CityNews is the title of local television newscasts currently seen on
CITY-TV Toronto, Canada. It premiered on September 12, 1977 under the name
CityPulse, then spread to
Citytv stations in other cities across Canada. Due to severe financial issues, as of January 19, 2010, the only station that continues to air Citytv news programming is CITY-TV Toronto. The local newscasts at
CHMI Winnipeg,
CKAL Calgary,
CKEM Edmonton and
CKVU Vancouver have been cancelled outright, with the exception of the morning show
Breakfast Television, but the length of that show has been reduced in all markets to three hours.
CityNews Toronto
History
The newscast, originally known as CityPulse, was first shown in Toronto on September 12, 1976 as a pilot episode, and the first episode aired on September 12, 1977. On August 1, 2005, the last newscast to use the CityPulse title aired and it was renamed CityNews the next day. While the station often claims that it was the "first" news show to abandon the traditional anchor desk, this was not true, as CBS News in the United States had done this as early as the 1950s under Edward R. Murrow. Its main innovation in television news was to have its reporters play a more participatory role in their stories, which is still considered controversial by more traditional journalists.
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 include 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, Mroczkowski moved to the supper-hour show to co-anchor with Martineau. J.D. (John) Roberts began his news anchoring career as anchor of CityPulse Tonight after several years as an entertainment reporter and MuchMusic video jockey.
On May 4, 1987, CityPulse moved into another newsroom set back 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 was 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.
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 December 2008, CityTv laid off several employees. Most notably, the entire CityNews entertainment unit was eliminated. Entertainment reporters Larysa Harapyn and Liz West were let go. Entertainment stories are now read by the anchor(s).
In September 2009, Citytv moved into its current newsroom at 33 Dundas Street East (Yonge-Dundas Square) in the heart of downtown Toronto.
On January 19, 2010, CityNews at Noon, CityOnline and CityNews at Five were cancelled as part of massive layoffs and restructuring within the Citytv stations. Many long time CityNews on-air personalities, including Anne Mroczkowski and Laura DiBattista, were let go.
Beginning March 5, 2011, CityNews will reinstate its weekend broadcast at 6:00pm with news anchor Pam Seatle, and at 11:00pm with news anchor Melanie Ng, both on Saturdays and Sundays.
CityNews also has announced plans to reinstate its 2-hour evening newscasts running from 5:00 - 7:00 pm starting in the fall of 2011.
CityNews on CP24
Prior to 2008, CityNews and local cable news channel,
CP 24 were a combined operation sharing the same newsroom and studio space at
299 Queen Street West. CP24 simulcasted CityTv news programs such as
Breakfast Television and
CityNews. CP24 also reran most
CityNews programming immediately after it was done airing live.
In July 2006, Bell Globemedia (now CTVglobemedia) announced a bid to purchase Citytv/CP24's parent company, CHUM Limited. A year later, the CRTC approved the sale on the condition that the Citytv stations be sold. Shortly after, the sale of CityTv stations to Rogers Communications was finalized.
For a short period, things remained the same; Citytv anchors continued to anchor and contribute to CP24 and shows were simulcast between the two channels until CTV/Rogers announced the restructuring of its employees between to two channels beginning in November 2007, such as the hiring of new CP24-only and CityNews-only personalities.
In November 2008, CP24 moved most of its operations from its original newsroom, shared with Citytv, to a new state-of-the-art newsroom on the second floor with windows facing Queen Street West and at the same time unveiled a new look to its on-screen format. CP24 continued to simulcast CityNews programming up until December 10, 2008, when CTV pulled almost all Citytv news programming with the exception of Breakfast Television. That night, CTV News at Six replaced CityNews at Six, which had 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 and launched its own morning show, CP24 Breakfast.
Following the layoffs at the Citytv stations announced on January 19, 2010, CP24 extended its Live at 5 broadcast from 15 minutes to 30, and also launched another half-hour newscast, .
CityNews Weather
weather station is shown. Temperature is in degrees
Celsius, even if labelled as in
Fahrenheit.]]
CityNews is the only newscast in Canada that operates its own weather monitoring stations across the Greater Toronto Area. In addition to 20 weather stations, CityNews introduced a CityNews Weather LiveEye, a mobile unit that can monitor the weather anywhere.
On June 21, 2007, CityNews launched "CityNews Weather Online", a desktop program that is more convenient that accessing their website. The program includes features to alert the user when a weather watch or warning is issued.
In November 2008, CityNews launched Citynews Weather Webcast. The web-casts are posted by meteorologist Adam Stiles.
CityNews Webcast
On February 14, 2007, CityNews created the CityNews Webcast, a downloadable news
podcast based in Toronto. There are currently three Webcasts uploaded on weekdays: in the morning, presented by
Kevin Frankish from
Breakfast Television; in the afternoon, presented by
CityNews at Six anchor
Gord Martineau; and the final Webcast in the evening, presented by the anchor hosting
CityNews Tonight.
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. 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. The current theme is a custom composed music piece.
CityNews Channel
On May 30, 2011, Rogers announced the upcoming launch of
CityNews Channel, a 24 hour news network based in Toronto that would bring together resources from a number of Rogers-owned news and media properties, including CityNews,
680 News radio, and
Maclean’s magazine. The channel will be launching in October 2011, and will feature "an enriched and interactive screen format," likely similar to that of
Bell Media's
CP24, the new channel's main competitor.
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 prime-time CityNews programs, with the exception of those on CITY in Toronto, were immediately cancelled, with 281 CHUM employees across the country 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, but it has not materialized. CKVU's newscasts have not been replaced, although a noon newscast based on the Breakfast Television format called Lunch Television was launched in early 2009. CityNews at Noon in Calgary and Edmonton, and Lunch Television in Vancouver continued up until January 19, 2010.
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 CTVglobemedia's A stations, under the name A News), 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 could not be sold to CTVglobemedia due to concentration of media ownership regulations. On June 11, Rogers Communications announced that it would buy the 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.
On January 19, 2010, Your City, based in CKEM-TV Edmonton and CKAL-TV Calgary, Lunch Television, and the comedy show The CityNews List on CKVU-TV Vancouver were cancelled.
In Winnipeg, the news part of Breakfast Television is called CityNews.
The Jim Pattison Group stations CFJC-TV, CKPG-TV, and CHAT-TV do not produce Breakfast Television or CityNews. In fact, despite keeping the same names and logos used as affiliates of the E! system, they do not bear the Citytv branding.
Former programs
CityNews International
Soon after the cancellation of the local CityNews broadcasts in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg in 2008, a new half-hour program called
CityNews International was launched. The program was produced in the Citytv Toronto studios and featured many of the same on-air personalities as the local Citytv Toronto's CityNews. CityNews International aired at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. in Calgary and Edmonton. In Winnipeg, it ran at 11:00 p.m., and in Vancouver at 6 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. In Toronto, Citytv aired the newscast at 11:35 p.m.
CityNews International was canceled during the 2010 cuts.
Your City
The replacement program in Calgary and Edmonton for the evening/late-evening program was a magazine type of show called
Your City.
The show aired five nights a week at 6:00 p.m., with a repeat at 11:00 p.m. The format of the show consisted of a top story, a look at theatre/other cultural life, various restaurant and wine reviews and an assortment of other general interest stories.
CityNews at Noon
The noon newscast aired in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. It was hosted by
Francis D'Souza and Laura DiBattista in Toronto,
Asha Tomlinson in Edmonton and
Aisling Slattery in Calgary.
CityOnLine
A lunchtime half-hour talk show about Toronto news and current affairs aired weekdays at 12:30 p.m., following Toronto's
CityNews at Noon. The show encouraged audience participation with its a phone-in format. Viewers could also e-mail and vote on a daily phone poll.
CityOnLine was hosted by Kris Reyes. Previous hosts included Ann Rohmer (CP24), Tracy Moore (CityLine), and Laura DiBattista (CBC Radio).
Lunch Television
Lunch Television was hosted by Kyle Donaldson and Michel McDermott and aired in the Vancouver market.
CityNews at Five
A 5pm newscast for CityNews Toronto was hosted by
Dwight Drummond,
Merella Fernandez and
Mark Dailey. However according to the fall 2011 schedule announcement, this program is expected to return to the Citytv Toronto schedule in the fall of 2011.
Anchors and reporters
Citytv Toronto
Anchors/Hosts
Dina Pugliese, Breakfast Television co-host
Kevin Frankish, Breakfast Television anchor/co-host
Tracy Moore, CityLine host
Gord Martineau, CityNews at Six
Roger Petersen, CityNews Tonight
Pam Seatle, CityNews at Six Weekends
Melanie Ng, CityNews Tonight Weekends
Francis D'Souza, substitute anchor
Weather
Adam Stiles, meteorologist, CityNews Tonight
Frank Ferragine, weather specialist, Breakfast Television
Sangita Patel, weather specialist, CityNews Weekends
Natasha Ramsahai, meteorologist, CityNews at Six
Traffic/Transit Specialists
Eva Fragiskatos, traffic specialist, Breakfast Television/680News
Kevin Carrington (TTC spokesperson), reports on Breakfast Television
Jessica Martin (TTC spokesperson), reports on Breakfast Television
Sports
Hugh Burrill, sports anchor/reporter
Kathryn Humphreys, sports anchor/reporter
Reporters/Specialists
Frank Ferragine, gardening specialist
Pam Seatle, reporter
Cynthia Mulligan, reporter
Jennifer Valentyne, Live-Eye host
Francis D'Souza, reporter
Roger Petersen, reporter
Andrea Piunno, reporter
Sangita Patel, remote host
Avery Haines, reporter
Dina Pugliese, entertainment reporter
Audra Brown, reporter and video journalist
Melanie Ng, reporter
Anna Vlachos, reporter
Sapia Khambalia, reporter
Peter Kim, reporter
Citytv Winnipeg
Currently, the only news broadcast on this station is during its version of
Breakfast Television. News updates on
Breakfast Television are still branded as CityNews.
Hosts
Tracy Moore, CityLine host (broadcasts made in Toronto)
Jenna Khan, Breakfast Television
Pay Chen, Breakfast Television
Jeremy John, Breakfast Television
Anchors/Reporters
Kaleigh Hamilton, reporter, Breakfast Television
Kim Kasher, anchor, Breakfast Television
Megan Batchelor, web reporter, Breakfast Television
Jenna Khan, entertainment specialist, ''Breakfast Television
Weather/Traffic Specialists
Jenna Khan, weather specialist Breakfast Television
Megan Batchelor, traffic specialist, ''Breakfast Television
Citytv Calgary
Currently, the only news broadcast on this station is during its version of
Breakfast Television. News updates on
Breakfast Television are still branded as CityNews.
Hosts/Anchors/Reporters
Tara Slone, co-host, Breakfast Television
Andrew Schultz., co-host, Breakfast Television
Jill Belland, LiveEye, Breakfast Television
Mike Yawney, news anchor/technology specialist, Breakfast Television
Norm Lebus, Lethbridge videographer, Breakfast Television
Tracy Moore, CityLine host (broadcasts made in Toronto, Ont)
Mike McCourt, anchor/reporter
Meteorologists
Andrew Schultz, Breakfast Television
Traffic Specialists
Dave Will, Breakfast Television and 660NEWS
Citytv Edmonton
Currently, the only news broadcast on this station is during its version of
Breakfast Television. News updates on
Breakfast Television are still branded as CityNews.
Hosts/Anchors
Bridget Ryan, host, Breakfast Television
Ryan Jespersen, host, Breakfast Television
Michele McDougall, host, Breakfast Television
Stacey Brotzel, anchor/reporter, Breakfast Television
Tracy Moore, CityLine host (broadcasts made in Toronto)
Reporters
Alice Wu, reporter, Breakfast Television
Richard Zussman, legislative reporter, Breakfast Television
Meagan Kelly, reporter, Breakfast Television
Carla Turner, Events Reporter/Technical, Breakfast Television
Jayson Go, reporter, Breakfast Television
Nisha Patel, Breakfast Television
Weather/Traffic Specialist
Michele McDougall, weather specialist, Breakfast Television
Carla Turner, traffic specialist, Breakfast Television
Citytv Vancouver
Currently, the only news broadcast on this station is during its version of
Breakfast Television. News updates on
Breakfast Television are still branded as CityNews.
Hosts/Anchors
Mark Docherty, news anchor, Breakfast Television
Dawn Chubai, host, Breakfast Television
Riaz Meghji, host, Breakfast Television
Michel McDermott, host, Breakfast Television
Tracy Moore, CityLine host (broadcasts made in Toronto)
Reporters/Specialists
Greg Harper, Live-Eye, Breakfast Television
Thor Diakow, entertainment reporter, Breakfast Television
Kyle Donaldson, reporter, Breakfast Television
Weather/Traffic Specialist
Dawn Chubai, weather specialist Breakfast Television
Michel McDermott, traffic specialist, Breakfast Television
Substitutes
Kyle Donaldson
Past presenters
Citytv Toronto
Mark Dailey, anchor CityNews Tonight, former crime specialist, "the voice of Citytv". Passed away December 6, 2010 after a battle with cancer.
Tara Weber, former CityNews reporter
Karl Kebasele
Muhammad Lila, joined CBC Toronto as a reporter/substitute anchor for Mike Wise.
Bob Hunter. He was a founder of Greenpeace and later died after a prolonged battle with cancer on May 2, 2005.
Thalia Assuras, later moved to ABC and then CBS.
Bill Cameron, later moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Denise Donlon, later CEO of Sony Canada
Peter Silverman, consumer specialist; Host of Silverman Helps segment; let go in June 2008.
Jojo Chintoh, former reporter, crime specialist.
Mary Garofalo, later moved to WNYW-TV in New York; now hosting 16x9: The Bigger Picture on Global.
Michael Kuss, former meteorologist for Toronto's CityNews at Six and Eleven, now with CTV British Columbia.
Avi Lewis, 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; later anchor at 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; formerly co-host of CNN's American Morning News program weekdays; now with Fox News Channel.
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.
Omar Sachedina, former CityNews reporter, now at CTV News Channel.
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 and the Toronto Transit Commission.
Bob Summers, now at CP24 as traffic specialist. Formerly at Breakfast Television Traffic Centre and CHUM FM.
Larysa Harapyn, formerly an entertainment anchor for CityNews.
Liz West, formerly an entertainment anchor for CityNews. Both Harapyn and West were let go when Rogers eliminated the entire CityNews entertainment unit.
Anne Mroczkowski, CityNews at Six. Let go in January 2010; now co-anchor of Global News Hour on Global Ontario.
Farah Nasser, former CityNews weekend anchor/substitute anchor/reporter. Now on CP24 as an anchor.
Laura DiBattista, former health specialist.
Michael Serapio, reporter; now a reporter with CBLT.
Marianne Dimain, reporter. Now with Global Toronto.
Merella Fernandez, former reporter/anchor. Now on CTV News.
Richard Madan, former political specialist. Now on CTV News.
Jee-Yun Lee, former consumer specialist. Now on CP24 as an anchor/reporter.
Citytv Vancouver
Roger Petersen, former anchor, CityNews at Six, CityNews Tonight, now anchor of CityNews Tonight and reporter in Toronto.
Julie Nolin, former anchor, CityNews at Six.
Paul Bae - (2009–2010, The CityNews List)
Tasha Chiu - (2005–2008, Breakfast Television)
Graham Clark - (2009–2010, The CityNews List)
Charlie Demers - (2009–2010, The CityNews List)
Monika Deol - (2002-?, anchor)
Michael Eckford - (2002–2003, Breakfast Television, now at Shaw TV Vancouver)
Fiona Forbes - (2002–2003, Breakfast Television, now at Shaw TV Vancouver)
Shane Foxman - (1998–2005, reporter, Breakfast Television, now at CBC BC)
Russ Froese - (1988-?, anchor)
Dave Gerry - (?-2008, reporter, Breakfast Television)
Cindy Leong - (health)
Simi Sara - (1993–2008, reporter, anchor, Breakfast Television, CityCooks)
Erica Sigurdson - (2009–2010, The CityNews List)
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
Rob Hislob, former Your City Anchor
Asha Tomlinson, former anchor of BT
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
Aisling Slattery, Anchor, Breakfast Television & CityNews at Noon
Sandra Jansen, Anchor, Your City
Ross Hull, reporter for BT Calgary. Now weather anchor for A Channel London.
Kristen-Ellen Fleming, reporter for BT Calgary
Zain Meghji, former host of BT
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
Brian Yasui, anchor for BT Winnipeg. Laid off January 2011
Evan Campbell, Live Eye for BT Winnipeg. Fired in May 2010
John Ljunberg, host for BT Winnipeg.
See also
Omni News
References
External links
CityNews
IMDb: City Pulse News
Category:Canadian news television series
Category:Citytv network shows
Category:1977 Canadian television series debuts
Category:Television news in Canada
Hurricane Irene could hit U.S. as a monster
CBS News
Gaddafi, the ghost
Independent online (SA)
Why Palestinians and Palestinian Statehood May Cease to Exist if Perry Becomes President
WorldNews.com
Enemy of the People: Privatized Medicines and Healthcare?
WorldNews.com
Libyan rebels' Gulf allies poised for payday
The Wichita Eagle
