Was Cityline City's last non-news local programme? City started out with a heavy "community programming" emphasis including some wacky experiments such as "Free For All". Now it's pretty much indistinguishable from any other "local" channel which, other than newscasts, runs only network and syndicated programming.

CityLine is showing highlights from the last 40 years with special guests.  Marilyn Denis was on today I believe.  She was one of the early hosts of the program from the City/CHUM days. 

Even though it is supposed to be national, Breakfast Television still comes across as a Toronto/Southern Ontario morning show.  Sid and crew are sometimes very funny. 

paterson1 wrote:

CityLine is showing highlights from the last 40 years with special guests.  Marilyn Denis was on today I believe.  She was one of the early hosts of the program from the City/CHUM days. 

Even though it is supposed to be national, Breakfast Television still comes across as a Toronto/Southern Ontario morning show.  Sid and crew are sometimes very funny. 

Only the 8:30-10 AM portion of BT airs nationally. BT can be as Toronto as they wanna be before 8:30, but they still have that Toronto-centric factor present in the national portion.

Aside from that, BT could make for a very good national morning show for the entire timeslot, but doing so will a) probably alienate its Toronto viewers, b) would probably not do well against the well established local morning shows in other markets. 

Last edited by ED1 (May 1, 2024 10:09 am)

Quite the spectacle.

Last edited by Hansa (May 3, 2024 6:43 pm)

So whatever happened to this hour of BT that was supposed to be hosted by Tracy Moore and Cheryl Hickey? It was supposed to launch on Sept 9. 

I saw Hickey filling in for Devo Brown the one morning I tuned in last week.

According to all the publicity that was launched earlier this year, a 10 AM hour of BT was supposed to launch with Cheryl Hickey and Tracy Moore back on Sept 9. But as of now it’s only been Judy Justice at 10 AM.

https://nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/tracey-moore-and-cheryl-hickey-team-up-for-new-show-on-breakfast-television/

Last edited by ED1 (December 16, 2024 3:47 am)

ED1 wrote:

According to all the publicity that was launched earlier this year, a 10 AM hour of BT was supposed to launch with Cheryl Hickey and Tracy Moore back on Sept 9. But as of now it’s only been Judy Justice at 10 AM.

https://nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/tracey-moore-and-cheryl-hickey-team-up-for-new-show-on-breakfast-television/

 
That's what I thought too, that the 10 am slot would be an exclusively "lifestyle" version of BT with Moore and Hickey. Not that I really care, as those lifestyle shows don't appeal to me at all. But I wish they would put something other than Judge Judy on. Granted, I don't think I've ever watched a full show, but of what I've  seen, I find her to be a thoroughly unpleasant person.

And speaking of CITY TV, I've been noticing a lot of dropouts on the channel recently, with both audio and video disappearing for a second or so and the screen going to black. I was wondering if it is the station's signal, or a problem with my provider, Bell Fibe.

Has anyone else noticed these glitches?

Retrontario wrote:

My fav original City show like that was called City Classified... and it was just Glen Cole sitting behind a desk literally reading classified ads out loud, with phone numbers and no area codes. I have a few episodes, will try and post some to the Retrontario YouTube channel soon. And farewell, CityLine! 

I'm sure I'll be corrected if I am wrong, but I recall a segment on the City TV Program "Gene Taylor's Bazaar" in the mid 70s which had a few segments of classifieds which were read by co-host John Mitter (who may have also been the "booth" announcer at City.

The show aired live from the original 99 Queen St. E. building Mon - Fri at noon as I recall.  And it was from the small "shot box" studio on the second which was near of next to Master Control. Just Gene on the left of frame and John on the right all shot with one single camera. Gene Taylor used to joke on air about how small the studio was... even at one point reaching is right arm out to his side and hitting the wall beside him, while John would then reach out to his side with his left arm and would hit the wall to his left.

A couple of years later, Gene Taylor left City for CBC Toronto. He hosted his own live evening show which was produced live from various locations on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings... 

If I recall, the City Classifieds show w/ Glen Cole was the replacement show when Gene Taylor left for CBC.


 

Thanks In Phase...  I knew I would be corrected, and I was.

Happy Holidays to you and your family...

check your dm box...  I'll fill you in on the missing transmitter !!!  
 

In Phase wrote:

The "shot box" was on the third floor at 99 Queen.  The same small (very small) studio where John Majhor did his "Toronto Rocks" show.  The VTR's on each side were fake, with slots cut in them so he could insert the video tapes.



 

 
Love the “chum” shirt Majhor is wearing, on-air branding at its best!

Last edited by Shorty Wave (December 17, 2024 1:11 pm)

Cheese2RF wrote:

damn my mom had so much cityline stuff i just tossed out a bunch of books! i do have some episodes on VHS tho

 
I would look into the VHS tapes, some of that stuff goes on eBay.

Retrontario wrote:

Shorty Wave wrote:

Cheese2RF wrote:

damn my mom had so much cityline stuff i just tossed out a bunch of books! i do have some episodes on VHS tho

 
I would look into the VHS tapes, some of that stuff goes on eBay.

Or, could be donated to Retrontario where we can digitize them and share them online!

i follow you on insta, ill DM you later when i dig them out tonight
 

Retrontario wrote:

Shorty Wave wrote:

Cheese2RF wrote:

damn my mom had so much cityline stuff i just tossed out a bunch of books! i do have some episodes on VHS tho

 
I would look into the VHS tapes, some of that stuff goes on eBay.

Or, could be donated to Retrontario where we can digitize them and share them online!

He’s got one with Dini Petty from 1988 that’s premiering on YouTube this evening in fact.