CTV News president Kirk LaPointe confirmed yesterday that Rod Black and Lisa Laflamme are the new anchors for Canada AM.
The move will take effect in September. The announcement was one of several at a press conference on the set of Canada AM at CTV's Agincourt broadcast centre.
"I'm going to try and find an alarm clock that sounds like a jackhammer," said Laflamme, who admits to being a bit of a night owl.
Black, who co-hosted AM last week while Dan Matheson was on vacation, says he turned down the offer at first. One consideration was family: He and his wife have a young child with another on the way. The other was professional: He didn't want to give up the sports beat.
LaPointe assured Black he'd still be the network's "marquee sports guy," and pointed out that Matheson made the same transition. Black took the day job.
"Where else can you interview Joe Clark, Terri Clark and Wendel Clark all on the same show," said Black.
Sports and weather host Jeff Hutcheson couldn't be happier with his new AM pals. He and Laflamme go back 10 years to the network's Kitchener affiliate. "We know the chemistry is already there," he said.
After the press conference, the always-game Hutcheson climbed onto the back of a huge Toronto Zoo elephant and led reporters and CTV staffers to a barbecue in the parking lot.
A spider monkey and a four-week-old lion cub were also on hand to help promote CTV's new digital offering Animal Planet, which launches Sept. 7 along with six other CTV digital services -- Discovery Civilization, CTV Travel, WTSN, a women's sports channel, ESPN Classic Canada, the NHL Network and the French language RDS Infor Sports.
Matheson, who was not at the press conference, was named as the new primetime anchor for CTV Newsnet starting next month.
LaPointe and CTV president Trina McQueen also unveiled five new news bureaus in places like New Delhi and Sydney in a move they called "the largest expansion in CTV news history."
McQueen, never afraid to use the "C" word, suggested that convergence is a good thing at CTV, a division of Bell Globemedia.
They've already reached into the Globe And Mail newsroom for one on-air addition. Edward Greenspon will co-host a revised version of Question Period with CTV parliamentary gaffer Craig Oliver.
"Eddy and I are the convergence twins," deadpanned Oliver.
As for CTV's main newsman, LaPointe once again declared Lloyd Robertson to be the network's "anchor for life." Robertson begins his 25th season behind the network's anchor desk this fall, and CTV plans to dip into the vault for some on-air salutes. They're also spiffing up his set, with a new news look set to bow after Labour Day.
