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December 2005

Global National gets consistent >permalink<

Global 2006 logo On December 19th, 2005 – the same day that CFRN-TV unveiled their new News set, part of their re-branding as CTV Edmonton News – Global announced a major change in its supper hour strategy.

Beginning February 6th, 2006, the Global National news program will be seen in every market across Canada (except the Maritimes) at 5:30 p.m. Global’s local newscasts will follow at 6:00 p.m. The announcement did not indicate the future of Lesley MacDonald's 5:30 segment of Global's Edmonton News, if the local station will expand to an hour-long format for its 6 o'clock newscast and what would become of its 5:00 program.

Update: CITV/Global will continue its 5:00 newscast, and will host Global Edmonton's News Hour from 6 to 7 p.m.

The shift in its supper-hour programming will coincide with Global's re-branding and launch of an updated graphics package. The changes will debut during their coverage of the Super Bowl football championship on February 5th, 2006.

In addition to the new corporate logo pictured above, the graphics theme (described by one media-wag as "refrigerator magnet" in style) includes a new bumper identity and an overhaul of their local news intros. The new logo theme will replace the crescent icon the network had used since 1997. Also affected as part of the change is the entire CanWest Global Communications Corp. site.

Since its launch in 2001, Global National has grown steadily in ratings and is now Canada’s second most watched national newscast according to a CanWest Global news release. The newscast recently won at the 2005 Gemini Awards with its anchor and executive producer Kevin Newman winning the Best News Anchor award.

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January 2006

Come on down! >permalink<

Enough already Already home to four national (CTV, CBC, Global, and CHUM) and one province-wide broadcaster (Access) one wonders who is behind the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)'s January 12th, 2006 decision to invite applications for yet another TV outlet in Edmonton.

It appears the CRTC "has received applications for broadcasting licences to carry on television programming undertakings to provide television services to serve Edmonton and Calgary."

The CRTC notice warns it "has not reached any conclusion with respect to the licensing ... [or authorizing] such a service at this time" but who in the woodwork feels that either market can withstand another local broadcaster? Stay tuned (and read the CRTC's notice here).

Fall 2005 ratings

For over a decade, CFRN TV has dominated the Edmonton television news market.

The latest ratings book shows the local CTV affiliate maintaining its hold on their 143,300 adult viewers, up slightly from Fall 2004's 143,100 for the supper hour newscast.

For all the juicy numbers visit the Last Link Edmonton television ratings - Fall 2005 report.

CBC television news revamp >permalink<

CBC TV As first brought to mainstream light by the Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias and the public broadcaster-friendly site Our Public Airwaves, the CBC finally decided to grapple with the problems of its supper-hour news package. The change is part of a CBC-wide makeover that's been two years in the works.

Long-mired in local rating books, the CBC seemingly launched a pre-emptive strike against Global's recently announced re-tooling of their national newscast. The CBC advanced the local content of Canada Now a half-hour earlier and called it CBC News at Six, placing it on equal footing with other 6 p.m. local newscasts. Ian Hanonmansing's cross-Canada Vancouver-fed Canada Now follows at 6:30 p.m.

Early reports suggested that the CBC would experiment with an hour-long local cast in Edmonton and Montreal, but according to CBC News editor-in-chief Tony Burman, the network "just does't have the resources to do it." A one-time ratings leader, CBC's Edmonton evening news program showings have slid so far over the past 15 years as to be almost immeasurable.

The changes took effect January 9th, 2006 and came with little advance promotion on CBC's own airwaves. Ironically in western time zones, the first night of the new lineup was pre-empted by coverage of a federal election debate.

Details of other changes at CBC were sketchy. The broadcaster's flagship news hour The National got a new introduction with a five-note mnemonic (a musical memory aid) that also identifies all of its major TV and radio newscasts. CBC's exploded pizza logo also got a slight tune-up, part of a in-house graphics re-design that was first supplied by the U.S. branding firm Razorfish in 2001. Also hinted at was the closer tying together of the main network, CBC Newsworld, CBC radio and web news services at cbc.ca.

CBC's not-quite-extreme makeover was originally set for September, 2005 but a management lockout forced a delay. The revamp now debuts during the federal election.

Several blogs (notably the The Tea Makers, reporting here and here) suggested the new look for Newsworld was very "CNN-ish, with a wealth of bombastic transitions, spinning doohickeys, dramatic flourishes, import-signifying curlicues, pulsating gewgaws, and information-bearing whirling dervishes, enough to consistently crash [CBC's] brand-new Chyron-replacing Inscriber system." No doubt further tweaking is in the works.

A promo reel of the CBC's new look can be viewed here.

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February 2006

Ch-ch-changes >permalink<

Lesley MacDonald As part of the recent re-shuffling of the Global National newscast (first reported here) a familiar supper-time face has chosen the occasion to mark her exit.

Lesley MacDonald first appeared on local television screens beside Gord Steinke on ITV's News at Six and News at Ten broadcasts in 1987. MacDonald had moved west from Global Toronto where she was an entertainment anchor and reporter. In 1996, after taking a two-year sabbatical when her daughter was born, MacDonald returned to host ITV News at 5:30.

While February 3rd, 2006 marked the day of her last broadcast from the news desk, MacDonald will return to the airwaves on the first Monday of each month to host her "Woman of Vision" series highlighting stories of inspirational women in the Edmonton community.

Another side-effect of the re-scheduling of the Global National newscast is that ITV has lost its "creep time" against CFRN's CTV News at 6 o'clock. Over the past few years, both stations had been stealthily advancing the start time of their supper-hour cast by up to two minutes. Now locked into a fixed national time-frame, Global might lose the fickle remote flicking battle at the top of the hour.

In other Global/ITV/CityTV news, Craig Roskin (son of CHQT "Cool 880" founder Lew) has again landed locally as the new general manager of CityTV Edmonton. The popular Roskin was last on the scene as ITV's general manager and vice-president of sales before being turfed when the Western International Communications property was sold to CanWest Global in 2001. Roskin first came to ITV in 1999 after holding management and sales positions at Victoria's CHEK-TV.

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May 2006

Prime becomes TVtropolis >permalink<

On June 1st, 2006 CanWest MediaWorks fast-forwarded their Prime TV channel from shows of the seventies to more recent fare under a new banner.

With a new colour-bar skyline logo and the tagline “Hit TV lives here,” TVtropolis will feature "hit" shows from the last 10 to 15 years.

The specialty TV channel will feature such shows as Seinfeld, Ellen, Married… With Children, Frasier and Grace Under Fire, Newsradio, Due South, The Nanny and Beverly Hills 90210.

Also featured will be syndicated shows exploring the "real" lives of TV's more familiar folk such as Hogan Knows Best, Celebrity Fit Club, My Fair Brady and Breaking Bonaduce.

Canwest will also produce original Canadian programming for the channel.

The broadcaster has five shows currently in production:

Ad Persuasion - spotlighting the world's most inventive and bizarre TV commercials
FANatical - following the world's most obsessive TV fans
Inside the Box - a game show for TV junkies
Popaganda - a talk/magazine show aimed at the Internet generation ... and
Whatever Happened To? (working title) - a series catching up with stars of the '80s and '90s.

In active development are:

And Finally - a compilation of the slice-of-life stories news programs use to end their shows
Don't Touch That Dial - a pair of TV critics take on classic and not-so-classic TV shows
Starring In...With JR Digs - JR Digs gives people the chance to have their own TV show for a day ... and
TeleVintage Cartoons - a look at cartoons that shaped Saturday mornings and pop culture.

Canwest claims TVtropolis will be available in 5.6 million homes across Canada on launch date.

Critics suggest the re-tooled channel is Canwest's attempt to prevent the popular U.S. outlet TV Land from gaining a toe-hold in Canada and to address an aging demographic beyond their "prime."

Spring 2006 ratings

Edmonton television ratings - Spring 2006

Re-tooling, re-scheduling and re-branding has brought changes to the Edmonton TV news scene -- yet things seem to remain pretty much the same.

CTV/CFRN maintained its lead but CITV/Global is narrowing the gap as announced by full page ads in local newspapers.

For all the juicy numbers visit the Last Link Edmonton television ratings - Spring 2006 report.

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July 2006

Bell gets friendly with CHUM >permalink<

See also BGM-CHUM Merger page.

Those who usually report the news received the news – and also made the news.

On July 12th, 2006 47 staff at Edmonton's Citytv outlet got pink slips – the same day 234 other CHUM employees also got their walking papers, including 42 at Citytv Calgary. The Edmonton layoffs represented over a third of the station's 120 staff.

The reduction came within hours of word that Bell Globemedia (BGM) had made a friendly takeover bid worth $1.7 billion to buy the Toronto-based radio and TV broadcaster CHUM Ltd., Citytv's owner. Bell Globemedia owns the CTV Network.

Gone are the local station's supper-hour and late-night newscasts. Gone are on-air faces such as news anchor Jennifer Martin, the entire sports department including Kris Laudien, Jamie Thomas and Christie Chorley, and behind-the-scenes videographers and editors. News editor Chris Duncan was shipped off to Calgary to manage content for all of Alberta.

Christie Chorley herself recently made news when she pleaded for responsible regulation of the internet to stem such rumours as her denied involvement with NHL former Edmonton Oiler defenceman Chris Pronger and her possible role in his trade to the Anaheim Ducks.

Citytv staff across the country picked up personal belongings gathered by security guards before being escorted from company premises. Security guards were in place at several Citytv locations.

Edmonton's Citytv first hit the airwaves as A-Channel, a Craig Broadcasting outlet, in 1997. In late 2004, CHUM bought the failing station from the Craig family.

Since the takeover, Citytv newscast audiences dropped to 4,000 from 11,00 when under the A-Channel banner (see Edmonton TV ratings). In contrast, CTV Edmonton (CFRN) boasted 137,000 viewers with Global Edmonton (CITV) attracting 120,000.

It was the role of family that likely played a part in the Citytv layoffs and the merger.

In 1954, Allan Waters bought 1050 CHUM radio in Toronto and built the CHUM brand into a major force in Canadian media, owning 33 radio stations, 12 television stations and 21 specialty channels.

Waters died December 3rd, 2005 at the age of 84.

Waters' sons did not share their father's passion for the business and left CHUM operations to Jay Switzer (whose mother was one of the founders of Canada’s first rock-and-roll TV station Citytv, along with Moses Znaimer). Citytv was purchased by CHUM in 1978.

It was Switzer who brought BGM's offer to CHUM's Board of Directors and the estate of Allan Waters agreed to support the bid.

The Waters estate owned 88.6 per cent of the CHUM's common shares and could see a $450M cut of the purchase price. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, including the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Edmonton's Citytv manager Craig Roskin hoped to re-launch the evening newscasts in the fall. Meanwhile, the noon-hour broadcast remains and the Breakfast Television show expands to 4 hours to meet license requirements.

Local Citytv management said the layoffs and the merger were unrelated events. Roskin said "the timing of the Bell announcement was extremely regrettable."

CHUM claims the longer Breakfast shows are an "enhancement" of local coverage. Similar program reductions and re-alignments are in place at Citytv outlets in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg.

CHUM also operates A-Channel stations in Barrie, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Victoria and Vancouver.

180 people worked at CHUM Television Edmonton out of the Bay building for Citytv, Access Television, Canadian Learning Television, Book Television, Court TV Canada and The Bounce radio station. Outside of Citytv the outlets escaped unscathed.

For more about the CHUM sale, possible buyers of excess properties and the sale's impact on the Canadian media landscape, visit the Last Link BGM-CHUM Merger page.

Edmonton Sun columnist Graham Hicks pointed out how the merger may reflect program positioning in the local market in his July 13th, 2006 column. CBC.ca Arts writer Stephen Cole reflects on how the Bell Globemedia-CHUM merger could be bad news for Canadians.

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August 2006

Last one leaving ... turn out the lights! >permalink<

There's an old story floating around that back in the mid-sixties CFRN TV personality Ed Kay walked into the station one day and took a look at a new staff phone list posted in the announcer's bullpen.

That's how Ed found out he'd been moved from on-air to sales.

So it comes as no surprise to industry watchers that news of Bill Welychka's departure from Edmonton's Citytv Breakfast Television came about with the posting of his new assignment as evening "Weather Specialist" at A-Channel Ottawa on that station's web site.

Without a word from local sources, the fellow-CHUM station welcomed Bill with a prime-time feature interview handled by Ottawa anchor – and former Edmonton ITV reporter – Sandra Blaikie (which can be see here in dial-up and high-speed versions).

The former MuchMusic veejay came to Edmonton in 2005 when CHUM (the former Craig outlet's new owners) re-tooled the Breakfast Television show, pairing Bill with former entertainment reporter Stacey Brotzel.

However, the Spring 2006 rating numbers weren't kind to the team, posting just 2,600 viewers compared to CTV Canada AM with 9,500 and time-slot winner Global Morning News with 38,000.

Then came the July 2006 Bell-CHUM merger and bloodletting that saw 47 employees at Edmonton Citytv getting pink-slipped along with the station's news presence.

Bill likely saw not much of an immediate future locally ... and traded E-town for Bytown. He starts in Ottawa on September 5th.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Bill's breakfast-mate Brotzel is also bailing on the morning show.

Word has it she's moved to the station's as-yet non-existent news department which will re-launch in a new form this fall.

The same word has it she will be replaced by traffic/weatherperson Wendy Sandwith. Bill's replacement is yet to be announced ... along with his departure.

Nicola Crosbie is certified >permalink<

Global Edmonton weatherpersonality Nicola Crosbie recently returned from a short absence and announced she had been certified – with a Certificate in Broadcast Metereology.

The certificate is presented upon completing the Broadcast Meteorology Program at Mississippi State University.

Crosbie came to the Edmonton market late in September 2005 with the near impossible task of filling the shoes of Global/ITV weather legends Claire Martin and Bill Matheson.

Martin is now with the CBC, while Bill is convalescing in a Lethbridge long-term facility.

While Bill left large shoes with ample room to fill, it would be a near Oriental foot-binding experience to fill the diminutive Martin's.

While Mississippi is not a region usually associated with such local phenomena as the pineapple express, Siberian or Idaho highs, and chinooks coupled with the odd arctic vortex, the University's program is indeed challenging.

At left, an actual Broadcast Meteorology Program course highlight from the Mississippi State University web site.

According to her bio at the Global web site, Crosbie had been working towards the certificate since she was at British Columbia's CTV News in 2001.

After achieving the honour of becoming the only female in that province to become a CMOS Endorsed Weathercaster, Crosbie applied herself to the gruelling 122 hour MSU course load.

Nicola has come a long way since she first hit local airwaves.

Early viewers may remember her initial referrals to 'Edmonton' as if it was some strange city she has just moved to, and remarks such as "why are tomatoes are such a big thing here" didn't exactly endear her to local audiences.

Also entertaining was her newly-found mastery of Global's meteorological computer graphics system. Gasps of "Oh my" were a hallmark of her early broadcasts.

A baby Doll >permalink<

Viewers of CFRN (aka CTV Edmonton) supper hour news have no doubt noticed an extra glow on the set – and it wasn't coming from Daryl McIntyre's head.

Newscaster Carrie Doll let viewers in on a badly kept secret and announced she was with child.

Carrie and husband Stephen Petasky are reportedly over-the-moon with news of the couple's first due February 23rd, 2007.

Fans of Edmonton's most (and closely) watched news show had noticed some unusual body language of late as displayed by the veteran broadcaster.

Doll was often caught yawning coming out of commercial breaks, and had tears well up at the slightest hint of an animal-in-distress or melancholy-medical story.

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September 2006

Golf goes digital to make way for classic movies; Bill W. replaced >permalink<

On September 1st, 2006 Shaw Communications added American Movie Classics to its Tier 3 analog service on channel 39.

Shaw is the first Canadian carrier for the U.S.-based Rainbow Media outlet which serves up film fare 24/7.

AMC joins Encore Avenue 2 and Turner Classic Movies, two other all-movie channels that Shaw added in the past year to its analog lineup.

AMC will feature films not part of Turner Classic Movies' massive MGM/UA holdings and unlike the bladder-bursting programming of TCM and Encore, AMC does carry commercials.

Golf TV fans will now have to tee up to digital channel 144 on the back nine of their remotes.

The Edmonton Journal, updating a story the Last Link first carried here, confirmed that news anchor Rob Hislop will join former weather host Wendy Sandwith to fill the vacated CHUM Breakfast Television spots left by Bill Welychka and Stacey Brotzel.


Hislop	Sandwith	Kim	McDougall	Ryan

Moving from reporting to handle weather and traffic on the expanded show will be Esther Kim, while Michele McDougall takes over Kim's old roving duties. Bridget Ryan continues to perform the Lorraine Mansbridge role.

Previously announced plans to implement a new evening news program remain unannounced.

Ch-ch-changes >permalink<

Early fall 2006

While the leaves are turning colour outside there's some fine-tuning going on inside local TV newsrooms.

Missing from the ~~CFRN~~ CTV Edmonton weekend anchor desk are Serena Mah and Sheldon Larmand. In their place are Joel Gotlieb and Erin Isfeld.

Mah and Larmand have been seen frequently on weekdays handling routine reporting duties (with Sheldon's ever-changing hair style providing extra eyeball interest).

Word has it the Bell Globemedia outlet is priming Isfeld to cover Carrie Doll's upcoming maternity leave (see story below).

Over at ~~ITV~~ Global Edmonton the news director chair has become empty with the promotion of Tim Spelliscy.

Spelliscy now takes on general manager duties for Edmonton and Saskatchewan Global Stations.

And over at ~~A-Channel~~ CHUM/Citytv, Paul Mennier is now news director as well as sole local anchor for the station's "new" evening news show set to resume October 2nd.

Former news director Rob Hislop now wakes up extra early to co-host Breakfast Television with the also-pregnant Wendy Sandwith.

Joining Mennier on the month-later-than-promised/Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes broadcast will be Stacey Brotzel in her new role as "senior reporter/national correspondent."

Bill Matheson: 1926-2006 >permalink<

In today's age of computer-generated weather graphics delivered by those with perfect hair, Bill Matheson would be called a dinosaur.

But in a previous age, Matty was the dean of Edmonton weathermen, once honoured as the world’s best weather presenter at an International Weather Forecaster’s Festival in Paris.

And for 23 years as Edmonton's CITV senior weatherman, he entertained, elucidated, emancipated, enlightened and gave mental emolument to the hoi polloi. He also was one half of CJCA's "The Bill and Bill Show."

Bill Matheson died September 19th, 2006 at age 80 [full tribute & permanent link].

New face on Global mornings >permalink<

Early-rising Edmontonians found a new face parked in the Global Morning News traffic spot: Briar McGinnis.

McGinnis, with a University of Calgary Bachelor of Social Work program behind her, recently worked at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

She also worked with the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

In her first foray into broadcasting, McGinnis joined the Global morning team on September 27th, replacing Seanna Collins.

Collins has been a familiar face on Global since 2000.

Edmonton-born/Calgary-raised, Collins began her broadcasting career in 1983 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan working in radio.

She then moved to Regina where she became the Queen city's first female morning show radio host. In 1987, her radio career brought her back to Edmonton.

Seanna has chosen to withdraw from Monday-to-Friday early-morning life in front of the camera, staying with Global's Saturday Morning show.

Collins can still be heard weekends on her voice-tracked shift at Magic 99.

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October 2006

Thematic, deeper rather than broader >permalink<

Those are the words Paul Mennier is using to describe Your City, Citytv's re-entry into the supper-hour news market.

Now doing double duty as news director and host, Mennier's Your City has perhaps wisely chosen the 6:30 p.m. time-slot – staying clear of the CTV Edmonton and Global Edmonton ratings-dominating newscasts.

At the top of the hour, Citytv sacrifices Star TV to the CTV/Global one-two punch.

Your City will focus on just on just a few stories each night, providing "extended coverage" on issues to compensate for the station's stripped-down resources.

Joining Mennier covering weather is be Asha Tomlinson, with the aforementioned Stacey Brotzel contributing as "senior reporter/national correspondent."

Your City debuted October 2nd, giving itself a few weeks to hit stride before the Fall 2006 ratings period (October 19th - November 22nd).

Global Edmonton takes to the air ... in a chopper >permalink<

Like a proud father, Global Edmonton's general manager Tim Spelliscy announced on October 19th, 2006 the station's latest effort to command the local airwaves – by taking to the air.

Starting in March 2007, Global will offer viewers and commuters alike a bird's-eye view of the city's streets and traffic snarls from a Robinson R-44 Raven II ENG helicopter similar to the one they illustrated.

The station has signed on with the Canadian Traffic Network, a subsidiary of Australia-based Global Traffic Network, that already provides traffic reports to Corus Entertainment radio stations across Canada (locally on 630 CHED, CISN, Cool 880 CHQT and 92.5 Joe-FM) in exchange for selling commercial airtime within the reports.

"There's growing interest in traffic," said Spelliscy, adding Global was adding chopper coverage to its Calgary, Hamilton and Vancouver markets.

"We just feel that with the amount of news that we're producing here that this was something we had to do for the viewers," Spelliscy said, adding that viewers are expecting this kind of technology » full details »

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November 2006

Where is he now? – Ian Leonard >permalink<

He met his Waterloo and has since moved on.

Has it been almost four years since Ian Leonard left ~~CFRN~~ CTV Edmonton?

Ian took over from longtime local fixture John Berry back in 1994 (about the same time big-eared and current CTV weatherman Josh Classen started to lose his freckles).

Ian left CTV in 2003 and moved to Waterloo, Iowa as chief meteorologist for KWWL TV.

After dodging debris in the U.S. midwest's tornado alley for a few years, Ian and his wife Christy landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Christy's family has deep roots in the area dating back to the 1850s after arriving from Bavaria. Now Ian is in the process of setting his own deep roots as chief meteorologist for KMSP FOX 9 TV.

Ian started at the station in early November 2006 and told his new bosses he looked forward to the city's four diverse seasons.

Luckily for Ian, the weather in his adopted city is a little simpler than it was for him back in Edmonton – the Alberta capital now has five seasons.

In addition to spring, summer, winter and fall, local meteorologists often warn viewers of the city's active weather season (which is seemingly not bound by any known equinox or solstice).

Minneapolis/St. Paul is the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, and the Twin Cities TV market (13th-largest in the U.S.) is highly competitive with 15 stations serving the townsfolk. FOX 9 is in a heated battle for ... last place according to the Fall 2006 Arbitrons.

The area has a longtime tradition of quality broadcasting.

Back in the 1970s, the Twin Cities' WJM TV was the home of legendary newscaster Ted Baxter.

With Ian now at the Minneapolis weather board, the region has a TV presence of near equal stature, one who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile, one who can turn the world on with his smile.

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Related Pages

edmonton television ratings
Bragging rights and pink slips.
radio in edmonton
The Last Link look at the local dial.
final credits - television
Reflecting lives that have contributed to the world of television.

television - edmonton television news archives - 2006

around the local tv dial

December 2005

Global National gets consistent >permalink<

January 2006

Come on down! >permalink<

Fall 2005 ratings

CBC television news revamp >permalink<

February 2006

Ch-ch-changes >permalink<

May 2006

Prime becomes TVtropolis >permalink<

Spring 2006 ratings

July 2006

Bell gets friendly with CHUM >permalink<

August 2006

Last one leaving ... turn out the lights! >permalink<

Nicola Crosbie is certified >permalink<

A baby Doll >permalink<

September 2006

Golf goes digital to make way for classic movies; Bill W. replaced >permalink<

Ch-ch-changes >permalink<

Bill Matheson: 1926-2006 >permalink<

New face on Global mornings >permalink<

October 2006

Thematic, deeper rather than broader >permalink<

Global Edmonton takes to the air ... in a chopper >permalink<

November 2006

Where is he now? – Ian Leonard >permalink<