The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » CKVR Looking For New Night Anchor

RadioActive · August 3, 2022 3:11 pm

Just noticed that there's an opening for an anchor at CTV Barrie. I'm not that familiar with the station and haven't watched it in years. Did someone leave? Or are they just expanding?

The job calls for filing stories for the 6 o'clock news, but anchoring the 11. I got a kick out of one of the required rules for filling the position:

"Candidates must be prepared to reside in Barrie area."

I laughed when I read that - a long time ago, I had an interview for a job at CKLW. The guy liked my tape and my resume and then tentatively asked me one more question. "How," he said, "do you feel about living in Windsor?" I guess that was a deal breaker for some and it became one of the questions in the list he'd ask applicants. It happened decades ago, I still remember that query.

By the way, I would have been fine with it!

CTV Barrie Anchor Opening

markow202 · August 3, 2022 3:51 pm

Your are not familiar with the station? How can that be RadioActive....the most knowledgeable on here.

They had someone leave recently. It seems to be the birth spot of anchors before they head to Toronto or another big market.

andysradio · August 3, 2022 4:46 pm

And they have a pretty good newscast

RadioActive · August 3, 2022 4:55 pm

markow202 wrote:
Your are not familiar with the station? How can that be RadioActive....the most knowledgeable on here.

They had someone leave recently. It seems to be the birth spot of anchors before they head to Toronto or another big market.

Oh, if only that were true about my knowledge! I can't get them OTA anymore for some reason, not even when the rotor is facing all the way north. So I haven't seen them in a while. Well, that plus there's nothing on the station I want to watch. Hence, my lack of familiarity with them. Based on what I've seen in the listings, I'm not missing much!

As for it being the training ground for a ticket to T.O., that's very true. A number of reporters and anchors currently on air on both CP24 and CTV Toronto came from there. Another fertile place to shoot for the #1 market seems to be CKCO in Kitchener - especially weather folks!

And then there was this guy:

andysradio · August 3, 2022 5:37 pm

RA they have a repeater in Hamilton on 35 (though you wouldn’t know it). Did you try that?

RadioActive · August 3, 2022 7:08 pm

Yeah, I've tried repeatedly (repeater-tedly?) with the antenna pointed to the west. Nothing. Oddly, both used to come in. Now neither one does. No idea what changed.

Radiowiz · August 4, 2022 12:54 am

RadioActive wrote:
Yeah, I've tried repeatedly (repeater-tedly?) with the antenna pointed to the west. Nothing. Oddly, both used to come in. Now neither one does. No idea what changed.

Is this because of the switch from analogue to digital? You might need a new digital antenna...?

RadioActive · August 4, 2022 7:14 am

No, I used to get the HD signal on both. Now just a black screen. No idea what changed,

mace · August 4, 2022 7:26 am

RA; That job interview at CKLW, was that during the BIG 8 era or after the format switch?

Radiowiz · August 4, 2022 7:28 am

RadioActive wrote:
No, I used to get the HD signal on both. Now just a black screen. No idea what changed,

Here's a video, but I doubt it'll help much. It's most likely informing you of stuff you already know...

RadioActive · August 4, 2022 7:40 am

mace wrote:
RA; That job interview at CKLW, was that during the BIG 8 era or after the format switch?

Long, long after. They wanted me to produce a talk show. It didn't quite work out, but that's OK - I eventually landed a much better gig in Toronto. And I didn't have to move to Windsor!

markow202 · August 4, 2022 10:18 am

Since their switch to Digital, their OTA signal isnt too strong. CKVR used to come right into Toronto back on the analog days. Don't know what the issue is...probably low power on a giant tower.

RadioActive · August 4, 2022 10:21 am

I can't say, but it was never a problem, even right after the switch to digital. Now both the original and the repeater are gone. Used to get CHEX and CKCO, too, with the antenna facing the right way. Haven't seen either in a long time.

I've tried everything to boost the signal, and I do have an amplifier on the antenna. But as I found out the hard way, adding another one just made things worse, so I took the second one off.

markow202 · August 4, 2022 12:35 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I can't say, but it was never a problem, even right after the switch to digital. Now both the original and the repeater are gone. Used to get CHEX and CKCO, too, with the antenna facing the right way. Haven't seen either in a long time.

I've tried everything to boost the signal, and I do have an amplifier on the antenna. But as I found out the hard way, adding another one just made things worse, so I took the second one off.

Strange and your in north york with an antenna tower from what I remember?

RadioActive · August 4, 2022 12:41 pm

Yep, a 40' tower with a rotor. But efforts to look north and west for a CTV2 signal just aren't there. It's OK, though, since most of the time it's aimed towards Buffalo. Now if they could just boost the power on the MeTV signal...

RadioActive · August 4, 2022 12:51 pm

RadioActive wrote:
mace wrote:
RA; That job interview at CKLW, was that during the BIG 8 era or after the format switch?
Long, long after. They wanted me to produce a talk show. It didn't quite work out, but that's OK - I eventually landed a much better gig in Toronto. And I didn't have to move to Windsor!

I just remembered the guy's name who interviewed me - it was Bob Lusk, who many here may recall from his time at CKLW.