By David Farrell
CRTC approves $506M sale of Newcap Radio to Stingray
The CRTC has approved the sale of Newcap Radio to Stingray Digital Group. The $506-million transaction was announced back in May and includes 101 radio licenses, including Steele Communications and VOCM. The Steeles are the largest single shareholder in Stingray aside from the company’s founders.
The acquisition provides Stingray with a national promotion platform to build growth in its mobile subscribers and offers a new venue to promote its SVOD and specialty TV channels.
Stingray, headquartered in Montreal, reaches 400M subscribers (or users) in 156 countries and its mobile apps have been downloaded over 100M times. The media company has close to 400 employees worldwide.
Broadcasters who won and lost in the recent Ontario elections
Winners
Dan Carter, who used to be with CHEX-TV and gained much attention because he was once homeless, is now mayor of Oshawa.
Lance Brown, the former sportscaster for CTV, who was let go in a purge last November, has become the councillor for Scugog Ward 5.
From Ottawa, long-time CTV news anchor Carol-Anne Meehan is now a city Councillor.
In Orangeville, Joe Andrews was elected as one of five town councillors. He was recently President of the Orangeville campus of Humber College, formerly used to consult Z103.5 and also used to teach radio at the North Campus of Humber College.
Losers
Karlene Nation, a former CTV reporter, lost her bid for a council seat in Toronto Ward 10, Spadina-Ft. York.
Terry Johnston, a one-time CKDO announcer, failed in his bid to occupy a regional council seat in Whitby.
And the actor, voice-actor, broadcaster, writer and former firefighter Bruce Marshall came in a distant second in the race for regional council in Brampton. – Source: Sowny.net
Political power couple goes head-to-head with publishers in court
Warren Kinsella and his wife allege that James Sears and LeRoy St. Germaine issued death threats against them in a local newsletter called Your Ward News – Christie Blatchford, National Post
Canadian writers make on average just $9,380 a year, survey finds
Canadian writers are making less money than ever — with incomes from writing dropping 78 per cent from 1998, according to a report released Monday by the Writers’ Union of Canada.
The numbers, accounting for inflation, have been undergoing a steady drop. According to the report, writers made $9,380 in 2017, down from $12,879 in 2014 — a 27 per cent drop in just three years. – Deborah Dundas, Toronto Star
Jim Jj Johnston salutes Clay St. Thomas
When Brad Phillips hopped from AM LG 73 Vancouver over to launch Z95.3 FM we knew we had our work cut out for us. A few of us had figured out how to do CHR on FM in Canada and be still be legal with the CRTC (back then you couldn’t play more than 50% hits on FM in Canada) and Z was one of them. Yes, they were a fresh and unique CHR station on FM, but they had also amassed a talented on-air team. Most of them were unknown in Vancouver, and of course, some of the old-guard dismissed them outright, but they were quickly proved wrong. Their morning show was led by Clay St. Thomas and when people asked me what I thought, I described him as a ‘sleeper’ which is a respectful term for someone who may take a little time, but once they kick in they are forever. He proved me to be right.
As a farm kid in Lancer, Saskatchewan (an hour NW of Swift Current) in the '70s, radio was alchemy and magic, says Clay. His parents listened to CKCK Regina and CFQC Saskatoon, but as kids their Top 40 go-to was, of course, The Big 8, CHAB Moose Jaw. He later learned it was the 'baby Moffat' station, but to them it sounded 10 miles high. He got a transistor radio when he was 10 and burned out battery after battery listening to Bionic (Jim) Ripley, Audie Lynds, and 365’er Gerry O'Day (who he later had the pleasure of working alongside at Z95/650CISL). The nighttime skip had him listening to thrilling and exotic stuff from as far away as CFUN Vancouver and Raccoooooooon Raccoon Carney. – Jj on Facebook
Julian Taylor broadcasts his new role at ELMNT-FM
I've been a part of the music industry in Canada for close to twenty-five years now. So far, I've released nine albums, and the band is putting the finishing touches on what will be my tenth release coming out independently next year. I love creating and have no intentions of slowing down.
I've worked in almost every job capacity that I can think of... artist, songwriter, musician, booking agent, manager, label owner, radio promoter, publicist, producer, freelance writer and as of tomorrow I will add radio host to the list.
I'm looking forward to being the new afternoon drive host for Toronto's ELMNT FM and will be on air from 3pm-7pm during weekdays.
The station is one of the very first Indigenous owned commercial radio stations in Canada. Its mandate is to play 25% Indigenous music and 35% Canadian content which is beyond incredible.
I have been advocating for more diversity on commercial airwaves for years as I've fought to get my music played as well as the music of some of my peers.
It's an absolute honour and pleasure to get to be on the ground floor for something this momentous.
Thank you to everyone at First People's Radio for this tremendous opportunity, and I am so very stoked that I get to do it with my old friends Christa Couture and Janet Panic. – Facebook
iHeartMedia announces first live podcast awards
The podcast industry is getting its own awards show.
iHeartMedia will host its inaugural iHeartRadio Podcast Awards on Jan. 18. The 90-minute ceremony will take place at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles, and will be the first live awards show for podcasting where listeners will decide on the winners. – Bob Pittman, Hollywood Reporter
#MeToo brought down 201 powerful men. Nearly half of their replacements are women
A year later, even as the #MeToo movement meets a crackling backlash, it’s possible to take some stock of how the Weinstein case has changed the corridors of power. A New York Times analysis has found that, since the publishing of the exposé (followed days later by a New Yorker investigation), at least 200 prominent men have lost their jobs after public allegations of sexual harassment. A few, including Mr. Weinstein, face criminal charges. At least 920 people came forward to say that one of these men subjected them to sexual misconduct. And nearly half of the men who have been replaced were succeeded by women. – Audrey Carlsen, Maya Salam, Claire Cain Miller, Denise Lu, Ash Ngu, Jugal K. Patel and Zach Wichter, The New York Times
The future not that far off
For those who grew up with the birth of Black and White TV introduction. Try and digest the ramped-up pace of change coming still in your lifetime Really is food for thought...and scary too....pick your job carefully if you are young
In The Future:
Auto repair shops will go away.
A gasoline engine has 20,000 individual parts. An electrical motor has 20. Electric cars are sold with lifetime guarantees and are only repaired by dealers. It takes only 10 minutes to remove and replace an electric motor. Faulty electric motors are not repaired in the dealership but are sent to a regional repair shop that repairs them with robots. Your electric motor malfunction light goes on, so you drive up to what looks like a Jiffy-auto wash, and your car is towed through while you have a cup of coffee and out comes your car with a new electric motor!
Gas stations will go away. Parking meters will be replaced by meters that dispense electricity. Companies will install electrical recharging stations; in fact, they’ve already started. You can find them at select Dunkin Donuts locations.
Most (the smart) major auto manufacturers have already designated money to start building new plants that only build electric cars.
Coal industries will go away. Gasoline/oil companies will go away. Drilling for oil will stop. So say goodbye to OPEC!
Homes will produce and store more electrical energy during the day, and then they use and will sell it back to the grid. The grid stores it and dispenses it to industries that are high electricity users. Has anybody seen the Tesla roof?
A baby of today will only see personal cars in museums.
The FUTURE is approaching faster than most of us can handle. – Tad Living, 1Eyed Eel
President Trump’s theory of politics
Although critics like to paint the president as a television-addicted buffoon who acts according to his latest whim, Trump has absorbed the fact that America is a deeply polarized nation. Whereas other presidents, such as Barack Obama, have tried to push back against partisan divisions, Trump relishes them. In some ways, he sees our political world more clearly than the centrists and unifiers who wish it were different. – Julian E. Zelizer, The Atlantic
RIP
George Grant, a Toronto radio entrepreneur, a founding partner of the Ottawa Senators and co-owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, passed away from prostate cancer on Sept. 17. He was 76. Grant was the founding president & CEO of ZoomerMedia’s radio division until 2013 and previously VP and GM at Rogers Broadcasting. He also held positions at VOCM-AM St. John’s, CHFI and founded Grant Broadcasting in Oshawa where he operated CKQT-FM and CKAR-AM from 1979 – 1990 as Owner and President.
