ATV News Centre Opening Ceremonies - February 5th, 1993 (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Friday, February 5, 1993,. Get comfy and enjoy one of the "holy grails" of ATV content and an unfiltered slice of Atlantic Canadian television history. This special edition of Live at 5 documents the final moments inside ATV’s old newsroom and the on-air debut of its brand-new News Broadcast Centre—captured exactly as it went to air, quirks, chaos, and all. What begins as a quiet, almost emotional goodbye to a well-worn studio quickly turns into a full walk-through of the future of regional broadcasting. Behind the cameras and under the lights, moving through edit suites, control rooms, equipment bays, offices, and hallways as the broadcast unfolds live. Along the way, you meet the engineers, editors, technicians, managers, and on-air staff who spent months building the new facility while still keeping the news on the air every day. Anchors Steve Murphy and Nancy Regan take us on a tour with a mix of pride, humor, and reflection. The broadcast pauses to reflect on ATV’s roots, its evolution from earlier news formats into Live at 5, and how changing technology reshaped the way news was gathered and delivered across the Maritimes. There’s no polish here just real television. The celebration also includes a thoughtful look back at ATV News history with some awesome footage through the years along with a showcase of new technical capabilities, and familiar weekly features continuing as usual despite the controlled chaos. A highlight of the program is the appearance by Rita McNeil, who becomes the first person to be interviewed in the new facility. This is more than a studio opening, it’s an awesome and rare, uninterrupted snapshot of a regional newsroom in transition, preserved in real time. For anyone interested in broadcast history, Canadian media, or the behind-the-scenes reality of live television, this tape captures a moment when the lights went down on one era and came up on another—without stopping the show. The broadcast is as it was recorded on the tape with commercial cuts and other stop-tape "editing" done by the original recorder. It continues on after the opening ceremony hour until the tape runs out. Timestamps: 0:00 Steve Murphy, Dave Wright & Nancy Regan reminisce in the makeshift 1984 newsroom 1:18 Wally Robert flicks the switch to unveil the new ATV News Centre 1:52 Steve & Nancy kick off the show among dozens of guests in studio 2:30 Carl Pomeroy explains the "Playback Suite" 3:30 Steve talks with Christine Holtorf, Joe Irvine & Harris Sullivan (former news director) at the Assignment Desk 4:12 Nancy presents the "Super Edit Suite" and Robin Hinton (behind the news desk) 4:40 Steve introduces Dave Wright & the new desk 5:10 ATV Evening News preview 6:19 Paul Mennier story with timeline of the construction of the new studio by G&G Designs from August 21, 1992 to February 5, 1993 10:04 Nancy shows us the back offices, equipment room & hidden edit suites 11:31 Steve chats with the Waters family, CHUM executives 13:24 Nancy introduces Bill Jessome with a story on the origins of ATV News; ID & The Notebook 18:23 Steve interviews Fred Sherratt (ATV President) & Joe Irvine (Vice President & General Manager) 21:47 Nancy interviews John Cassaday (CTV President) & David Colville (CRTC Commissioner) 22:50 Steve with the Milestones 24:35 Richard Zurawski with the weather 27:35 Nancy introduces Kurt Hahn, creator of the Live At 5 theme music 29:14 Steve Interviews Rita MacNeil 34:33 Nancy talks with Kelly Smith (news director), Gloria McCluskey (mayor of Dartmouth) & Scott Boyd (ASN's Breakfast Television) 35:53 Steve talks to Yvonne Colbert about new ATV On Your Side segment 38:05 Nancy introduces Paul Mennier with the Plays of the Week 43:24 Steve & Nancy present the control room, Live Eye 44:45 Richard Zurawski with the wake-up weather 45:49 Show close 46:29 Intro to ATV Evening News with Dave Wright 47:20 Janice Landry on video gambling machine lawsuit 48:33 Pieces of news stories 50:42 Richard Zurawski with weather until end of tape #betamaxking #1980s #80s #1990s #90s #retrotelevision #retrocanada Channel contact email: [email protected]