Citytv's Gord Martineau celebrates 35 years as CTV's Christine Bentley steps down

[TVViewer]

Gord Martineau celebrates 35 years at City while Christine Bentley exits top-rated CTV News

by Bill Brioux

Gord Martineau is in no hurry to leave City-TV.

"I've had this conversation with my wife," says Martineau, who earlier this week celebrated 35 years as City-TV's nightly news anchor.
"You're never going to retire," she concluded. "Right on," he agreed. "I wouldn't know what to do--I'd lose my mind."
Martineau, who began his career at City in 1977 and who turns 65 later this month, says the job is still fun. "I don't know how many people in the world get out of bed every day and say, 'Great, I'm going to work.'"

Martineau's milestone comes just as another local Toronto news anchor steps down. Christine Bentley, long teamed with Ken Shaw on CTV's dominant local 6 p.m. newscast, surprised viewers Wednesday night by announcing she was leaving the station.

Her last day on air is Friday. Bentley echoed Martineau's sentiments by telling her viewers, "find a job you really love and you will never work a day in your life. That has been my life."

So why is she leaving? CTV's 6 p.m. newscast is still a ratings monster. Last Friday, the supper hour newscast pulled 281,000 overnight viewers in the Toronto area, compared to 115,000 watching Global's 5:30 p.m. local newscast (Global National at 6:30 fetched 94,000 locally). CityNews at 6 drew 68,000, CBC News at 6 61,000 and CHCH's 6 p.m. news 60,000.

Bentley's been with CTV/CFTO as long as Martineau's been with City, starting as a general assignment reporter in 1977. She was teamed with Shaw on the anchor desk in the mid-'90s.
In a release, CTV said an announcement about Bentley's replacement will be made in the coming days.

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[artudo123]

Does anybody else think Christine may have been pushed out? Seems a little odd they'd only tell viewers 2 days in advance!

[xxmattxx]

It does seems strange that they only gave a few days warning about here departure. I wonder if she will retire or move to another network i bet CBC or Global wouldn't mind having her.

[Brad]

Good question. However, when Dan McLean left CHCH after 38 years, viewers, including myself, found out the day of his last day. It was in The Hamilton Spectator that morning, and then he said his goodbyes that night.

[Mayhem]

"I've had this conversation with my wife," says Martineau, who earlier this week celebrated 35 years as City-TV's nightly news anchor.
"You're never going to retire," she concluded. "Right on," he agreed. "I wouldn't know what to do--I'd lose my mind."
Martineau, who began his career at City in 1977 and who turns 65 later this month, says the job is still fun. "I don't know how many people in the world get out of bed every day and say, 'Great, I'm going to work.'"

So why is she leaving? CTV's 6 p.m. newscast is still a ratings monster. Last Friday, the supper hour newscast pulled 281,000 overnight viewers in the Toronto area, compared to 115,000 watching Global's 5:30 p.m. local newscast (Global National at 6:30 fetched 94,000 locally). CityNews at 6 drew 68,000, CBC News at 6 61,000 and CHCH's 6 p.m. news 60,000.

281,000? Wasn't 300,000 to 400,000 viewers a few years ago for CTV Toronto?

She was teamed with Shaw on the anchor desk in the mid-'90s.

I don't know why they keep mixing this up, but both Ken Shaw and Christine Bentley anchored together as far back as 1985.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxTkXCUAv54&t=49s

In a release, CTV said an announcement about Bentley's replacement will be made in the coming days.

Those are pretty big shoes to fill.

It does seems strange that they only gave a few days warning about here departure. I wonder if she will retire or move to another network i bet CBC or Global wouldn't mind having her.

I doubt Bell Media would push out one of their prized on-air talent, but I doubt she's heading to any of the other stations, we knew of Tom Hayes jump over to Citytv before he announced it on-air. Maybe she's leaving for personal reasons?

[artudo123]

I have heard from my 'sources' that she supposedly informed management in May that she intended to step down after the summer. I also heard it was her decision to announce it a couple days in advance because she didn't want people to make a big deal of it. Regardless, I still have my suspicions that somebody may have nudged her and said "Its been a great run Christine, why not explore the world". I also find it suspicious that she has no immediate plans. I'm not saying anybody who leaves their job has to. But if she's known for so long you'd think somebody would say "I'm going to travel and spend time with family". Christine has essentially said "I still gotta figure out what I'm going to do with all my spare time". I do agree the networks may be eager to snatch her and if that's the case it would be months before we find out. She likely has a non-compete clause kind of like what happened to Anne Mrocsowski.

I know Christine has a right to have her moment tomorrow but are we ready to speculate whose going to replace her? The announcement will be made on Monday. Part of me thinks Andria Case would be promoted from the weekend desk. But I think Michelle Dube is the more likely choice. What does everybody else think?

[Brad]

Sadly, I think it will be Michelle Dube. I'll leave it at that.