Metro Morning is

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

's local morning program in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, airing on

CBLA-FM CBLA-FM (99.1 MHz) is a non-commercial Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the station is the flagship station of the CBC Radio One network, broadcasting a mix of news and ...

. The program airs from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. weekday mornings, and has frequently been Toronto's highest-rated radio program in its timeslot. The program is currently hosted by Ismaila Alfa. ''Metro Morning'' does not air on most of CBLA's rebroadcast transmitters outside of Toronto, which air the separate program ''

Ontario Morning Ontario Morning is a Canadian radio program, which airs as the CBC Radio One local morning program for non-metropolitan markets in Southern Ontario.Bill Prentice, "This country sounds good in the morning". ''The Globe and Mail'', November 14, 19 ...

'' instead. However ''Metro Morning'' was broadcast on the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, Ontario transmitter CBLA-FM-2 to serve

Waterloo Region The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...

and the westernmost parts of the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater ...

, until the start of that region's local morning programming, ''Morning Edition'', on March 11, 2013.

History

''Metro Morning'' premiered in 1973 with the name ''Tomorrow Is Here''. It replaced ''I'm Here Till 9'' which had been hosted by

Alex Trebek George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 season ...

from 1971 until the end of 1972 when it was decided to replace it with a show that had a harder news format. George Rich hosted the morning show between Trebek's departure at the end of 1972 and the launch of ''Tomorrow Is Here'' on April 2, 1973. Previously, CBC's morning show had been ''Toast and Jamboree'', hosted by Bruce Smith, from 1948 until 1971. ''Tomorrow Is Here'' was renamed ''Metro Morning'' in 1974. The program's first host was Bruce Rogers, who was succeeded by Harry Brown in 1975."Harry Brown, longtime CBC broadcaster, dies in native Nfld. at age 72".

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

, April 1, 2002. Brown won an

ACTRA Award The ACTRA Awards were first presented in 1972 to celebrate excellence in Canada's television and radio industries.

for Best Public Affairs Broadcaster in 1976 for his work on the program. For its first two decades, the program was broadcast from CBC Radio's former Cabbagetown studio at 509 Parliament Street, which had previously been a theatre.Henry Mietkiewicz, "Watchcat Tuffy's the radio star of Canadian Broadcatting Corp." ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', August 2, 1986. During this era, the show was famous for Tuffy, the station's "watchcat", who would be referred to regularly on air and even appeared on station merchandising. The show moved, along with all of the station's operations, to the

Canadian Broadcasting Centre The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp ...

in 1992. Joe Côté became host of the program in 1979, and stayed with the program until 1992 as its longest-serving host as of that time. He was succeeded by Matt Maychak,Frank Jones, "How Matt learned to say 'Tor-on-TOE'". ''

'', January 31, 1994. who left the program in 1995; Maychak was replaced by

Andy Barrie Andy Barrie, (born January 30, 1945) is an American Canadian radio personality most known for his work at Toronto radio stations, first at CFRB and later as host of ''Metro Morning'' on CBLA-FM from 1995 until his retirement on March 1, 2010. E ...

, the longest-serving host in the show's history. After Barrie retired from the program in 2010 he was succeeded by Matt Galloway, who had served for several years as host of the station's afternoon show '' Here and Now''.Vincent Donovan, "Metro Morning's new voice, new view; Matt Galloway bringing diversity to CBC show". ''

'', February 9, 2010. Galloway's final day as host of ''Metro Morning'' was on December 6, 2019, following which he took over as host of the network's national morning news show '' The Current'' on January 6, 2020. The program was helmed after Galloway's departure by guest hosts including Farrah Merali,

Piya Chattopadhyay Piya Chattopadhyay () is a Canadian journalist, currently host of '' The Sunday Magazine'' on CBC Radio One. She is known for her work on CBC Radio,David Common David Common is a Canadian journalist, best known as a correspondent and anchor for CBC News, and cohost with Asha Tomlinson and Charlsie Agro of CBC Television's consumer affairs newsmagazine ''Marketplace''. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitob ...

until Alfa was named the permanent host on July 7, 2020. He officially assumed the role on August 24, 2020. Prior to being named host of ''Metro Morning'', Alfa was the host of ''Up to Speed'', the network's afternoon program on CBW in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, and has been active as a hip hop musician, most notably participating in the 2008

Record of the Week Club The Record of the Week Club was a collaborative music project among musicians in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which took place in 2008."Local musician Mike Petkau produced and engineered Record of the Week Club". ''Winnipeg Free Press'', June 6, 2009. Organ ...

project.

Hosts

* Bruce Rogers (April 2, 1973 – 1975) * Harry Brown (1975 – 1977) * David Schatzky (1977 – 1979) * Joe Coté (1979 – 1992) * Matt Maychak (1992 – 1995) *

(September 5, 1995 – February 25, 2010)Peter Goddard, "Andy Barrie's defection to CBC stuns CFRB staff". ''

'', July 25, 1995. * Matt Galloway (March 1, 2010 – December 6, 2019) * guest hosts (December 9, 2019 – August 21, 2020) * Ismaila Alfa (August 24, 2020 – present)

References

External links

* {{CBC Radio Programs (current and upcoming) CBC Radio One programs Canadian talk radio programs Mass media in Toronto 1973 radio programme debuts