If television can be a religious experience, then Citytv is the temple of ultra-hip.
Tucked into the side of a gothic edifice along the liveliest stretch of Queen Street West in downtown Toronto's ethnically diverse, fashion- fevered, post-boho neighborhood is a strange oasis for the soul. A technological confessional where, for a charity-bound buck, anyone can pose, preen, or proselytize in front of a videocamera for two minutes...and, good taste permitting, end up on Citytv, Toronto's trend- setting version of local television. Speakers Corner, an electronic platform for irreverence, indulgence, and occasionally ignorance, offers the ultimate in broadcasting accessibility.
A few feet away, at the front of this renovated complex, a group of teenagers is pressing pierced noses and greasy palms against a glass window. They are gazing into a frenzied fishbowl of activity that is MuchMusic, a Canadian version of MTV, where, all day every day, cameras whirl, tapes are tossed, and something is always happening. At MuchMusic, a production of Citytv, the whole operation is a set; there are no "studios." staffers there dare not argue with lovers too loudly on the phone or pick their noses behind their desks lest their actions serve as background for a VeeJay's throw.
Turn your head and a long-haired grunt is pulling cables out of the building's front door, helping a camera operator lengthen his leash. A dark-haired woman with a clipboard stands in wait to update the local news. People file past, while others stall by her side awaiting the moment she goes live.
If television can be a religious experience, then Citytv is the temple of the ultra-hip.
Leading the faithful media flock is Moses Znaimer, a televisionary on a divine mission to expose corporate TV conglomerates for the blase, unprogressive excesses they often promote. The theory is that anyone can create programming, but few can create a station. "My conviction was, often enough, the process of making television was more interesting than the result," says Znaimer, station co-founder and executive producer of all that is surveyed. "The question was, what happens to television and the process of television just off the corner of the shot?" To reveal the answer, Znaimer and his partners set out to erect a stage without a proscenium, to build a set without a studio, to create Citytv.
Inherent in the theology was the notion of eliminating the distance between the media-mouth and the community with which it was conversing. The camera wouldn't act merely as a spectator; instead it would be integrated into the actions and reactions it set out to cover. One variation of that is the use of other cameras to shoot the shooters. During the live CityPulse newscast, it isn't uncommon to have a Steadicam roam the room, tracking the movements of the studio cameras shooting the show. And among the one-person, eyes- ears-mouth-and-brain units known as VideoGraphers, a frequent accessory is a second Hi-8 camera provided to the story subject, so that he or she can record the recording. Citytv's assumption: Process could be at least as interesting as programming.
"All of these concepts were drilled into everyone (at Citytv) so they were as natural as breath," says Ivan Fecan, vice president of English Television Networks for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and one of the most powerful voices in Canadian broadcasting. "Everything there today is a logical extension of that philosophy." Fecan was the first news director at Citytv and helped develop its in-your-face news style. One of the major inspirations for getting a sense of being part of the action was the opening for the quintessential '70s television drama The Streets of San Francisco. "In the shot you got a sense of movement and action, personality and scope," says Fecan.
Now 21 years old and settled into a building that can properly accommodate and transmit The Vision, Citytv has left an indelible impression on a community of viewers and a world of industry watchers. The building isn't structured with hallways and corridors, per se, but with thoroughfares and laneways that accommodate roaming camera crews. The entire space consists of environments and locales that provide sets for the interactive-, anytime-, anywhere-, everywhere-TV concept. Citytv is a television city for a city watching television.
This setup enables programming to originate from stairwells, offices, the commisary, the parking lot, and even the reception area. A system of 32 audio-visual hydrants means virtually every corner of the building is wired for sound and images. Plug in, turn on, tune in.
Outside the complex, a fleet of 21 camera cruisers (essentially camera operators in Nissan Pathfinders), two LiveEye microwave uplink trucks, and six remote-control cameras (scattered across the city for weather and traffic shots) give Citytv the ability to keep an ever-roving, always- watchful eye on the metro area. And based on the popularity of Speakers Corner, a mobile model has been created to go on the road to malls, concerts, and public events. "If you step back from all of it," says Znaimer, "when we say we're interested in the public and access, this is a system that makes good on that promise. The building itself is easy to get to and is accessible cognitively as well as physically."
Citytv also solicits public input through a computer polling system known as QT, or Quick Tally. "We make a fairly big deal out of phone interactivity, either live into a program or on a voting basis," says Znaimer. Citytv's phone network can take 20,000 caller votes per hour and is used on MuchMusic for rock video contests and on CityPulse news to get viewer feedback on particular news or political events.
As a result, Citytv has integrated itself into Toronto's community psyche. "I think that a lot of people see Citytv as their television," says Professor Derrick de Kerckhove, director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto.
A camera operator gets the outside view at Citytv's Toronto studio.
Testament to Citytv's success is its faithful following in the community. Citytv's slogan is EVERYWHERE, and virtually everyone in Toronto wants to be part of the action. The community awareness of Citytv is astounding. "Regular Janes and Joes" introduce the Late Great Movie under the Las Vegas lights of the Yonge Street strip, jump around behind a remote weather broadcast, and invite Citytv camera operators to family reunions and anniversaries. There are two organized tours of the station each day, and more than 50,000 visitors pass through the doors each year - many hoping that their romp through the environment will include the inevitable second of air-time as a background extra.
Citytv and its affiliated programming earns an estimated US$78 million a year for its conservative parent, Canadian media conglomerate Chum Ltd. If sold on the open market today, the station would probably fetch nearly US$200 million.
But Chum isn't selling, and Znaimer has global plans to expand the Citytv concept. Reports of a programming deal with Fox are churning through the industry press, and Znaimer has negotiated a deal to air MuchMusic in Argentina. He reportedly is negotiating with broadcasters in France for the rights to MusiquePlus, Citytv's French-language version of MuchMusic.
Like pilgrims to Mecca, young, talented media disciples flock to Citytv. The quirkiest and luckiest of the lot find acceptance, experience, and some form of further exposure. Among the self-exiled fronting broadcasts for competitors now is CBS Morning News anchor John Roberts, who cut his teeth at Citytv as rock 'n ' roll reporter J.D. Roberts. San Francisco news doyenne Terilyn Joe, A Current Affair's Mary Garafalo and pop novelist and broadcaster Daniel Richler also tore through Citytv's hallowed halls.
Fecan believes the strength of the Citytv concept lies in the aggrandizing self-promotion of the station. Programming for a public network like CBC means "we've got a lot of different ideas we're working on. [Moses has] one, and one of the tenets of local broadcasting is to be very consistent. I think what is original about Moses is he had a concept many years ago and he has been relentlessly and religiously defining it and marketing the heck out of it."
The sheer force of attitude is something that cannot be underestimated. Gritty, street-level energy injects otherwise routine programming models with originality. It is especially apparent, not in the programs that are shown on the station, but in the seconds-long breaks between them. "The thing about conventional television is that it's a collection of program bits that are out of place and time," Znaimer says. "I'd say Citytv was probably one of the first stations in the world that really knuckled down to making both an art and a science out of that little break; understanding that the cumulative effect of those breaks was the character of the channel."
Outside the complex, a fleet of 21 camera cruisers (essentially camera operators in Nissan Pathfinders) give Citytv the ability to keep an ever-roving, always-watchful eye on the metro area.
Station IDs and promotional spots are vigorously designed, at times before actual programs are created, to define and dictate the form. The award- winning graphics are bold, colorful, and consistent. And all the words accompanying the interstitials and show promos are provided by The Voice, a rich, sardonic, at times sarcastic baritone.
For The Voice, a simple introduction will never do; the information is laced with comments on the cast of a movie and critiques of their performance, the traits of a station personality, or an improvised whim. Provided by news anchor Mark Dailey, The Voice is uniform and ubiquitous to the point of providing promotional announcements when callers to Citytv are put on hold.
"It's television poking fun of television on television for the benefit of television," says broadcast veteran Trina McQueen, who is heading up a team bidding for the Canadian Discovery Channel.
An unabashed fan of the ramblings and ironic commentaries of The Voice, McQueen credits Citytv's success to good programming and a state-of-the-art marketing sense. "They are able to take ideas which a lot of other people have had, a lot of things which have been done, and put their own spin on them. Everything conforms to the vision or the theology."
With a messianic fervor, Znaimer will lay claim to many of the innovations in modern broadcasting. Whether he oversaw their creation or merely refined them is a matter of debate. MTV had VeeJays before Citytv's MuchMusic was launched. Channel Four in the UK had an electronic viewer response program before Speakers Corner and an Atlanta affiliate took away the chairs and desks of their anchors and left them wandering through the newsroom before CityPulse. "What he did was take particular elements and synthesize them in a particular way and I think the combination is original," says Fecan. "But when you break any idea down, the component parts are derivative in one form or another."
"It's my view the battle for hearts and minds will be won by those who recognize that television is not a problem to be managed, but an instrument to be played," Znaimer told an audience of international broadcasters gathered in Orlando for a symposium on TV promotion.
But while a symphony might be the objective, a cachophony is occasionally the result. On a stage dictated by style, not every player is a virtuoso. Rehearsing becomes part of the performance. Much of the process-oriented programming is raw and unpolished. With style being one of the key motivators of the ideals, Citytv is also at times shallow. That's something McLuhan proponents like de Kerckhove don't really care about. "Television is not meant for substantial arguments, it's meant for relationships, and very few television stations have managed to push the relationship as far as Citytv."
In a broadcast spectrum crowded with competitors, there has to be a defining characteristic to set one apart. "Style," explains Moses candidly, "is one of the dirty little secrets of television, and we're of the view that it's one of the defining characteristics. The station is about access, the station is about Toronto, and the station is hip."
