Media Monday Edmonton: Update #106

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• As mentioned, Friday was Carrie Doll’s final day at CTV Edmonton. After a story about Miguelito’s Little Green Car, her colleagues Dez and Daryl worked with photographer Leroy Schulz to capture her last day. You can watch Carrie’s last broadcast plus a bunch of other farewell videos on CTV Edmonton’s website. There was even a really impressive cake! Photographer Bruce Clarke also captured a great shot of Carrie. Lincoln recapped her final day in his latest video too.
• I love this story about Chris Slobodian, the cheerful guy you’ll find handing out free copies of Metro at University Station. Sounds like he has quite a reputation on campus!
• Congratulations to The Gateway, winner of Outstanding Campus Newspaper in the 2014 Canadian Community Newspaper Awards.
• Also, The Gateway now has a magazine called The Good Life. You can check out the inaugural issue here.
• Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones visited Lacombe Junior High School to share some stories from his career and give advice to aspiring writers. Cool to learn that Terry started the school paper when he was a student there!
• After more than 50 years writing for the Times Colonist, Jim Hume is being forced to put down his pen due to “a curb on expenditures for freelance writers”. He was an assistant city editor at the Edmonton Journal in the early 1960s. Jim turns 91 years old later this year, which makes me wonder if he’s the oldest living Edmonton Journal alum! I love that he’s still going strong too, with a new website.
• An Edmonton woman’s cat video recently surpassed 200,000 views on YouTube. That means we’ve now made it as a city right?
• I must not have visited iNews880 on a mobile device for months, but I did the other day and was surprised to see an attractive, functional mobile site! Check it out. I assume it launched last August when their website redesign went live, but I’m not sure.
• Rumor has it Chris Myers is coming to Edmonton from Saskatoon to take over as the new Program Director for Virgin Radio 104.9 FM.
• Global Edmonton’s Shaye Ganam versus The Fly! Who will win?!
• In case you missed it, here’s the second issue of the pulp.
• This was nice to see: TRC thanked the media for their “overwhelming support” of the Alberta National Event.
• Odvod Publishing Inc. is looking for an editorial intern to join Avenue Edmonton starting May 5.
• Heads up! Capital Ideas Edmonton is hosting a mixer on April 16 at La Ronde. It looks like they are expanding to Calgary too, as their next event takes place there on April 23.
• Okay maybe this was mean, but I was annoyed. I hope they can find a way to earn revenue and deliver an enjoyable consumer experience.
• A crackdown on unpaid interns at Toronto Life and The Walrus has “divided opinion within Canada’s publishing community.” Nice to see the Edmonton Journal’s Lucas Timmons cited.
• Felix Salmon wrote about “gorgeous new redesigns” last week, saying he’s over them. “It’s time for websites to put a lot more effort into de-emphasizing less important stories, reserving the grand presentation formats only for the pieces which deserve it.” He’s got a point.
• There has been a lot of criticism about Nate Silver and his new site FiveThirtyEight recently. Here’s a good counterpoint.

When I see the mayor these days, it is usually when he’s surrounded by microphones and cameras!

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.