CityTV once a jewel on Queen Street West has been hit with yet another blow. Now a plaything for larger media corporations CityTV is now owned by Rogers Media.

“Today’s changes, although difficult, are necessary to align our operations with the economic and regulatory realities of our industry,” says Leslie Sole, CEO, Rogers Media Television. Today’s press release adds fuel to the fire that the consolidation of media outlets has not only reduced real “choice” but has resulted in fewer jobs. (Some would argue consolidation has meant less quality too!) It seems the bulk of job losses are related to markets outside of Toronto. It is likely that some CityTV Toronto on-air personalities, writers, producers, editors and camera people are affected by this announcement.

Love it or hate it CityTV’s new home is Yonge and Dundas Square. Hoping that this “rationalization” doesn’t further erode what was once one of Toronto’s best stations. My condolences to those that have lost their jobs in these uncertain times.

Times, they do keep on changing here in the big T.O. There’s another sudden loss on the local airwaves as of yesterday. Leslie Roberts is leaving his hosting duties on CFRB. He used to hold down the 10:00 am to Noon time slot, but no more. Global, his main and first employer in Toronto, is expanding their news division — holy cow! I thought for sure that the CRTC-inspired (as in, you want a license, you gotta…) Global National with Kevin Newman would die into oblivion once the CRTC looked the other way. Instead Global is going against CTV’s current drive and doing  more Canadian. Shocking! And Leslie Roberts, formerly of Montréal and now of Toronto, is going to be a big part of that.

He will continue to anchor the Six O’Clock Global News show, but we will soon see him contributing to a new public affairs show a la 60 Minutes. Well, OK, there’s a little American inspiration instead of Canadian, but since I discovered how cleverly the Fifth Estate colours their stories and since CTV buried W5 in the schedule, I’m not surprised Global would look south of the border. Perhaps this new show is an outflow of Global Currents that Kevin Newman hosts? That would be neat. I hope too that with this change that Global will start to film all their original news productions in HD.

Anyway, congrats to Leslie Roberts on his big promotion and big raise, and now I know too what happened to Troy Reeb: he’s Leslie’s boss.

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Meantime, CFRB Operations Manager Steve Kowch has to find a new host for the 10:00 am to Noon slot. May I suggest a radical departure from the CFRB norm? A sole female host.

I realise a sole female hosting a regular, weekday talk show on CFRB may spark controversy, but I say you’re about a couple of decades behind the times. We’ve listened to capable and entertaining female hosts leave CFRB or be  relegated to weekends at the same time as we’ve heard newbie Ryan Doyle come on the air and assault our eardrums with stereotypical and uninformed spouting. He’s obviously a good producer, but he’s not nearly the same calibre as the female talk show hosts I’ve heard. Furthermore, there must be a lot of women chomping at the bit to have a shot as sole host of a good time slot. It’s about time CFRB provided that.

So Mr. Kowch, you’re not sure what to do with this time slot. Here’s my suggestion: Hire a woman. And for good measure put Doyle back on producing duties only and find another good woman to take over his current slot.

I heard all over the radio today that Toronto has gone 26 days sans a murder. That’s pretty astonishing for a big city.

The police credit our excellent emergency services. The paramedics get there quickly, and the ER doctors must be getting proficient at staunching blood flow and stitching up wounds — easier said than done. In the midst of news about our Mayor’s questionable ethics (visiting China) and Council’s stupid, oppressive decisions (big bins coming to you), it’s uplifting to hear that something is working right in this city. They may be mostly thugs that the EMS are saving, but it’s bad for a city’s morale — never mind that it causes the news media to become hysterical, sewing fear every chance they can get — to have an increasing murder rate or to hear of murder after murder. For this day, we have good news.