RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
The CRTC has approved Vista Radio’s sale of CJUI-FM Kelowna to Avenue Radio for $650,000. The applicant’s request for an exception to the requirement to pay $77,788 in tangible benefits stemming from the transaction was denied. Avenue, which owns Kelowna website castanet.net, plans to relaunch the station as Okanagan Oldies 103.9, featuring more news and local content.
Indie 88 (CIND-FM) Toronto has applied to the CRTC for a power increase, from 4kW to 12kW max ERP, to improve its signal east and west. A study commissioned by the station found in addition to new construction impacts, CIND-FM is subject to interference from adjacent channel stations CKDX-FM Newmarket and CJIQ-FM Kitchener, with the primary contributor to interference from co-channel station CFRH Penetanguishene.
The Yards for Hope radiothon on CISN Country 103.9 (CISN-FM) Edmonton raised $185,000 for Hope Mission last week. Set up at Commonwealth Stadium, with a goal of crossing the field one yard at a time for every thousand dollars donated, members of the Edmonton Eskimos were among those who emptied their wallets for the cause during practice.
The 15th Annual Elliot Lake Emergency Food Bank Radiothon raised a record $12,090.83, plus $300 in non-perishable donations on Sept. 30. Heard on Moose FM 94.1 (CKNR-FM) Elliot Lake, the radiothon was hosted by Bobby Alexander.
Howard Stern once again tops Forbes’ list of the highest paid radio hosts in the world, earning $90 million between June 1, 2016 and June 1, 2017, before taxes and management fees. Rush Limbaugh took home a cool $84 million, while Ryan Seacrest rounds out the top three with $58 million. You can view the full list here.
SIGN-OFFS:
Rafe Mair, 85, on Oct. 9. Mair was called to the B.C. bar in 1961, practicing law in Vancouver and Kamloops before being elected as a Kamloops councilman in the early 1970s. Mair went on to win the Social Credit party nomination for Kamloops in May 1975 and held the seat until retiring from politics in 1981. After leaving government, he served as a talk show host at CJOR Vancouver, before moving over to rival station CKNW where he gained notoriety for his views on the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords. Despite high ratings, his show was cancelled in 2003 and he was subsequently hired to host the morning show at oldies station CKBD-AM. In 2005, he became a regular guest on Omni Television current affairs program The Standard, in addition to turns as a regular panelist and political commentator. He was a columnist for online magazine The Tyee, up until his death. Mair was a recipient of the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jack Webster Foundation and an inductee of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In 2009, he also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University.
Ray Turnbull, 78, on Oct. 6, of leukemia at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre. After winning the 1965 Brier, finishing second in the World Curling Championships, and travelling the world as a coach and an umpire, Turnbull joined the TSN curling coverage team in 1984, alongside Vic Rauter and Linda Moore. Affectionately known as “Moosie,” Turnbull retired from broadcasting at the end of the 2009-10 curling season. In 1993, he was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame as both a curler and a builder, was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and into the World Curling Hall of Fame in 2015.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
Netflix is trying to “set the record straight” surrounding controversy over its commitment to invest half a billion over five years in Canadian film and television content. In a blog post Tuesday, Corie Wright, the company’s director of Global Public Policy, asserted that a recent price increase has nothing to do with the announcement; that Netflix has not made any tax deals with the federal government; and that the company follows tax laws wherever it operates. Netflix also says it will invest $25 million in market development activities over five years to host pitch days, recruitment events, and support local cultural events to ensure Netflix Canada reaches Canadian production communities, including the French-language community in Quebec.
Videotron, Rogers and Shaw will kick off the list of licensee presentations on Oct. 16 as the CRTC considers licence renewals for major TV providers. Find the agenda here.
The CRTC has approved the addition of Canal + International to the List of Non-Canadian Programming Services and Stations Approved for Distribution. Applicant THEMA Canada describes Canal + International, as a niche French-language service originating in France, offering general programming for French expats.
Videotron has filed a complaint with the CRTC against Rogers, accusing it of violating the commission’s Wholesale Code. Videotron accuses Rogers of seeking illegal minimum revenue quotas for NHL Centre Ice and NFL Sunday Ticket. The latter is longer available since its broadcast rights were acquired by streaming service DAZN.
Canada’s Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) and Zee Entertainment, one of the world’s largest South Asian Broadcasters, have announced a partnership that will see &TV programming air on ATN HD. &TV is the flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) amongst the ‘&’-branded channels.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) and PBS Distribution have inked an expanded multi-year, physical distribution agreement whereby UPHE Canada will exclusively distribute all PBS Distribution Blu-ray and DVD releases across the Canadian retail marketplace. The deal covers a broad range of public television brands including Masterpiece, Nature, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Wild Kratts, as well as other premium content from SkipRope.
Complementing TSN’s already revealed lineup of 41 Toronto Raptors games, the network has announced the addition of over 100 marquee NBA games for the 2017-18 season, headlined by six opening week matchups and including 27 Golden State Warriors games and 22 games featuring the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coverage tips off Oct. 17 with Kyrie Irving’s debut for the Boston Celtics against his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The complete 2017-18 NBA ON TSN broadcast schedule is available here. TSN Radio stations will also deliver live coverage of select NBA ON TSN games throughout the season.
True Gravity Productions and Ireland’s Sideline Productions will sign a co-production agreement at MIPCOM in Cannes next week to develop and produce new scripted and non-scripted TV shows for the global market. The first three projects to be developed and pitched are Cemetery Cop – a new ‘spirited’ comedy drama based on the true story of a graveyard shift security officer; factual adventure series Dying to Fly investigating the dangers of early aviation; and Bellevue Country Club – a ’fish out of water’ sitcom following an Irish couple who travel to small town Quebec to manage a run down golf course willed to them.
Gusto’s #1 series Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party returns to the network’s fall lineup with new episodes on Oct. 16. Among Gusto’s new offerings are Jamie Oliver series Jamie’s Quick And Easy Food, based on his latest cookbook, and new competition series The Chefs’ Line where contestants go up against one chef in each episode. With five back-to-back, 30-minute episodes airing each week, viewers watch as competitors face off against increasingly more experienced chefs. Masterchef Canada winner Mary Berg will host Dinner And A Movie on Friday nights, starting Oct. 27, that will couple a Friday night movie with an aptly-themed recipe.
Global BC anchor Sonia Sunger will cut her hair live on Global News Morning on Oct. 20, so she can donate it to the Canadian Cancer Society’s wig banks program. Sunger, whose mother has successfully battled breast cancer three times, shared her personal motivation on-air. At last word, 19 viewers will join Sunger in donating their hair to the cause.
ONLINE/DIGITAL:
The Globe and Mail won multiple awards at the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet on Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. The Globe was recognized for General Excellence in Online Journalism, Explanatory Reporting, the Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, and the University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism. You can explore the work of the winning outlets here.
Cision’s sixth annual Canadian Social Journalism survey found despite social media being an increasingly central part of the job, journalists’ views on the impact of social media on their profession were mixed. Less than half of respondents agreed that social media has had a positive impact on journalism. Of particular concern was social media’s role in the rise of fake news, with 68 per cent identifying it as a serious problem. More than half (59 per cent) of respondents were also concerned about the impact of social media on traditional journalistic values.
AOL Instant Messenger will disappear on Dec. 15 after 20 years. AIM launched in 1997, helping establish the internet as more than a utility. Despite its brand recognition, it ultimately was left behind in the shift to social messaging apps like Facebook.
GENERAL:
Mélanie Joly, Min. of Canadian Heritage, has announced she’ll lead Canada’s first creative industries trade mission to China in April 2018. The mission will support greater commercial ties and opportunities for Canadian companies in the creative industries to export and engage with the Chinese market in the film and audiovisual (including animation and visual effects); video games and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR); digital content for public creative spaces and museums; and performing arts sectors. Joly also announced the release of A Snapshot of China’s Creative Industries, a market study commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage, in partnership with the Trade Commissioner Service of Canada, highlighting opportunities for Canadian artistic and cultural content in China.
In the meantime, Mélanie Joly will participate in what’s billed as a “fireside chat about Creative Canada” at Toronto’s Empire Club on Oct. 12. The moderated discussion is set to start at 12:15 p.m. ET with a media availability to follow.
Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) held its annual Night for Rights gala in Toronto on Oct. 5, which also celebrated its 15th year of training journalists to report on human rights issues at home and abroad. Hosted by the CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing, the evening’s keynote speaker was Canadian Senator and Rt. Lt-Gen. Roméo Dallaire.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) have opened applications for the second Aboriginal Investigative Journalism Fellowship. Any journalist of First Nations, Inuit or Métis background able to work in Canada and with a minimum of three years’ professional experience is invited to apply. The fellowship provides a 12-week, paid placement with the APTN Investigates team, based in Winnipeg, with the goal is to have the recipient produce a full-length piece of original, investigative journalism that would air on the program. More info is available on the CAJ website.
Six Northern Ontario communities will receive $4.03 million under the federal government’s Connect to Innovate fund. Bell will build new fibre optic backbone in the communities of Stratton, Minahico, Madsen, the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation, the Anishinaabeg of Naongashiing, and Kejick (Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation). In addition to the federal funding, Bell is investing $1.3 million. The news follows $69 million announced last week aimed at improving internet access in the Ring of Fire region. Regional telecom Rapid Lynx, established by the Matawa First Nations, will install 880 kilometres of new fibre optic cable to five fly-in communities in Northern Ontario.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development has announced the launch of a consultation on potential spectrum releases over the next five years. A news release says the federal government “is looking to hear from Canadian businesses, organizations and individuals about how it can best use the airwaves over the next five years to make cell phone service more affordable for Canadians.”
