CHCH’s Morning Live celebrates 25th anniversary

CHCH’s Morning Live team celebrated a very special anniversary Thursday — it’s been 25 years since the first show aired.

Since that first early alarm in February 2001, Morning Live has been waking up with the community for the past 25 years.

“I remember watching the first episodes with Bob and Cathy,” said CHCH Morning Live co-host Annette Hamm. “To be a part of this show for a little bit more than 20 years — I think it’s 21 now — this show fills a special part in my heart.”

Hamm has been on the desk since 2005, while CHCH Morning Live co-host Rick Zamperin joined the team just in the past year.

“It’s been exciting to get to not only get to know the team, but also interact with the viewers and learn their stories,” said Zamperin. “And on this 25th anniversary show, really happy to have the whole team involved across the region — it’s been such a great ride thus far, and looking to the next 25 years.”

A lot has changed over the past quarter century.

When the first episode went to air, Google Images and social media platforms didn’t exist yet; the average cost of gas in the province was 67.8 cents per litre; and in Hamilton, Cathy Wagner and Bob Cowan were the first hosts of Morning Live.

WATCH MORE: Celebrating 25 years with Morning Live’s original host, Bob Cowan

“It’s a little surreal,” said Cowan. “We weren’t really thinking that far ahead when we launched this puppy 25 years ago — you know, what kind of legs it would have, but I’m so happy to see that it continues to flourish.”

Though not everything has changed, “live eye” Luke Gudgin has been around since the very beginning.

“I’ve flown in the snowbirds in formation, in the Lancaster, ships, helicopters — you name it, I’ve put a camera on it,” said Gudgin.

“And of course getting drenched at the bottom of the Falls,” said CHCH Morning Live weather and traffic specialist Brian Wood.

“Yes, Brian and I just keep reliving this nightmare,” said Gudgin, while laughing next to Wood.

That’s right, it seems no matter the year, you can find Wood getting drenched at the bottom of Niagara Falls.

“We’re live at Table Rock Centre right — and I mean right beside — Horseshoe Falls,” said Wood earlier this year.

As Morning Live celebrates this milestone, CHCH News and Channel Zero are looking ahead to the next 25 years.

“A show isn’t a show — it’s the people behind it,” said Channel Zero President Cal Millar. “It’s the folks that show up every day and make the stories interesting and talk about the very thing that we say: it’s engaging our audiences with stories from their communities and around. So, congratulations on the past 25 years, and here’s to the next 25.”

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