The Suburban crunches some numbers in the evening TV news race here, and theorizes that Frank Cavallaro’s move from CTV to CBC had something to do with the latter’s 25% jump in viewership over last year, prompting Inside the CBC to wonder if weathermen are the magic ticket to success.
I think we should take a step back here. 25% seems large, but only represents about 6,000 actual viewers. CBC Montreal’s news audience is still an order of magnitude smaller than CTV, which has dominated the race since CBC gutted Newswatch.
Though I’m sure Cavallaro has a loyal audience, the numbers probably have more to do with people slowly trickling back to CBC after the network decided to bring back a local one-hour newscast. And the station still has plenty of ground to make up. It needs a new studio (well, actually, it needs its own studio), a graphics department, and other things that only money can buy.
Meanwhile, The Suburban notices that Paul Graif, a victim of Global Quebec’s job cuts, is now at CTV. Another example of why we have one local news program here and two pretend local news programs.
February 11, 2008 – 6:17 pm
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Posted in Montreal, TV
Dear Rob Lurie, CTV News,
I see you’re reporting on Habs Ryan O’Byrne and Tom Kostopoulos being arrested. OK, sure.
Why are you standing outside in the cold? This story happened in Tampa, Florida. You’re clearly not in Tampa, considering the fog coming out of your mouth as you talk. How does being outside instead of in studio (as you did this afternoon) help us understand the situation any better?
As for you, CBC News, is a streeter really necessary here? Are you going to find someone on the street who’s going to take the players’ side? Why did you waste a reporter on getting idiots on the street to say they don’t approve of stealing ladies’ purses?
And why is that reporter, Stéphanie Tremblay, reporting on her streeter package live from the middle of a forest somewhere? It hardly needs an introduction anyway.
(CTV took a more nuanced approach, asking viewers if this would have an impact on the team. Their streeter ran as-is with no introduction)
There’s gimmickry for gimmickry’s sake and then there’s wasting resources on stupidity.
Incidentally, tonight is Frank Cavallaro’s debut on CBC News at Six. Though the production quality is much lower than CTV News, the voice is the same and I don’t think his groupies will take issue with the transition.
January 29, 2008 – 4:15 pm
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Posted in Montreal, TV
Frank Cavallaro, who was unceremoniously booted from CTV News Montreal when his contract wasn’t renewed on Dec. 31, has found a new job at their direct competitor CBC News.
Michel Godbout announced yesterday on the Montreal evening newscast that Cavallaro will become their new “weather specialist” starting in a couple of weeks. He replaces Geeta Nadkarni, who moves to environment reporting.
Frank also announced the news himself on his new blog.
One advantage that being on CBC gives him is potential international exposure. CBC Montreal puts its evening News at Six on its website in Windows Media format.
The appointment gives Montreal viewers a choice, between experience and professionalism at CBC (well, as much professionalism as a guy associated with zucchini can have anyway) and cheery perkiness of CTV’s weatherbabes.
Which of these will Montrealers choose?
UPDATE (Jan. 30): Boone compares Cavallaro with Andrew Marquis, who died shortly after being stolen away by CBC Montreal from Pulse News.
