Canada AM
Canada AM | |
---|---|
Presented by | Beverly Thomson (2003–2016) Jeff Hutcheson (1998–2016) Marci Ien (2003–2016) |
Country of origin | Canada |
No. of episodes | Daily |
Production | |
Production locations | Toronto (1972–2016) Vancouver (2008) |
Running time | 3 hours |
Original release | |
Network | CTV |
Release | September 11, 1972 June 3, 2016 | –
Related | |
Canada AM was a
In addition to CTV's local
History
CTV's first attempt at a morning show, Bright and Early, launched in 1966 and was cancelled the next year;[1] among the presenter lineup was future federal Liberal cabinet minister Jim Fleming, who read the news headlines.[2]
Ray Peters, the head of Vancouver's CTV affiliate
Prior to 2008
For most of the 1990s and 2000s, Canada AM had a consistent running time of two and a half hours, airing between 6:30 and 9:00 a.m. local time, with most affiliates repeating the previous night's late local news at 6:00 a.m. As the program is produced live for the Eastern Time Zone, the program would be "delayed" in Atlantic Canada to 7:30-10:00 AT / 8:00-10:30 NT.
The first half-hour would typically consist of a rundown of news headlines, sports, and weather, followed by a lengthy business news segment produced by
The program also includes opt-outs for news updates from a local anchor at each station at the end of each half-hour. The network would always produce an alternate national segment for stations not using the opt-outs, as well as CTV News Channel.
In fall 2000, CTV decided to match NBC's expansion of
During the early to mid-1990s, Canada AM also aired a one-hour weekend edition, although this was essentially a "best-of" package of that week's regular shows. Another weekend program, Good Morning Canada, was launched in the early 2000s but was also pre-taped using segments from local stations; it was cancelled in 2009.
Canada AM underwent a format change on January 28, 2008, which saw the show expand to six hours of live programming between 6 a.m. and noon ET every weekday.
The format change was marked by the addition of a second on-air team from CTV British Columbia in Western Canada, consisting of host Mi-Jung Lee and weather presenter Rena Heer in Vancouver, and news anchor Omar Sachedina in Toronto. The shift from the Eastern to Western hosting teams took place at 7 a.m. PT (10 a.m. ET), meaning that only viewers in Alberta, British Columbia and part of Saskatchewan saw the western team on their local CTV station, although all other Canadians could watch the western team on CTV Newsnet or out-of-market CTV stations carried by cable providers.
On June 6, 2008, CKNW in Vancouver reported the cancellation of the Vancouver-based portions of Canada AM. Biographies of Mi-Jung Lee and Rena Heer were taken off the show's website the same day. CTV announced that it would revert to the program's original format (the additional 6:00-6:30 half-hour will continue as well), stating that the decision was in response to viewer feedback from western Canada indicating a preference for the prior format.[9]
A few weeks prior, CTV cancelled the extra local news segments that appeared at :00 and :30 minutes past the hour, reverting to updates only at :25 and :55 minutes past the hour.
Following the cancellation of the western edition, CTV continued to produce the 9:00 ET hour of Canada AM until September 2008. During those three months, CTV Newsnet aired 4 hours of Canada AM from 6:00-10:00 ET (3:00-7:00 PT), and 2 hours of its own news content from 10:00 a.m. to noon ET to replace the cancelled western edition. CTV British Columbia also reverted to its original local updates (until they were cancelled in March 2009).
The 9:00 ET hour of Canada AM was handled differently on the main network depending on the time zone:
- Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland Time Zone viewers did not notice a schedule difference at all because the 9:00 ET edition was only available on cable.
- Pacific Time Zone viewers were able to see the second and third hour of the eastern edition, but the first hour was preempted with the live 9:00 ET edition at 6:00 PT. The first hour of the eastern edition could only be viewed on CTV Newsnet between 3:00-4:00 a.m. PT.
After the 9:00 ET hour of Canada AM was cancelled, CTV Newsnet (later rebranded as CTV News Channel) began airing an extra hour of its own news content, presented by Marci Ien. From that point onward, the program aired without deviations in every time zone, including Early Edition at 6:00 AM.
2009 to 2016
In March 2009, CTV stopped producing local opt-out news updates in most markets in order to reduce costs at its local stations.
As part of
The new programs complement existing local morning shows produced under the Bell Media corporate umbrella in Eastern Canada, namely
Seamus O'Regan left the show on November 24, 2011 to become a correspondent for CTV National News. Marci Ien took over as co-host upon returning from maternity leave on January 9, 2012. No replacement for Ien's previous position as newsreader was named, and the duty of reading the news headlines at the top of each half-hour alternated between Thomson and Ien.
On June 2, 2016, after nearly 44 years on the air, CTV announced that Canada AM had been cancelled, and would air a series finale the next day. The following Monday, June 6, the program's replacement, Your Morning, was announced. Since its premiere on August 22, 2016, it has been hosted by Anne-Marie Mediwake and Ben Mulroney.[13]
Ien soon joined
Theme music
For several years, in the 1970s and 1980s, the theme music was an
Personalities
Hosts
- Percy Saltzman & Carole Taylor: 1972–1973[16]
- Percy Saltzman &
- Percy Saltzman & Helen Hutchinson: 1973–1974[16][17]
- Pierre Pascau & Helen Hutchinson: 1974–1975[16][17]
- Norm Perry & Helen Hutchinson: 1975–1978[18]
- Norm Perry & Gail Scott: 1978–1981[18]
- Norm Perry & Pamela Wallin: 1981–1985[18]
- Norm Perry & Linda MacLennan: 1985–1987[18]
- Norm Perry & Nancy Wilson: 1987–1989[18]
- Norm Perry & Deborah McGregor: 1989–1990[18]
- J.D. Roberts & Deborah McGregor 1990–1991[18]
- J.D. Roberts & Pamela Wallin: 1991–1992[18]
- Keith Morrison & Pamela Wallin: 1992–1992[18]
- Keith Morrison & Valerie Pringle: 1992–1994[18]
- Dan Matheson & Valerie Pringle: 1995–2001[18]
- Lisa LaFlamme & Rod Black: 2001–2002[18]
- Lisa LaFlamme & Seamus O'Regan: 2002–2003[18]
- Seamus O'Regan & Beverly Thomson: 2003–2011[18]
- Beverly Thomson & Marci Ien: 2011–2016[18]
Weather/Sports anchor
- Percy Saltzman: 1972-1974[18]
- Wally Macht: 1977–1987[18]
- Dan Matheson: 1987–1995[18]
- Rod Black: 1995–1997[18]
- Jeff Hutcheson: 1998–2016[18]
News anchor
- Dennis McIntosh: 1972–1977[19]
- Wally Macht: 1977–1980[20]
- Sandie Rinaldo: 1980–1985[18]
- Tom Clark: 1986–1987[18]
- Terrilyn Joe: 1987–1992[18]
- Thalia Assuras: 1992–1993[18]
- Wei Chen: 1993–1998[18]
- Leslie Jones: 1998–2003[18]
- Marci Ien: 2003–2011[18]
See also
References
- ^ a b Pip Wedge (June 2008). "Canada AM". Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ Nolan, p.84
- ^ a b Nolan, p.160
- ^ Nolan, p.161
- ^ Gittins, p.108
- ^ Gittins, p.110
- ^ "Canada AM 40th Anniversary Celebrations".
- ^ Canada AM moving to unique six-hour format Archived January 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CTV.ca, January 9, 2008
- ^ CTV press release Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, June 6, 2008
- ^ CTV cuts 24 staff at Canada AM across the country, axes Montreal morning newscast, Canadian Press, March 10, 2009
- ^ Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (2011-03-07). "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-163, Appendix 1". Retrieved 2011-03-17.
- ^ CTV (2011-07-25). "Eleanor Coopsammy and Kris Laudien to host CTV MORNING LIVE, Launching this Fall (press release)". Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
- ^ Peter Edwards (2016-06-06). "Ben Mulroney, Anne-Marie Mediwake to host CTV's new show 'Your Morning'". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
- ^ "Former 'Canada AM' host Marci Ien new co-host of 'The Social'". Toronto Sun, March 29, 2017.
- ^ Wong, Tony (2 June 2016). "Canada AM abruptly cancelled by CTV, replacement show announced". Toronto Star. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d Bawden, Jim (August 25, 1990). "Beyond the Norm". Toronto Star
- ^ a b c Cuff, John Haseltt (February 11, 1993). "The Pringle factor, one month later". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Canada AM 40th Anniversary Celebration". CTV.ca. CTV. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ "Some Canadian television industry's Geminis are awarded". CTV News. November 2, 2002.
- ^ "CTV's Canada AM Celebrates 40 Years of Waking Up Canadians, Oct. 22 to 26". Canada NewsWire. October 11, 2012.
Bibliography
- Nolan, Michael (2001). CTV, the network that means business. University of Alberta. ISBN 978-0-88864-384-1.
- Gittins, Susan (1999). CTV: The Television Wars. Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited. pp. 230, 296. ISBN 0-7737-3125-3.