sowny.net | The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum


You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

December 31, 2017 9:18 pm  #1


Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Does anyone know the real reason why Rogers decided to stop holding the annual New Year’s Eve bash at City Hall for City TV several years ago? If it’s because the thing was too expensive, then I believe the company – which certainly has the cash to stage it – made a big mistake.
 
When CHUM owned the place, the “Traditional City TV New Year’s Eve” bash, as it was called, was indeed just that – a tradition. It was held every December 31st for years at Nathan Phillips Square, with tens of thousands in attendance and more watching it at home on television.
 
Expense or not, the publicity and mass awareness it gave to the TV station and its various personalities was incalculable, and even those who never watched City knew who was behind it. It was an incredible advertising platform and I remember being shocked when they decided to stop doing it. (I was also quite surprised when Bell didn’t immediately swoop in to take it over.)
 
I have no doubt that it’s a lot cheaper just to buy the rights to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, which they now air, and indeed they dodged a bullet this year when the show was shortened to half an hour because of the extreme cold. (I wonder what they would have done if that had happened back then?) Even a five minute cut-in won't cut it anymore. 
 
It’s a shame something Toronto clearly embraced as its own for so many years was so swiftly and summarily abandoned. That kind of goodwill is very rare and very hard to win back.

 

January 1, 2018 3:19 am  #2


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

The same can be asked about Niagara falls.
They were intending to at least do a falls internet feed but that also failed to happen this year. 
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2017/11/02/new-years-concert-still-alive-but-no-tv-for-3rd-year

Last edited by Radiowiz (January 1, 2018 3:20 am)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

January 1, 2018 8:27 am  #3


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Wondering if potential sponsors pointed out that people with lives either went out on N. Y. Eve or if at home they watched Time's Square action, so it could only be sold to health insurance providers (whose potential customers were in bed by 8:30)

 

January 1, 2018 9:23 am  #4


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Jonny wrote:

Wondering if potential sponsors pointed out that people with lives either went out on N. Y. Eve or if at home they watched Time's Square action, so it could only be sold to health insurance providers (whose potential customers were in bed by 8:30)

That's B.S. 
If that were true, Chum group would have kept running old reruns of SCTV instead of giving this whole idea a chance in the first place back in the day.
It's Rogers being very cheap. That's all it is.
Before anyone can tell me to leave yesteryear out of this, I argue
11PM News would have been cut also then.

How much does it really cost to extend the 11 pm newscast to a full hour and use the last 30 minutes to be live on location with the "big gong"? (The one City TV was famous for)

ABC must have dictated that it's the full ABC feed or no feed at all.
(with a 30 minute allowance for local news at 11PM)

Last edited by Radiowiz (January 1, 2018 9:32 am)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

January 1, 2018 9:55 am  #5


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Radiowiz wrote:

ABC must have dictated that it's the full ABC feed or no feed at all.
(with a 30 minute allowance for local news at 11PM)

Well, I don't disagree with your premise that Rogers is cheap. But then again so was CHUM and yet they managed to put on the big show every year. It's a curious decision.

I would take issue with your ABC edict. First, I don't think the network cares what happens on a Canadian station. And second, WKBW cut away from the Dick Clark thing some 15 minutes to midnight for coverage of Buffalo's big bash. And they stayed with it until after the clock struck 2018. So if they can do it, anyone can. 

As for the premise that it's only for old people stuck at home, that's possible. But in my experience, there's usually a TV on at a bar or at someone's house hosting a party and it's on the in background, where those choosing to can glance at it from time to time. So it would still make an impression that it's City TV that's behind it -- and that's the kind of publicity that's hard to come by in these over-media saturated days.

     Thread Starter
 

January 1, 2018 11:52 pm  #6


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Yes, miss the City Hall bash put on by CityTV.
That thing the CBC did was completely unentertaining and couldn't have been any more boring and stereotypical Canadiana short of Hinterland Who's Who Beaver commercials tossed in.
It was painful...


Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs... 
~ John McClane
 

January 2, 2018 10:19 am  #7


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

I always figured it was a PR disaster waiting to happen.  There were always way too many people crowded into the square, to the point where emergency services had to fight like crazy to get into the middle of it.   One person with a handful of cherry bombs and the ensuing stampeded would probably have killed 3 or 4 people.

And yes, I'm old.
 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

January 2, 2018 12:46 pm  #8


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

THAT would have made exciting TV

 

January 2, 2018 3:55 pm  #9


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Radioactive:  CHUM was never "cheap."  
It was Moses who was "cheap."
Please do some fact checking before you post.
I worked with CHUM Ltd. over four decades.
I never was denied anything that I asked for to make the product better.
When we built the Media Market Mall in Ottawa, I asked what the budget was for the combined open concept newsroom for the four radio stations.
Mr. Waters told me he wanted the best and to spend what was needed to accomplish this so we went ahead and did exactly that.

 

January 2, 2018 4:21 pm  #10


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Wow! With such fluidity with finances, the company must have flourished! Whatever happened to them and their loose wallets?

 

January 2, 2018 4:59 pm  #11


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Mike Cleaver wrote:

Radioactive:  CHUM was never "cheap."  
It was Moses who was "cheap."
Please do some fact checking before you post.
I worked with CHUM Ltd. over four decades.
I never was denied anything that I asked for to make the product better.
When we built the Media Market Mall in Ottawa, I asked what the budget was for the combined open concept newsroom for the four radio stations.
Mr. Waters told me he wanted the best and to spend what was needed to accomplish this so we went ahead and did exactly that.

You may be right. Moses was notoriously cheap, which explains a lot about how City looked on air in those early days. But even after CHUM took over, the purse strings were pretty tight.  Whether that was Mr. Znaimer or not is another question.
 
I knew some former City newsroom employees from that era and one of them told me that they used to have to put in a requisition for a pen - yes, a single pen! - when their Bic ran out, or they wouldn't get one. And the supplies were kept in a locked cabinet with the unit assistant being the only one who had the key. Now no matter how you parse it, that's being cheap!

He once told me he had an occasion to call Bob Summers, then at CHUM, about something. He related the pen incident, saying something about how he might have to go into hock if Summers had to send an item he needed to the station. He recalls Summers laughing and saying something like, "Yep, that's the way it is here, too!" 

So THAT'S why I have that impression. If it's false, you can blame stories like that!

Generally most places I've worked have seemed to be penny wise and pound foolish. They'll spend a fortune on the kinds of high end facilities you mentioned, but if you need a pen, you practically have to sign away your next paycheque. 

     Thread Starter
 

January 2, 2018 9:23 pm  #12


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

You have to understand the CHUM culture.
Mr. Waters put managers in place at his properties whom he thought could do the job, based on his principles.
Before he would ever interfere, something had to really go wrong, usually financially.
That's why some in high positions (not many, though,) could quickly vanish from those jobs.
He let them run their stations and as long as there were no major problems, he didn't interfere.
Some of those people took advantage of the situation and yes, they were cheap.
CFRA comes to mind.
Some of the staff was so vastly underpaid it was criminal.
There were also numerous infractions of the rules of broadcasting which eventually lead to some high end changes before Jimmy sold out the entire company to Bhell, after telling everyone the company never would be sold.

 

January 9, 2018 8:53 pm  #13


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Here's my take on this....when CITY started this event, it was done on a shoestring budget.  As it became popular, it got bigger and more expensive.  Sponsors came on board to help with the cost. 

I believe that it's success did not go un-noticed by CTV and had CHUM Television decided to stop, I'm certain CTV would have taken it over.  So CHUM kept it going and when CTV realized this, they looked elsewhere, specifically, Niagara Falls.  If the cost of hosting an event down the street was exorbitant, imagine the cost of hosting an event some 80kms away.

When Rogers took over CITY, I believe they couldn't justify the expense and dropped it.  The bean counters at CTV must have thought the same.

 

January 9, 2018 9:09 pm  #14


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Citypulse News 15 wrote:

I believe that it's success did not go un-noticed by CTV and had CHUM Television decided to stop, I'm certain CTV would have taken it over. So CHUM kept it going and when CTV realized this, they looked elsewhere, specifically, Niagara Falls. 

To my knowledge, it was Global who did the Niagara Falls event, not CTV...   I don't remember CTV ever doing a local new years event. 

Although revenues are much less in local tv than years past,  I think the reason LOCAL TV stations are becoming less relevant is the fact they are LESS local than ever. 

I think they need to rethink the approach, or we will see some of these stations disappear within the next few years.   Local TV should be exactly that......  

When CHUM ran City, it did well with "NEWS MOVIES MUSIC"    I'm not saying that would work today, but it was much cheaper to operate, and was much more relevant locally in Toronto, than it's current form. 

Last edited by radiokid (January 9, 2018 9:13 pm)

 

January 10, 2018 10:30 am  #15


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

You're correct radio kid...brain fart on my part.  The point I was making was that it was so successful that they had to keep going, for fear of someone else picking up the ball.  This continued until cable and phone companies owned tv stations and no one wanted to spend money.

 

January 10, 2018 10:50 am  #16


Re: Why Did City TV Stop Staging Its New Year’s Eve Bash At City Hall?

Citypulse News 15 wrote:

You're correct radio kid...brain fart on my part. The point I was making was that it was so successful that they had to keep going, for fear of someone else picking up the ball. This continued until cable and phone companies owned tv stations and no one wanted to spend money.

Okay, but there was still a plan to stream the Niagara falls event. That also never happened.
How much does it cost to stream the event? (professionally)

What's my 3-10% tourism fee paying for anyway?
(for those who visit Niagara falls, that fee is increasingly tougher to get out of...)
 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.