It was a defining moment for broadcasting in Saskatoon when Good Lookin’ STV hit the airwaves 25 years ago today.
Lisa Ford, one of the original employees at STV and now the Station Manager/News Director at Global Saskatoon, remembered that day.
“We were kids,” reminisced Ford.
“Launching a TV station is a lot more work than it sounds.”
September 6, 1987 also marked the first time a television company in Canada put out two simultaneous air signals in two different cities when STV Regina also went on the air.
One of the first initiatives STV took on was becoming the ground floor media sponsor of the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
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Ford says that is one of the proudest moments in the stations’ history.
“We got in with the Children’s Health Foundation and started doing telethons each June to raise money for children’s hospital equipment,” said Ford.
“Now look where we are with a children’s hospital soon to be built in the city.”
One big change over the years has been the technology.
Al Ramsay, a cameraman with the station since day one, has seen those changes in the way he shoots video.
“We started out in 1987 shooting on 20 minute tapes and today we shoot an hour of full HD on SD cards the size of your thumbnail,” said Ramsay.
“The cameras are still heavy though.”
“I went from typewriters and floppy discs to today where we’re fully digital,” added Ford.
Ford says the stations’ internet presence enhances the ability to get information out on a timely basis.
“From the morning news, to the evening and late news and the internet, it’s a full meal deal now for getting news and information out to people,” said Ford.
Ford says another milestone was in May 2011 when Global Saskatoon became the first station in Saskatchewan to go full-on HD.
Other achievements include adding the Morning News last December along with News Hour Final last month, Saskatoon’s only one-hour prime-time news cast.
In 1990, STV joined the Canwest Global System and in 1997 was rebranded as Global Saskatoon.
Shaw Communications acquired Global Saskatoon in 2010.
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