RadioActive wrote:

Does anyone actually have access to figures that proves if that's still true?

It's true by a landslide. They lead their closest competitor by 2x

Meanwhile south of the border in NY State, where snow is serious business, did you know there is a somewhat friendly competion to see which community receives the most snow annually at the respective airports. Buffalo, Rochester, Binghampton, Syracuse and Albany compete for the coveted Golden Snowball Award. Yes there is an actual trophy. Syracuse is the Montreal Canadiens of snowfall. They have won the award the most number of times.

frostycold wrote:

mic'em wrote:

We received about 25 cm in the Greater Sudbury area. Forecast was for 10. I have been out and got about half my driveway shovelled out, waiting for the plow to go by so I don't have to do street end of it twice. 

I live in Val Caron and the official snow total according to the reporting station at the Sudbury Airport was just a smidge below 10cm.  Here in the Valley, I recorded about 11cm.  

Here is a link to the Weather Dashboard for Sudbury.  It lists the exact snowfall amounts by day.  We still haven't had a snowfall over 10cm yet this winter, but i get the feeling that is about to change with this next storm.

=13pxhttps://sudbury.weatherstats.ca/
 

frostycold, I had drifts in my driveway up to the bumper of my car. It looked like more than 10 cm to me. I'm in Chelmsford, so not far away. This next system coming later today looks much more menacing. 

Shorty Wave wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Sunday will be another key test for CTV Toronto, with the potential for more than 24 hours of possibly flooding rain. If they don't bring in a separate weather person to explain the next three days - which could include a flash freeze that turns roads and sidewalks to ice by Monday -. then they have no credibility at all. 

Their 6 PM show will air only on CP24, since the network is showing football. I'll be watching to see what they do - or more likely, don't do. 

 
I think they’re still in holiday mode so you’re correct in not expecting too much from any local station until at least Monday, kids today!

And it costs them overtime, which is the real reason they don't bother. But as Cory Galbraith used to say on CFTR, "News is a 24 hour affair." Lots has changed in the business but that hasn't. Holidays can't stand in the way of a huge story and - if this forecast is true - this may well wind up being one.  

I watched their 6 on CP24. At least they led with the weather this time, albeit briefly. But still no actual weather presenter. Instead, after the briefest mention of the mess on the roads, they threw to their lead story - the Polar Bear Skate for charity under the Bentway. 

A fine kicker or sidebar, but the lead? That's ridiculous. They wasted their one reporter, Janice Golding, on this thing, instead of covering issues on the highways, delays at the airport, concerns about what happens on Monday for those going to work, the possibility of power outages after ice coated tree branches meet 100 km/h winds and more. Instead viewers were treated to a story about half naked people going out for a skate in the freezing rain. 

To add insult to injury, they later aired what felt like a 5 minute report on the fires in Winnipeg in the summer. Yes, there are still repercussions, but that was 6 months ago. What about today's news? 

CTV Toronto let this viewer down in every way they could this weekend. How they're maintaining their #1 status is totally beyond me, but based on this performance, they certainly don't deserve it. 

RadioActive wrote:

How they're maintaining their #1 status is totally beyond me, but based on this performance, they certainly don't deserve it. 

Probably by not wasting time, money and staffing resources on something nobody under 55 cares about, the weather man telling us to put our boots on..... just a thought 

RadioActive wrote:

Yes, so let's put the over 55 people in old age camps and forget about them, because they don't matter anymore. If you're out of the demo, you should probably just be euthanized. Good plan!

No..... but if you're not making the station any money, why should they cater to you? It's not a public service, it's a business. You act as if they're doing this out of the goodness of their hearts

RadioActive wrote:

My point in all this is if you're going to go to the time, trouble and money to do a newscast, then do a proper newscast. These half-assed attempts are an insult to viewers. If CFTO doesn't want to stage a show that has all the necessary elements, then just cancel the thing and don't bother.

The problem with your point is that it's both bad business and a bad product to include a weather person at all times in 2025 errrr 2026. On the business front... there's zero revenue to be had, only expenses. On the production side it isn't something the majority of your audience needs to see. It would be like bringing in a "specialist" to do a daily report on which buildings were inaccessible to those in wheelchairs because of an elevator outage. I suspect Global will can their weather folks in 2026 to save some cash in new-Corus.

How about that? Jessica Smith showed up on Monday to do an honest-to-God weather forecast. What a concept! 

I noticed they didn't lead with the weather though, despite the flash freeze and the extreme winds. In fact, they didn't even mention the conditions until about 7 minutes in. 

Interestingly, despite being national, CBC did lead with weather across the country and spent several minutes on it, lead by Breaking News reporter Mark Carcasole. Much better choice IMHO. 

Let's hope we're back to normal at CTV now. Until next weekend, where there will be no one there - again. 

Worth noting Global chose not to do a noon newscast at all. 

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

What, exactly; is useful about reporting delays at the airport?

I know someone who is heading to the airport today hoping to get Florida. I'm betting it's useful to him. And since this is the peak travel time of year, I'm pretty sure others are concerned about it too. 

Wait around for the news to find out that there are delays, but not the specifics?

I flew yesterday; I woke up to a text message telling me my flight was delayed.

Of course he's going to check it online. But before he does, it would be nice to know if there are significant delays overall, i.e. how bad are conditions at Pearson (or in his case, Billy Bishop) and just as importantly, other cities, where there could be problems that affect his flight.

Then he'll check his flight status before leaving. I'm not sure why this is such an issue. You do it your way, and he does it his way. Both of you get what you want. What's the big deal how it happens?

RadioAaron wrote:

I don't get why there would be any complaining about the lack of useless information.

You're missing the point. It's not useless to everyone. Not everybody has the same needs as you or satisfies them in the same way.

Again, why does it annoy you so much? If you really think it's useless, don't do it. End of problem. Those who find it helpful can indulge in the provided info. 

I've never understood people who think if something doesn't apply to them, it shouldn't be done. You do you, he does him. Win/win. 

Found him! And boy, does he have quite the background. I can't believe I have no memory of him.

He was on CFTO as their medical and weather presenter from 1989-2004 - a total of 15 years. And yes, he was (and is) a meteorologist. Here's what he says about himself on his LinkedIn page:

-Initiated, researched and produced regular weather and climate specials.

-Fronted live outdoor reporting during storms delivering up-to-the-minute coverage.

-Tested and introduced new on-air technologies including Doppler Radar, Earth Watch and Live Weather Cams that led to increased ratings.

-Fill-in News Anchor for various newscasts at a moment’s notice to maintain program continuity.

-Produced and hosted on-air national weathercasts for NewsNet, Canada’s 24 hour news headline station.

-Researched, wrote, produced and hosted “Lifeline” a daily medical health and lifestyle feature report aired along the CTV network.

He also toiled as the chief meteorologist for a Texas TV station and was on the Weather Network and other outlets for 22 years.

So what is he doing now? He's a consultant that helps others bring their ideas to TV. And in a commendable effort, he also founded something called "Casualty To Condo" that helps severely disabled or homeless military veterans find a place to live.

67GreenRambler wrote:

All 6 PM newscasts in SOWNY region began with 5-6 minutes of Weather. Balloons and confetti were seen dropping at RA household.

All but CTV Toronto, which led with a fatal fire. Quelle surprise.

I wouldn't say worked up exactly, but it does in some way affect me.

I have no idea what your background in the business is, but I've spent over 25 years in TV newsrooms and by now, have a pretty good idea how to produce a newscast. CTV Toronto continually baffles me in their decision making, which often does not make for a very logical line-up. 

I've actually talked to other colleagues from other stations about this and - without prompting from me - they have all universally agreed that they don't understand what the station's producers are thinking in their choices. 

So yes, it does bug me when I - and others - see such obvious errors on Toronto's so-called #1 newscast. Call it professional pride or judgment. But they continually leave me scratching my head as to why they do what they do. I switch around during the 6 PM news and see almost all the other local channels making the right decision on the most important story of the day - the lead. Not to mention all the recently noted technical snafus. 

CFTO seems to get it wrong a lot and I simply can't figure out why. As stated before, regardless of the demo, if you're going to bother doing it, at least do it right.

To me at least, too often they don't. 

RadioActive wrote:

I wouldn't say worked up exactly, but it does in some way affect me.

I have no idea what your background in the business is, but I've spent over 25 years in TV newsrooms and by now, have a pretty good idea how to produce a newscast. CTV Toronto continually baffles me in their decision making, which often does not make for a very logical line-up. 

I've actually talked to other colleagues from other stations about this and - without prompting from me - they have all universally agreed that they don't understand what the station's producers are thinking in their choices. 

So yes, it does bug me when I - and others - see such obvious errors on Toronto's so-called #1 newscast. Call it professional pride or judgment. But they continually leave me scratching my head as to why they do what they do. I switch around during the 6 PM news and see almost all the other local channels making the right decision on the most important story of the day - the lead. Not to mention all the recently noted technical snafus. 

CFTO seems to get it wrong a lot and I simply can't figure out why. As stated before, regardless of the demo, if you're going to bother doing it, at least do it right.

To me at least, too often they don't. 

Respectfully, the game has changed in 25 years and nobody is going to wait around until 6:00 PM to find out what the weather is going to be like or if their flight is delayed. The internet is far more localized and convenient. I think we can also safely assume you haven't worked for CFTO given the bashing, so perhaps take into account that you would be biased to the ways of running a #2, #3 or #4 newscast, and not what it takes to focus on areas that keep them #1, even if they may seem backwards to you, it's clearly working..... If the other channels have the lead story & frills you like, then nobody is stopping you from changing the dial. All of them are doing newscasts because they have to, not because they want to, it's not a public service

67GreenRambler wrote:

All 6 PM newscasts in SOWNY region began with 5-6 minutes of Weather. Balloons and confetti were seen dropping at RA household.

Yep CTV London, CTV Kitchener, CTV Windsor and CHCH all started their 6PM newscasts with the big storm. CTV Toronto? Nope. They started off with a fatal fire. How ironic?