December 16, 2020 8:35 am back to news
In the Spotlight: 680 CJOB
Pat O’Connor, Manager of News Technology for Corus Entertainment and its Winnipeg media brands, joined us to chat about the station’s recent move, setting up a state of the art studio, and what’s on tap in 2021 for Winnipeg’s news leader…
You recently made the move into 201 in the Fall – can you give us details on what the move looked like?
The build began last September, however planning was almost two years in the making.
With a large staff working pretty much 24 /7 we have the entire 30th floor, (12,898 sq-ft) for everyone involved in production of our newscasts on Global Winnipeg, Power 97, 680 CJOB and Peggy@99.1, plus technical staff. Located on this floor we have a 800 sqft TV studio, four TV production rooms, four live on-air Radio studio’s with two other live/production radio rooms, Central equipment room (20 equipment racks) which houses all the technical equipment for both radio and TV
In addition we have approximately 4,000 sqft on the 19th floor for our sales, finance and administrative staff.
But our space at 201 Portage does not stop there, we have TV and radio transmission equipment of the 32nd floor, rooftop TV and Radio antennas and three storage areas.
Why 201 Portage?
We wanted to bring our TV, Online and Radio platforms under one roof. As a media company it felt right to be in the middle of the city we serve. Most of the locations we visit on a regular basis are within a kilometer or two of Portage and Main, that makes us more efficient and able to better serve our listeners, viewers and readers.
Best part of being at 201 Portage in Downtown Winnipeg…
Being right at Portage and Main – what an iconic location to be working from not only recognized provincially but all across Canada. Some of the most iconic moments in Manitoba’s history have happened on our doorstep. It is easy to mobilize news crews and monitor developments when it’s happening right below your feet.
What kind of new technology have you incorporated into the new studios?
Corus/Global is a leader in the Canadian Broadcasting industry when it comes to innovation, our use of virtual set technology, robotics and automation for TV has been recognized internationally. In 2021 we will also be installing video cameras in the 680 CJOB studio, allowing us to stream interviews, post them into online stories and provide more content to our streaming news service.
Give us a brief breakdown of your stations and goals as we move into 2021.
Every day we inform and entertain tens of thousands of people across Manitoba on a multitude of different platforms. People’s habits are changing, they are listening and watching on different platforms. Our goal is to go where the audience goes. That means more of a focus on streaming audio, growing our news streaming service (available on the Global TV app, Amazon Prime, etc), and continuing to build on the success of Globalnews.ca