Media Monday Edmonton: Update #290

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Goodbye Metro Edmonton, hello StarMetro Edmonton/TheStar Edmonton. Torstar has “doubled the size of our Metro Edmonton newsroom” and will be relaunching/rebranding on April 10. The newspaper will now be called StarMetro Edmonton, and the website will be TheStar Edmonton, a new local hub on thestar.com. The company is promising a much bigger focus on investigations. Alex Boyd will serve as the StarMetro Edmonton Bureau Chief and tweeted “we’re still committed to Edmonton, we’re just gaining a bit more muscle.”
• The Globe and Mail reports that Torstar is hiring 20 reporters to add to the 15 currently located in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton.
• The Edmonton Sun launched in Edmonton forty years ago today. “Despite an ad in the first Edmonton Sun from our competition, the Edmonton Journal, wishing us “a nice visit to the city,” it has been an extended stay.”
• Looks like changes are underway at 92.5 Fresh Radio. They are changing up the morning show with details to be announced “soon”. Previous hosts Dani and Jay had their last show on March 27 as did evening show host Amanda Propp.
• Bollywood is For Lovers, the podcast by locals Matt Bowes and Erin Fraser, was featured in an article on TheHindu.com. “What these two unlikely Bollywood devotees represent is a wider cultural movement: non-Indians from around the globe are not only discovering Indian cinema but also creating platforms to celebrate, discuss and champion it through blogs, podcasts and YouTube.”
• Graham Hicks has the story behind the $258 million sale of Edmonton-based CCI Thermal to an American company, and its connection to Allarcom via Harold Roozen, “the right-hand man, and then son-in-law, of the late, great Edmonton entrepreneur Dr. Charles Allard.”
• A number of local radio stations and media personalities have been nominated in the 2018 Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards. The winners will be announced on May 10.
• Grant Ainsley wrote an ode to the old police scanner. “Police services, fire departments and paramedic units across Alberta will soon receive more privacy, because new technology will allow traditional police scanners to go silent, at least for the ears of the media.”
• Here is the latest Alberta Podcast Network Roundup.
• Paula Kirman is renewing her push to raise $5,000 for Radical Citizen Media. She recently hit 1,000 subscribers on YouTube.
• The Mark Spector Golf Classic, which has raised $568,000 in four years, is coming up on July 25.

Photo by Don Voaklander

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Sinclair Broadcast Group forced its news anchors to record a promo about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country.” The video showing them all reading the same script is pretty ridiculous.
• A new report by the Media Technology Monitor suggests that 1 in 4 anglophone Canadians have cut the cord and no longer pay for a traditional TV service.
• Down in the U.S., ESPN is launching a standalone subscription streaming service on April 12 called ESPN+ for $4.99 per month.
• As part of his verbal war on Amazon, Trump has referred to The Washington Post as the “Amazon Washington Post”. Of course, he calls it fake news too. “I don’t even know how to describe what goes through my mind,” Martin Baron, the paper’s executive editor, said in a telephone interview on Monday. “It’s completely made up.”

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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You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.