CTV scored marketing points early in the war by providing its audio feed, free of charge, to any and all Canadian radio stations. The ‘no strings attached’ deal allowed stations to retransmit the CTV signal during any live breaking news coverage.

Some 25 or 30 stations picked up the signal in the first days of the war, according to CTV News president Robert Hurst.

‘We were approached by several private radio stations because they couldn’t get any Canadian coverage,’ says Hurst. Most news and talk stations subscribe to American news services such as CNN, ABC and CBS, which offer ‘pretty specific views of world events, especially in this war.’

Among the first to use the feed was Toronto’s CFRB 1010AM. ‘It made us more comprehensive. It’s made us definitely have a Canadian perspective because we’re getting our stuff from Canadian reporters… People who are known to our audience,’ says program director Steve Kowch. CFRB recently partnered with the network and also has direct access to CTV reporters.

CTV has several people in the region, including Tom Kennedy and Ellen Pinchuk, both currently near the Iraqi border, Tom Clark in Kuwait, and both Dennelle Balfour and Lisa LaFlamme in Qatar.

-www.ctv.ca