Breakfast Television

This article is about the Canadian television show. For the concept of breakfast television shows in general, see Breakfast television.
Breakfast Television
Genre Breakfast television
Starring Various hosts
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
Production
Location(s) Toronto
Vancouver
Calgary
Montreal
(locally produced in each city)
Production company(s) Rogers Media
Release
Original network City
Original release September 9, 1989 (Toronto)
July 22, 2002 (Vancouver)
August 2, 2005
(Edmonton and Calgary)
August 2, 2005-January 6, 2015
(Winnipeg)
August 26, 2013 (Montreal) – present
External links
Website

Breakfast Television (BT) is the branding used for morning shows broadcast by stations of Rogers Media's television network City. As of May 2015, versions of BT are broadcast in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal); versions used to be broadcast in Winnipeg and Edmonton as well, but have been cancelled and replaced with alternative programming. The version broadcast by the Atlantic Satellite Network (which was owned by Citytv's former parent CHUM Limited, and is now owned by competitor Bell Media) continued to use the brand under licence from Rogers until 2011, when it was re-launched as CTV Morning Live upon its re-branding as CTV Two Atlantic.

On September 5, 2011, each of the local editions of Breakfast Television across all of the City owned-and-operated stations began starting a half-hour earlier, running from 5:30–9 a.m.[1] In April 2012, the Winnipeg edition reverted to the 6-9 a.m. runtime. The Montreal edition, which launched on August 26, 2013, also runs from 6-9 a.m.

Toronto edition

Breakfast Television premiered on September 9, 1989 with co-hosts Ann Rohmer and David Onley, with MuchMusic VJ Steve Anthony broadcasting from a different spot around the area each day.

Co-host Liza Fromer quit her job at BT in July 2006, days after the birth of her child. Kevin Frankish has blogged that her departure from the show was "on the absolute best of terms". BT has encouraged people to send audition tapes for consideration. During the summer of 2006, a number of CHUM personalities were invited to guest co-host with Kevin Frankish in the search for the next permanent host. The guest hosts included CityNews sports anchor Kathryn Humphreys, health specialist Laura DiBattista, consumer specialist Jee-Yun-Lee, former Citytv weather specialist Nalini Sharma, former reporter Melissa Grelo, etalk correspondent Tracy Melchor, BT's own Jennifer Valentyne, and Star!'s Dina Pugliese. On October 13, 2006, Dina Pugliese became the new co-host of the show.

Every August since 2005, BT has organized a "Viewer Appreciation Day", held in the BT parking lot.[2] Gates open at 6 a.m., and closed due to capacity crowds early into 7 a.m. Some people began camping out at BT at 5:30 p.m. the day before the 2006 Viewer Appreciation Day.[2] Breakfast Television has also held other events, such as a successful world record attempt and a Christmas party. The BT Viewer Appreciation Day has since been cancelled, with only the Christmas Party remaining.

Just as many people within the CityNews team started off on the CHUM phoneline, both Jennifer Valentyne and producer Kevin Forget started by working at "the BT Diner".[3]

Kevin Frankish has publicly discussed his panic attacks with viewers, on air.[4]

On April 1st 2016 just as the show finished airing, a post on the BT Toronto's Facebook page was made in regards to Jennifer Valentyne not being a part of the show anymore. With it being April Fool's Day many people thinking this was a joke but that was not the case. Kevin and Dina both addressed this over twitter confirming that this was in fact true to fans asking. Later that evening, on Jennifer's Facebook page she released a statement confirming that it was in fact true. BT decided to eliminate all Live Eye's across the country to give fans more of what they wanted. Many offered love and support over various social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to Jennifer and the rest of the BT crew.

Notable on-air presenters

Current

Anchors/hosts

Former

Vancouver edition

CKVU launched Breakfast Television in 2002. Since its launch, little has changed in the show, with the exception of the news/weather/time bars on BT. At its launch, the screen consisted two small see through bars, one bar vertically on the left side and one bar horizontally along the bottom providing news, weather and traffic. As with other Breakfast Television variations on its sister stations, there is a large horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen providing flash news, weather and traffic. On January 19, 2010, the length of BT was shortened from four hours to three hours, and six employees as a result of "severe financial issues" with the Citytv stations.

The original hosts of Breakfast Television were Michael Eckford and Fiona Forbes, then they were replaced by Shane Foxman and Beverley Mahood, and since 2005, Simi Sara and Dave Gerry hosted the morning show, but as of August 13, 2008, they were let go.

A new format for Breakfast Television debuted in September 2008, with a new traffic and TransLink reporter. As part of Rogers Media's May 3, 2012 renewal of its affiliation agreement with Jim Pattison Group-owned Citytv affiliates CKPG-TV/Prince George, CFJC-TV/Kamloops and CHAT-TV/Medicine Hat, the three stations will begin simulcasting the Vancouver edition of Breakfast Television on September 1, 2012 as part of an expansion of Citytv programming on the stations, which will follow the program grid of CKVU (with breakaways from the Vancouver program grid for their weekday evening and midday newscasts and other locally produced programs).[5]

Notable on-air presenters

Current

Former

Calgary edition

CHUM Limited purchased Craig Media in late 2004. The $265 million (CAD) deal included, among other things, Craig's three A-Channel stations (CKAL-TV in Calgary, Alberta; CKEM-TV in Edmonton, Alberta and CHMI-TV in Winnipeg, Manitoba - more on their version below.

In February 2005, CHUM announced that the A-Channel stations would be relaunched as Citytv stations by that fall. The morning show on the original A-Channel stations, The Big Breakfast, was relaunched as Breakfast Television on August 2, 2005 alongside their re-branding as Citytv. The A-Channel brand was subsequently transferred to CHUM's NewNet stations whose own morning programs were retitled A-Channel Morning. The Edmonton edition was cancelled in May 2015.[6]

Calgary presenters

Current presenters

Past presenters

Montreal edition

Rogers was granted approval by the CRTC on December 20, 2012 to acquire CJNT Montreal and convert it from a multicultural station to a fully English City station. As part of the approval, Rogers had until September 1, 2013 to produce local programming on the station, which included a three-hour Montreal edition of Breakfast Television.[8]

On June 6, 2013, Rogers announced that the Montreal edition of Breakfast Television would premiere on August 26, 2013, and would be hosted by Alexandre Despatie and Joanne Vrakas.[9] Despatie left the program in 2015, and was succeeded by Derick Fage.[10]

Notable on-air presenters

Current

Former editions

Winnipeg

CHMI-TV in Winnipeg, Manitoba produced a version of Breakfast Television from August 2, 2005 to January 6, 2015 - the station was purchased along with CKAL-DT in Calgary and CKEM-DT in Edmonton. It was replaced with a simulcast of 92 CITI FM's Wheeler in the Morning starting on January 12, 2015. The final hosts were Courtney Ketchen, Jeremy John, Jenna Khan and Drew Kozub. Jenna Khan and Drew Kozub were retained as co-hosts for TV-only exclusive segments of Wheeler in the Morning.

Notable former presenters

Atlantic Canada

From 1992 to 2011, the Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) in Atlantic Canada, now known as CTV Two Atlantic, aired its own local version of BT. At the time of its launch, ASN and Citytv (Toronto) were both owned by CHUM Limited, and both channels had a similar overall movies-focused format. The Atlantic edition of BT was similar to the Toronto version, but with a greater emphasis on the culture of the region, as matters such as commuter traffic are typically less of a concern in Atlantic Canada.

ASN was acquired by Baton Broadcasting (predecessor of the present-day Bell Media) in 1997, but was permitted to continue using Breakfast Television as the title of its morning show. In August 2011, the program was re-branded as CTV Morning Live, in keeping with the launch (or relaunch) of local morning shows under the same title on CTV and CTV Two stations in various parts of Canada.

Edmonton

On May 7, 2015, Rogers announced the cancellation of Breakfast Television in Edmonton as part of cutbacks. It was replaced by a spin-off, Dinner Television, a two-hour weeknight show that features newsmagazine and discussion segments, but does not contain original news reporting. Encores of Dinner Television with an "L-bar" displaying updated news and weather information are broadcast during its former morning timeslot.[6][12][13]

Notable former presenters

References

  1. ↑ Citytv Launches News at Five and Breakfast Television at 5:30 am
  2. 1 2 Inside BT blog: "Second BT Viewer Appreciation Day A Smash Success", 11 August 2006.
  3. ↑ CityNews: Inside BT
  4. ↑ Inside BT blog: "Panic Attacks", 31 July 2006.
  5. ↑ Citytv and Pattison Group Sign Affiliate Agreement, Broadcaster Magazine, May 3, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Rogers cuts 110 jobs, ends all OMNI newscasts". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Flug, Shane (February 3, 2014). "On-Location with Breakfast Television's Jill Belland". Freq. Magazine. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2012-697, December 20, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Alexandre Despatie named co-host of City Montreal’s morning show". The Gazette, June 8, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Breakfast Television Montreal Welcomes New Co-Host". Broadcaster, December 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ Scurfield, Maureen (6 October 2010). "Popular host says sayonara to Breakfast Television". Winnipeg Free Press (Winnipeg MB). Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  12. ↑ "Get Ready to Have Breakfast For Dinner! City Edmonton Launches Dinner Television, Premiering May 19". Rogers Media. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Rogers axes OMNI news programs, cancels Breakfast Television in Edmonton". CBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2015.

External links

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