Media Monday Edmonton: Update #349

Taproot Edmonton’s latest Media Roundup was published today. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.

Here are a few select updates from today’s Media Roundup:

Breanna Karstens-Smith is joining Global Edmonton at the end of June “as the weekend 6pm/11pm anchor and a weekday reporter.”
Don Metz is officially ending his 40-year association with the Edmonton Oilers. “After having serviced many multi-year contracts in which I held the various roles of game presentation, event and broadcast director and, during the last five years in the full-time employee position of senior advisor and vice-president, we have mutually agreed to part ways allowing me to pursue new opportunities,” he said.
The Globe and Mail’s Jana Pruden won gold for Best Feature Article: Long in the 2019 Digital Publishing Awards for her story Murder on the Prairies. Also for the Globe, Marty Klinkenberg and Amber Bracken won gold in Best Arts & Culture Storytelling for Alex Janvier’s colourful life.
The latest edition of CBC’s The Ledge podcast focuses on the UCP government’s communication challenges.
A documentary called “Our Peggy” pays tribute to the life and work of Peggy Miller-Day, “a Canadian pioneer in radio and broadcasting” who worked at CJCA in Edmonton from the 1940s to the late 1960s. “Aside from broadcasting, she was responsible for writing the lyrics to both the Edmonton Eskimos and BC Lions cheer songs, which continue to be sung to this day during home games.”

And here is some non-local media news that I found interesting this week:

Shout out to The Sprawl in Calgary who took home gold for General Excellence in Digital Publishing at the 2019 Digital Publishing Awards!
HitRecord, a production company co-founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, has paid out over $3 million to contributors since 2010. The company is described as “like GitHub for creativity” and recently raised $6.4 million to transition into a tech platform.
According to a new report from Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC, U.S. advertisers spent $479.1 million on podcasts in 2018, up 53% from the year before.
“Membership Editor” is becoming a popular role at newsrooms around the world. “Publishers may have turned to membership programs to diversify their revenues, but many have different ideas about how important memberships will be to their futures, as well as what their memberships will consist of.”
A former TV reporter launched RateMyStation.com to allow journalists to “anonymously review a news station they work for, or have worked for in the past, without fear of retribution.” The site launched in November 2017 and now gets between 40,000 and 60,000 visitors per month.

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.

Published by Mack Male