There was almost an audible sigh of relief when Citytv Vancouver lit up the airwaves on July 22. After two years of television musical chairs, finally all the pieces were in place, and the local CTV, Global and CBC affiliates could focus on finding their niches in the market.

But with the new channel comes a new newscast, and it ain't any old newscast. City is introducing its proven CityPulse format to the West Coast, the same format that has already conquered the young male demo in Toronto (see "Quest for youth" on page 14). Such a strong new entry is sure to shake up the local news audiences - the question is, how?

David Stanger, managing partner at DSA Baron Communications in Vancouver, says the impact of the new CityPulse Vancouver will be significant, but gradual.

"It takes five years for a newscast to mature and an audience to settle in," he says. "[Citytv] captures the under-30 crowd that is looking for something to call their own, instead of embracing their parents' newscast. That's what they did in Toronto 25 years ago. [CityPulse] has the opportunity to become tomorrow's adult newscast."

Already the new entry is turning heads, thanks to a surprisingly strong launch. On its first night, CityPulse at Six was the number two newscast in the market for adults aged 25 to 54, and number one for males 18 to 34. CityPulse Tonight, which airs at 11 p.m., was also number two in its time-slot.

This strong showing continued for the entire first week. CityPulse at Six eventually settled in as a strong number three, and was second in that time-slot for women 25 to 54 and 18 to 34. CityPulse Tonight was number two overall for 11 p.m. newscasts.

But whether City can sustain this momentum still remains to be seen, and generally, competitors and media buyers alike feel that the existing newscasts don't have to start worrying yet. It's expected that CityPulse will carve out a new, younger audience and fill a void, rather than chip away at the core viewers of the established, more traditional news programs on Global, CTV or CBC.

Although CityPulse will likely attract a younger audience than its competition, Brad Phillips, VP and GM of Citytv Vancouver, says the station doesn't want to cast its net too narrowly, because news is a mass event. The broad target is 18 to 49.

But Phillips says that young adult is the demo CityPulse will mine for growth, and with its contemporary, casual approach to news coverage and content it will likely skew to the younger segment of its target.

"Content-wise we will focus more than we have before on entertainment pieces. We really want to go deep on entertainment. You talk about a concert in town and you can relate to 15,000 to 20,000 people. You still have to cover the murder in the suburbs, but in reality, how many people are really connecting with that?"

Phillips says opportunities for CityPulse lie with "news you can use."

"We want to go heavy into lifestyle and consumer stories and take four minutes in the newscast to talk about the sunny weather out there and the type of sunscreen products that work the best. I think our competitors would think that was too soft and not do it."