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Post by Balfour on Dec 16, 2009 10:34:14 GMT -8
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Dec 16, 2009 11:10:08 GMT -8
Jordan, I'm about two and a half times older than you, and even I grew up watching Tony Parsons. Well, not quite, but almost. He's been around that long. Actually, I do remember Cameron Bell anchoring before him. I'm not really sure what Parsons' legacy will be. As news director, he focussed a lot on cops and robbers stuff, and I don't think BCTV (now Global) really did a lot of definitive, investigative journalism. He never did a lot of interviewing, and I don't recall the kind of on-air 'moments' that defined the careers of some other broadcast journalists. Edward R. Murrow, he wasn't. Most people will remember him pretty much for reading the news. Still, he's been a dependable presence in people's living rooms for a long time. Apparently, he's off to CHEK Victoria. He changed his mind about retiring, and since Global hired Chris Gailus to ease into the News Hour anchor job, they weren't willing to change their minds along with him. He'll give the Victoria station added credibility. |
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Post by Nickfro on Dec 16, 2009 14:09:20 GMT -8
I guess he's another one of those persons that doesn't know what to do with all that free time that comes with semi-retirement! Golf only takes up half the day. He can play in the morning and go do the news in the afternoon and keep pulling in a solid pay. . .sounds good to me!
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Dec 16, 2009 16:33:40 GMT -8
One thing I've never liked about the current news is there is too much of a national branding (all Global news stations use the same graphical marks), and not a carryover of the local branding (BCTV). That's one of my pet peeves as well. These broadcasting companies, which are currently trumpeting their commitment to local programming, have exactly the same format for all of their news broadcasts across Canada, often right down to the same promo announcer. And, yes, they've all dropped local names. Irritatingly generic. Which brings me to another pet peeve (I have a whole menagerie): this battle for Canadian hearts and minds being waged by the networks, and the cable companies. Has there ever been a contest between two less sympathetic adversaries? Like a battle between a couple of pit adders. Who do you cheer for? You've got the shameless hypocrisy of the broadcasters and their mewling about the threat to 'local' broadcasting, when in fact they do virtually nothing local outside of their newscasts, and would happily pick up all their programming ready made in Hollywood if they could. Then you've got the rapacious cable and satellite companies with their lucrative markets of captive customers, telling us that we're going to be unfairly taxed to provide Canadian programming, and that they'll be forced to up our rates, again. Who to believe? Well, I suppose when you take into account the fat bottom line of the service providers compared to the perilous state some of the broadcasters find themselves in, it's tempting to side with the broadcasters. Still, a pox on both their houses. Back to Tony: I suppose it's unfair to compare a local broadcaster with national figures, although I'd watch Parsons over Pastor Mansbridge any day. Also, Canadian newspeople have not had the dramatic, defining moments that made the identities of some of their American counterparts. You can think back to Walter Cronkite, as we did here a few months ago. His controlled, but emotional announcement of the death of President Kennedy, his glee at the moon landing, and his disgust at the thuggery of the police at the '68 Democratic convention. Parsons covered a number of BC elections, but I guess even the election of Glen Clark didn't quite have the drama, or gravitas, that those other stories carried. |
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FNS
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Post by FNS on Dec 16, 2009 16:50:35 GMT -8
I enjoyed watching BCTV when this station was on our cable systems here in Seattle. We also had CHEK, too. This was all in the 1980s when my street and house were finally wired up.
Each night, I watched the 1730 news on CHEK with Mark Jan Vrem. Alex Robertson did the sports. Fun to see the reports and videos of the indoor lacrosse action. Gotta love those Salmonbellies of New Westminster! BC Indoor Lacrosse got very high attention then.
Then, both CHEK and BCTV aired the News Hour. This was the most formal newscast of all newscasts and Tony Parsons was the best. We did see a little laugh from him from time to time, but he was serious in his presentation. Norm Grohmann did provide some laughter during his weather. When asked why Toronto gets more precipitation than BC, he says "THEY DESERVE IT!" ;D Bernie Pascal was very formal in his sports segment.
I enjoyed News Hour Final. Rob Malcolm had a soft soothing voice for the late edition. This was a bit less formal as he and John McKeachie had a fun chat with some laughter before John did the sports, which always included mentioning those extra curricular activities in hockey. I always cracked up when Pamela Martin substituted for Rob as John would get her laughing hard, and me too! After the final commercial, Rob and John would say a few words, and "good night". A late movie would follow.
Tony Parsons is a great fellow for presenting the news. He had a great supporting cast, besides the only few names mentioned above. If he does go to CHEK, that station would benefit having a person who's been in BC for a long time and who knows the area well.
BEST WISHES TO MR. PARSONS!
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Dec 16, 2009 19:32:59 GMT -8
I enjoyed watching BCTV when this station was on our cable systems here in Seattle. We also had CHEK, too. This was all in the 1980s when my street and house were finally wired up. Each night, I watched the 1730 news on CHEK with Mark Jan Vrem. Alex Robertson did the sports. Fun to see the reports and videos of the indoor lacrosse action. Gotta love those Salmonbellies of New Westminster! BC Indoor Lacrosse got very high attention then. I'm curious as to why an American would have such interest in local Canadian newscasts? Not that there's anything wrong with that... As for the drama of Glen Clark's election, there wasn't any there (Campbell bombed badly on that one -- I was there on the front lines). The drama came much later... as did the headaches and migraines to follow. Well, Paul, I know how you object to people always injecting politics into the discussion, so I'm glad that, as usual, you've refrained. I trust that Campbell didn't bomb because you were "on the front lines". I guess he just wasn't listening. Actually, I found Glen Clark's election quite dramatic, as I did Dave Barrett's in '72, and Mike Harcourt in '91. No accounting for taste, eh? |
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FNS
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Post by FNS on Dec 16, 2009 20:45:37 GMT -8
I enjoyed watching BCTV when this station was on our cable systems here in Seattle. We also had CHEK, too. This was all in the 1980s when my street and house were finally wired up. Each night, I watched the 1730 news on CHEK with Mark Jan Vrem. Alex Robertson did the sports. Fun to see the reports and videos of the indoor lacrosse action. Gotta love those Salmonbellies of New Westminster! BC Indoor Lacrosse got very high attention then. I'm curious as to why an American would have such interest in local Canadian newscasts? Not that there's anything wrong with that... I have a large amount of relatives up there on your side of the border. That's why I have a keen interest in the goings on in BC. A couple of added notes of BCTV in the 1980s: Within the same buildings where Mr. Parsons sat, some blood was present as BCTV recorded its weekly "ALL STAR WRESTLING" matches with Ed Karl hosting. And, just a few feet away from Mr. Parsons' desk, Jack Webster did his shows at NINE O'CLOCK PRECISELY! I loved watching him! His segments of ferries were fun. His theme music was later used in "THE PEOPLE'S COURT" here in the States. In addition to all of this, BCTV had a great newsroom setup at the west end of the grounds of EXPO86. Fairgoers could watch Tony Parsons present the NEWS HOUR live in person! This was an excellent setup as we could see all what goes into the broadcast of a news program, especially the director's consoles and all those switches, tape machines, camera screens, everything. This was a real working studio. There was a large setup of screens showing virtually all the stations your cable systems carried all on a wall with Seattle stations included. And, there was a lottery setup as well in this building, so we could see all those balls in these machines being juggled before coming out with the winning numbers. The BCTV Pavilion was a two story building and all the news production staff, including Mr. Parsons, were working inside a glass "fish bowl", so to speak. This was a great setup! So, Mr. Parsons was seen preparing and doing the news out in person, as well as doing this in his customary seat in the Burnaby studio usually without an audience there. |
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Post by Neil on Dec 16, 2009 23:54:16 GMT -8
That All Star Wresting goes further back to the late 1960's All Star Wresting With Ron Morrier . It was a classic. It was real wresting not the fake over the top shows put on by WWF. Jeez louise, Paul. Here I was, all ready to throw in the towel and defer to your version of all things political, owing to your having been ‘on the front lines’, and having Seen Things That No Mortal Man Should See… and then you go and blow your credibility by telling us that you believe in pro rasslin’, or at least the kind practised back at the PNE Garden Auditorium in the ‘60s. Hate to tell you this, Paul, but even in the day of Haystack Calhoun doing the Big Splash on Sandor Kovacs and Kinji Shibuya gouging Eric Froelich’s eyes, wrestling was as scripted as your average battle between Sylvester and Tweety. Even though Whitey Dropko seemed like one heck of a legitimate ref. Even though Brad Keene used to be complimented by Gene Kiniski on another fine interview, he was not really a sports journalist, and truth to tell, Vince McMahon did not invent rasslin’ choreography. Heck, a guy who believes in wrestling might believe in anything, and I’m sure you’re not that impressionable. Right? Almost forgot to watch Tony's last newscast tonight, and at first put on the CTV newscast. At the top, they promised some idiotic story on how fast Olympic mittens were selling, so I switched. Olympic shilling has caused me to switch often to CBC or Global when I'm watching news. Seems odd that even though Global has far and away the biggest news audience, they're the last ones to still not be doing HD widescreen. Was interesting to see that no Global execs were a part of the show, no corporate thanks for long service- unless I missed something. Also, no Chris Gailus, although those people may have been a part of the crowd behind the news set at the end. |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 17, 2009 7:53:36 GMT -8
Hate to tell you this, Paul, but even in the day of Haystack Calhoun doing the Big Splash on Sandor Kovacs and Kinji Shibuya gouging Eric Froelich’s eyes, wrestling was as scripted as your average battle between Sylvester and Tweety. Even though Whitey Dropko seemed like one heck of a legitimate ref. Even though Brad Keene used to be complimented by Gene Kiniski on another fine interview, he was not really a sports journalist, and truth to tell, Vince McMahon did not invent rasslin’ choreography. Enough of the wrestling talk, Neil. This is a ferry forum, not a wrassling forum. Back to Tony Parsons discussion. Hey, by the way, does anyone know if the late Captain Lou Albano was actually a certified master mariner? And would someone like Jimmy Hart be a good manager-of-motivation for BCFS? And can someone compare the communication style of Tony Parsons to that of Mr. Fuji ? |
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Post by Northern Exploration on Dec 17, 2009 8:30:51 GMT -8
I agree with the sentiments about Barbara Frum and her contribution to journalism. The comments about new readers seem odd to me though.
I beg to differ about Floyd. He only does the occasional interview outside of the newscast. I am told he writes very little of his newcast and just edits. Everything is scripted. Even his thanks of a reporter at the end of their piece, come across like he has recorded those all in a row. So the moniker of news reader actually fits him closer.
Mansbridge is very active in the newsroom. He functions as an editor as much as a news reader and is actually involved in stories, timing in the newscast, and is actively involved in content. He also is quite comfortable ad-libing. The National involves some things like the Thursday "At Issue Panel" that while topics are scripted, is much more free wheeling and commentary based. He does his weekly interview show outside the newscast where he interacts with the guest. So of the two he is much less of a news reader and more in the style of Peter Jennings.
In person Floyd is friendly but much more of an older and formal distant uncle type. He has a presence about him even when standing in a movie theatre line. Not exactly stand offish, but people would be more intimidated to speak with him. Fits with his "trusted" moniker with a bit of authority.
Peter is definitely engaging and comes across as having an innate curiousity and great intellect. He is comfortable in the electronic world. He comes across as approachable and someone you could easily strike up a conversation with and discuss an issue with. He also strikes you as someone who would readily tell you if he thought you were off base. He jokes readily and has a good sense of humour. His teasing of Claire Martin, the BC based weathercaster, is very much natural and in keeping with his personality.
That is not to take anything away from either gentlemen, just there are major differences in how the newsrooms function, and in the delivery. It is a stylistic difference. So while national news watchers tend to be of an older age, Floyd has a much older demographic and his delivery style fits that audience. Peter has a younger component of the still typically older audience but also attracts more of the minority younger demographic.
Pretty good positioning on the part of the networks to differentiate the newscasts with individuals who match the direction the networks have chosen.
South of the border the retirement of Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer taking over as anchor at ABC News will be interesting. Quite the contrast to Katie as another woman Anchor.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 17, 2009 17:24:22 GMT -8
When it comes to Canadian TV newsrooms, nothing beats the quality work of these 2 guys: Jim Walcott is perhaps the finest Canadian news anchor ever. Sincere, intelligent, and deeply interested in the issues. Nothing shallow about him at all.  And George Findlay is a top-notch News Director. As long as he wasn't distracted by a lack bran-muffins to eat, he was always on his A-game.  www.imdb.com/title/tt0115291/ |
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Post by WettCoast on Dec 17, 2009 18:39:34 GMT -8
Jim Walcott is perhaps the finest Canadian news anchor ever. Sincere, intelligent, and deeply interested in the issues. Nothing shallow about him at all. He was also one first class forest ranger! |
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FNS
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Post by FNS on Dec 17, 2009 20:34:02 GMT -8
and Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to you my good friend! ...And, the Merriest of Merry Christmas to my great friend PK and to all the nuts on this great forum. Many thanks to "Coastal Skier" for creating this thread and alerting us of the lower mainland studio finale for Mr. Tony Parsons. It's time for some "island time" for him. I do wish we could still attend a news broadcast like what we did during EXPO 86. While Tony Parsons did his "NEWS HOUR" on the EXPO grounds by False Creek, Bill Good and Cecilia Walters did a similar thing for CBC British Columbia's "NEWSCENTRE" at the end of Canada Place with an audience and I attended one of these during the Fair. We only saw them and the cameras, though, as everything else was hidden away from view. It was fun, though, to watch the cruise ships leave through the windowed background during their 1800 newscasts. Thanks, again, "Coastal Skier"!  |
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Post by Scott on Dec 17, 2009 23:25:19 GMT -8
I do wish we could still attend a news broadcast like what we did during EXPO 86. CTV does it at the PNE every year. |
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Dec 18, 2009 10:33:35 GMT -8
and Neil. I do have credibility. Have the letters(about 68 of them, plus six awards) and accolades to prove (and not just in politics). I'm not particularly worried about your assessment of "blowing my credibility" and Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to you my good friend! Well, I guess I'd better pipe down, then. I certainly can't claim six Credibility Awards and 68 letters of commendation. I'm not even sure I have any accolades, although an attractive woman once told me that I had nice legs, for a man. All those tributes definitely make up for believing in All Star Wrestling, as far as I'm concerned (I thought when you said real, you meant... real.) Even if my approval is sadly undervalued in your eyes. I hope you have room on your mantleplace for all those awards, Paul. And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too. |
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Post by Barnacle on Dec 19, 2009 4:52:29 GMT -8
And in the same vein as the original topic of the thread, Charles Gibson did his final broadcast for ABC Evening News last night.
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FNS
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Post by FNS on Apr 18, 2010 17:50:18 GMT -8
Well, we see that Mr. Parsons is back in a Vancouver news set again! This time, he's on CBC. I was tickled to see him on the CBC set this past week during my watchings of the NHL playoffs. Mr. Tony Parsons now does the 1700PT and 1800PT newscasts with Gloria Marcarenko, Claire Martin, and Shane Foxman. He then takes a plane over to Victoria to do the 2200PT newscast at CHEK. In the report linked below, CBC and CHEK broadcasts the 1800 CBC newscast together. www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/12/bc-cbc-tony-parsons-vancouver-news-anchor.htmlWould be interesting to know if he takes a "sky ferry" (float plane) between the cities' harbours or flights between CYVR and CYYJ? It's nice to see him do newscasts again. |
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Post by DENelson83 on Apr 30, 2010 20:37:30 GMT -8
What I'd like to see is for Tony to save some money by simply anchoring the CBC News from the CHEK studios in Victoria in a split-screen setup with Gloria anchoring from Vancouver.
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Post by FNS on Apr 30, 2010 22:43:58 GMT -8
What I'd like to see is for Tony to save some money by simply anchoring the CBC News from the CHEK studios in Victoria in a split-screen setup with Gloria anchoring from Vancouver. That's a neat idea! And, some more Vancouver Island news items on CBC British Columbia's main newscasts. Perhaps more newscasters in their sets in their own stations around the rest of the province for an even greater provincial newscast with more stories outside of Vancouver's area. And, please, more coverage of the Western Lacrosse Association. All teams have neat names. I really like the name "Salmonbellies" that New Westminster has! ;D |
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