The thank you came from Les Staff.

I suspect Steve Darling will be coming on board, he left Sportsnet 650 saying that we will see him again and an announcement to come in April.

That would be quite a development. Just don’t see Darling as a news man.

Let’s remember that Killeen started at I believe CKNW, running segments on the afternoon talk show.

Mike and Tamara may have been stagnant, but if Darling is the change CTV needs, then God help them.
That being said, he (incredibly) did have a large number of fans when he was on Global.
I was not one of them.

Darling already did “news” on Global…..when I met him, he was a weekend op at CKWX. My how things change.

Steve is a Pro. Love him or hate him, I witnessed first hand just how popular he was and still is…

Our Puget Sound Radio WordPress reveals just how popular. As you can see, Steve leads the pack by a long way, Over 90,000 unique views of his thread.

Steve Darling parts ways with Global BC (90,366)
630 CHED gives Dan Tencer the boot! (33,172)
Coleen Christie Out at CTV Vancouver (30,903)
Randene Neill Leaving Global News (23,903)
Michael Kuss quits Global BC to enter a career in Radio! Recent pic with Coleen Christie (22,839)
Randi Chase and Kid Carson Show part company (22,204)
Forbes & Marshall Out at Victoria’s Ocean 98.5 (20,766)
Bell, Cineplex, Rogers and Shaw are trying to censor the internet and force the end of net neutrality in Canada (20,106)
Kid Carson and KiSS have parted ways… (20,100)
A Blood bath at Jack FM Vancouver (18,237)

I don’t get the hate for Steve. I think he is a fine broadcaster. I look forward to seeing him on CTV 🙂

I feel for Tamara as she was with the company for 20 years. Many grew up with her, she will be missed.

Not a Steve fan, he is dull as dishwater though he does contribute to the community and that alone is noteworthy. A position with a charity would suit him.

Good riddance. Tamara did not deserve to get the job in the first place ( Bill Good’s slimy pick) and Mike was her doormat. I was sick of her harpy woman “hear me bore” routine, as she chastised the white male, Mike for being white and male. He was a politically correct stereotype and an embarrassment to thinking male viewers..

Is Christy Cluck to be the new anchor?

I can’t imagine the news without Tamara and Mike . They are not dull at all. I am not sure what they should be doing to make it exciting. It is tye news afterall. They worked well together and did alot for the community. I wont’t be watching anymore.

Am not a fan of Tamara or Steve … be nice if Bill Good came back … need someone with a strong identity on camera .. Bill has “presence”
CTV has a lot more to do to match Global at Six .. good luck

Good decision.

I wasn’t a fan of Tamara Taggart and I didn’t mind Killeen. But overall, I still preferred their broadcast to Global’s, for those admittedly infrequent occasions on where I watch the 6:00 news anymore.

But dear God, they can’t be any worse than the horrific newscast I watched with Michele Brunero and St. John Alexander the other day. The absolutely inane, trite banter they would interject between stories (a dying child and she opines between at the end of the story “He’s had a tough time” – gads). I actually found myself shouting at the tv – ‘Shut up and do more news!’

This is a trait I’ve seen on many of the newscasts: we don’t need your ‘Wow – what a brave lady’ comments after a story. It actually diminishes the power of the piece.

And please….I’m on the ‘no’ to Steve Darling team.

The rumblings are Steve and Michael Kuss will anchor a new cast for Rogers..no word if its 6PM or BT

I will miss them both, it’s really too bad. There have been a lot of cuts at all stations, and this may have been a move to free up money to save other jobs.

Keri Adams would be an interesting choice, I really like her on the morning show. MiJung of course too. Have no idea about a new male anchor. Jason Pires to night too? There’s Scott Roberts and Scott Hurst or maybe they bring back Brent Shearer. I’m a huge fan of St. John Alexander but hear he wants to stick to reporting. I don’t see Steve Darling at CTV.

I was never much of a Tamara fan. The words ‘monotone’ and ‘mannequin’ come to mind. Mike Killeen was solid, but very corporate and never ruffled a feather, as journalists are wont to do. I’m sure both will resurface somewhere in the lower mainland media landscape. As for Steve Darling, his claim to fame at Global was his complete incompetence. PLEASE let him wade back into the Christy Clark BC Liberal Party swamp that he desperately wanted into.

I think this signals CTV throwing in the towel in the ratings battle with the News Hour.

Darling is probably doing something with Rogers TV which explains his easy exit from Rogers Sportsnet. Probably the contract was easily amended

Sad that they lost their jobs but never was a fan of Tamara’s and Mike at times.
Really all most of them now are news readers and not reporters. How many of them do we really see out doing an actual news report anymore?
Not a fan of Steve Darling, he was quite the prima donna behind the scenes.

Astounded at some of the petty, nasty comments here.

Regardless, I’m going to assume this is more about money then anything else. I figure they were getting paid around $250k give or take for the pair and CTV is probably thinking they can present their supper news for a lot less anchor wise….using one, single younger talking head they could save $150k annually at least.

Sorry to say, but that’s what drives the bizz these days.

So Kim..how do you know Steve was a primadonna behind the scenes?

I would be shocked if Steve ended up at CTV. Imagine if he had been offered a job there knowing in advance that CTV would have to let people go to make room for him. Can’t see that happening

Have to agree Kim Darling is Darling’s biggest fan.

Sorry to say it, but Tamara was truly horrible. From day 1. Never got much better. But sad to see Mike go. Solid. Not exciting, but solid. I’m sure they were both paid nicely and Mike will land on his feet. My prediction: some diversity and some young faces who are coming from smaller markets who will be paid a fraction of T and M’s salaries. Darling is probably going to City. Tough time to be in the media.

Really sad to see these stories of yet more job loses in the business turn into character assassination and unkind words towards those who now find themselves unemployed. Way to keep it classy.

No to Steve Darling!

Barry T is absolutely correct.

Barry

I do not like to see anyone out of a job but when Tim was dismissed from NW I could not really complain as he was one of the main reasons I quit listening to NW Weekdays other than Bruce, Palmer, Smyth, and some Steele.

This is fore the most part an opinion forum and when one goes into public life that is what can happen.

For some ridiculous reason Social Engineering PC SJW do not want anyone to stand up for anything important to them and that is simply juvenile and unacceptable in the Real World.

Yes, some people can be over critical and on fact rude but you were not appointed “Politeness Police”.

I would be very interested to hear your comments regarding Premier Clark, PM Harper, POTUS Trump, Rush, Tucker, Hannity or one or two others when they are relieved of their duties, perhaps you can enlighten us.

HAHAHA – the Fake News continues to eat its own…..

Never like to hear of anyone losing their job. No matter what the reason but particularly if it came without warning.

I am surprised to see some of the talk above regarding salary levels. Where do people get the idea that on air personalities make incomes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars? These days? In Vancouver?

I understand companies wanting to save easy money by firing their top wage earners. That usually means letting go of your most experienced and valuable staff. Not always a wise move. Perhaps better to dismiss a few younger, less experienced staff amounting to the same income level.

Much of the Tamara outcry was first heard when she was given the anchor job. Many here thought the desk should have gone to another blonde. Lots of outcry! Now, here it is again.

Perhaps we should just let the scenario unfold naturally and see what happens. No need for the unkind remarks pointed at several people. Cheers.

Barry……………..it would be a pretty boring forum if everyone agreed and only spouted the sickly sweet platitudes that inevitably follow these announcements these days.

Tamara came across as kinda fake and plastic with an annoying judgmental air about her that was very off putting and was why I switched over to Global News at 6, but even there with the “never say anything that could offend anyone ever” delivery, even the weather girls have adopted an annoying trait of saying how it may be sunny on OUR Wednesday or raining on YOUR Tuesday or cloudy for OUR weekend………………..small things in the grand scheme of things but just another example of OTT niceness to try to appeal to everyone, at least Madryga delivers the weather with professionalism.

I actually enjoyed those two. CTV had reached a point where they were beating Global on occasion at 6. But Bell is going to keep cutting. I don’t know why they even bother with media. They’re gutting it to the core.

Steve Darling is going into private enterprise where he will still get to leverage his profile, but not have to worry about ratings or cutbacks.

Thx Tamara & Mike…enjoyed your newscasts.
You will land on your feet.

Cartman is correct. Cost savings measure. Welcome to Bell. Don’t stay too long. Don’t make too much. Our automated, self service, work anniversary gift system (WAGS) will alert us when it’s time for you to be cut. That way your anniversary gift can also be your going away gift.

Barry T. I have to agree with the character assassinations in coupling with the job loss. It is more fair to chop or praise while they are employed.

As far as losing their jobs is concerned. I am as empathetic about their private concerns about their job loss as they were about mine. ZERO ZILCH.

Just because they were on TV or radio does not mean we really know them. They are a persona. Groomed and sculpted to attract an audience, usually for commercial gain. What we see is a product. When the product is stale or does not perform, you get rid of it, plain and simple. That is the nature of the business. Whether or not somebody loses their broadcasting job does not really mean a hill of beans to me on a real or meaningful level, no more than whether or not I lose my data analysis job does to them if I get stale or do not perform any more.

I’ve said it before…I’ll say it again……they are gone because of the color of their skin. Plain and simple. Not allowed to talk about it, though. Too racist. For those of you who think Steve Dumpling can read from a teleprompter without looking like a deer in the headlights, google him trying to pronounce ” Keremeos “.

Tracy

I have not viewed the two fired CTV Anchors News Casts once but I am aware of who they are. I have not seen Steve Darling on Global Mornings or anyone else for that matter because I have always been at my desk each morning before any of them are on Air so I cannot even offer an uneducated guess as to how good or bad any of them really are at their profession are but I am guessing there are several reasons why they were terminated.

You may very well have a point that their Skin Colour May play into it somewhat. You are also right when you suggest that it is Politically Incorrect to point that out and that is absurd, one should be able to voice an opinion without being labelled Racist.

I did not say it the same you have but sometime back I suggested that it is not a good time to be a Pudgy White Male looking for work as a TV News Anchor no matter how good you are.

I do not know if you are correct or not but I sure hope that what you suggest was not any part of the reason they were terminated.

Let’s see who they hire permanently for the positions, that could prove to be very interesting.

We have been Global 6 PM Newscast watchers for a long time at our house and for a while now we have been recording it and speed watching it later in the evening as we are not very happy with what we have been getting over the last couple of years.

I suppose we should also be asking why Local TV News and Radio is having such a difficult time holding Listeners and Viewers, too much competition, poor product, is there a problem with the Rating Methods, are Media misreading the General Public and offering that poor product because of an inability to measure what the Public desires, or it is many reasons that are difficult to determine?

One thing for sure Tracy any of us should be able to discuss anything we feel is any part of the reason why someone is terminated without being Branded Sexist, Racist, or anything else, we have surrendered far too much to the Social Engineering SJW PC Police and it is having a serious detrimental affect on our Free Society and it is far past time to “Push Back”!

Care to now discuss why no one in Media wants to open discussion on why there are approximately 20 thousand more accidents year over year for the past few years? Just what is causing all of those accidents, is it Climate Change, Time Change, Osmosis?

How many people need to be maimed or killed before Media/We discuss that?

Now that is a subject that could get quite lively. Yikes!

Dear BMCQ,
I hear you loud and clear….I live in Richmond. Every day, dodging crashes, or seeing fences mowed down. Every day is like russian roulette.

Come on, does ANYONE really care anymore what Sophie Lui thinks about international, national , or even local news .
These people are just LOCAL mannequins reading off a teleprompter, using the SAME feed we can see on Google News 3 hours earlier.
Until a dozen or so year ago local TV Stations got away with this, using feeds & technology we simply didn’t have access too.
That’s why we watched the 6:00 news.
And that’s why broadcasters made a ton of money at it.

BUT NOW we’ve “pulled back the Wizard’s curtain”.
We ALL get the same news at the same time.
So WE know what’s on the teleprompters even BEFORE the local Hair-Doos (err ,broadcast journalists/soon-to-be real estate salesmen) do.

‘Not a business model you’d take to the bank.

I asked people in my office the other day if anyone has ever been asked what they watch or listen to in Vancouver. Not one person. Who do they poll for ratings? I listen to radio all day on multi-stations and have never been asked my opinion. I think the industry is getting bad advice for sure from corprate pollsters. Listen to the comments from real people. I didn’t like this newscast myself but from what I’m reading on the internet it was a bad decision.

CTV (Bell) got their money’s worth out of both. Sad to see Mike Killeen go. But his partner, Tamara, was never a real journalist in the trained sense. One day, she was this bubbly, cheerful weather girl. The next moment, she assumed the news anchor chair and was converted into a serious, straight-faced NEWS actress. Why do some people have to go to school and learn the business, properly, while others get a “bye” to the front of the lineup. The very nature of the television business is so illogical and or so unfair, that I’m surprised that the audience is still watching. But don’t worry, fans of CTV. There is never a shortage of job applicants for any television station in Vancouver and there is always a fresh crop of replacements just itching to get in.

It feels like it’ll be robots pretty soon sitting at the anchor desks… reading the news! Bell will like that! Or maybe someone like the angry female readers in North Korea! 😉 Truly, it’s ONLY about money. I’m convinced because I hear stories from a number of these companies’ employees every day in my career counselling work for an EAP. Bottom-line is the only thing most big corps/organizations care about these days. Most of us lackies are merely numbers to them. And I hate saying it but it’s been growing exponentially since I started doing this work 9 years ago. CFAX Radio has become equally banal. I can’t stand to listen to Adam Stirling and he’s on for SIX hours a day now!!! I can’t figure out who’s making these decisions. Do they even listen/watch the shows they’re restructuring?

Anyone notice that the 6 pm CTV news cast was the winner of the “best 6 pm news cast” at the RTDNA awards?

Anyone who cares about the RTDNA awards need a lobotomy.
They’re as rigged and silly as any award show.
…Global gets 3 of these. CTV gets 3 of these. Same with radio.
And …
The Convention is mostly old fart sales people trying to figure out the “inter-web” while stumbling toward the nearest hospitality room with free booze.

There’s an opening for a weeknight anchor position at KGW-TV in Portland. Perhaps Mike Killeen will join them.