GENERAL:
The Western Association of Broadcasters has announced the lineup for its 83rd Annual Conference in Banff, Alberta, June 7-8, 2017. Bloomberg TV’s Amanda Lang will speak on the importance of innovation and managing change in broadcasting. Gordon Borrell from Borrell Associates will offer a look into the future of the industry. Erica Farber, CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau, will speak to medium’s many unique and positive strengths. While Tom Webster of Edison Research will provide a unique perspective on the truths of both digital and analog media. Registration is now open at www.wab.ca.
Unifor is calling on the CRTC to bring in measures to boost local news and programming, including restoring ethnic news programming in Italian, Punjabi, Cantonese and Mandarin on Rogers-owned ethnic channel OMNI TV. The union told recent CRTC hearings on the future of local TV that private broadcasters are out of touch with public opinion and that under a proposal from Bell Media and Rogers to tie local news expenditures to broadcast revenue, there would be a steady decline in local news coverage. Unifor wants the CRTC to establish steady and predictable expenditure on local news as a condition of license, which it says companies can afford thanks to broader interests in Internet, cable, phone and other services.
Shaw Communications Inc. and Vancouver Bike Share have announced a multi-year partnership agreement that will see Shaw become the system-wide presenting partner of the City of Vancouver’s public bike share system. Branded Mobi by Shaw Go, Shaw is pursuing plans to connect the bike share stations with its Shaw Go WiFi network, with an eye to providing complimentary WiFi access across the bike share system’s footprint.
The Atlantic Journalism Awards (AJAs) is now accepting online entries for radio, television, online, magazine and newspaper items from 2016. Nominations are also being accepted here for the AJAs’ Lifetime Achievement Award. The deadline for entries is Feb. 1. Selected journalists will be honoured at a gala reception and awards event at the St. John’s, NL Convention Center and JAG Hotel on May 6.
More than $42,000 was raised at the Lions Children’s Christmas Telethon in North Bay, ON thanks to a successful partnership between the Lions Club, Canadore College and broadcasters Cogeco TV and Country 600 (CKAT-AM). The Dec. 4 event was hosted by KFM 103.5’s (CJTK-FM-1) Dean Belanger, 101.9 ROCK’s (CKFX-FM) Vicki Tyler and Mitch Belanger and CogecoTV’s Greg Estabrooks, Clarke Heipel and Matthew Sookram. Broadcast from the studio at Canadore College, the telethon also doubled as a learning exercise for students from Canadore’s School of Media.
The CRTC is eliminating staff at its seven regional offices in a bid to transition to a “digital first” approach to client services. Displaced employees will be offered positions at the National Capital Region headquarters in Gatineau where stakeholder interaction via social media and website chat will be consolidated. Regional offices will otherwise remain intact.
