Here is my latest update on local media stuff:
- Some sad news to mention this week: Sonic’s Graham Scott died suddenly in his home on June 18. Garner Andrews wrote the blog post announcing the news, and said: “Radio guys like Graham don’t come along very often and, sadly, there are so few of them left.”
- St. Albert publication Saint City News has closed its doors, with the final edition published on June 24. The paper was recently purchased by Great West Newspapers LP, which also owns the St. Albert Gazette. No surprise then that the website now redirects to the Gazette (another sad example of an entire archive of content disappearing virtually overnight). MorinvilleNews.com ran an article publicly thanking Saint City News for “their years of dedication to covering the news”.
- As I wrote last week, YegNews officially launched on Tuesday. Here’s the introduction article from Scott McKeen. And here’s a follow-up, in which Scott explains that YegNews “does not see itself as a competitor to” the mainstream media. In the last week about 25 articles have been published on the site. Karen has some great advice for the site’s founders in her latest New Media Roundup.
- The Edmonton Sun reports that unique visitors to its website spiked 25% in May thanks to the April launch of the redesign. Apparently readers spend an average of about five minutes per visit on the site. Max Maudie, the Edmonton Sun’s senior online editor, says to stay tuned for additional improvements to the website.
- mc79hockey.com has a thoughtful discussion on the news that Journal columnist Dan Barnes is leaving the sports pages and is now part of the paper’s editorial board.
- Here are the Spring 2011 radio station rankings. Once again, 630 CHED leads the pack. Virgin Radio (104.9) suffered a major drop, due at least in part to the format switch. UP 99.3 appears to be the biggest gainer.
- Speaking of radio, iNews880 has a new feature called Face for Radio. It’s an opportunity to ask iNews880 “newsies” a question, which you do via Twitter or Facebook.
- I neglected to mention this earlier in the month: Fish Griwkowsky is now writing for the Edmonton Journal, the latest step in his quest to dominate local media!
Here’s his first article. - I also missed this: local Corus journalists Morgan Smith and Scott C. Bourgeois were nominated for a couple of Sterling Awards. The awards ceremony takes place tonight at The Mayfield Dinner Theatre.
- Carrie Doll returned to CTV Edmonton on June 20, after a year off for maternity leave. She thanked Erin Isfeld for covering the anchor desk (Erin starts her own mat leave on Thursday).
- RTNDA Canada announced the 2010 National & Network Award Recipients on Saturday. Both CBC Edmonton and Global Edmonton picked up awards (see Global’s press release here).
- The Journal has been running an interesting summer series called Living on the Edge (here’s the first entry). They’ve integrated maps, tweets, and blogs into the project.
- MediaMag has a workshop coming up on Wednesday titled Blogging for Business With Pleasure.
- The latest episode of the edmontonian presents, called “edmontonia”, aired last night and can now be watched on YouTube. The next episode airs July 10 on Shaw.
- The Alberta Multimedia Development Fund received a $2.8 million boost a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully it has a positive impact on local filmmaking.
- Rogers is launching a new 24 hour news channel in October called CityNews Channel. Quebecor’s new channel still trails competitors but is growing.
Visited Fort Edmonton Park on the weekend, and of course I had to stop by the Edmonton Bulletin!
You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.
So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!
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