Moses Znaimer

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Moses Znaimer (born 1942) is the co-founder and was the driving creative force behind Toronto's first independent television station, Citytv.

He was born to a Jewish family in Kulyab, Tajikistan, then part of the Soviet Union. He fled his home country at an early age; settling first in Shanghai, China, and ultimately ending up in Montreal, Canada in 1948. He was educated in Montreal, attending McGill University, earning a BA in Philosophy and Politics (and serving as President of the McGill Debating Union), and later attended Harvard University, earning his MA in Government.

Znaimer's career in broadcasting began when he joined the CBC in the early 1960s. He became well known for his work as host of CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, as well as co-host of CBC Television's Take Thirty, with Adrienne Clarkson. After being denied the opportunity to pursue his creative vision at the CBC, Znaimer quit and went into private broadcasting. With all of the VHF television licenses in Toronto taken, Znaimer and a partnership applied for and was awarded the city's first UHF broadcasting license, on channel 79. Citytv launched in 1972, and changed frequency to channel 57 in 1983.

In 1981, Toronto-based media conglomerate CHUM Limited purchased Citytv, and Znaimer became vice-president of CHUM and executive producer for all of City's programming. By 1984 Znaimer and John Martin's vision of a 24-hour music video station was realized with the creation of MuchMusic. Much like City, MuchMusic emphasized the liveness and spontaneity of television, relying largely on hand-held cameras, and impromptu shots of VJ's taken just about anywhere in the CHUM-City offices. Changing a studio's "backstage" into its foreground is one of Znaimer's chief legacies. MusiquePlus, a joint venture based in Montreal and catering to the French speaking audiences of Canada, was launched in 1986. In 1987 CHUM-City purchased a former publishing building in Toronto's downtown west end and renovated it into the CHUM-City Building, a landmark media centre.

Throughout the 1990s, Znaimer presided over a considerable expansion of the CHUM-City television empire. Bravo! was launched as a new style arts channel in 1995, and Space: The Imagination Station in 1997. He continued his original vision for television with the launching of North America's first 24-hour local news station, CablePulse 24 in 1998. Further cable channels included Canadian Learning Television, Star!, Drive-In Classics, FashionTelevisionChannel, Book Television, CourtTV Canada, SexTV: The Channel, MuchLOUD and MuchVibe. Znaimer also oversaw the launch of Citytv Vancouver.

A mercurial, unpredictable, and ego-driven leader, Moses inspired equal parts adoration and loathing in his cadre of stories, many of whom still tell "Moses stories" which Znaimer does his best to refute, or embellish as the mood strikes him.

Znaimer resigned from his managerial role at Citytv and CHUM Limited in April of 2003, but stayed on in certain production roles. He is currently the Chairman of Cannasat Therapeutics, a publicly traded company pioneering a new class of drugs from marijuana.

In May, 2005, Znaimer re-emerged from a few years of virtual exile to head up a series of new media ventures. For CBC Television, he will executive produce a new television comedy called Rumours, based on a hit Quebec television show. In 2006, he filed an application with the CRTC to acquire CFMX, a commercial classical music radio station serving the Greater Toronto Area.

An avid collector of vintage television sets, (including the set David Sarnoff presented at the 1939 World's Fair, his MZTV Television Museum will move to a new home on Toronto's Harbourfront sometime in 2007.

His sister is television journalist Libby Znaimer, who has worked for CityTV and CablePulse 24 and more recently Report on Business Television.