Inside CICT (Global Calgary)

[Avro 10]

Back in September 2017, I attended the Global Calgary open house for an event called DoorsOpenYYC, which allows the public to go look behind-the-scenes of various businesses and facilities around Calgary. One of those places was Global's station in northeast Calgary. Their sister radio station CHQR 770 also participated in the event.

 

I took a few photos from inside the station, mostly from the virtual studio.

 

The virtual studio which was first constructed in 2010. The desk has been used since April 2013. Scott Fee (formerly from CHEK Victoria) and Dallas Flexhaug are sitting at the desk. The previous desk used from 2010 to 2013 is currently used by Journalism students at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

 

Live preview feeds from inside the studio. The left TV has the feed with graphics overlaid and the right TV has feeds from a camera on top of the Calgary Herald building, two cameras on top of the Suncor Energy Centre in Downtown (one IP cam and a broadcast camera) and city-provided feeds of many traffic cameras throughout the city. The blank feed is used for the Global 1 helicopter (which wasn't in the air when the photo was taken.)

 

Closeup shot of the station logo on the desk. It's not foam like the previous desk, which was glued on and would slowly start to fall off after a few months in some cases.

 

The hard set. Used for guest interviews on the Morning News and Noon News Hour.

 

The area of the studio where weather is presented. Monitors that show what the meteorologists are pointing at are hidden behind green panels.

 

Inside the Global On-Air Services room. The person who sat here told us that they can monitor every Global station throughout the country in real-time. The four feeds on the bottom are the main Global stations: CIII Toronto, CITV Edmonton, CICT Calgary and CHAN BC.

 

Inside the Calgary control room. The person on the right is Manny, one of the directors and is also heymannyg on YouTube. I found that out after realizing who he was. The smaller screens in the lower third of the photo are from Blackmagic Design.

 

The video wall inside the newsroom which was introduced in 2017.

 

The newsroom. It previously used to be a studio, with the newsroom serving as a backdrop from the late 90s to 2005.

[Journalist 894]

Here's something one would overlook: [IMG]https://i.gyazo.com/0d0360fbf34af357fc2e9cf8762bd8a9.jpg[/IMG] It appears they are covering a portion of the CITV feed with a scenic postcard; something that I found a little funny! I would presume that empty slot was formerly occupied by CJBN Kenora. Their sticker is actually still on the switcher too. Anyways, this is cool! Wasn't even aware that heymannyg actually works for Global Calgary, that's nice to know. Thanks for the awesome article and pictures, @Avro!

[Avro 10]

I didn't notice that! I also forgot to ask during the tour if Global was still planning to move into Shaw Court in Downtown Calgary. It was reported in 2013 that the move would happen after repairs and renovations to the building. I was hoping that they might have built a set like the old Bloor Street studio in Toronto.

 

Continuing with me forgetting things, I was going to ask Manny about what they do to their old on-air graphics and music. I remember seeing the 2006 pre-HD News Hour Final opening used once in 2012 even though they had completely revamped their graphics for HD in 2010. Although, I guess that can be discussed in another thread.

[caliwxdude 252]

What's different about these Global virtual sets that make them look so much better than pretty much any other virtual set out there? I just thought it was ridiculously cool how they were able to change the complete look of the network with a drop of a hat (or, more accurately, a few mouse clicks) when the current Global News graphics debuted in 2013.