The Weekly Briefing

REVOLVING DOOR:

Bell Media has made its third rounds of layoffs in less than a month, with Unifor confirming as many as 210 staff, 100 of those connected to Toronto television operations, will be pink-slipped this week. Layoffs have also hit radio with CJAD 800 Montreal evening talk shows – The Night Side with Jon Pole and Passion with Dr. Laurie Betito – cancelled, and reporters Richard Deschamps, Elizabeth Zogalis, and Shuyee Lee also casualties. At Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto, news director Kym Geddes, hosts Barb DiGiulio, Ted Woloshyn, anchor/reporters Lucas Meyer, Hayley Cooper, and Claude Feig were among the departures, while David McKee (who was just recognized with the Canadian Radio Award for Best News Anchor) and host Jim Richards are absent from the schedule. Other radio hosts caught up in the layoffs include Virgin Radio (CFCA-FM) Kitchener host Cash Conners, 580 CFRA weekend morning host Dahlia Kurtz, 610 CKTB St. Catharines producer Abby Green, and Pure Country 93 (CJBX-FM) London announcer Lynzee Barnett.

On the television side, Robin Johnston, Director, Original Programming, Factual and Reality, who had helped develop Canada’s Drag Race for Crave, and The Amazing Race Canada and MasterChef Canada for CTV, is out, as well as Tom Hastings, Director, Original Programming, Drama. CTV Your Morning Managing Show Writer Steve McCann, CTV Your Morning Ottawa host Jasmin Ibrahim, CTV Toronto Associate Assignment Editor Ivy Mak, CTV Victoria anchor Alanna Kelly, and Ottawa-based TSN host Brent Wallace are also casualties. Sales, Administration and Communications staff are also impacted including Kim Katayama, who held the role of National Sales Coordinator – Radio, based in Vancouver; and Rick Henriques, Communications Coordinator, Specialty Entertainment Channels. Read more here. And check out our feature interview with Dahlia Kurtz here.

Sudha Krishnan is CBC Montreal’s new 11 p.m. TV news anchor. Born and raised in Montreal, Krishnan worked with Videotron, CBC, CTV and Global Montreal before heading west to report and anchor for Global Regina, and Citytv and OMNI TV in Edmonton. She returned to CBC Montreal in 2012. She succeeds Sean Henry in the late night anchor chair. Henry took over CBC local morning radio show, Daybreak in January.

Falice Chin has been named Executive Producer of News at CBC Ottawa. Chin was most recently a Senior Producer with CBC Radio in Edmonton and Calgary, showrunning national business podcast and radio show, Cost of Living.

Emad Agahi has announced he’s leaving CTV Vancouver to join Global BC. Agahi has been a reporter with CTV since 2016, minus the year he spent in marketing with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, before returning to the station in 2018.

See more

Just like that, an unbelievably awesome chapter of my life has closed. Hard to imagine where I’d be without @CTVVancouver & the entire team. Later this month I’ll be starting an exciting opportunity at @GlobalBC. Looking forward to what’s ahead! pic.twitter.com/RLU3QP7WWv

— Emad Agahi (@emadagahi) January 28, 2021

Tara Lopez has joined OMNI TV in Vancouver as a VJ and news anchor. Lopez has been at CTV Winnipeg for the past year, serving as the station’s CTV Morning Live reporter. She’s previously hosted at Pulse FM (CISF-FM) Surrey, Life 100.3 (CJLF-FM) Barrie, and 105.9 Shine FM (CJRY-FM) Edmonton, among other stations.

Stephanie Liu has joined CTV News as a digital journalist. Based in Toronto, Liu is a 2020 Ryerson Journalism graduate.

 

 

 

 

Katherine Singh, former assistant editor at Flare.com has joined Refinery29 Canada as a staff writer. Singh had been a freelancer with Flare since 2018 before joining the magazine full-time in 2019. 

 

 

 

 

 

Keren Jackman has joined Gusto TV’s production team as a Senior Producer. She will work alongside executive producer Chris Knight to create new content. Jackman has more than two decades of production experience that started at CHUM Television where she was a segment producer on Fashion Television. She’s since worked as a producer, director and writer on projects for CBC, Discovery, A&E, and National Geographic.

Julie Chang has been upped at Blue Ant Media to EVP, International Co-Productions. Chang has been with Blue Ant since 2016, initially serving as Senior Counsel, International Business Affairs, before moving into the role of Vice-President, International Co-Productions in 2018. 

Michael Murray is joining ACTRA National as the new director of the ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society, starting Feb. 16. He’ll report to Marie Kelly, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of ACTRA National. Murray’s background includes experience in collective bargaining, organizing and rights administration, including his most recent role as Executive Director of the Toronto Musicians’ Association Local 149 (TMA149). 

 

 

RADIO & PODCAST:

Numeris has confirmed it will be delivering a modified Spring 2021 RTS release. The modified dataset promises to include national data, regional data for Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and B.C. and radio format level data, but will not include market level or call letter data. Numeris says it will release more details soon.

Amazon Music has announced the launch of its podcast offering in Canada. Available at no additional cost, top podcasts like Canadian True Crime and Spittin’ Chiclets are featured, in addition to original shows hosted by DJ Khaled, Becky G, Will Smith, and Dan Patrick, among others. Amazon Music is also the exclusive home of music-meets-true-crime podcast, Disgraceland, exploring the criminal antics and connections of musicians like Oasis, The Beatles, and Lil Wayne. The platform’s features include the ability to ask for the latest episode of a show on Echo Auto in the car, resume playback on your phone while working out, and seamlessly move to your Echo device upon arrival home.

Spotify says it had 2.2 million podcasts as of the fourth quarter of 2020, up from 1.9 million in Q3. It’s also reporting a bump in podcast engagement to 25% of average users, up from 22% last quarter. The streamer says The Joe Rogan Experience was its most-listened to podcast in 17 markets at year’s end. Spotify says 155 million people are now subscribing to its premium service, with total monthly active users up 27% to 345 million. Revenue was up 17% to $2.61 billion in the quarter.

SiriusXM Canada has a new content deal with retired CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that sees the satellite radio provider pick up his self-produced, current affairs podcast The Bridge. In addition to joining SiriusXM’s newly-expanded podcast offering, the show is airing on Canada Talks (channel 167) at noon and 5 p.m. ET daily. The partnership will also see Mansbridge create exclusive content for SiriusXM Canada. Read more here.

SiriusXM is streaming a series of limited-engagement channels and specialty programming as part of SiriusXM Celebrates Black History Month, through March 1. Soul Town (channel 49) becomes The Aretha Franklin Channel from Feb. 15-21, while Deep Tracks (channel 27) is set for a Jimi Hendrix takeover Feb. 8-14. Miles Davis Radio will be available on channel 67 (Real Jazz) from Feb. 22-28. B.B. King’s Bluesville powered by The Blues Foundation (ch. 74) will pay tribute to the founding artists of blues music and the prominent artists who continue to move blues music forward. Hip Hop Nation (ch. 44) will spotlight today’s ground-breaking Black artists, including Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Nicki Minaj, throughout the month.

JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) Toronto is marking Black History Month with daily audio vignettes, narrated and written by John Devenish, host of evening program Dinner Jazz, that put the spotlight on influential figures throughout jazz history like Theo Crocker, Sarah Vaughan, Robert Glasper, Oscar Peterson, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Kamasi Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The mini-segments are also featured in podcast format at jazz.fm. The Sunday afternoon Sound of Jazz Concert Series will focus on Black Canadians this month, including Larnell Lewis, Archie Alleyne, Russ Little and Cory Butler. Africville Stories, by JUNO Award-winning, Order of Canada recipient Joe Sealy will also air in a special presentation Feb. 13 and 28. Sealy’s Africville Suite pays tribute to Canada’s oldest Black settlement, established in 1847 in Halifax’s North End. Throughout the month, JAZZ.FM91 will also be sharing digital-exclusive content highlighting Black excellence and legacies.

Bell Media’s three radio stations in London, ON are set to be integrated into the CTV2 building at 1 Communications Rd. by July. Newstalk 1290 CJBK, Pure Country 93 (CJBX-FM) and 97.5 Virgin Radio (CIQM-FM) are currently located at 743 Wellington Rd. The move is being made possible with the relocation of Rogers-owned JACK 102.3 (CHST-FM) to the company’s York St. operation in London. CHST-FM has remained located on Communications Rd., despite its sale by CTVglobemedia to Rogers in 2010. 743 Wellington Road went up for sale in January, listed at $1.9 million.

About Time, hosted by Tom Allen, is the newest show to join CBC Music’s refreshed lineup. Making its debut this week, alongside The Block and Frequencies, About Time will act as a bridge between Julie Nesrallah’s Tempo and Rich Terfry’s Drive (which has been shortened by a half hour). It will explore five centuries of music — from the Renaissance to the modern age, from noon to 3 p.m. weekday afternoons. 

 

The 16th Annual Podcast Awards are open for entries. This year’s awards program features 10 new categories, including True Crime, Fiction, and History. Learn more here.

LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Brooklyn Driediger, midday and weekend host at 94.5 Virgin Radio (CFBT-FM) Vancouver. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

ADVERTORIAL: Introducing Momentum Music Research, an advanced cloud-based platform developed by renowned UK-based music research consultant Stephen Ryan, aimed at helping navigate the changing radio and audio streaming landscape. Momentum Music Research provides a personal mentor, with research and programming experience, to guide any station through set-up and help them get the most out of their music testing strategy. Read more here.

SIGN OFFS:

Blair Daggett, 67, on Jan. 29 following a battle with Parkinson’s. Daggett’s nearly 40-year career in broadcasting included several years as a General Manager for Newcap Radio’s stations in Grand Falls-Windsor, Cornerbrook, and Gander, NL. In 2000, he became a station owner, acquiring CD 98.9 (CHCD-FM) Simcoe, ON, along with business partner Jim Macleod. In addition to serving as GM and Vice-President of Radiocorp in charge of day-to-day operations, Daggett hosted a six-hour Saturday Night Oldies show on the station. My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) acquired an interest in 98.9 in 2012 and it was rebranded to myFM in 2013. Daggett was also a past board member of both the Atlantic Association of Broadcasters and Ontario Association of Broadcasters. 

Dan Muise, 68, on Jan. 28. Muise worked in radio at CHOM Montreal and Q104 (CFRQ-FM) Halifax, among other stations, alongside a music career that ranged from band management to record company promotion with A&M Records. Muise went on to manage the Crazy Horse Cabaret in Dartmouth, NS in the late 1980s, responsible for bringing acts to the city like Johnny Winter, BB King and Uriah Heep. In 2002, he penned “Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer & Trower: Their Lives and Music” – a tribute to guitar legends Rory Gallagher, Steve Marriott, Rick Derringer and Robin Trower, featuring conversations with the artists, their band members, producers, studio engineers, and others. More recently, Muise had been working as a supervisor with Research In Motion (Blackberry) in Halifax.

Torben Wittrup, 91, on Jan. 26. Wittrup’s first job in broadcasting was in his hometown of Timmins at CKGB, following graduation from high school. Starting as an office boy, he was eventually asked to go on air, working his way up to Assistant Program Director and Lead Announcer. In 1954, he moved on to anchor news at CKWS Radio and TV in Kingston, and later CKEY and CHFI in Toronto, before landing at CFRB. Wittrup went on to a 32-year career with CFRB, retiring in 1991.

Larry Giesbrecht, 73, on Jan. 11 after a battle with cancer. Giesbrecht’s five-decade career in media started at Golden West Broadcasting and CFAM Altona. Stints in news with CKX-TV in Brandon and CKY Radio & TV (CTV) Winnipeg followed. In 1991, Giesbrecht branched out into independent television and documentary production under the banner of his own Winnipeg-based production company, CLG Communications. In addition to numerous production credits, Giesbrecht also served as narrator on several projects, including the 2010 TV movie “As Close As Brothers.” Most recently, he’d served as a researcher on Farpoint Films TV docuseries “The Day My Job Tried To Kill Me.”

TV & FILM:

Schitt’s Creek has been nominated for a total of five Golden Globe Awards, including Best Television Series (Music or Comedy). Catherine O’Hara is up for Best Actress and co-star Eugene Levy nominated for Best Actor, while Dan Levy and Annie Murphy both earned nods for their supporting roles. The series aired its sixth and final season last year, with the CBC comedy coming off last year’s Emmy sweep that saw the series win all seven major awards in the comedy category. The show’s competition includes Amazon Prime’s The Great, Apple+ series Ted Lasso, HBO Max comedy-drama The Flight Attendant, and Darren Star Netflix series Emily in Paris. 

The Black Academy founders Shamier Anderson and Stephan James have announced a partnership with Insight Productions that will see a live awards show produced honouring established and emerging Black talent across film, television, music, sports and culture. Anderson and James will executive produce, alongside John Brunton, Shannon Farr, and Lindsay Cox. The Black Academy and Insight have announced a search for a Black showrunner and production crew, with interested applicants invited to apply at BlackAwardShowResumes@insighttv.com. 

The Fabienne Colas Foundation’s Being Black in Canada program – Canada’s largest incubator dedicated to Black Filmmakers – has opened a call for applications for its 2021 edition. Supported by Netflix, the National Bank, Telefilm Canada, and Canada Media Fund, the program will support 35 young, promising Black filmmakers in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver, and Ottawa. Open to those aged 18 to 30, participants gain experience producing 10-minute documentary shorts from screenwriting to post-production. The deadline to apply is March 30.

The Arctic Inspiration Prize (AIP) has announced a new broadcast partnership with APTN that will see the AIP awards ceremony broadcast on TV and online Feb. 19. The virtual ceremony will feature artists from across the North including Nunavut’s Silla and Rise, Yukon’s Dakhká Khwáan Dancers, the Northwest Territories’ Wesley Hardisty and The Pan Lab Alumni Choir from Nunatsiavut. Animiki See Digital Production is producing this year’s awards ceremony in partnership with the Arctic Indigenous Investment Conference and Yukon Arts Centre, honouring Whitehorse as the host city. Following its initial air date, the broadcast will be available to stream on APTN lumi. 

CBC has confirmed it won’t be moving forward with a second season of Trickster, the critically-acclaimed Indigenous sci-fi series formerly helmed by Michelle Latimer. Based on Eden Robinson’s 2017 novel Son of a Trickster, the series was filmed in Kitimat, BC and renewed for a second season even prior to its premiere on CBC Television last October. Following controversy over the legitimacy of Latimer’s claims of Indigenous ancestry, she resigned as director and co-writer in December. In a statement, CBC said it’s “as committed as ever to telling other important Indigenous stories, of which there are many,” indicating that it has eight such scripted projects in development. Read more here. Latimer has served the CBC with a notice of libel, claiming “grave concerns about the fairness and accuracy” of the public broadcaster’s reporting on her ancestry.

AMC Networks and Shaftesbury have entered into a new strategic partnership that will see AMC Networks gain access to Shaftesbury’s production slate and expand its content and development capabilities in Canada. Shaftesbury CEO and Chairman Christina Jennings will continue to spearhead the creative focus of the company and lead day-to-day operations, alongside EVP Scott Garvie. Jennings, Garvie and Shaftesbury board member Michael Levine will remain on Shaftesbury’s Board of Directors, joined by two new AMC Networks directors, Harold Gronenthal, EVP of Programming and Marketing for AMC Networks International, and Matt Graham, GM of the AMC-owned Acorn TV. The partnership builds on AMC Networks and Shaftesbury’s existing production relationship with Shaftesbury behind some of Acorn TV’s bigger titles, including Murdoch Mysteries. In addition to Acorn TV, AMC Networks operates AMC, SundanceTV, BBC America and the AMC+, Shudder, Sundance Now and ALLBLK streaming services.

Bell Media’s French-language Noovo has announced its news show Le Fil will premiere March 29.  Bell says Noovo’s news division, Noovo Info, will feature a strong team of journalists with the network’s news reports “aligned with the Noovo brand and its DNA: engaging, genuine and contemporary.” To date, nearly 60 people have been hired, including anchors Noémi Mercier, Lisa-Marie Blais, Michel Bherer and Meeker Guerrier. Le Fil will air daily in various time slots, featuring a half hour national segment, followed by either a Québec City, Mauricie, Estrie and Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean or Montreal edition. Noovo will have a newsroom in Montréal at 1755 René-Lévesque Boulevard East and in Québec City at 900 d’Youville Street, along with bureaus in Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and Saguenay.

TSN’s Black History Month content features Sportscentre anchor Kayla Grey in conversation with Toronto Raptors guard, Fred VanVleet, on getting comfortable using his platform to speak out and fight for change. Every Friday in February, Sportscentre will also feature a Black athlete, including running back Rueben Mayes, the first Canadian NFL player to be awarded Rookie of the Year; NASCAR’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace; and Angela James, one of the first superstars of women’s hockey. Additionally, CTV and TSN present a number of documentaries throughout the month, including Stone Thrower: The Chuck Ealey Story (Feb. 6); Family First: Meet The Nurses (Feb. 13); and WILLIE, a feature documentary on the NHL’s first Black player (Feb. 20).

TELUS is marking Black History Month by donating the full cost of the rental of 50 curated films featuring Black artists or Black history in the TELUS Video on Demand library. TELUS says it will donate the proceeds (up to $10,000) to The Black Health Alliance. TELUS’ Celebrating Black History collection is available now through March 1 to all Optik and Pik TV customers, and features biographical and historical films like 12 Years A Slave, Harriet, Hidden Figures, and Selma. Optik and Pik TV customers can also access a curated selection of free titles from TELUS Originals, STORYHIVE, and YouTube playlists available on the Community Connections channel (345), including Canadian films such as Who am I produced by Adhel Arop and Justin MacGrego, and The Walk On produced by Marshall Lee.

Bell Media and Bodacious Wines have partnered on three-part, short-form, unscripted series, The Stranger Experiment. Produced by Bell Media Studios and available for streaming on Crave, the series explores what happens when complete strangers meet for the first time in the midst of a global pandemic. Each episode features three pairs of strangers with polar opposite personalities as they answer revealing questions to discover if they can see past their differences and find common ground over a glass of wine. 

 

Blue Ant Media specialty channel Makeful TV brings the Australian competitive pet grooming series, Pooch Perfect (8×60), to Canadian audiences, starting Feb. 9. Hosted by actress and former dog handler, Rebel Wilson, alongside fluffy co-host, Russell the Brussel, the series features 10 professional stylists as they battle it out to be crowned Top Dog and win a top prize of $100,000. Makeful TV is currently in the midst of an eight-week nationwide free preview until April 4.

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

Disney has revealed that Hulu will roll out in Canada via Disney+ and a new portal called Star that will be part of the service, starting Feb. 23. Star will launch with over 150 series and 500 movies, including older shows like Family Guy and The X-Files, in addition to Star Originals. Due to the added adult-oriented content, Disney+ will introduce new parental controls alongside the launch, in addition to a monthly price hike from $8.99 to $11.99 CAD.

 

Capital Daily, the independent Victoria digital journalism outlet funded by Victoria tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson (who is also behind venture philanthropy group, Tiny Foundation) has its eye to expanding nationally. Starting out with a skeleton staff of just three journalists in late 2019, Capital Daily has since doubled its number of employees and grown its subscriber base from 25,000 to 45,000 over the past year. As of December, it’s also added an executive team that includes Tom Gierasimczuk, the former publisher of Vancouver Magazine and Western Living, as VP, Partnerships & Monetization. Based on the startup’s success on Vancouver Island, Gierasimczuk says the company is now looking at Capital Daily as a “sandbox” to explore what might be possible in other markets across Canada, as it looks to evangelize its model of responsible, investigative, independently-owned journalism. Read more here.

Twitter has acquired Revue, a newsletter platform for writers and publishers, marking the social platform’s first step toward expanding the Twitter experience into long-form content. In a blog post, Twitter Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour and VP of Publisher Products Mike Park, write that “with a robust community of writers and readers, Twitter is uniquely positioned to help organizations and writers grow their readership faster and at a much larger scale than anywhere else…Our goal is to make it easy for them to connect with their subscribers, while also helping readers better discover writers and their content.” Offering both free (up to 50 email recipients) and paid (up to 40,000 subscribers) offerings, Revue’s transaction fee includes a 5% cut of paid newsletter revenues. Twitter plans to introduce new features that will include social integrations aimed at driving more subscription and engagement.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

Rogers Q4 2020 revenue saw a 7% drop, largely driven by an 8% decrease in Wireless service revenue as a result of lower roaming revenue due to global travel restrictions and lower overages due to continued adoption of unlimited data plans. Cable revenue increased by 3% in the quarter, attributed to the movement of Internet customers from legacy to Ignite offerings and service pricing changes. Media revenue decreased by 23%, primarily due to the postponement of the start of the 2020-21 NHL and NBA seasons. That was partially offset by higher revenue at Today’s Shopping Choice. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 4% in the quarter, while Media adjusted EBITDA increased by $60 million due to lower programming and production costs associated with the delayed start of major league sports relative to subscriber revenues and lower operating costs as a result of reduced activity. That gave rise to a margin of 20.0% in the quarter.

Stingray Group Q3 revenues decreased $8.7 million or 10.8% to $72.6 million, from $81.3 million a year ago. The decrease was primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Radio revenues and, to a lesser extent, on Broadcast and Commercial Music revenues, offset by the acquisition of Marketing Sensorial México (MSM) and Chatter Research Inc. and an increase in advertising revenue in the Broadcast and Commercial Music segment. Radio revenues decreased $9.0 million or 21.8% to $32.4 million, primarily due to the impact of the pandemic on revenues. For the quarter, total revenue in Canada was down $10.1 million or 17.6% to $47.4 million. CEO Eric Boyko said the third quarter results further reflect the resilience of Stingray’s Radio business, as revenues steadily recovered while comparable year-over-year declines were much less notable despite ongoing headwinds related to the pandemic. “Notwithstanding a 21.8% decline in revenues, the Adjusted EBITDA margin not only remained healthy but actually improved to 42.6% compared to last year,” Boyko stated in the company’s earnings release. He also noted that the company’s streaming subscribers now exceed half a million — a 31.4% increase over last year.

Stingray Business, the company’s business-to-business multi-platform music and in-store media solutions arm, has struck a partnership with Le Panier Bleu, an initiative launched by the Government of Quebec to encourage buying local, and agri-food non-profit Aliments du Québec, aimed at putting Quebec goods in the spotlight. Stingray Business will produce and broadcast free advertising content, developed with the organizations, to promote local products in the 2,500 businesses that access Stingray’s background music and messaging services. The initiative aims to help consumers identify Quebec products and encourage buying local to stimulate the economy during the pandemic.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation’s (CJF) next J-Talks Live virtual event will explore how U.S. President Joe Biden can navigate the turbulent terrain of the American political landscape and the role media plays on this path forward. The free webcast takes place Thursday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. ET. Discussing challenges and opportunities ahead are: Errin Haines, co-founder and editor-at-large for The 19th, a U.S. non-profit, non-partisan news organization focused on women, politics and policy; as well as New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie and national political reporter Astead W. Herndon.

The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) has announced the launch of its 2021 Mentorship Program. Following a successful pilot project in September, this round’s roster of mentors includes Adrian Harewood, co-anchor of CBC News Ottawa at 6; Daniel Dale, Reporter, CNN; Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Culture writer, BuzzFeed News and Host, CBC’s Party Lines and Pop Chat; Evan Solomon, Host, CTV’s Question Period and Power Play; Hannah Sung, podcast producer for Media Girlfriends and Historica Canada; Matt Galloway, Host, CBC’s The Current; Robyn Smith, Editor-in-chief, The Tyee; Rosa Hwang, Executive Producer, CTV National News; and Sunaya Sapurji, Senior editor, The Athletic Canada. Applicants must be current CAJ members. The deadline to apply is Feb. 12. Details here.

The Jack Webster Foundation has issued a call for applications for its 2021 Professional Development Fellowships. Fellowships will be awarded to members of the media or journalism educators to further their journalistic knowledge and skills through one of the courses offered by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies or a self-directed program/project. One award will be presented to a B.C.-born journalist in the name of the late Don Matheson. Other fellowships are open to any B.C. reporter/educator. The deadline to apply is Feb. 23.

FEATURE: Do you find yourself avoiding work? In his latest Rethinking Media column, Eric Blais takes on this pandemic trend and explores its link to the struggle to adapt to change. Read more here.

 

 

 

 

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

Jim Pattison Broadcast Group has selected Triton Digital to power the management and monetization of its podcast content and the measurement of its AM/FM streams online. Through the partnership, Pattison, which operates 45 FM and three AM radio stations, three conventional television stations and 17 online news portals in 28 markets, will utilize Triton’s enterprise podcast platform, Omny Studio, to manage, monetize, and distribute its growing portfolio of podcast content. Pattison will also use Triton’s Webcast Metrics measurement service to measure the listening audience of its AM/FM streams online. “We are pleased to partner with Triton, as an important provider in helping us grow our digital audio business” said Andrew Snook, Director of Digital at Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, in a release. “Triton’s Omny Studio provides all of the recording and distribution tools we need to make our best content available on-demand. Additionally, their Webcast Metrics service will provide us with the data we need to understand our listening audience and the consumption of our streams more, so we can provide an even more engaging experience for our loyal online audiences.”

LISTEN: NexTech AR Solutions, one of the Canadian-headquartered companies on the leading edge of the virtual experience trend, is using augmented reality and holopresence technology to change the way we consume entertainment, attend events, and interact with consumer advertising. On the latest episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, we’re joined by NexTech AR President Paul Duffy, who talks about why AR is destined to become the next mass media, its potential application for the broadcast industry, and more. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

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