Corus Entertainment’s Global Edmonton TV station, which launched as independent ITV (CITV-TV) on Sept. 1, 1974, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend with special programming.
Starting Aug. 30 and all weekend long, Global Edmonton will feature on-air celebrations, reporters and anchors sharing their favourite stories, and photos from the archive. More than 90 alumni will be in the studio for a special cake cutting, says an emailed Corus announcement Tuesday.
“Launched in 1974, this new television station signed on to deliver to Edmonton viewers a new look, a local focus, and programming that had never been seen before,” Corus’s announcement says.
Originally owned by Charles Allard’s Allarcom, the CITV-TV station was subsequently acquired in 1991 by WIC Western International Communications before that company’s acquisition by Canwest Global in 2000. ITV was then renamed Global Edmonton. The station’s ownership passed to Shaw Communications in 2010 and finally Corus Entertainment in 2016.
ITV signed on the air Sept. 1, 1974 with the movie Hello Dolly, according to Corus’s announcement. The independent station was the first in Edmonton to have satellite and microwave capabilities to bring live reports from across the province, and it was the first to broadcast in HD and to give audiences an aerial view via Edmonton’s first and only traffic and news helicopter, Global 1, says Corus.
In 1981, ITV’s studios were the production home of legendary Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV with John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, before production of the show moved back to Toronto in January 1982.
ITV and Global Edmonton alumni include Mike Sobel, Gord Steinke, Lorraine Mansbridge and Bill Matheson.
“Today Global Edmonton remains Edmonton’s #1 News broadcasting on TV, streaming on all platforms and the only station committed to local news every day of the week,” Corus’s announcement says.
Image via Corus Entertainment
