Al Bruner (1923 - 1987) was a Canadian television broadcaster and the co-founder of Global TV.
Bruner was born in Leamington, Ontario in 1923. In his early days Bruner sang in Wayne King's Detroit orchestra, but soon found his way into broadcasting by helping to establish the Toronto-based television station CFTO-TV, which went on the air in 1961. However, Bruner's eyes turned to Hamilton when the founder of CHCH-TV, Ken Soble, asked him to become the sales manager at his station, which had recently become disaffiliated with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and was the first independent radio station in Canada. Bruner wanted to launch a satellite to broadcast CHCH-TV coast-to-coast, and had contracts for the transmitters all ready but could not gain regulatory approval for the idea and it failed.[1]
In the early 1970s there were only two major television networks in Canada; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the original Canadian broadcaster, and the CTV Television Network, which was an amalgamation of every other independent broadcaster in Canada bar CHCH-TV, which remained independent during Bruner's time there. Along with Peter Hill, Bruner founded Global Television, with the vision of establishing a cross-country network of UHF transmitters. However, the new company could only manage a six-transmitter network in southern Ontario, that stretched from Windsor to Ottawa, but could not obtain a transmitter that would reach Montreal. The network, which promised high levels of local content, launched on January 6, 1974. However, after three months in business the station ran into financial trouble and was purchased by Canwest.[1][2]
After leaving Global, Bruner worked on devising broadcasting technology, and pitched his idea of local insertion, unheard of at the time, to the broadcasting community in New York. However, his ideas never reached fruition as he died in a New York post office of a heart attack in 1987.[1]