Media Monday Edmonton: Update #300

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Stephanie Coombs, former managing editor at the Edmonton Journal, is leaving her post as Director of Communications and Marketing at EEDC to return to media, taking over the CBC Edmonton newsroom as Gary Cunliffe is retiring. She starts at the end of the month. “This is absolutely fantastic news for our city,” tweeted Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief Mark Iype. “Stephanie is as good as it gets when it comes to journalists.”
• After 35 years, Global Edmonton’s Lorraine Mansbridge is hanging up her microphone. For her last segment, John Stanton of The Running Room announced a new award in her name.
• Congratulations to Bob Layton on being inducted into the Western Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. “There is no greater honour than being recognized by your peers,” he wrote. “The fact is, no-one in this business achieves anything alone.” Here’s a photo of him with the award.
• Congratulations to CFCW’s Jackie Rae Greening on being named the 2018 builder inductee to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Last week at Taproot Edmonton we launched the Tech Roundup, a weekly collection of the latest news and events related to Edmonton’s tech scene. You can get it delivered via email for free (though we’d love for you to become a member).
• Here are the February 26 – May 27 radio ratings for Edmonton. 102.3 Now FM (CKNO) remains on top, just ahead of CISN Country 103.9 FM.
• The Edmonton Sun’s John Short threw out the opening pitch at the Edmonton Prospects game on Saturday. He’s new to Twitter, saying “due to overwhelming peer pressure, I’m entering (being dragged) into the 21st century of Social Media.” And if you’re wondering about his Twitter handle, he tweeted about that.
• Postmedia freelancer Jason Hills has received the Fred Sgambati Media Award “for his work covering university sports on behalf of the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun.” Congrats!
• Congratulations to Brandi Morin on becoming a permanent reporter for Alberta & Saskatchewan with CBC Indigenous. She will be starting in December after her maternity leave finishes.
• J-Source covers the Strathcona County Library Journal, “a pop-up newspaper made by more than a dozen kids at an Alberta library over spring break.” Michael Hingston served as editor-in-chief in his capacity as writer-in-residence for the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries.
• Here is Grant Ainsley on the rebranding of radio stations to Global: “One by one, radio stations are being rebranded under the Global banner and Global is actually dropping television newscasts into prime-time radio programming. It’s TV on radio. Seriously.”
• Corus Entertainment’s “Show the Love” Radio-a-Thon in support of the Cross Cancer Institute raised $310,000 in just 12 hours!
• Postmedia has launched a new podcast on Canadian current affairs, hosted by Edmonton’s own Dave Breakenridge. It’s called 10/3: Canadian News Covered.
• There’s plenty of great stuff to listen to in the latest Alberta Podcast Network Roundup.
• The Oilers Entertainment Group is looking for a Digital Content Producer & Reporter.
• The Pembina Institute is looking for a Communications Lead.
• IABC Edmonton is hosting Nailing the Pitch: How to Deliver a Stellar Media Event on June 21 at 99ten.
• Save the date: I’ll be speaking about podcasting & smart speakers at the next Edmonton Podcasting Meetup on Sunday, June 24.
• Rob Christie and Graham Hicks are hosting the Art of Conversation CXLII on Thursday, June 28 at Rebel Food and Drink. And they’ve got a website now!
• Robert Summers found copies of the November 4, 1939 edition of the Edmonton Journal being used for insulation inside the walls of an old house!

Alberta offering gender-inclusive ID documents, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Roger Millions has announced he is retiring from sports broadcasting “after 39 incredible years” to pursue the UCP nomination in Airdrie-East.
• Postmedia is eliminating 52 positions in Calgary with the closure of its printing plant. Black Press Group Inc. will begin printing the Calgary Sun this summer (the Calgary Herald printing moved to TC Transcontinental Printing in 2013).
• From The Walrus: Inside the Toronto Star’s Bold Plan to Save Itself. “The crisis in media, in other words, has evolved from being technological to existential, as a news darkness threatens to descend wherever metro dailies are snuffed out.”
• Ryerson’s multimedia publication The Future of Local News “is the culmination of several years of academic research, complemented by a year of student journalism, an international conference, and a cross-Atlantic editorial collaboration focused specifically on the current and future state of local news around the world.” They’re also now publishing content on Medium.
• Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, is giving $20 million to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which will rename itself the “Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.” There’s a certain amount of irony in the news, given that Craiglist at least contributed to the decline of newspapers’ revenue. “When asked if his desire to give millions of dollars to the journalism school had sprung from a sense of guilt, Mr. Newmark said no.”
• Postmedia has launched TheGrowthOp.com, a new website focused on the “quickly evolving world of cannabis.” The new site aims to “keep audiences informed and educated while working to normalize cannabis information from its long-time taboo and counter-culture status to its newly legitimized role in our communities.”

Follow Edmonton media news using the hashtag #yegmedia and be sure to check out Mediagazer for the latest media news from elsewhere. You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here. If you have a tip or suggestion for future updates, let me know.

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