Entries from Torontoist tagged with 'citytv>'
June 12, 2008
The TTC wants to get rid of adult tickets, using only tokens for adults to combat counterfeiters. In a move to placate ticket fans, Adam Giambrone promises to look into ways to create tokens that will be ruined when you forget to take them out of your pants and put them through the washing machine. Dalton McGuinty defended the tax incentives received by Young People Fucking yesterday, explaining that while certain people might be......
Continue Reading "Goodbye To Tickets, Speaker's Corner, And The Seattle Mariners"May 8, 2008
Photos of CablePulse24's broadcast on July 25, 2007, courtesy of Joel Charlebois. Just before noon on July 25, 2007, Joel Charlebois caught a man, he says, breaking into his house. When Charlebois gave chase, the man fell from the second-storey deck, landing hard on the ground below and breaking his leg. As police arrived, Charlebois—an avid photographer who has a Flickr account under the name uwajedi, who is an active member of Torontoist's Flickr......
Continue Reading "Sin City"March 15, 2008
Being a TV reporter is dangerous work. Just ask intrepid reporter Rob Leth, who set out on a fine sunny day to do a typical fluff piece in Riverdale Park. We're still unclear about what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with a camera and his "trusty stopwatch" at the bottom of the toboggan hill. He could have been timing a toboggan race or demonstrating how quickly sledders could lose control. Or maybe it......
Continue Reading "There's No Business Like Snow Business"March 4, 2008
With Rogers' plan to move Citytv, OMNI Television, and the Fan 590 to the southeast corner of Dundas Square, those familiar with the current streetfront studios on Queen Street have wondered if the former Olympic Spirit building will be opened up in a similar way. Though merely an preliminary concept rendering, Rogers and Quadrangle Architects seem to have grand designs for the space, currently dubbed Rogers Television City, as evident in this image supplementing......
Continue Reading "A First Look At Rogers Television City"January 1, 2008
Happy New Year! Thousands of GTA-ians jammed Nathan Phillips Square to watch CIty TV's tiny perfect anchorman Gord Martineau host his 75th New Year's bash. Thousands more did not. Toronto also rang in the new year with another snowstorm, which is expected to continue all day and inflict up to 10 cm of inconvenience on the city. Stupid climate change. Today the GST drops by a penny to 5%, meaning that the shwarma you......
Continue Reading "Hello Y2K8, More Damn Snow, Go Buy Something"December 7, 2007
Torontoist has already done a pretty good job of letting you know how rad Posterchild is. In fact, the extent to which Torontoist writes about Posterchild could be seen as the textual equivalent of a marriage proposal. So without rehashing what has already been said about our favourite local street artist/public space crusader, just know that his radness is still on the upswing with new and improved versions of what he’s known best for:......
Continue Reading "One More Posterchild Post"November 30, 2007
A couple weeks back, Spacing Wire posted this brilliant old TTC ad that made us hungry for more forgotten gems of Toronto advertising. The video in question was uploaded by a user calling themselves WNED 17, and their entire archive is made up of similar videos. In fact, their profile page provides a mission statement: "Youtube user WNED17 is proud to present repeat portions of broadcast captured in the 1980s and early 1990s via......
Continue Reading "Only in Toronto Can You Fly to Jupiter"October 23, 2007
After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square. Since Rogers Communications announced plans to acquire Citytv, there has been much speculation about what would happen to the legendary Queen Street studios. The solution became the former Olympic Spirit complex at the south-east corner of Dundas Square. Built for $42 million in 2004, the building......
Continue Reading "City In The Square"September 28, 2007
CityPulse. The New Music. Baby Blue Movies. City Lights. Fashion Television. Speaker's Corner. These programs are among the innovative shows that have aired on CityTV since it officially launched way up the dial 35 years ago this evening. CityTV had a short gestation period after the CRTC approved its license in November 1971. Key figures in the station's early ownership included president Edgar Cowan, vice-president Phyllis Switzer, lawyer Jerry Grafstein and managing director/former CBC......
Continue Reading "For 35 Years, It's CityTV Everywhere!"September 2, 2007
With Citytv moving out of 299 Queen West as part of the Rogers-CTVglobemedia deal, some alarm was raised over the fate of the CityPulse truck—long a fixture of Queen and John. Too complicated to dismantle and acknowledged as a downtown tourist landmark, it was announced that the famous artwork (or eyesore, depending on who you're talking to) would stay put. Now that the two entities are to be officially severed and City News is......
Continue Reading "Makeover For The Citytv Truck"August 27, 2007
The Real Toronto's hook is relatively simple. Filmed in the summer of 2005 by a now-24-year-old Russian immigrant nicknamed Madd Russian, it aims to show that "Toronto, known to most as a world class city has another side to it. This movie shows the reality of living in housing projects and some of the most run down areas in the city. This footage includes interviews with gang members, drug dealers and some of the......
Continue Reading "The Real Toronto"August 23, 2007
Blame Indiana Jones, but when Torontoist was younger, we wanted to be an archaeologist when we grew up. Although our math grades weren't up to snuff, the yearning to dig for ancient treasure has never gone away. So most mornings, you'll find us peering through a chain link fence at the corner of Adelelaide and Simcoe, watching real archaeologists sifting through rubble and delicately dusting off old marbles and broken plates with little brushes.......
Continue Reading "Noble Diggers All, Stand Up Now"July 3, 2007
It was inevitable: the movement to rescue the truck slammed into the side of the CityTV building (and yes, there is a movement) now that their headquarters are being relocated to John Street has a Facebook group. The truck is slated to come down soon, probably today, and the group is gaining momentum—they almost doubled their numbers (literally) overnight. While the Sam's sign is one thing—a cultural icon that meant so much to so......
Continue Reading "Dumps Like A Truck Truck Truck"June 30, 2007
Who's up for a trip through time? While an H.G. Wells-style contraption or fourth dimension-smashing telephone box are not available in the consumer market, there are simpler methods of going back through time. All that's required are a date and the arcane knowledge of knowing how to load a microfilm reader. Toronto has a rich newspaper history, with no fewer than three dailies at a time battling for the city's readers. This series of......
Continue Reading "Time Machine: Towering Over TO"June 21, 2007
MP Peggy Nash and MPP Cheri DiNovo protest the closing of Toronto's swimming pools. At 8:30 this morning, hundreds of protesters gathered at the corner of Keele Street and Glenlake Avenue to save their community pool slated for closure next month. Extremely fit-looking senior citizens with youthful energy wore bathing suits, goggles, and swim caps. Young children, chanting “Save our pools! Save our pools!” waved signs which read, “Swim skills save children’s lives,” and......
Continue Reading "A Community Pooling Its Resources"June 12, 2007
Late last week, the CRTC ordered CTVglobemedia to sell off the five Citytv properties it acquired in its purchase of CHUM Ltd., because CTV already operates over-the-air stations in those markets (Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg). This morning it was announced that Rogers Media would be purchasing those stations for $375 million, because it's apparently not a problem for them to have more than one over-the-air station in a given market. This afternoon,......
Continue Reading "Citytv—Somewhere!"May 29, 2007
They say that the media is for the people, so who ya gonna call when in crisis? Certainly suspender-wearing hero Kevin Frankish, host of CityTV's Breakfast Television! At about 6:30 this morning, early-rising DIY-afficionado Lori Darosa of Oakville began painting an upper room in her house, when—oh, the humanity—she locked herself into the room while her husband Ned slept out of earshot elsewhere in the home. Devoid of doorknobs or lavatory facilities but in possession......
Continue Reading "Breakfast Television Performs Dramatic Rescue"May 20, 2007
They were built in 1856 in the Georgian style and were Toronto's last standing townhouses from the 19th century, but now Walnut Hall is no more. The historically-designated property began collapsing yesterday at about 4 p.m. and is now almost entirely rubble [CityTV video]. Shuter Street was closed from Jarvis east to Pembroke Street until late this afternoon. The property was notorious for its decrepit state. Once owned by the RCMP along with the......
Continue Reading "Neglected Shuter Townhouses Collapse"April 4, 2007
One of the most interesting aspects of art in public spaces is the viewer's reaction to it. Street art photograher David Owen sent us photos of a response to Mark Daye's series of street signs which address homelessness. David writes, "The colour's not quite right and the sign is a bit low, but I give him full marks for attachment method--it's the same as the 'official' signs." David found the signs across from CityTV......
Continue Reading "Reactionary Signs"March 27, 2007
When we last tuned in, Adam Vaughan had just quit his job as CityTV's Political Reporter to run for City Council. He won and now represents Ward 20. Now he's back on television with a new monthly version of his old show, Hour Town on CP24. As the title suggests, it's an hour-long program about the goings on at City Hall. It's also a call-in show, so you can expect to hear lively debates about......
Continue Reading "Adam Vaughan—Everywhere"February 20, 2007
Calling all online A/V junkies -- podcasters, vloggers, and even bloggers, and all those listening, watching and reading new media. PodCamp Toronto wants you to spend a weekend sharing, discussing and learning all things podcast. A podcast, in case you didn't know yet, is a downloadable audio or video file, often syndicated through blogs. On February 24 and 25, everyone from podcast amateurs to connoisseurs are welcome to participate in the "unconference" held at......
Continue Reading "Podcasting it at PodCamp Toronto"February 8, 2007
The ongoing investigation of a crooked optician’s shop by consumer complaints reporter Peter "Watch it, Buddy!" Silverman of CityTV’s Silverman Helps has ended in a spectacular dust-up. According to CityNews, the owner of King West Opticians, Adam Plimmer, physically attacked Silverman then locked himself inside his shop in a standoff until he was eventually arrested by the police and charged with assault and assault with a weapon. The sensational footage (released by CityNews to YouTube,......
Continue Reading "Silverman Helps Feud Ends In ETF Arrest"January 30, 2007
Noël Mitrani is the director of Sur La Trace D’Igor Rizzi, which premiered in Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, winning the CityTV Award for Best Canadian First Feature. The film, in which Jean-Marc Thomas (Laurent Lucas), a former European soccer player, wanders the streets Montreal before falling into petty crime while grieving his dead lover, was reviewed positively by Torontoist before the festival, and now plays as part of Canada’s Top......
Continue Reading "Tall Poppy Interview: Noël Mitrani, Director"January 24, 2007
He was best known to children of the eighties as the iconic host of Canada's first major daily music video show, CFMT's Video Singles in 1983, which pre-dated MuchMusic and led to the legendary Toronto Rocks program on CityTV (click here for a clip of the intro). Perched before multiple TV screens on a tiny set, John Majhor's loose style and low-fi production would foreshadow the oft-copied format that CityTV would make famous over the......
Continue Reading "Broadcasting Legend John Majhor Dies"January 10, 2007
Ah, convergence. It's a word fraught with different meanings, competing motives, and opinions up the proverbial wazoo. To some, convergence is a paradise of synergy, cross-promotion, and massive profits. To others, it's confirmation that more and more information is being disseminated by less and less people. Wherever you stand, however, the world of Toronto media overlords might be on the verge of becoming a whole lot smaller, as Alliance Atlantis confirmed today that one......
Continue Reading "TV Party: Convergence Is Good - Just Ask Ted Turner, Conrad Black Or That Tom Guy On Myspace"December 27, 2006
So you're stuck at home with the kids. Or you're feeling under the weather. Or you're tired of scrambling around at 11:58 looking for someone to make out with. There are many, many reasons why you might be staying in this New Year's Eve. But there is no reason why you can't be a party of one in front of the tube! There are offerings for any taste Sunday night for those who don't make......
Continue Reading "TV Party: Who Needs Alcohol When You've Got Kurt Browning?"December 25, 2006
Not everyone's December 25th consists of bulging stockings hanging from a mantel, unwrapping presents in the reflection of Christmas tree ornaments, and a grandmother in her pearls and green and red apron carving a turkey at the family dinner. For those not living in a movie, who are boycotting the holidays, or who forgot about Santa’s birthday, Torontoist has the guide to an alternative Christmas. Those Charity Drives Were for a Reason Remember the......
Continue Reading "Your Guide to an Alternative Christmas"December 20, 2006
If you're one of those people who doesn't hit the snooze button until five minutes before you actually have to leave for work, you might have caught an interesting announcement this morning on that venerable Canadian news/pap institution known as Canada AM: CTV News has chosen its top ten news stories of 2006. Yes, an "esteemed panel of Canadian journalists," which apparently is CTV's euphemism for their own senior staff, chose ten stories from throughout......
Continue Reading "TV Party: Harper Defeats War In Afghanistan"October 23, 2006
The Raptors took the Cleveland Cavaliers 91-90 last night in a game that saw fresh faces fill in for injured key starters. Leading candidates in the election thingy debated crime, transit and garbage as usual last night for the co-sponsored benefit of The Toronto Star and CityTV, and maybe for voters, too. Quoth The Star: "The debate got so scrappy on so many issues that at one point Miller and Pitfield even disagreed on what......
Continue Reading "Raptors win, candidates debate, police mull things over. If this is Toronto, it must be Monday."October 17, 2006
In Rome, at least 1 person has died, and 10 more have been seriously injured in a subway collision involving two trains. It has been over 10 years since the Russel Hill incident here in Toronto. The Toronto Star's editor-in-chief Giles Gherson and publisher Michael Goldbloom resigned on Monday. Goldbloom wrote about the declining newspaper industry in his resignation letter. Canada's prison system is systemically discriminatory against aboriginals, according to the ombudsman for inmates. Also,......
Continue Reading "Star's Chief Quits, New Surveillance Cameras, City Election Updates"