This week in Canadian media history: Global Television launched
On Jan. 6, 1974, at 6 p.m., Global Television Network launched under the vision of founder Al Bruner. The network, CKGN-TV, had six transmitters serving southern Ontario and was the first in the province to broadcast nightly news updates.
By Eric Mark Do, Reporter
On Jan. 6, 1974, at 6 p.m., Global Television Network launched under the vision of founder Al Bruner. The network, CKGN-TV, had six transmitters serving southern Ontario and was the first in the province to broadcast nightly news updates. Global also used a two-person anchor system for its newscasts to differentiate itself from other stations: Peter Desbarats anchored from Ottawa and Peter Trueman from Toronto. The network's initial ambitions were too grandiose and it was soon losing money. Bruner, who previously worked with CHCH founder Ken Soble in Hamilton, Ont., left Global after it entered into refinancing and was subsequently acquired by investors on April 15. Among the new owners was Izzy Asper, who would go on to build the Canwest media empire.
Watch Global's first broadcast below, starting at 55 seconds:
Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.