Nine

I haven't been feeling very well for the past couple of days. I don't know if it is the last couple of months catching up with me or just the changing of the seasons, but I have not had much energy the last week or so.

Tomorrow marks nine years since we signed on. Hard to believe that it has been that long, but the time has flown by. I remember arriving here in Vancouver, and going over to our building on Robson and Burrard just a few weeks before we were to sign on for the first time and thinking "How the hell are we going to do that, there's nothing here except bare concrete floors and some wires hanging from the ceiling."
Those were heady days, the group assembled were all very excited about launching a new TV Station. There were many who had previous years of Television experience and then there were others that had none. It was indeed an interesting group. Yet each one of the start up team brought something to the table. It all made for a fantastic energy that sustained us and propelled VTV onto the Vancouver airwaves.
I was very proud to be a part of something so dynamic. A start up was something I had yet to live through in my career. Weeks of 18 hour days all so we could officially launch on Sept. 22, 1997.
The first live broadcasts were a couple of days before "Launch Date". I was privileged to have been the camera for the very first live pictures transmitted. A shot of Vicki Gaberau and Amir Haleem, introducing us as VTV.
We have come a long way since that crazy startup time. Many of the "originals" have moved on to other projects, other cities. But many of us are still here. I guess we feel that we all had a part in growing the station on Robson and Burrard. We have left our pound of flesh in the place.
VTV grew into CTV British Columbia. Live TV has always been a part of the station since the beginning. We began with 5 live trucks, scaled it back to 4 a year or so later. Finally acquired a Sat Truck in 2000 and just 3 years ago added a News Gathering Helicopter to the mix.
It's been quite a ride and tomorrow we're 9.