CHUM-City Building
Encyclopedia
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
and John Street in Downtown
Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately bounded by Bloor Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don River to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west...
Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Currently the corporate head office of Bell Media the building previously served as the headquarters of CTVglobemedia until BCE Inc. acquired CTV in 2011 as well as CHUM Television, a division of CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1945 to 2007. Immediately prior to its acquisition, it held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel — comprising 11 local stations, and one CBC Television affiliate, one...
, until CTV acquired CHUM in 2007, and was once known as the CHUM-City Building.
With its 1913 neo-Gothic terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
façade, the building is designated as a heritage property by the City of Toronto's Heritage Preservation Services under the Ontario Heritage Act
Ontario Heritage Act
The Ontario Heritage Act, first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage value or interest....
and has served as a broadcast facility since 1987.
Overview
The building houses various Bell Media television properties previously owned by CTV and CHUM, such as Bravo!, BNNBusiness News Network
Business News Network ' is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel. BNN broadcasts programming related to business and financial news and analysis. As of December 2010, the station is based from 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto and is owned by Bell Media...
, CP24, The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media specializing in comedy programming.The channel operates two time shifted feeds, East and West ....
, Comedy Gold, E!
E! (Canadian TV channel)
E! Entertainment Television is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel which is owned and operated by Bell Media. E! is devoted to entertainment programming including entertainment news, film, television, celebrities, and fashion...
, Investigation Discovery, MTV2, MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
, MuchMore and Space, as well as the master control
Master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room in television studios where the activities such as switching from camera to camera are coordinated...
operations for the CTV Two television stations in Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
(CTV Two Windsor
CHWI-TV
CHWI-DT is a Canadian television station owned by Bell Media. It is part of the CTV Two system. The station is licensed to Wheatley, Ontario, but operates out of Windsor. CHWI also has offices in Chatham....
, CTV Two London
CFPL-TV
CFPL-DT is a television station based in London, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Part of the CTV Two television system, the station serves London, Sarnia and much of southwestern Ontario north of London, including Wingham since its former sister station, CKNX-TV which ceased operations and...
, CTV Two Barrie
CKVR-TV
CKVR-DT, is a television station in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media, it serves as the flagship station of Bell Media's secondary television service, CTV Two, with facilities located at 33 Beacon Road in Barrie...
and CTV Two Ottawa
CHRO-TV
CHRO-TV is a television station serving the National Capital and Ottawa Valley regions of Ontario, Canada. Owned by Bell Media, it is part of the CTV Two television system....
). In addition, CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
's entertainment news program eTalk
ETalk
etalk is a Canadian entertainment news show hosted by Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim. It airs weekdays weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, at 1:30 p.m. ET on CTV Two and at 6 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m. ET on E!...
has been produced at the building since 2008.
Although the building bears a CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
signage on its east façade, it currently houses the downtown news bureau for CTV Toronto
CFTO-TV
CFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It...
but its primary studios for that station is located at the 9 Channel Nine Court
9 Channel Nine Court
9 Channel Nine Court is the civic address of an office and studio complex of Bell Media in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, alternatively known as the CTV Toronto Studios, CFTO-TV Studios or Bell Media Agincourt...
at Highway 401 and McCowan Road in Scarborough
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
, where most of the other Bell Media-owned channels such as Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel devoted to nature, adventure, science and technology programming. Discovery Channel is currently owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc...
along with most of the other Discovery Channel Canada's offshoot affiliates, TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
along with TSN's offshoot affiliates such as TSN2
TSN2
TSN2 is a secondary feed of the Canadian English language Category C specialty channel TSN, owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc., a joint venture of Bell Media and ESPN...
as well as the master controls for the CTV stations in Eastern Canada (see below).
Tours of the facilities are held regularly.
History and architecture
Methodist Church of Canada
The Methodist Church of Canada was a united church formed in 1884 and comprising most former Methodist denominations in Canada including some that had been active along Canada's eastern coast and north of the St...
in 1913 by Burke, Horwood and White. The Methodists joined with two other denominations to form the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
in 1925, for which the building served as the headquarters until 1959. By this time the Ryerson Press
Egerton Ryerson
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Methodist minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada...
, originally the publishing arm of the Methodist Church, had grown to occupy the entire building. The building was purchased by CHUM in 1985, and was re-opened in May 1987 as the new headquarters for the company and its various outlets, including Citytv Toronto
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
(which was previously located at 99 Queen St. East).
The building's east wall is decorated with an actual older style news truck seemingly bursting out of the building; the front tires of the truck can be seen spinning from time to time. The truck previously bore the old "CityPulse Live-Eye" decal; has been overhauled with the "CP24 Breaking News" decal following the acquisition by CTVgm.
On the northwest corner is the former Speakers' Corner
Speakers' Corner (TV series)
Speakers' Corner was a television series which aired weekly on Citytv and A stations in Canada, featuring numerous unscripted short segments on a variety of topics as recorded by members of the general public such as rants, big-ups, shoutouts, jokes, music performance, etc. After the video was...
videobooth, where for a dollar
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
anyone can record two minutes of oneself. Citytv says it receives over 50 hours of video per week, which its staff edits into short vignettes and a half-hour show. Bell Media plans for future use of the video booth for their portfolio of channels.
While the outside facade has been restored and remains intact, the building's interior has been modernized into one of the world's most innovative media complexes. 299 Queen Street West has no TV studios: the entire building has been rigged for audio and video. The building has been engineered so that public space, working areas, offices, and even the parking lot may all be used as optimal shoot locations. Many television shows produced by the various outlets operating out of the building, such as Citytv's Breakfast Television
Breakfast Television (Citytv Toronto)
Breakfast Television, also known as BT, is a Canadian morning news and entertainment program produced by Citytv Toronto.Four other Citytv stations use the name and the format , creating content relevant to their own local audiences...
, CityLine
CityLine
CityLine is a television program produced by Citytv and Citytv Toronto that offers advice and information from experts. Each show has a theme that changes daily. These include "Around the House," "Talk Tuesday," "Health and Parenting," "Home Day," and "Fashion Friday."Originally hosted by Dini...
and the former Electric Circus
Electric Circus
Electric Circus, aka EC, was a Canadian live dance music television program aired on MuchMusic and Citytv. It aired from September 16, 1988 until December 12, 2003....
, were filmed live on the ground floor. The ground floor features giant glass sliding partitions so that the building can be open to the street. The annual MuchMusic Video Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards are annual awards presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honour the year's best music videos....
show is held as a street party that takes place in the parking lot, rooftop, as well as Queen and John Streets adjacent to the building.
299 Queen Street West served as the national broadcast headquarters for the 2007 Live Earth
Live Earth
-Background:Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Live Earth was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action...
concert, with several CTVgm-owned media outlets and personalities collaborating to broadcast the live event nationally for 28 hours. The building also served as the headquarters for CTV's multi-platform coverage of the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
in September 2007, acting as the launching pad of red carpet coverage, galas, film parties, film premieres, festival breaking news, and other related events. Various corporate divisions, such as eTalk
ETalk
etalk is a Canadian entertainment news show hosted by Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim. It airs weekdays weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, at 1:30 p.m. ET on CTV Two and at 6 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m. ET on E!...
, Star!, MuchMusic, MTV Canada, Bravo!, FashionTelevisionChannel
FashionTelevisionChannel
FashionTelevisionChannel is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel broadcasts programming related to fashion, modelling, photography, art, architecture and design...
and Canada AM
Canada AM
Canada AM is a Canadian breakfast television news show, which has aired on the CTV Television Network since 1972. It is currently hosted by Beverly Thomson and Seamus O'Regan, with Marci Ien reporting from the headline news desk and Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports...
, collaborated on the event coverage.
Although acquired by Bell Media together with other CHUM entities, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission required CTVgm to sell Citytv Toronto
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
and four other Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
stations in Canada to Rogers Media
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., which owns Canada's largest publishing company, Rogers Publishing Limited, which has more than 70 consumer and business publications. Rogers Media Inc...
in 2007. Since then, the Citytv signage at the front building was replaced with an eTalk
ETalk
etalk is a Canadian entertainment news show hosted by Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim. It airs weekdays weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, at 1:30 p.m. ET on CTV Two and at 6 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m. ET on E!...
logo; the Citytv logos on the landmark mural behind the Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile Canada
Virgin Mobile Canada is a cellular telephone company that was launched on March 1, 2005 as a joint venture between Virgin Group and Bell Canada. Since May 7, 2009, it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Mobility. - Pre-launch :...
at MuchMusic store were replaced and overhauled with various logos of Bell Media's co-owned television channels, as well as the logo for CTV's entertainment news program eTalk shown one dish; the CityPulse Live-Eye banner on the truck sticking out of Bell Media's 299 Queen Street West headquarters was overhauled with a CP24 Breaking News logo; and the main Citytv signage on the building's east façade was replaced with the CTV signage and a private balcony, looking out from the company's boardroom. Citytv Toronto officially moved out of 299 Queen Street West into its new home at 33 Dundas Street East on September 8, 2009.
BNN later moved in to the building on December 6, 2010.
Other Bell Media facilities in Toronto
Alongside 299 Queen Street West, other Bell Media properties are operated from other facilities in the Toronto area:- Several Bell channels, including CTV's flagship station, CTV TorontoCFTO-TVCFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It...
along with CTV News Channel, TSNThe Sports NetworkThe Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
, TSN2TSN2TSN2 is a secondary feed of the Canadian English language Category C specialty channel TSN, owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc., a joint venture of Bell Media and ESPN...
and Discovery Channel Canada as well as the master controls for the CTV stations in Eastern Canada (including CTV WinnipegCKY-TVCKY-DT is a television station based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and owned by Bell Media. It is part of the CTV Television Network....
, CTV Southwestern OntarioCKCO-TVCKCO-DT is a television station broadcasting on channel 13 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it is a part of the CTV Television Network and has been branded CTV Southwestern Ontario since 2005.-History:...
, CTV Northern OntarioCTV Northern OntarioCTV Northern Ontario, formerly known as MCTV, is a system of four television stations in Northern Ontario, Canada, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media.These stations are:...
, CTV OttawaCJOH-TVCJOH-DT is a television station serving Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and the surrounding region. Owned by Bell Media, it is part of the CTV Television Network....
and CTV MontrealCFCF-TVCFCF-DT is a CTV-owned and operated station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
) as well as some of the technical operations for TSN Radio 1050 are operated from 9 Channel Nine Court9 Channel Nine Court9 Channel Nine Court is the civic address of an office and studio complex of Bell Media in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, alternatively known as the CTV Toronto Studios, CFTO-TV Studios or Bell Media Agincourt...
in Agincourt located at Highway 401 and McCowan Road.
- Studios for TSN Radio 1050CHUM (AM)CHUM, branded as TSN Radio 1050, broadcasting at 1050 kHz in the AM band, is a Canadian radio station licensed to Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned and operated by Bell Media....
, 104.5 CHUM-FMCHUM-FMCHUM-FM is a Canadian radio station licensed to Toronto, Ontario and operated by Bell Media. It broadcasts at 104.5 MHz with a hot adult contemporary format that leans towards rhythmic adult contemporary...
and Flow 93.5CFXJ-FMCFXJ-FM is a Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario, which uses the on-air brand FLOW 93.5. It first aired in 2001 as Canada's first urban music station...
are currently located at 250 Richmond Street West250 Richmond Street West250 Richmond Street West is a studio complex in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building now serves as the new headquarters of Bell Media Radio's national operations, a division of Bell Media and to the studios of the company's Toronto radio stations, CHUM , CHUM-FM as well as Bell Media's...
at Richmond and Duncan streets which is adjacent to 299 Queen Street West.
- MTV Canada's studios are located at the Masonic TempleMasonic Temple (Toronto)The Masonic Temple, also known as the CTV Temple or the MTV Temple, is a six-storey building on the north-west corner of Davenport Road and Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada....
at Davenport Road and Yonge StreetYonge StreetYonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
.