Friday June 29, 2012
Before I left Markham I was packing for my trip and was proud to see Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29) with the openly gay and openly awesome Don Shipman!
When I reached downtown Toronto, I was already on the lookout for local news crews and spotted CTV's van!
I also felt like City TV was everywhere that day!
Soon, I caught a glimpse of Jackie Crandles from cable outlet CP24!
In true TV Garth fashion, I had to pose for a pic with Ms. Crandles!
I also ran into Toronto Pride's executive director Kevin Beaulieu, who is an awesome gentleman! Compare with a pic of Kevin I captured over-the-air from CITY (RF44) on July 1.
What I enjoyed about CP24's Jackie Crandles is that she was really engaged with the people she interviewed after the Trans March had taken place. She continued chatting with them well after their segment was over.
C & C News Factory [Crandles & Cameraman] are live on the scene!
The LGBT cable/satellite station Out TV had a booth set up promoting RuPaul's Drag Race. I wigged out when I saw it and dragged my pal Mr. A with me to get a pic with Ru while holding up some of the show's famous catchphrases!
Mr. A and I also got to play a sassy game of "Homo Pictionary" with Canada's Next Drag Superstar - Jade London!
I'm a sucker for a great station logo, and I love Out TV's newly revamped look, timed to coincide with their HD launch!
I headed back to my hotel, waiting to announce to friends and strangers that I was part of a minority group said to be 10% of the population. Yes folks, I was about to come out of the closet as an antenna user! With a CM4221HD clone and a Zenith DTT900 digital box, I was ready to show off my over-the-air pride that weekend at the College/Carlton Holiday Inn!
I would soon Go Public with my love of Rochester, NY's WXXI (RF16) when their signal blasted into my hotel room just before my party guests arrived.
I also saw a great promo for the "Fox Rochester Idol" contest on WUHF (RF28.)
My eyes popped out when Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29) joined my Pride DX party with Lexie O'Connor in the house!
The Holiday Inn had everything I needed for a great stay, including a coffee maker, comfortable beds and Utica on the TV!
Even Stacey Pensgen of Rochester's WROC (RF45) couldn't believe I was getting their station during Pride weekend!
Mark Gruba and Maureen McGuire WROCed the house that evening!
Meanwhile, back on Utica's WKTV (RF29) ran a marathon of ads for the Boilermaker event taking place!
There's nothing cooler than Adam Musyt's forecast on a hot Friday night!
I was proud to pull a Vanna White with WKTV's 7 day forecast that evening.
Although there were many pitchers and catchers scoring at Pride, it took WROC's Thad Brown to fully round up all the sports events that night!
I momentarily stopped my DX mania to enjoy some pizza that my pals Brian and Mr. A brought up to the room! (Look closely and you'll see my antenna perched behind Brian on top of my suitcase!)
One of the surprise guests in my room that night was OMNI's Bollywood Boulevard insider Daniel Pillai! Compare with a pic I caught on CJMT (RF51) back on April 30th! You can also check out Daniel on Twitter or visit his website!
Here's a look at the party people that I
It was partly my natural enthusiasm and partly the Cuban rum that prompted me to scream, "It's Matt Molloy! He's GAY!!!" when he appeared in a WROC news promo. One of my hotel guests then replied, "Really? He's cute!"
My pal Adam was mischievously trying to interrupt my love affair with over-the-air...
However, Adam's interference couldn't prevent the Adams forecast from coming through on the CNY subchannel of Syracuse, NY's WSTM (RF24-3.)
I was Syr-iously excited to be watching meteorologist Mike Brookins on the CNY weather subchannel!
Syracuse's WSTM (RF24) offered visual proof that you're never too young to be a diva on Jay Leno.
With all the tropo and Pride partying, I knew I wouldn't be waking up Earl-y the next morning. Also check out the awesome CW6 logo on WSTQ (RF24-2) in the bottom corner.
Pheobe from Friends was totally scandalized by all the leather being worn by Pride goers on the streets outside!
Utica, NY's ABC outlet WUTR (RF30) was also running quite a few promos for the Boilermaker event.
There was also a very cute Community Calendar promo on WUTR. Werk it Green Team Girls...werk it!
WUTR's subchannel WPNY (RF30-2) was advertising the 7pm edition of Eyewitness News. I'm still hoping to be an eyewitness to their newscast in Markham sometime this Summer!
At the top of the hour I spotted a great station ID for WPNY!
The Pride festivities made it feel even more appropriate to catch a show called Every Woman via Syracuse, NY's WSYR (RF17.)
Love that doppler radar on WSYR-2!
One of the biggest highlights of the night was catching Utica, NY's FOX station WFXV on RF27. WFXV is nearly impossible to get in Markham, but reporter Jennifer Lee had no problem slipping into my Toronto hotel with the latest scoop from Central New York!
WFXV (along with sister stations WUTR and WPNY) also runs an edition of Eyewitness News.
If the Boilermaker sped by too quickly, WFXV and WPNY would be running it again later on. Hopefully the stations had some Gatorade nearby...
Just before going to bed, I caught a great WFXV station ID!
Saturday June 30, 2012
I was awake early enough to meet up with friends for the Dyke March that afternoon. I was also lucky enough to bump into CFTO's Ashley Rowe that day!
Across the street from where my friends and I watched the march, I noticed advertising for the upcoming CBC reality show Over The Rainbow. Well timed promotion, given that many friends of Dorothy were taking over the streets that weekend.
I was happy to hear that Toronto's Proud FM radio station was celebrating their fifth anniversary this year!
Later on, I visited the Out TV booth again, and got to meet Shangela from RuPaul's Drag Race! Not only did I get a pic with her, but I also got to compliment her on her appearance on The Mentalist earlier this year!
Canada's own Jade London was also hanging around being fierce at the Out TV booth!
This is probably the closest I'll get to having a pic with RuPaul herself!
As I crawled into bed that night, my antenna was already packed away, so I turned on the hotel cable. I was surprised to see an interesting documentary called Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics On Trial on Buffalo's WNED. The doc details how the "Gay Olympics" were eventually forced to become known as the "Gay Games" due to a homophobic looking copyright flap.
Sunday July 1, 2012
Before checking out of the Holiday Inn, I had to snap a pic of the hotel channel guide!
Here's my 2012 Pride outfit in all its glory. Of course, I wouldn't feel totally fab without a wink to TV Garth in my ensemble.
My fierce marching companions that day included Indira, Chantal and Mr. A!
Being from Markham, I had to get a pic with the Gay York Region booth!
As my pals and I were getting ready to march, I came across Global News doing an interview with Youth Line volunteers! Check out their awesome shirts, which play on Carly Rae Jepsen's ubiquitous hit Call Me Maybe!
Shortly after getting this pic, Global interviewed me and I wasn't ready, so I rambled on about Pride for a few minutes. Thankfully they did a masterful editing job and used the best part of what I said for their story!
Props to Global's camera man for capturing all the action going on that day!
It was a surreal moment to rush home and capture pics of myself on Global's newscast on CIII (RF41) later that day!
Check out the video of Global Toronto's Pride coverage, including my clip:
MTV Canada made sure their hit show 1 Girl 5 Gays was represented in the Pride parade this year.
My friends and I stopped to get pics of Laurel Broten and Cheri DiNovo, who were chosen to be co-grand marshals of the parade for their work championing gay-straight alliances and trans rights. Compare with a pic from CFTO (RF9) that I captured later on that same day.
Much respect goes out to Toronto drag LEGEND Michelle DuBarry! DuBarry has been an amazing trailblazer for the Toronto drag scene and recently celebrated her "double 40th" birthday! Original recipe fierceness!
I squealed when I saw CFTO's Colin D'Mello working his way through the Parade route for stories!
I found out Colin had seen last year's Pride blog, so he was fully prepared for my TV Garth shenanigans this year!
Love That Bob! I was happy to see interim Liberal leader Bob Rae in attendance at the Pride parade this year! Compare with a pic from CIII (RF41) captured later that same day!
I was also happy to see Ontario's NDP leader Andrea Horwath attending the parade! I got to thank her for continuing to fight for the rights of the LGBT community.
During the march, I spotted a Global News promo on a billboard!
I got to snag a pic with City TV's Peter Kim during the parade. Compare with a pic from CITY (RF44) seen later that same day!
City TV's Saphia Khambalia gave me a fierce Diva pose during the parade!
I did a happy dance when I bumped into a cute cop that I get pictures with almost every year during Pride! Not only does he have an arresting smile, but he exudes a totally fun, joyous vibe!
Talk about Toronto's finest, indeed...
We got closer to the CP24 stage which sizzled with the Divalicious Pooja Handa and the hunktacular Gurdeep Ahluwalia. I'm always impressed with the Pride coverage that CP24 provides annually.
I was taken aback when Gurdeep thrust his microphone in front of my face and asked what Pride means to me! After rambling with Global, I gave a more succinct answer for CP24!
Gurdeep also asked my pal Mr. A what Pride means to him!
As we continued our march, I couldn't resist shouting out "Gurdeep, you're hot!" which actually prompted a brief on-air discussion and some cool tweets from Pooja and Gurdeep!
Check out the CP24 segment below! Mr. A & I get interviewed around the 1:20 mark!
I close my Pride recap with a shot I captured near the end of the parade with ads for Madonna's Truth or Dare perfume on the left and CTV's Saving Hope on the right. The combination of those two signs felt like a perfect symbol for Pride. You have to be daring in order to tell the truth about your life, but you also have to save enough hope to believe that the tumultuous journey is worth going through. And with that said, I wish everyone a Happy Pride!
Stay tuned to TV Garth for more reception revelry!
