Media Monday Edmonton: Update #65

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

• Citing a lack of resources, CKUA has shut down its local news service and laid off two journalists as a result. Ian Gray and Matt Nodge both lost their jobs. The decision is expected to save CKUA up to $200,000.
• NewCap is looking to sell off its western assets to scoop up potentially more lucrative stations that may be sold as a condition of the proposed Bell/Astral deal. NewCap owns 32 radio stations throughout Alberta, including K-97 and Capital FM here in Edmonton.
• Here’s an open letter to the Students Union from April Hudson, News Editor at The Gateway. “As an autonomous body, we are not a PR publication, and we exist to bring important issues to the forefront of student awareness — no matter whose feelings it hurts.”
• I love this story! “Legendary Edmonton TV weatherman Bill Matheson always dreamed of being a published author. Seven years after his death, his daughter has made his dream come true.” I just bought his ebook, you can get it from Amazon here for $1.96.
• Here is Gig City’s take on the 925 Fresh FM re-launch. “In short, they’re obviously going after Now! 102.3 FM – the highest rated station in Edmonton with the biggest dog’s breakfast playlist of hits from today and the day before yesterday.” Could The Bounce be next to switch formats?
• Annalise and Cailynn are twins working in the local media scene, and they’ve finally run into each other at the same assignment. They have worked together however – the twins covered the Tang triplets for Avenue Edmonton back in December.
• There are a few job opportunities to mention this week! Alberta Venture is still looking for an Associate Editor, the Edmonton Sun is looking for a Layout Editor/Reporter, and the St. Albert Gazette is looking for an Editor. I’m not sure what happened to Peter Maser, who only took over that position in July (his LinkedIn bio hasn’t been updated nor has the Gazette’s website).
• Ryan Peterson has joined Leduc’s The One FM as News Director. “I can’t help but smile and pinch myself as to this brand new, exciting opportunity to help launch 93.1 The One that will cover Leduc and Leduc County to what will no doubt be some of the greatest listeners around.”
• Here’s the video, photos, and tweets from last week’s Capital Ideas event! The next one is coming up on February 20, so save-the-date.
• What do you think, are the Oilers dominating social media? I do agree with Linda on this point: “You get what you put in and they’re putting in a lot when it comes to social media.”
• If you’re up early tomorrow morning, tune into CBC Radio as Rick Harp talks with Brittney Le Blanc about her 5k365 project!
• In case you missed it, Linda interviewed me about my State of the Twittersphere posts.
• Congratulations to everyone that received nominations in the Canadian Screen Awards. Great to see Mosaic Entertainment and other local orgs on the list!
• Stephanie Barsby has moved from TV to Radio over at CBC Edmonton.
• Paula has the story behind an International Week presentation on social media taking place on Wednesday at the Telus Centre.
• There are a couple of Relinked columns to point you to this week: Oilers, Oprah, Oscars produce online gold, and Journal website provides arena for debate. I sometimes feel like Relinked is one of the few remaining parts of the Journal that is allowed or willing to be playful with headlines.
• I got on the waiting list for Meet the Media and luckily scored a ticket recently! With over 150 people RSVPd, it should be a great event!
• For the PR folks reading this, I wanted to mention that the Edmonton Chapter of CPRS is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a two-day conference in March.
• According to the latest Edmonton Journal advertising newsletter, their website “is the number 1 online local media source in the city.” Interesting that they specifically mention Huffington Post Alberta now. “As of November 2012, page views reached 10.7 million at edmontonjournal.com, while unique visitors for the month sat at 683,000, a 21 per cent increase year-over-year.”
• Hosted by Rob Christie, Audie Lynds, and Graham Hicks, The Art of Conversation LXXVIII takes place tomorrow from 4pm to 7pm at Earls Tin Palace. “No need to RSVP, bring a friend, as long as you turn off the smartphone, stick out your hand, and strike up a conversation with whoever you are standing or sitting beside.”
• This cracked me up:

On Oprah and the truck nuts…

Last week I wrote about Oprah in Edmonton, and I complimented Global Edmonton’s Carole Anne Devaney. I thought she did a pretty good job warming the crowd up before Oprah came out. One of the “gifts” she gave to Oprah was a purse that looked like “truck nuts”. Both women joked about it, but that didn’t stop the online fallout that followed. Todd makes a great point in his post:

We’re leaving someone with over 16 million Twitter followers with an image, a memory, of our city — of us. Randomness is wrong. An empty joke is wrong.

I agree that you can be funny and smart at the same time, and I agree that we probably could have made better use of the opportunity. In particular I would have loved to have seen a local book as one of the gifts. That said, there were some really great gifts, like the basket from Duchess.

I don’t think Carole Anne is the bad guy (as some have made her out to be). Two thoughts on that:

• The event’s sponsors included EEDC and the Chamber of Commerce. I don’t know what their involvement was in the event, but it seems reasonable to assume that the two primary organizations responsible for tourism and business in our city might have had some input. Clearly we need to make sure they’re on board with Make Something Edmonton and that they catch and capitalize on opportunities like this.
• Carole Anne said in her remarks that she asked some Edmontonians for input on the gifts. I don’t recall what she said specifically about the “truck nuts” purse, but I wouldn’t be surprised if dozens of Edmontonians had suggested it (or something like it). I think this underscores the mountain of work that Make Something Edmonton has ahead of it. It’s an uphill battle.

Very, very few Edmontonians said “what are truck nuts” in response to hearing about the “gift”. We may not have created them here in Edmonton, but judging by the number you see around town and the general awareness of what they are, we seem to have adopted them, for better or worse. Maybe we should start a Make Something Edmonton campaign to go around town cutting them off? Kidding, of course.

It’s easy to complain about what happened and it’s easy to point to things that better reflect Edmonton after the fact. The challenge is learning from this to do better next time. Let’s focus our energy on that.

Cameras among the crowd at Oprah last week!

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!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.