CP24 Breakfast
The weekday edition does not currently have a host following the retirement of George Lagogianes. It is anchored by Nick Dixon and Jennifer Hsiung. Bill Coulter is the meteorologist, and Jee-Yun Lee is the remote and Live Eye Host. Various staff make transit and traffic announcements.
History (2009 - present)
CP24 Breakfast first aired on March 26, 2009, displacing the simulcast of Citytv Toronto's Breakfast Television, which is now owned by Rogers Media and had been airing on CP24 since its inception in 1998. On the same day of the launch, CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media) relaunched its Toronto-based oldies music radio station, 1050 CHUM, as a news/talk radio station CP24 Radio 1050 which the station operated primarily as a simulcast of CP24's television counterpart, which was later reverted to an all-sports radio format as TSN Radio 1050 as of April 2011. Prior to the launch of CP24 Breakfast, from February 2009, until March 25, 2009, CP24 had its own news inserts during commercial breaks on BT known as More On CP24 in which CP24 anchors would do extended morning news updates. Unofficially Citytv hosts had constantly referred to Breakfast Television being "only on Citytv, Cable 7" several months before CP24 launched its own new morning show.
The program debuted with Ann Rohmer as news anchor, Melissa Grelo and Matte Babel as co-hosts, live reporter Cam Wooley, weather specialist Nalini Sharma, and Bob Summers, Steve Anthony and Mika Midolo as part of the traffic team. Babel switched to the "Live Eye" six months later before leaving in 2010, Anthony took his place as cohost. Rohmer exited the show in June 2010 and was later replaced by Lindsey Deluce. Sharma went on maternity leave in early 2012 and switched to the "Live Eye" upon returning a year later before leaving the show altogether in 2014. Bill Coulter joined the weather team in her place. Deluce took a maternity leave in mid-2012 and was temporarily replaced by Farah Nasser who herself went on maternity leave, six months later. George Lagogianes filled her spot throughout her second maternity leave beginning in the fall of 2014. Lindsey Deluce returned to CP24 in late 2015; however, she soon left to join CTV's sister station's new breakfast show Your Morning. Gurdeep Ahulwaila took over as Anchor following her departure.
On March 19, 2011, CP24 extended its morning show with the launch of CP24 Breakfast Weekend Edition, becoming the first station in Toronto to serve a morning show seven days a week. The program was initially hosted by Gurdeep Ahulwalia (later replaced by Nneka Elliott) and Pooja Handa (later replaced by Travis Dhanraj).
In August 2011, CP24 extended its breakfast show to include Before Breakfast, initially the program was hosted by Lindsey Deluce, which airs weekdays from 5:00 a.m. - 5:30 a.m. In the summer of 2023, the Before Breakfast program was moved to a 5:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. timeslot, it was discontinued one year later following the breakfast show's time-slot change to run from 6:00 am to 10:00 am.
2019–present: Program Changes
- March 26, 2019 – CP24 Breakfast celebrated its 10th anniversary where all former hosts returned to celebrate the show.
- September 2019 – Jamie Gutfreund announced he was moving to another position on CP24 and was leaving the CP24 Breakfast Weekend show, as well as the Live Eye host for the weekday show. He was replaced with Brandon Gonez from Your Morning.
- March 2020 – Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic CP24 Breakfast suspended in-studio guests and host moved to socially distance while on the air. The weekend edition was also suspended and took on a similar format to the rest of CP24 daily programming.
The hosts on the CP24 Breakfast Couch for a 2019 segment. - March 18, 2021 – Cam Woolley announced he would be retiring after 13 years on the morning show. During his time on CP24 Breakfast, he covered every major story in Toronto and was part of the original cast of. He officially retired on April 15, 2021. His final show was well celebrated, featuring many well wishers and messages from viewers and community figures. He was later replaced by Courtney Heels.
- August 10, 2021 – Pooja Handa unexpectedly announced just 10 minutes before the ending of the day's show that it would be her last and she would be departing CP24 Breakfast after six years as host of the Weekday show. Her position was later removed and no replacement host was announced to fill the vacancy.
- August 27, 2021 – Only weeks after Handa made a surprise departure, news anchor Gurdeep Ahluwalia also unexpectedly left the show, leaving in the same fashion, only making the announcement 10 minutes before the show ended. These departures are unusual, as most past departures have featured a fanfared show with many goodbye messages. The official social media accounts of CP24 and CP24 Breakfast failed to mention or post about either Ahluwalia or Handa's departures. It was announced that Nick Dixon would immediately take over as news anchor. It was later revealed that Handa and Ahluwalia would go on to launch their own Morning Radio show on 98.1 CHFI titled the "Pooja and Gurdeep Show"
- Summer 2022 – CP24 welcomed back regular appearances from in-studio guests and returned to more frequent Live Eye segments hosted by Jee-Yun Lee
- December 13, 2022 – George Lagogianes announced he would be retiring from CP24 Breakfast after 36 years in Broadcasting. He joined CP24 Breakfast in 2014 while covering a maternity leave for Lindsey Deluce, following Steve Anthony's Departure in 2017 Lagogianes was promoted to Co-Host. His final show featured many CP24 Breakfast Alumni with video messages and tributes from Toronto Mayor John Tory and viewers of CP24 Breakfast. A replacement for George Lagogianes has yet to be announced.
- December 23, 2023 – Mika Midolo's last day at CP24 and CP24 Breakfast. Following her early 2022 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer diagnosis, she never returned on a regular basis to the breakfast program, but did make some appearances. Despite being the last remaining original host of CP24 Breakfast, she did not get the chance to directly say goodbye on-air to her fellow hosts nor audience. The weather and traffic hosts announced her departure in a short segment.
Timeline of hosts
| Hosts | Years | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||||
| Current hosts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bill Coulter | Weather Anchor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nick Dixon | News Anchor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jennifer Hsiung | News Anchor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jee-Yun Lee | Remote Live Eye Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former hosts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ann Rohmer | News Anchor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matte Babel | Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lindsey Deluce | — | News Anchor | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Melissa Grelo | Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nalini Sharma | Weather/Remove Live Eye Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Steve Anthony | Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cam Wooley | Field Reporter | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jamie Gutfreund | Remote Live Eye Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pooja Handa | Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gurdeep Ahluwalia | News Anchor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| George Lagogianes | Host | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mika Midola | Transit Specialist | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Set
The CP24 studio is on the second floor of 299 Queen Street West. Large north-facing windows look out towards Queen Street. The set and newsroom is home to CP24 Breakfast and most of the other CP24-produced programming. During the summer months the breakfast show also uses an outdoor patio for some broadcasts.
Current Presenters
- Hosts: Bill Coulter, Jennifer Hsiung and Nick Dixon
- Remote host: Jee-Yun Lee
- Reporter: Courtney Heels
Former notable presenters
- Melissa Grelo: former host
- Steve Antony: former host
- Lindsey Deluce: former news anchor
- Ann Rohmer: former news anchor
- Jamie Gutfreund: former Live Eye reporter, weekend host/anchor
- Cam Woolley: former reporter
- Pooja Handa: former host, now with CHFI-FM
- Gurdeep Ahluwalia: former host, now with CHFI-FM
- George Lagogianes: former host
- Mika Midolo: former Transit and traffic Specialist (left 2023 after leave for cancer treatment)
Awards and nominations
2020: Nomination for "Best Morning Show" - Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
References
- ^ CP24 BREAKFAST Served Fresh Seven Days A Week Archived 2011-03-17 at the Wayback Machine CTVglobemedia press release, published March 14, 2011.
- ^ Daily dose of CP24 Breakfast starts this weekend www.cp24.com, published March 17, 2011,
- ^ CP24 Breakfast show page which includes Before Breakfast
- ^ CP24 BREAKFAST Begins Broadcasting at 5 a.m. as Toronto’s First Morning News Show Bell Media press release, retrieved August 23, 2011.
- ^ Rogers Staff (2024). "The Pooja and Gurdeep Show". CHFI-FM. Toronto: Rogers Communications. Archived from the original on April 29, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- ^ Bell Media Staff (December 13, 2022). "CP24's George Lagogianes Announces Retirement". Bell Media (Press release). Toronto: Bell Canada Enterprises. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
- ^
CP24 Staff (December 23, 2023). "Mika's last day at CP24". CP24. Toronto: Bell Media. Archived from the original on December 23, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "2022 Canadian Screen Awards Nominees".