemedia.

On February 14, 2007, CityNews and CP24 created the CityNews Webcast, an online news source based in Toronto. Before February 14. 2007, Citytv and CP24 had CityNews Podcast, a news source that could only be viewed on an ipod device. There are two editions of the webcast, one recorded live on Breakfast Television every weekday morning and the other recorded in the afternoon. The CityNews Afternoon Webcast was previously known as CityNews @ Work before February 14, 2007. It was not available for downloads but is now after being renamed CityNews (Afternoon) Webcast. On the weekends, there is a CityNews Webcast recorded on CP24. Both editions of the CityNews Webcast including the weekend edition can be downloaded on to an iPod via iTunes, however they may not be downloaded on to your desktop itself, only viewed online at citynews.ca

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, CP24 studios and features many of the same on-air personalities as the local CityNews broadcasts. CityNews International airs at 6:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. in Calgary and Edmonton. In Winnipeg it runs at 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and in Vancouver it airs at 6:30 p.m. and 11:35 p.m.. In Toronto, Citytv airs the newscast at 11:35 p.m. and sister cable station CP24 airing it at 8:00 p.m. and repeating it at 10:30 p.m.

Gord Martineau is the primary host of the program, while Amber MacArthur files a technology/pop-culture report regularly.

  1. ^ Limited news release
  2. ^ Canoe.ca
  3. ^ CRTC application 2007-12
  4. ^ CityNews Weather stations

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CityNews#CityNews_International"
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