The CFCN Gig

Due to the somewhat heavy events of the last few days I've been delayed on the long overdue entry on my new job...

Okay so I work for the Report on Business Television division of CTV. I'm of course posted in the Calgary branch that is located at the CFCN station. My job title is Guest Greeter, and in a moment you'll get the details of my taxing task...

The CFCN broadcasting tower. A landmark in Calgary since well before I was born.

So the daily drive to work isn't too bad in comparison to some you can make in Cowtown these days. What makes this so isn't the distance to work, as the station is actually a little ways from my current home. It's the proximity in the valley alignment.

What I mean by this is that I am directly across from the station on the river valley that makes up the core of Calgary. Making this fantastic for efficent commutes is we're on the far West end of the valley. Meaning that the major roads that connect us aren't the most busy...

A close up for the tower as it is seen from the front door of CFCN. Unfortuently I can't quite connect these two properly. Though the trees lineup you'll notice the tower actually connects to the left of the bottom picture.

So the typical routine is get to work for 3:15pm. Head inside the front door, and hang a left right away to get to my desk. Located in the CFCN news room...

The Newsroom! Normally packed with reporters and anchors. I'm not supposed to take pictures in the building, so I snapped this when I was't going to get caught...


Here is my little corner of the news room.

So thus far the majority of my shifts up till the present have been spent here. Typically I've been working on my homework for my New Zealand internet prereq courses. Once and a while when I'm a bad boy or just lacking disipline also a bit of blog work...

My "office"

On the days I theortically have a guest I then have to head down stairs into the bowels of the station to the ROB (Report on Business) studio.

First I'd have greeted the guest at the front door (hence my job title), and then bring them to the studio. Once here I get our guest to sit in the chair there in front of the camera. I straight out their tie and jacket. Hook them up with a microphone and ear piece, and then call Toronto to let them know that we're good to go on the interview.

My "office" from the camera's point of view

Once the interview is done I do the reverse. Remove the tech gear. Mess up their jacket and tie (okay if they don't tip me :P ). Take them up to the front door. Thank them for coming, and that is that. Back to my desk in the newsroom in theory waiting for the next guest.

In total I've had 1 guest in two weeks. That's right. I'm super overworked here. I can't believe the unhumanity of it all!

Amazing view of Calgary from anywhere in the station!

Yeah so that's life at moment. I love it! Compared to Timmies where I was up all night, and had to waste my days off on homework. Now I get paid to do my homework, and can fool around in the evenings (and I've been good, and haven't wasted that much money!).

Fun closing bit of trivia from the set of ROBTV. They have this backdrop of the city to establish where the interviewee is located. They used to have a window with the previous amazing view. However on days like all of last week where the station is in thick fog you can't see anything. So they made this backdrop.

My boss on the first day noted me looking at it curiously and she says "DON'T look to closely at that or you'll go mad!". Indeed I'd noticed the problem. This isn't a real photo of Calgary rather a composite of all the landmarks. Calgarians are probably noticing this too. For those of you from elsewhere you can see the reflection of the Calgary Tower in Bankers Hall (the tall scrapper on the right) from where the tower should be!

I thought that was funny, and figured I'd share this one funny showbiz tidbit with you.