Media Beat: December 05, 2018

By David Farrell

It’s farewell to Roger Ashby this a.m.

At 5 a.m. today, Roger offered up his last show at Toronto’s Sheraton Grand Central Ballroom where 500 guests and CHUM-FM contest winners had the chance to see and hear the voice behind the mic. It’s going to be an emotional roller-coaster for the longstanding anchor of what is undoubtedly one of Canada’s most enduring and successful a.m. drive shows. Here’s what the mayor had to say:

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CBC/Radio-Canada isn’t undercutting journalism in Canada

Public broadcasting has maintained a connection between people across every region of this country, offering them Canadian choices for the things they value: trusted Canadian news from their community and around the world; services in French and English as well as Indigenous languages; Canadian stories; and support for Canadian creators. – CBC EVP Heather Conway

Torstar, Postmedia newspaper swap draws closer scrutiny

A Competition Bureau’s investigation hinges on whether Torstar and Postmedia knew, or even agreed ahead of time, which newspapers each would close after the swap. Postmedia’s Godfrey has declared that he and his team had no idea that Torstar would close the papers it acquired. Postmedia president Andrew MacLeod affirmed “the companies were ‘extraordinarily careful’ not to share any knowledge about their plans for the properties after the transaction,” reported the Financial Post. – Bryan Carney, The Tyee

CRTC offers Yuletide cheer to CKWR FM

The community radio station in ON’s Waterloo Region was under regulatory scrutiny for several acts of noncompliance related to its previous licence, but now has had its licence renewed through Aug. 2020. – James Jackson, The Record

CRTC says no to demanding English programming from Télé-Québec

It was a nice try from the English Language Arts Network, but the CRTC didn’t bite. In renewing Télé-Québec’s broadcasting licence for a five-year term on Tuesday, the commission turned down ELAN’s request that Quebec’s public broadcaster devote 10% of its programming budget to English-language programming (proportional to the number of anglophones in the province). – Fagstein

More headaches for JAZZ.FM

In two weeks, a Toronto court will hear arguments about the station’s decision not to give the email addresses of its more than 2,000 member-donors to Brian Hemming, a founder of Save JAZZ.FM, a group formed out of concern for the station’s financial and artistic future. Central to those concerns was the issue of the station’s governance and the need for an overhaul of the board given a slew of allegations the station’s staff made about JAZZ.FM’s work environment, as well as some subsequent staff firings, the appointment of an interim chief executive and the decision of some advertisers to withdraw their financial support. – Barry Critchley, National Post

Paywall for HuffPost? Verizon hunt for web revenue goes beyond ads

After failing to meet revenue targets by selling digital ads across Yahoo and AOL properties, Oath executives now are focused on selling content subscriptions and giving users ways to make purchases through its sites, according to people familiar with the matter. – Sarah Krouse, The Wall Street Journal