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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Genre | News |
| Founded | September 28, 1975; 49 years ago (1975-09-28) (CityPulse) August 2, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-08-02) (CityNews) |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Area served | National, Regional |
Key people | Tony Staffieri - Rogers Communications Interim President & CEO Jordan Banks - President of Rogers Sports & Media |
Production output | Television, radio, and internet news |
| Owner | Rogers Sports & Media (Rogers Communications) |
| Parent | Citytv |
| Website | www |
CityNews is the title of news and current affairs programming onRogers Sports & Media'sCitytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 asCityPulse as a standalone localnewscast on the network'sToronto station owned byCHUM Limited. Through the acquisitions of theEdmonton,Winnipeg andCalgaryA-Channel stations in 2004, it was relaunched under the CityNews brand on August 2, 2005 and later expanded toMontreal in 2012. The remaining Citytv stations airs the news headlines segments during each station'sBreakfast Television morning show.
Before the 2017–2018 relaunch of CityNews nationally, Citytv stations outside Toronto had their midday and evening news programs cancelled in 2006, and the remaining news programming on these stations (such as the nationally-broadcastCityNews International) was cancelled in early 2010.[1][2]
After a soft launch in 2020 viaCIWW/CJET-FM Ottawa,[3] in June 2021 Rogers extended theCityNews branding to itsnews radio stations.[4]
The newscast was broadcast in Toronto asCityPulse as a pilot episode on September 28, 1975, and as a second pilot episode on September 12, 1976. The first regular episode of CityPulse aired on September 12, 1977. CITY-TV's newscasts aired under the CityPulse title for the final time on August 1, 2005, and were rebranded as CityNews the following day. While the station claims that it was the first news show to abandon the traditional anchor desk,CBS News in the United States had done this as early as the 1950s underEdward R. Murrow. Its main innovation in television news was to have its reporters play a more participatory role in their stories. Elements of it were also taken from then-sister stationATV in the Maritimes, whoseLive at 5 newscast, launched in 1982, had lead anchor Dave Wright roaming around the ATV newsroom and talking with the reporters.
By the mid-1980s, the newscast's style, pioneered byMoses Znaimer, was promoted as a "format" for local news shows to copy around North America. The show has been duplicated by other television stations owned byCHUM Limited and its format has been licensed to several television stations around the world, such asCitytv Barcelona andCitytv Bogotá. Other attempts to clone the format with regional changes have also been attempted; notably, two American attempts at a CityPulse-style newscast debuted within months of each other in 1993:KCOP-TV in Los Angeles with13 Real News, andKIRO-TV in Seattle with what was dubbed "News Outside the Box" (the latter station attempted to leverage its then-sister radio stations as well). Both attempts failed and by 1994 both stations had reverted to "traditional" newscasts.
Until 1987, the anchors on CityPulse sat behind an anchor desk in a dark studio with two orange-red-black striped beams and a television set between the two anchors. CityPulse at Six was anchored byGord Martineau andDini Petty for most of the years from 1980 to 1987. Weather presenters during that era included CHUM Radio veteran Jay Nelson, Brian Hill, Greg Rist, andDavid Onley. Sports anchors includedJim McKenny, Russ Salzberg,John Saunders,Debbie Van Kiekebelt, andAnn Rohmer.
CityPulse Tonight, known as CityPulse News at 10 prior to 1981, was anchored byBill Cameron, later by Gord Martineau, and thenAnne Mroczkowski. In 1987, Mroczkowski moved to the supper-hour show to co-anchor with Martineau.J.D. (John) Roberts began his news anchoring career as anchor ofCityPulse Tonight after several years as an entertainment reporter andMuchMusicvideo jockey.
On May 4, 1987, CityPulse moved into a newsroom set at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto along with the other station operations, from 99 Queen Street East. After the move, CityPulse began to move the anchors away from a central desk, positioning them around the newsroom (such as the assignment desk, equipped with police radios, banks of monitors, and perhaps the most unique feature, a map of Toronto with blinking lights indicating major highways, positioned behind a large glass wall, allowing the anchors to draw on the glass with markers to indicate the locations of stories and incidents), or walking through the newsroom.
From 1987 to 1989,Dini Petty anchoredCityWide at 5:30 pm.
Hourly news update segments, akin to the "24-Hour News Source" format popular in the US at the time, were introduced in the early 1990s, initially to cover the Gulf War (known asGulfwatch). The updates were refined into a regular feature after the end of the war. These were branded as CityPulse (Overnight) NewsFlashes, for shorter updates (typically a shot of the darkened newsroom, followed by shots of area traffic cameras; a ticker would display one or two headlines, sports scores, a weather forecast, and/or the time of the next update; the sounds of the newsroom and/or a police scanner would be heard underneath), or as simplyCityPulse Updates, for longer updates anchored by a CityPulse reporter (oftenKevin Frankish) from the assignment desk, who, in a unique twist, would operate the camera themselves via a control device. From 1998 until the 2000s, CITY producedCityLive simulcasted with its new news channel CablePulse24.
By March 2008, CityNews Toronto was struggling in the ratings, coming in third (with an average of 100,000 viewers) afterCTV (326,000 viewers) andGlobal (126,000). On January 21, 2008,CityLive was relaunched asCityNews at 5, drawing a scant 1% share of the Toronto market at 5 p.m.[5]
In July 2008, Rogers filed an application with theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a separate 24-hour news station to be affiliated with Citytv Toronto, and to be known as CityNews (Toronto). The application was approved on December 10, 2008.[6] The new station was in direct competition with CP24 which was launched on October 3, 2011, asCityNews Channel.[7]
In December 2008, Citytv laid off the entire CityNews Entertainment unit. Entertainment reportersLarysa Harapyn and Liz West were released, and entertainment stories were then read by the anchors.
In September 2009, Citytv moved into its now former newsroom at 33 Dundas Street East (Yonge-Dundas Square) inDowntown Toronto.
On January 19, 2010, CityNews at Noon, CityOnline and CityNews at Five were cancelled as part of layoffs and restructuring within the Citytv stations. Many long-time CityNews on-air personalities, includingAnne Mroczkowski and Laura DiBattista, were let go.
Citytv Toronto reinstated the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on Saturday and Sunday evenings on March 5, 2011, with Pam Seatle anchoring the 6 p.m. newscast, and Melanie Ng anchoring at 11 p.m. On September 5, 2011, Citytv Toronto also reinstated CityNews at Five with anchors Francis D'Souza, Tom Hayes, and Avery Haines. The following day on September 6, 2011,Breakfast Television on all five of Citytv's owned-and-operated stations expanded to three-and-a-half hours, from 5:30-9 a.m. Avery Haines then leftCityNews at Five to start a segment called "The Inside Story" that features on Tuesdays and Thursdays onCityNews at Six.
On August 13, 2012, CITY-TV expanded its nightly 11 p.m. newscast, CityNews Tonight, from 30 minutes to one hour.[8]
In 2015, the station changed the format of its evening newscasts, removing the in-studio anchor and having all stories presented by videojournalists on the field. The reduced cost format is designed to appeal to younger viewers with a more "raw" presentation, and appeal to increased trust in the reporters and their journalism.[9]
In 2024, Citytv changed its format from being anchorless with an in studio presenter opening the newscast alongside delivering many of the stories standing in their newsroom, to an in studio anchor sitting down at a desk to present the news for the first time since 1987. With the format change, Citytv announced Cynthia Mulligan as their new Chief Correspondent and Anchor for CityNews at 5 and CityNews at 6 with other reporters hosting CityNews Tonight and CityNews Weekend.[10]
On March 15, 2025, Citytv moved from their now former building at 33 Dundas Street East to the Rogers Toronto campus at 333 Bloor Street East joining other Rogers Sports and Media television and radio stations such as680NewsRadio. Their last newscast at 33 Dundas Street East was on March 14, 2025 with Breakfast Television making the move as well.[11]
From its launch in 1998 until 2008,CityNews and local cable news channel,CP24 were a combined operation sharing the same newsroom and studio space at299 Queen Street West. CP24 simulcasted Citytv news programs such asBreakfast Television andCityNews. CP24 also reran mostCityNews programming immediately after it was done airing live. At that time, CP24 was jointly owned by CHUM Limited andSun Media, who owned the channel until 2004.
In July 2006, Bell Globemedia (later CTVglobemedia and nowBell Media) announced a bid to purchase Citytv/CP24's parent company, CHUM Limited. A year later, the CRTC approved the sale on the condition that the Citytv stations be sold. Shortly after, the sale of Citytv stations toRogers Communications was finalized.
For a short period, things remained the same; Citytv anchors continued to anchor and contribute to CP24 and shows were simulcast between the two channels until CTV/Rogers announced the restructuring of its employees between to two channels beginning in November 2007, such as the hiring of new CP24-only andCityNews-only personalities.
In November 2008, CP24 moved most of its operations from its original newsroom, shared with Citytv, to a new state-of-the-art newsroom on the second floor with windows facing Queen Street West and at the same time CP24 unveiled a new look to its on-screen format. CP24 continued to simulcastCityNews programming up until December 10, 2008, when CTV pulled almost all Citytv news programming with the exception ofBreakfast Television. That night,CTV News at Six replacedCityNews at Six, which had remained in place since the channel began broadcasting in 1998. Critics had speculated that the latter change was due to the CRTC's approval of Citytv Toronto planning on launching CityNews Channel. One of the final ties was severed on March 26, 2009, when CP24 dropped its simulcast ofBreakfast Television and launched its own morning show,CP24 Breakfast.
Following the layoffs at the Citytv stations announced on January 19, 2010, CP24 extended itsLive at 5 broadcast from 15 minutes to 30, and also launched another half-hour newscast,Live at 5:30. The show was featured a CP24 personality that hosted bothLive at 5 andLive at 5:30; having interviews and updating Toronto on what is happening in the city. In addition, two other CP24 anchors would host the show, one co-hosting at 5pm and the other co-hosting at 5:30pm, bringing Toronto's Top Stories. By July 2012,Live at 5 andLive at 5:30 were brought back to the regular CP24 news format and with just one anchor 5pm and one anchor for 5:30pm.
CityNews is the only newscast in Canada that operates its own weather monitoring stations[12] across theGreater Toronto Area. In addition to 20 weather stations, CityNews introduced a CityNews Weather LiveEye, a mobile unit that can monitor the weather anywhere.[13]
On June 21, 2007,CityNews launched CityNews Weather Online, a desktop program that is more convenient than accessing their website. The program includes features to alert the user when a weather watch or warning is issued.
In November 2008,CityNews launched CityNews Weather Webcast, which are video weather forecasts recorded each day by one of the weather team members.
On February 14, 2007, CityNews created the CityNews Webcast, a downloadable newspodcast based in Toronto. There are three Webcasts uploaded on weekdays: in the morning, presented byKevin Frankish fromBreakfast Television; in the afternoon, presented by CityNews at Six anchorGord Martineau; and the final Webcast in the evening, presented by the anchor hosting CityNews Tonight.
The CityPulse newscast originally began with the instrumental version of "Masterpiece" byThe Temptations. In 1979, it was changed to a rendition of "Gonna Fly Now" byMaynard Ferguson; the theme was remixed and rearranged well into the 2000s. The theme for CityPulse Tonight continued to be "Masterpiece" until the early 1980s. From 1985 until 1994, "Pentatus" by Graham Shaw was used as the theme music forCityPulse Tonight. The current theme is a custom-composed music piece.
On May 30, 2011, Rogers Media announced plans to launch adigital cablespecialty channel licensed as aCategory B service with theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission called CityNews Channel, a 24-hour news network based in Toronto that would bring together resources from a number of Rogers-owned news and media properties, including Citytv Toronto,680 News radio, andMaclean's magazine. The channel featured "an enriched and interactive screen format," likely similar to that ofBell Media'sCP24, the channel's main competitor.[14]
CityNews Channel was launched on October 3, 2011, using the same news wheel format as 680News, with traffic and weather reports on the :1s, sports news at :15 and :45 and business news at :26 and :56 past the hour. The channel's anchors were rotated depending on the time period. Rolling news programming aired weekdays from 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., weekends from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. and nightly from 7–11 p.m. ET; all Citytv Toronto news programming is simulcast on the channel (including weekday morning news/talk programBreakfast Television and nightly 11 p.m. newscast CityNews Tonight, which both feature an additional half-hour seen exclusively on CityNews Channel); an audio simulcast of 680News featuring live traffic camera feeds throughout Toronto also runs from 1-5:30 a.m. weeknights and midnight – 7 a.m. weekends.
Beginning April 14, 2012, Citytv Toronto ran a simulcast of CityNewsChannel's weekend morning news programming every Saturday morning from 7–8 a.m. and Sunday mornings from 7–9 a.m.[15] The channel abruptly ceased operations at 9 a.m. on May 30, 2013.[16]
CityNews Channel was revived as CityNews24/7 in 2022, this time as a streaming channel, similar to those offered online byGlobal News. The channel is operated in Toronto and West versions, and carried via the CityNews digital platforms, as well as Rogers'Amazon Prime Video Channels service Citytv+ and Rogers Xfinity Channel 100.[17]
CityPulse was launched inVancouver in 2002 whenCKVU-TV was rebranded as "Citytv Vancouver". With the expansion of Citytv from two to five stations in August 2005, the newscasts on all five Citytv stations were renamedCityNews.
On July 12, 2006, coincident with the announcement ofCTVglobemedia's plans to take over CHUM Limited, all prime-timeCityNews programs, with the exception of those on CITY in Toronto, were immediately cancelled, with 281 CHUM employees across the country laid off. OnCKALCalgary andCKEMEdmonton,CityNews at Six andCityNews Tonight was replaced with a new half-hour newsmagazine calledYour City.CHMIWinnipeg had been slated to launch its own version in January 2007 according to a news release,[18] but it never materialized. CKVU's newscasts were not replaced, although a noon newscast based on theBreakfast Television format calledLunch Television was launched in early 2009. CityNews at Noon in Calgary and Edmonton, andLunch Television in Vancouver continued until January 19, 2010.
When the show made the transition toCityNews, it lost several features, such as the CityPulse Webtest, which had existed since the 1980s as a phone-in contest. The new format on CHMI, which had been calledA-Channel News (which was later used byCTVglobemedia'sA stations, under the nameA News, prior to the rebranding of the A system to CTV Two in August 2011), had lost nearly half of its audience for the 6 p.m. newscast before its cancellation.
On June 8, 2007, the CRTC approved the CTV takeover of CHUM. However, the five Citytv stations could not be sold to CTVglobemedia due toconcentration of media ownership regulations. On June 11,Rogers Communications announced that it would buy the five Citytv stations from CTVglobemedia. The sale was approved on September 28 and became official on October 31, 2007. CTVglobemedia retained ownership of CP24, the 24-hour Toronto local news station that shared many programs and personalities with Toronto's Citytv station, including CityNews.
On January 19, 2010,Your City, based in CKEM-TV Edmonton and CKAL-TV Calgary,Lunch Television, and the comedy showThe CityNews List on CKVU-TV Vancouver were also cancelled. In Winnipeg, the news part ofBreakfast Television is called CityNews.
TheJim Pattison Group stations (CFJC-TVKamloops,CKPG-TVPrince George, andCHAT-TVMedicine Hat) produce their own weeknight local newscasts, but do not produce their own local versions ofBreakfast Television nor title their newscasts under the CityNews branding. In fact, despite keeping the same on-air branding and logos used as affiliates of theE! system, they do not bear the Citytv branding. However, as part of a renewal of their affiliation agreements with Citytv on May 3, 2012, CKPG, CHAT and CJFC were to begin simulcasting the Vancouver edition ofBreakfast Television from CKVU-DT, starting in fall 2012 as the stations began carrying 90% of Citytv's morning and daytime programming from the CKVU schedule grid.[19]
Citytv Saskatchewan does not produce any CityNews newscasts orBreakfast Television as it is licensed as an educational cable channel. The newly acquiredCJNTMontreal, however, began producing CityNews under theBreakfast Television banner in the fall of 2013.
On June 5, 2017, Rogers announced that it would return local early evening and late night newscasts to its Citytv owned-and-operated stations in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and, through an expansion of CJNT-DT's news operations, Montreal. The hour-long newscasts – which aired at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. local time – premiered in Edmonton and Winnipeg on September 4, 2017, while the remainder of the announced markets will launch newscasts in early 2018.[20] On July 12, 2018, it was announced that the new Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver newscasts would premiere on September 3.[21]
On December 3, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.,CIWW in Ottawa (previously known as "1310 News") adopted the CityNews branding, and began simulcasting on sister stationCJET-FM 101.1 (formerlyCKBY-FM, switching from its previous country music format as "Country 101.1") while continuing to broadcast on AM 1310. (The original CKBY's format and call letters were concurrently moved over to 92.3 FM, which previously used theCJET-FM calls.)
In June 2021, Rogers announced that it would rebrand its five other all-news and news-talk radio stations under the CityNews brand.[22] The rebranding is to take effect on October 18, 2021.[23] Three of the stations –CFTR 680 Toronto,CFFR 660 Calgary, andCKWX 1130 Vancouver – are co-located with Citytv stations, while a fourth –CKGL 570Kitchener – is located in a secondary market for Citytv Toronto. The move brought the CityNews brand toAtlantic Canada, where Rogers operatesCJNI-FM 95.7Halifax but does not operate a Citytv station.
On October 26, 2023, Rogers announced it would discontinue the news/talk format on both CIWW and CJET-FM effective at 1:00 p.m. that day, with CJET returning to a country music format and the CIWW licence expected to be returned to the CRTC for cancellation.[24]
In March 2024, as part of a rebranding ofCityNews introduced that month, Rogers began to drop theCityNews branding from its radio stations in favour ofNewsRadio.[25]
| Location | Call sign | Frequency | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto,Ontario | CFTR | 680 AM | All-news |
| Calgary,Alberta | CFFR | 660 AM | All-news |
| Vancouver,British Columbia | CKWX | 1130 AM | All-news |
| Kitchener,Ontario | CKGL | 570 AM | News/Talk |
| Halifax,Nova Scotia | CJNI-FM | 95.7 FM | News/Talk/Sports |
| Location | Call sign | Frequency | Format | Ended | Subsequent format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa,Ontario | CIWW | 1310 AM | News/Talk | October 26, 2023 | went silent |
| Smiths Falls,Ontario | CJET-FM | 101.1 FM | News/Talk (simulcast of CIWW) | October 26, 2023 | 101.1 FM reverted to former Country format, after swapping back call letters and frequency withCKBY-FM |
Soon after the cancellation of the localCityNews broadcasts in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg in 2008, a new half-hour program calledCityNews International was launched. The program was produced in the Citytv Toronto studios and featured many of the same on-air personalities as the local Citytv Toronto'sCityNews.CityNews International aired at 6:30 and 11:30 p.m. in Calgary and Edmonton. In Winnipeg, it ran at 11:00 p.m., and in Vancouver at 6 and 11:35 p.m. In Toronto, Citytv aired the newscast at 11:35 p.m.CityNews International was canceled during the 2010 cuts. The title of the program remains in use on Citytv Toronto for the international news segments shown during its evening newscasts.
The replacement program in Calgary and Edmonton for the evening/late-evening program was a magazine type of show calledYour City.
The show aired five nights a week at 6:00 p.m., with a repeat at 11:00 p.m. The format of the show consisted of a top story, a report about theatre or other cultural life, various restaurant and wine reviews and an assortment of other general interest stories.
The noon newscast aired in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. It was hosted byFrancis D'Souza and Laura DiBattista in Toronto, Asha Tomlinson in Edmonton and Aisling Slattery in Calgary.
A lunchtime half-hour talk show about Toronto news and current affairs aired weekdays at 12:30 p.m., following Toronto's CityNews at Noon. The show encouraged audience participation with its phone-in format. Viewers could also e-mail and vote on a daily phone poll.
CityOnline was hosted by Kris Reyes. Previous hosts includedAnn Rohmer (CP24),Tracy Moore (Cityline), and Laura DiBattista (CBC Radio).
Lunch Television was hosted by Kyle Donaldson and Michel McDermott and aired in the Vancouver market.
An earlier program, also titledLunch Television, aired on the original Toronto station during the 1990s.
Anchors
Weather
Sports (CityNews)
Reporters
