We, myself, @CamilleGlobal and @JessLaventure are seriously bummed about not being on the air! pic.twitter.com/1ExgGETh5m
— Richard Dagenais (@Dagenator) March 14, 2013
On the bright side, we know Global Montreal Morning News has some viewers, because they complained the show wasn’t on the air on Thursday morning.
Apparently a major computer failure, whose nature we don’t know, caused Morning News to be delayed well past its start time. it wasn’t until after 8am that the show finally got on the air in an abbreviated version.
It's tough to turn away guests who take the trouble to come to our station for interviews this morning. We here in Montreal, feel terrible.
— Richard Dagenais (@Dagenator) March 14, 2013
The Twitter feed from host Richard Dagenais was active during the non-show, as frustrated Montreal staff cold only sit and watch.
Asked about the problem, Global News spokesperson Samantha Simic said it was a computer problem.
As you know, working with computers has made life infinitely simpler but they can occasionally make things complicated and difficult to resolve. That’s what happened this morning. Our technical problem was made all the more challenging by the fact that it was a computer problem.
Global Montreal station manager Karen Macdonald didn’t respond to a request for comment, but staff in Montreal made it clear via social media that the problem was not local to Montreal.
The show is produced and directed in Montreal, but with computers that work off of servers in Vancouver. It’s not clear if that’s where the problem was or if there was something else that kept them off the air.
Technical problems have been common at the show since it started airing in late January, but at least in this case it seems the problems were not the fault of anyone in the offices at Peel and Ste-Catherine.
The technical difficulties came on the same day that Global launched Global News BC 1, its new regional all-news specialty channel based in Vancouver. The channel is available so far only to Shaw digital cable subscribers in B.C.
UPDATE (March 16): Dagenais offers some insight into the problem on his blog.
Funny how you now just love to make fun of Global TV. I guess when Canwest owned your paycheque it wasn’t so easy.
I don’t, actually, nor do I think I’m making fun of it here.
It was a bit odd. There was no censorship, but it was a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully it ended and I’m now free to write about Global the same way I would any other broadcaster.
How could you possibly read this post and interpret it as Steve making fun of Global? He has been more than fair to the show. It has serious technical problems. It is not unfair or in bad taste to point that out to readers of a blog on Montreal media.
I still think however, that he hasn’t focused enough on Global contributor Leah Lipkowitz. She is the best thing to happen in the history of Montreal television.*
*Source: Leah Lipkowitz, friends & family, on blog.fagstein.com.
I don’t recall her saying that. She likes the show, obviously. She’s entitled to that opinion, no matter how biased it may be.
They have guests coming for an interview…and they turn them away because they are not LIVE? COME ON! I just hope they did the interview anyway and…recorded it? Or was the cameras down too? This studio software seems to be the most complicated thing ever to use.
It’s all one system. I suppose they could have grabbed a cameraman and taped an interview in a room somewhere, but it’s easier just to have them come back another day.
The question on everyone’s mind is, why is Global running their computers through the STM’s server network?
Dave you are a bully behind a computer.
Global is having issues, you are right and this is obvious but I choose to support them because launching a new morning show is hard and they deserve our encouragement. I know what it is like to launch products from the ground up being onto my 4th magazine launch in 4 years. But there were plenty of kinks and my successes are coated with plenty of mini failures.
So if I can throw in my two cents, unless you are launching a new morning show anytime soon, please don’t judge people who are trying to slay the dragon. Their efforts alone should be commended
Believe it or not, it has happened again this morning(it’s now 6:12am). Off the air after about the first minute. Now alternative programming until the problem is fixed.
It has happened again!!! They’re off the air for beginning of show I just noticed a almost 15 minutes ago(still not fixed). Now checking on Richard Dagenais at Twitter, he says the technical problem this time is audio related.
And today they didn’t even get off the ground, just the same 16×9 from yesterday!
I really want to give them a chance, cause 1st thing in the morning I like my news fresh & local, so tired of Toronto crap on CTV, come on Global, get it together…
As an ex torontoian, who has been living in montreal for the last 12+ years…I find this a good change. I’m not too worried about Breakfast TV coming soon
I’m enjoying the blend of “the three” we see on global montreal.
Growing pains.
If additional IT / video staff is required….feel free to contact me Global – seriously!
In the meantime…thanks for the great efforts, u guys are making my mornings!
I was pleased to learn of the relaunch of this show but I find the production quality to be very low and there is zero chemistry between the hosts. The entire program simply feels uncomfortable and the audio/camera issues render it virtually unwatchable. Seems a shame as a city of this size should be able to support a show in this timeslot.