New tools, same mission: CTV News Vancouver journalists reflect on station's 25th anniversary
CTV
On CTV News Vancouver's 25th anniversary, news director Ethan Faber reflects on the station's early history – and how radically different news gathering looks in 2022.
“Standby sound. Standby voice. Cue Mi-Jung!”
Sitting in the front row, middle seat of the CTV News Vancouver control room, senior director Alex Huang glances up from two oversized computer monitors to a wall in front of him filled with dozens of small video screens. A digital clock in the middle shows the precise time: 5:59:30 p.m. The station’s flagship Vancouver newscast, CTV News at Six is about to start.
Directing a live TV show requires a special combination of technical and artistic talent, both of which – for Huang – come naturally. His father, Ted, was one of the station’s original employees, hired as a video camera operator 25 years ago just weeks before the Sept. 22nd, 1997 launch of what was known then as Vancouver Television.
“I remember him being really proud he was employee number five. Vancouver’s TV stations had been stagnant for 20-plus years so it was really exciting for him to be part of something brand new.”
Alex would start a few months later as an intern. “My dad said, ‘What do you want to do after school?’ and I really didn’t know. So I came in and they needed someone to cut up muffins and serve coffee on the morning show, and so that’s what I did."
Vancouver Television, or VTV, would later become the city’s official CTV network affiliate, and a quarter century later, much has changed in how current affairs is covered by the journalists working inside the old Vancouver public library building at the corner of Robson and Burrard. Ted’s death last year at the age of 79 was a heavy blow for the station’s long-term employees and a symbolic passing of the torch at a time of breathtaking and sometimes difficult change for the news industry. Alex is well aware of the legacy he now carries forward. “To be part of something my dad helped create? It’s a personal pride thing.”
