Global Okanagan newscasts are being delivered out of the network’s studios in Metro Vancouver going forward as Corus Entertainment continues to look for operational efficiencies.
Anchor Kimberly Davidson signed off with the last live broadcast from Global’s Kelowna studios at 342 Leon Avenue on Sunday evening.
“After nearly 67 years, this is the last live broadcast from this station,” Davidson told viewers, her voice shaking.
“I will be the last person to turn out the lights in this studio, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you for watching Global Okanagan.”
Jamie Tawil, who had been anchoring Global Okanagan’s Live at 5 since late 2020, also signed off for the last time on Friday. In his emotional farewell, he told viewers “these are very challenging financial times for the media industry, most notably our local television broadcast, and those challenges unfortunately translate to changes.”
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” ❤️
Global Okanagan anchor Jamie Tawil signs off for the last time, but not without a heartfelt goodbye message.Global Okanagan will have a new time starting Monday, Aug. 19. Learn more here: https://t.co/8rzaeYW6qO pic.twitter.com/YkWVkoE81u
— Global Okanagan (@GlobalOkanagan) August 17, 2024
As of Monday, the show is airing at a new time at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., with veteran announcer Coleen Christie anchoring from Global BC’s studios in Burnaby. Christie also anchors for Global’s 24-hour news channel in British Columbia, BC1.
CHBC-TV first signed on the air on Sept. 21, 1957, originally operating as a CBC affiliate. The station was sold to Canwest in 2000 as part of the split of WIC (Western International Communications) assets between Canwest, Corus Radio and Shaw Communications. It was converted to a Global station in 2009.
According to Unifor, which represents Global News employees, there were 16 new layoffs last week, 12 of those in Western Canada. About half of those were journalists, with the others in editing, technical and librarian positions as Corus Entertainment looks to complete a workforce reduction of 800 positions or 25% of full-time staff by the end of August.
Unifor said the loss of unionized positions across Corus, Bell, Rogers, and TFO television stations just this year now amounts to more than 318 jobs.
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