Wow, those don't look like great numbers. And I'm not just talking about the CBC.

The late night news on all the Canadian stations get less than 250,000 viewers in an era when there were just a few broadcast channels to choose from? I don't think those numbers would fly today. It also says something that they had to include the Buffalo news results, which would understandably be lower in Toronto, perhaps making those here look better. 

Where did all the viewers go at night?

paterson1 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Wow, those don't look like great numbers. And I'm not just talking about the CBC.

The late night news on all the Canadian stations get less than 250,000 viewers in an era when there were just a few broadcast channels to choose from? I don't think those numbers would fly today. It also says something that they had to include the Buffalo news results, which would understandably be lower in Toronto, perhaps making those here look better. 

Where did all the viewers go at night?

Not sure what you are talking about.  Those were average numbers every day.  So the Canadian stations had an average of 544,000 viewers every night at 11pm. Those aren't bad numbers and remember it is from 1968 when the population of the GTA was much smaller than today.

True but there was so many fewer places to see a newscast - no CNN (in fact, no cable), no City TV (they came on in 1972), no Internet to look at instead, no streaming services to attract eyeballs away. If a late night newscast drew below 300,000 today, it wouldn't be worth doing. Today is a different story. They were the only game in town back then.

This is not a dig at the CBC. It just seems logical to posit that with so few alternatives, the numbers would have been higher for all of them. 

Interesting that there are no numbers for WKBW. By the late 60's, Irv. Rick and Tom ruled Buffalo with stories about pistol packing punks roaming the streets and blocks of burning buildings. And regarding The National, bone headed decision by management to move the newscast to 10pm where it had to compete with U.S. primetime programming.

Still not sure what you are talking about RA.  Those numbers from 1968 are not low.  Playback magazine had some news ratings for CFTO Sept 2000.  We see locally at 6-7pm in the Toronto/Hamilton market CFTO was number one with 331,000 viewers average minute for their early evening newscast, and 403,000 full coverage. Not that much more than CBC in 1968 at 11pm locally.  Also the 1968 ad likely didn't include CKVR or WKBW numbers since they may have been so low.

From Playback Magazine in 2001 ...CFTO News has consistently maintained its status as the most-watched local newscast in the country. The proof is in the numbers. According to Nielsen Media Research, the 6pm newscast delivers an average minute audience of 331,000 viewers (6-7pm, 2+) while Global, its nearest competitor, draws just 188,000 viewers (5:30-6:30pm, 2+).CFTO News at 6pm also draws more than 3 times as many viewers in the Toronto/Hamilton market than the CBC’s Canada Now (CBC: 93,000 viewers, 2+) and CityPulse (CityTV: 97,000, 2+).* In addition, CFTO’s total station audience is 403,000(6-7pm).***Source: Nielsen, Toronto-Hamilton DMA (Sept. 18/00 – Jan. 28/01)**Source: Nielsen, Full coverage (Sept. 18/00 – Jan. 28/01)  

Last edited by paterson1 (July 31, 2026 5:21 pm)

~15% of the population (which includes) kids being up watching the news on any given night at 11pm seems about right to me, if not a bit high.

Last edited by RadioAaron (July 31, 2026 5:43 pm)

torontostan wrote:

For comparison, here's the six o'clock average so far this year:
CFTO - 231,000
CIII - 120,000
CHCH - 104,000
CKVR - 96,000
CITY - 66,000
CFTR - 40,400
CBLA - 31,100
CBLT - 27,000
CHFI - 26,800
CHBM - 22,300
CFMZ - 17,200
CKFM - 16,700
CHUM - 16,700
CFNY - 16,600
CILQ - 16,423
CKIS - 13,711
CIND - 11,451
CFRB - 6,726
CIDC - 5,504
CBL - 5,050
CJRT - 4,541
CKFG - 3,945
CFZM - 3,152
CJCL - 2,953
CFXJ - 2,216
CFIQ - 999
CHUMA - 907
CING - 656
CKDX - 153
CJBCA - 93
CJBC - 33

Wow I thought City was beating Global this whole time….
 

Interesting too that CFRB 1010 and CFIQ 640 have low 6pm listenership, when both simulcast the two biggest 6pm TV newscasts - CTV News and Global News. By comparison, CFRB has been simulcasting CP24 on weekend mornings for a while now and I thought it brought in decent numbers for them. Maybe most people are out of their cars and in front of their TV's by 6pm?

CTV News sucks. Tom Gibney must be rolling in his grave.

I don't think the OMNI stations are on the list.  I wonder how their 6pm newscasts do ratings wise.

It's a shame, because in the Moses Znaimer days, City TV used to have the most unique newscasts in North America, if not the world. Rogers came in and took the personality out of it. Is it more professional looking now? Probably. But has it lost that quirky charm that made it one of a kind? Absolutely.

It's now a staid, old fashioned typical behind-the-desk-anchor-throws-to-story everyone else does. It was not like that in the CityPulse era. 

Interesting that the top two are mostly spoken word and not music.

RadioActive wrote:

It's a shame, because in the Moses Znaimer days, City TV used to have the most unique newscasts in North America, if not the world. Rogers came in and took the personality out of it. Is it more professional looking now? Probably. But has it lost that quirky charm that made it one of a kind? Absolutely.

It's now a staid, old fashioned typical behind-the-desk-anchor-throws-to-story everyone else does. It was not like that in the CityPulse era. 

 
Don’t get me started….too late! CityPulse was indeed the most unique newscast in the world! They were the first to not have anchors sitting at a desk, like newscasts all still do etc., they were the first to use “videographers”, camera people that did their own reporting. They also used Speakers Corner to get the “pulse” on the street, plus they had, IMO, the most interesting and engaging on-air talent, like Mark Dailey, miss him!

Rogers did take the personality out of Citytv although I recall many of them leaving on their own terms. I recall one such talent asking for help at the fax machine, he was trying to send his CV off and was surprised that we even still had a fax machine, and that they were still in use! He ended up on air, out west within a month.

Let’s face it, City News is now not worth watching, too bad, it even topped the ratings once in a while back in the Pre-Rogers era.

Hi RA and ShortyWave,
My turn to chime in here.  The ratings game.  Way back in 1986, if my memory serves me correctly, CityPulse beat CFTO at 6pm.  Just once, can't remember if it was BBM or Neilson. That's in the old building at 99 Queen Street East.  It was quite the event...sandwiches arrived, I think bubbly stuff etc. Lots of chest beating. I still don't know how we did it.  The little station that could. 
Now it's not worth watching, when you have the 500+ channel universe to pick from.  I'm really glad I changed careers after 17 years at Pulse.  Otherwise I'd be out on the street.

The Foxer wrote:

Hi RA and ShortyWave,
My turn to chime in here.  The ratings game.  Way back in 1986, if my memory serves me correctly, CityPulse beat CFTO at 6pm.  Just once, can't remember if it was BBM or Neilson. That's in the old building at 99 Queen Street East.  It was quite the event...sandwiches arrived, I think bubbly stuff etc. Lots of chest beating. I still don't know how we did it.  The little station that could. 
Now it's not worth watching, when you have the 500+ channel universe to pick from.  I'm really glad I changed careers after 17 years at Pulse.  Otherwise I'd be out on the street.

 
Citytv was indeed the little station that could! I think CityPulse had another ratings success in the early 90s as well, could be wrong. You were wise to change careers, I didn’t and got the Red Rogers Axe, but it prompted me to start my own production biz, had little choice!