I was in London a couple of weeks ago and then last week the jetlag wiped me out so it has been a little while since my last media update! Let’s take a look at what’s been happening throughout July:

• After 42 years in the news business, Global Edmonton’s station manager Tim Spelliscy is retiring. “Spelliscy was presented with an RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. In April 2017, he was placed on the Media Wall of Honour at Rogers Place.”
• The first members of the Alberta Podcast Network have been announced! There are ten podcasts to start, with more to be added in the coming weeks. One of the new members, Local Company of the River Valley Podcast, blogged about being in the network.
• CTV Edmonton parted ways with Dan Kobe this month. He had been the news director since January 2012.
• Today marked the 30th anniversary of the deadly “Black Friday” tornado that ripped through east Edmonton. From 630 CHED, here’s how broadcasters remember covering the news that day, and here’s how Edmonton Journal photographer Steve Simon remembers it. Weather forecasting has changed a great deal since 1987, as CTV Edmonton explored in its look back.
• Jeremy Simes’ last day at Metro was Friday, July 28. He’s moving on to cover the Edmonton region at The Western Producer.
• Episode 71 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Sydney Lancaster, “the visual artist and advocate who extends the reach of her work through her blog and helps artists learn how to look after the business side of their work through Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens).”
• And in case you missed it, Episode 70 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast featured audio from our Taproot Live event on urban planning wishes!
• Here’s an interview with CKUA’s Allison Brock, host of the show Wide Cut Country.
• Metro Edmonton is looking for a Reporter/Photographer.
• Former journalist and Edmonton-Griesbach MP Kerry Diotte made headlines recently for a threatening tweet in which he called Progress Alberta “fake news”.
• It is being reported that the Oilers and Leafs will appear three times each on NBC or NBCSN next season.
• Wild TV is looking for a General Manager here in Edmonton.
• Congratulations to the winners of CJSR’s Volunteer Awards which “recognize the outstanding achievements of the many volunteers who keep CJSR on the air with high quality programming that challenges the status quo.”
• Happy 90th birthday to Jack Hagerman who retired from CKUA in 1982 and re-joined in 1997 to act as operations manager.
• Congratulations to Global Edmonton’s Quinn Ohler on her recent wedding!
• The new Edmonton Screen Industries Office is looking for its first CEO. “The ESIO will serve all screen industries which encompass fiction and nonfiction content, inclusive of live action, animation and interactive video games.”

Premiers meet with National Indigenous Organization leaders, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Andree Lau, who wrote the very popular food blog are you gonna eat that?, is the new editor-in-chief at Huffington Post Canada. Congrats!
• Here’s a glimpse of what’ll be possible in the very near future. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “fake news”.
• The Conversation Canada published its first POINT/COUNTERPOINT articles recently, and they chose the issue of “fake news” and licensing journalists. Here are the arguments for and against.
• Now that TV networks are expanding their local news offers in response to CRTC requirements, the question remains, will they be successful? “It’s a good thing, I just don’t understand how it makes money,” said Richard Stursberg, a former CBC executive who heads the writers’ group Pen Canada.
• Speaking of the CRTC, Ian Scott will take over as chair of the regulator starting in September.
• “The Mooch” was in and out of the White House faster than I could blog about it!

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Tim Querengesser has been announced as the new editor of The Yards Magazine. “Tim takes over for founding Editor Omar Mouallem, and guest editor Tracy Hyatt.”
• The AGA is hosting a panel discussion on Wednesday evening on “fake news” with Dr. Jason M. Harley, Paula Simons, and Jana Pruden. Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief Mark Iype is moderating the event.
• Cam Tait has a nice tribute to Jay Hamilton who is battling Huntington’s disease. “The genetic brain disorder that, bluntly, causes brain cells to die forced Jay to flick the microphone off for the last time in 2013 while working weekends for 96.3 Capital FM.”
• Dan Barnes has joined Postmedia’s national sports team and will be responsible for amateur sports.
• Kim Smith is back in Edmonton and is now at Global Edmonton. She worked at CTV Edmonton a couple of years ago and was most recently down at Global Calgary.
• Gruff Gushnowski has joined the team at CISN Country 103.9 doing “vacation relief & casual shows over the summer.” He was previously at The One in Leduc.
• Here are the latest blog and podcast roundups from Seen and Heard in Edmonton. That’ll be the last podcast roundup for a bit as Karen is focusing now on building the Alberta Podcast Network.
• CJSR is hosting its annual volunteer appreciation party on Friday evening at SUB on the U of A campus. The event is “free for FACRA Members, and $10 for non-members (bring cash at the door).”
• Congrats to Glass Buffalo on five years since publishing its first issue!
• Voting is now open for Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton 2017. Vote for your favorite radio hosts, TV anchors, tweeters, bloggers, and more.
• Remember Spider-Mable? Back in 2015 the young superhero was trending on social media, and now U of A researcher Matty Flores is looking at why the story grew so quickly.
• Here’s the latest Taproot Edmonton newsletter. You can see all of our past issues here.

Canada Day 2017, photo by IQRemix

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• After 25 years at the station, Gord Gillies is moving from Global Calgary to News Talk 770 to host a new show launching on August 14. “A new co-anchor for Global News Hour at 6 will be announced in the coming weeks.” Imagine if Gord Steinke moved over to 630 CHED.
• Postmedia reported its 3rd quarter results last week. “Revenue for the quarter was $194.0 million as compared to $218.3 million in the prior year, a decrease of $24.3 million (11.1%).” The company will “continue to identify and undertake ongoing cost reduction initiatives in an effort to address revenue declination in the legacy print business.”
• Here’s a tweetstorm from ProPublica demonstrating how community participation led to a big story about Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump.
• The Atlantic is making a bigger bet on niche media with a revamped CityLab. The new site is “designed to better reflect CityLab’s increased understanding of its core audience of urban decision makers and influencers.”
• The New York Times interviewed Jay Leno about The Tonight Show and the “challenges of being a political joke-teller in a polarized environment.”

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• The Worst Show Ever is 100.3 The Bear FM’s new morning show featuring Scott McCord and Yukon Jack. It launches Tuesday, July 4 at 5:30am and Gig City has a preview.
• Here’s a recap of Part 1 of our Taproot Live event that focused on urban planning wishes! We’re aiming to publish part 2 this week.
• Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief Mark Iype shared his family’s Canadian story to help mark Canada 150.
• Episode 69 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Scott and Amy Fralick, “the smart and creative couple who are chronicling their adventure with pregnancy later in life on their new podcast, 40 & Knocked Up!” Scott is a broadcast journalist at CITY-TV.
• Steve Faguy reports that the CRTC has approved Bell Media’s request to shutdown CFRN-TV-11 in Jasper, a transmitter for CTV Edmonton.
• The 26th annual Kevin Karius Easter Seals Celebrity Golf Classic is coming up on Wednesday in support of the Easter Seals of Alberta and features a number of local media personalities. “To date, almost $1.5 million dollars has been raised through this event and the fundraising continues for people living with a disability.”
• Someone stole Smokehouse BBQ’s food truck but thanks to social media it was found and returned early Sunday! The thieves stole food, drinks, and the debit card machine from the truck.
• The Sherwood Park News is looking for a multimedia journalist. The deadline to apply is July 7.
• Rogers is looking for a video journalist as it gears up to expand Citytv news programming across the country.
• Watch out for birds in the newsroom!
• Maybe find-and-replace doesn’t work so well when there are line-breaks?
• I enjoyed listening to Jeff Samsonow and Karen Unland at the ATB Entrepreneur Centre’s Speakeasy last week! They shared their journeys as media entrepreneurs, and agreed that a story should be widely seen in order to do the most good possible.

Jeff Samsonow & Karen Unland

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Shannon Rupp tackles the idea of supporting newspapers in Canada with public funds in a new essay at The Tyee. “Surprisingly, the public seems largely unconcerned about subsidizing the rich,” she wrote.
• Was the social media reaction to Prime Minister Trudeau’s gaffe in forgetting to mention Alberta in his speech a bit over the top?
• Shaw said on Wednesday that it added 13,000 cable subscribers from March through May, the first net increase since the end of its fiscal year in 2010. “Shaw also attracted 21,000 new Internet customers in the third quarter,” the Globe and Mail reported.
• Bruce Buffalo is taking matters into his own hands in Maskwacis, Alberta and has setup two rooftop antennas to help make internet access for the community more affordable.

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Marty Forbes notes that Bell Media raised $200,000 for the Stollery Children’s Hospital last week with another successful Stollery Radiothon! He also shared the news that NewCap GM Neil Cunningham has retired.
• See you at the ATB Entrepreneur Centre on Wednesday evening for the Entrepreneur Speakeasy with Jeff and Karen!
• Global Edmonton celebrated on June 19 a decade since the Global 1 news helicopter made its inaugural flight.
• I was sad to miss The Writing Stick: Sharing Indigenous Stories at the University of Alberta earlier this month but I am glad to hear it was so successful!
• The Examiner asked Alberta’s political parties about their social media practices and found they try to “toe the line between legitimate, if heated, political discourse and trolling, hateful speech and ad hominem attacks” noting that “there always seemed to be a bit of a grey area in this field.”
• A GoFundMe campaign has been created to “assist the family with funeral and memorial expenses for our beloved friend Ruth Kelly” with a goal of raising $10,000. Nearly $8,000 has been raised in the last five days.
• Joel Gotlib is back on-the-air at CTV Edmonton “after a brief time away.” Welcome back!
• Here is the latest podcast roundup from Seen and Heard in Edmonton.
• Want to know more about the new Alberta Podcast Network? Join their mailing list to be in the know.
• The Edmonton Screen Industries Office Society is “up and running” and is working to “help lead Edmonton in becoming a national and international centre for media production excellence,” Chair Carman McNary said in a news release.
• A new film called The Black is filming near Barrhead with some local cast and crew.
• The Wild TV Network, “Canada’s #1 Outdoor Lifestyle channel”, is looking for an Executive Assistant to the CEO. They’re based in Edmonton, but the job posting says the location is Vancouver, so you might want to check on that if you’re interested.

Solar panel rebate program launch, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Peter Mansbridge started his career at CBC in 1968 as a radio host and will sign off from his final broadcast as host of The National on Canada Day. “When Mansbridge signs off from his final broadcast on Canada Day, it will mark not just the end of his role as chief correspondent for CBC News, but also the capstone of an era of TV news.” He is the longest-serving current anchor of a network newscast in North America at 29 years.
• Professors Mary Lynn Young and Alfred Hermida of the University of British Columbia are the co-founders of The Conversation Canada, a new site that aims to “contribute to the quality of explanatory journalism in this country.” I see that the University of Alberta is one of the site’s founding partners.
• Canadaland has tackled The Great Newspaper Bailout in its latest episode.
• Postmedia is selling Infomart to Meltwater News Canada Inc. for $38.25 million. Meltwater said its clients “will enjoy access to an unparalleled level of local Canadian media intelligence” as a result of the deal.
• NPR has announced plans to roll out a regional hub system to make it easier for local stations to share expertise and resources with one another.
• The White House banned cameras at its press briefings a few times last week, so CNN sent their Supreme Court sketch artist to document Friday’s briefing.

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Ruth Kelly, president of Venture Publishing, has died at the age of 60. “In the last few years, Venture Publishing struggled, and Kelly along with it.” There was an outpouring of emotion on Twitter after the news broke on Thursday. Go back a little further though, and all you’ll see are angry tweets about Venture Publishing’s inability or unwillingness to pay its freelancers over the last few years. She was outspoken and opinionated, and even got into a Twitter spat with Ezra Levant earlier this year. But she is being remembered for her community involvement and unwavering support of women in business and publishing in particular. Her family has asked for privacy “as we mourn the loss of this extraordinary woman.”
• The CRTC has granted licenses for five radio stations to serve the Indigenous community, including one here in Edmonton. The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta will broadcast the new station at 89.3 FM, a sister station to CFWE which so far has focused on country music.
• Jana Pruden has announced the launch of The Flat Worms Writing Studio, “a place for emerging and established writers to develop advanced nonfiction writing techniques through high-quality mentorship, workshopping and formal instruction in a supportive environment.” The first workshop kicks off on October 3 and you can apply to participate here by August 1. Jana is working with Richard Kemick, Michael Hingston, and Rick McConnell on the initiative.
• CBC wrote about the closure of Nightlife, the arts and culture posters that have been published ever since Denise Assaly launched the business in 1979. “All the posters and brochures are being donated to the City of Edmonton archives.”
• Blogger Barry Winters “was charged with wilful promotion of hatred on a blog called The Baconfat Papers and other blogs between 2014 and 2016” after an investigation by Edmonton police of more than a year.
• There’s a lot to unpack in this End of the Earth comic by Chad Huculak. I’m not sure whether I should laugh or not!
• Congratulations to Cailynn Klingbeil who is now a writer for the Calgary Public Library!
• Edmonton Quotient is now entertaining pitches from local writers, producers, and journalists. “If you’ve got ideas for a series, a podcast, an event or anything else please also get in touch and start that conversation with us.”
• The National Film Board of Canada is looking for a Production Coordinator here in Edmonton. “You’re passionate about great storytelling, groundbreaking film and digital media, about exploring the issues that matter to you, your community, Canada and the world. So are we.” The deadline to apply is June 23.
• CBC Edmonton is looking for a Weekend Producer. The deadline to apply is July 13.
• Episode 68 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Michael Short of Let’s Go Outdoors with a discussion “about how to make a living in new media.”
• Paul Brown, formerly of 100.3 The Bear, is now co-hosting the morning show on JACK 96.9 in Vancouver. “From 2003 to 2016 he anchored one of Edmonton’s top-rated morning radio shows, entertaining listeners with his fun, and sometimes controversial antics.”
• Jeff Samsonow and Karen Unland are speaking next week at the ATB Entrepreneur Centre about their successes and struggles in starting their businesses. Should be an interesting look at the challenges (and opportunities) facing local journalism startups!
• There’s still time to get your tickets for our first Taproot Edmonton event! We’re discussing urban planning wishes on Wednesday at 7pm at Sugar Swing. Hope to see you there!

Ruth Kelly was chair of EPCOR’s Community Essentials Council back in 2011

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• There seems to be an increase in chatter lately about Postmedia, though I don’t think we’ve really learned anything new about its situation. Last Monday, CJR published a piece on Postmedia’s struggles and said “a Postmedia failure would be as if Gannett, Tronc, and McClatchy all simultaneously went bust” in the United States. Paul Adams picked up the thread and wrote that “few people outside the industry understand how central newspapers are to the local news ecosystem” and as a result the demise of Postmedia would be a big problem. Today Postmedia announced that the National Post will be discontinuing its Monday print edition as of July 3 in an effort to cut costs. Expect to hear even more bad news on July 7 when Postmedia holds a conference call for investors.
• From James Edward Murray, co-founder of NewsCart, here’s how AI will shape the future of media.
• The CRTC has announced that as of December 1, 2017, locked phones and carrier unlocking fees are no longer allowed in Canada.
• Microsoft teamed up with the Associated Press to use Power BI for sharing data analysis and visualizations. “The pilot program will enable local and regional news outlets to more easily uncover and report the data-driven local stories most interesting to their audiences through AP’s use of Power BI.”
• Apparently Sean Spicer is “leading a search for his own replacement on the briefing room podium as part of a larger plan to shake up the White House communications operation,” according to a Politico report citing “two people with knowledge of the effort.” I mean, who wouldn’t want that job?

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• We’re holding our first Taproot Edmonton event on June 21 and we’d love for you to join us! Tickets are just $10 for members or $15 for non-members/at the door, and we’re going to be talking about two audacious urban planning ideas for Edmonton. Get your tickets here!
• The latest radio ratings for Edmonton have the top three unchanged with 630 CHED, Now! 102.3 FM, and CISN Country all remaining well ahead of the pack.
• Rogers Media has announced it is expanding CityNews across the country, with CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight broadcasts here in Edmonton starting on September 4. As Marty Forbes noted, no word yet on what this means for Dinner Television.
• The City of Edmonton has pulled its online advertisements from Rebel Media after Councillor Michael Oshry shared concerns from residents with City Administration.
• Congratulations to all of the 2017 Alberta Literary Award winners, including Austen Lee, Laurie MacFayden, and Candas Jane Dorsey.
• After publishing for 38 years, Edmonton’s Nightlife Poster is shutting down. The 2017/18 Season Preview will be the final poster published.
• Edmonton Quotient noted recently that Corus Entertainment’s local radio station websites are now actually just the Global News website with a bit of extra branding.
• Toby Johnston is moving from Winnipeg to take over the afternoon drive on 100.3 The Bear.
• Global Edmonton’s Margeaux Morin started her maternity leave on Friday so Global posted “a look at her baby bump evolution”.
• Bruce Kenyon, who worked in Edmonton radio in the 80s, is retiring. Here’s a feature on his career from the Herald.
• Episode 67 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Andrew Paul, “who uses his journalistic chops to tell stories about philanthropy and good works in Edmonton as part of the team that produces The Well-Endowed Podcast.”
• The next Edmonton Podcasting Meetup is taking place on Saturday, June 17 at Variant Edition Comics & Culture.
• Here is some vintage ITV from 1987 courtesy of Vintage Edmonton.
• Alberta Views is looking for a part-time Copy Editor. The deadline to apply is June 15.
• If you’re not already following CBC’s John Robertson on Instagram, start now. Every day he posts amazing shots of our city. Congrats on 10 years of service at CBC John!

Design for new Leduc interchange jointly funded, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Curling clubs are calling new license fees charged by Bell and Rogers (parents of TSN and Sportsnet) “cost prohibitive”. In Edmonton, fees for the Shamrock Curling Club are rising from $900/year to $4,200/year.
• Apple has announced it will start providing basic analytics to podcast creators, a big change from its previous approach of providing almost zero data.
• The New York Times decided recently to eliminate its public editor position. “The responsibility of the public editor—to serve as the reader’s representative—has outgrown that one office,” said publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. Six people held the position, the last of which was Liz Spayd, who spoke to CJR about the decision.
• Facebook is building a feature that would let users subscribe to news publications directly from the mobile app, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• CKUA welcomed new CEO Marc Carnes by “sitting him down & having David Ward grill him on camera”. Check out the video here.
• RTDNA Canada has announced the winners of the 2017 RTDNA Canada Network Awards. Global Edmonton won the award for Large Market National Digital Media and three other awards. CBC Edmonton won the Ron Laidlaw Award for Continuing Coverage, part of CBC News’ total haul of 44 awards. Congrats to all involved!
• Congratulations to Global Edmonton’s Gord Steinke on receiving the Governor General Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for his dedication to the community.
• Congratulations to CTV Edmonton’s Josh Classen on receiving NAIT’s Alumni Award of Excellence. He’s the first ever to be presented with the award “to recognize his significant contributions to his profession as a meteorologist and broadcaster and his dedication to mentoring future students.”
• Here are the latest blog and podcast roundups from Seen and Heard in Edmonton.
• In case you missed it: Karen spoke about the Alberta Podcast Network on Edmonton AM.
• The Yards is holding its summer issue launch party & salon on June 22 at CKUA Radio. The theme of the event is Canada 150 and a discussion on “a narrative of Edmonton that truthfully includes the indigenous histories that we have marginalized in the past.” Tim Querengesser served as editor for the new issue.
• The deadline to apply for Glass Buffalo’s paid internship is Wednesday, May 31.
• Windspeaker.com/CFWE-FM is looking for a full-time Community News Reporter.
• The St. Albert Gazette is looking for a full-time Reporter. The deadline to apply is June 12.
• Friday is the deadline to apply for the open Multimedia Journalist position at Postmedia here in Edmonton.
• The Province has introduced $3 million in new grants to “help cover labour costs for post-production and digital media companies, particularly for new hires.” One is for Interactive Digital Media, the other is for Post-production, Digital Animation and Visual Effects. Eligible companies can apply for funding at the Alberta Media Fund site.

Alberta boosts digital media, post-production sectors, photo by Government of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Here are the four key elements of a successful fake news story, according to Ben Nimmo, information defense fellow at the international affairs think tank Atlantic Council.
• A sign of things to come? The Washington Post is using augmented reality to let audiences explore iconic buildings with their iPhone.
• Another trend to keep in mind: premium content. Britain’s The Times has launched a premium website for legal readers called The Brief. “It will cost £4 a week for new subscribers, and an additional £1 a week for existing ones.”
• From The Guardian: NYT’s publication of leaked Manchester material reveals transatlantic differences. “When it comes to making decisions about national security coverage, US journalism follows a different set of priorities.”

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• CBC Edmonton “has been found not guilty of criminal contempt for refusing to remove news stories from its website that were published before a judge ordered a publication ban.” This is in relation to a series of stories published in March 2016 about the death of a 14-year-old girl. Here’s the story about Justice Terry Clackson’s ruling.
• Congrats to Jesse Lipscombe who joins Courtney Theriault as permanent co-host of Dinner TV. Last month was Jason Strudwick‘s last on the show – he is now “daily wingman” to Jason Gregor on TSN 1260.
• Congrats to local startup SAM on powering the new AP Social Newswire which will “find, vet and verify content generated by users on social media and elsewhere.”
• Global Edmonton’s Shallima Maharaj is returning home to Ontario to join Global Toronto as a digital broadcast journalist.
• Last night was CBC Edmonton’s last show in the local control room. They’re now based out of the control room in Toronto.
• Episode 66 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Ben Yendall of Tales from the Hydian Way and Trina Shessel from the Northern Nerdcast.
• Karen is going to be on CBC’s Edmonton AM early Tuesday morning to talk about the Alberta Podcast Network. If you want to chat about it with her in person, don’t miss the Edmonton Podcasting Meetup coming up on May 28.
• Freedom Mobile announced it is expanding its new LTE network in both Calgary and Edmonton. The network is aiming for a full rollout by the end of 2017.
• CKUA and the National Music Centre are hosting an evening with Holger Peterson on June 1.
• Andy Michaelson died May 10th in St. Albert. He began his career at 630 CHED and also worked at CJCA Edmonton before heading west to work in Vancouver.
• Glass Buffalo Publishing is looking for an Editorial Intern. The deadline to apply is May 31.
• Postmedia is looking for a full-time, permanent Multimedia Journalist here in Edmonton to work at the Journal/Sun. The deadline to apply is June 2.
• Couple of marketing/PR jobs to mention: Top Draw is looking for a Digital Marketing Strategist, and ATB Financial is looking for a Social Media Strategist.
• The next Art of Conversation event, hosted by Rob Christie and Graham Hicks, is coming up on May 31 at Vivo Downtown.
• There’s a tribute to Jay Hamilton, aka Jungle Jay, taking place on June 28 at MKT. “All funds raised will go towards supporting Jay and assisting with ongoing costs for medical needs and care.”

Premier Rachel Notley at the Nagar Kirtan Edmonton event, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• This is encouraging news for independent media creators: Patreon says it now has 1 million monthly active paying patrons and 50,000 active creators. “It’s now on track to pay out $150 million to creators in 2017.”
• I really like The Wirecutter which is now owned by the New York Times, so I’m happy to see they are expanding this type of “reader-service” journalism.
• Medium is going to start offering audio versions of some of its stories for paying members. Some will be narrated by a professional voice actor, others will be narrated by the original authors themselves.
• Well look at that, “for the first time in its history, MSNBC ranked number one in both total viewers and the key adults 25-54 demographic during primetime for a full week among the big three cable news networks.”
• Roger Ailes died Thursday at 77. “He was the longtime chairman and chief executive of the Fox News Channel, building it over two decades into a politically influential juggernaut until his abrupt ouster last year amid sexual harassment allegations.”

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Marc Carnes has been hired as CKUA’s new CEO, replacing Katrina Ingram who had been serving as interim CEO after Ken Regan’s retirement. Marc is a great guy who was president of the Fringe Theatre Adventures board for six years. Congrats!
• Here is the latest podcast roundup from Seen and Heard in Edmonton.
• The next Edmonton Podcasting Meetup is taking place on Sunday, May 28 at Variant Edition Comics & Culture with a focus on the new Alberta Podcast Network.
• Here are some photos from the Global News Woman of Vision Celebration Luncheon that took place last month! Here is Global Edmonton’s coverage of the event.
• Caleb Fox is starting a six-week field placement at the Sherwood Park News and wrote about his first steps in the journalism industry. He’s optimistic, writing that “new technologies and innovations are creating exciting new ways for journalists to craft stories; this is an exciting time to be part of the industry.”
• Here’s the latest on what we’re up to at Taproot Edmonton.
• Shaw and Global Edmonton had “a fibre wire issue” recently that prevented some homes from receiving the channel. Global’s Kent Morrison took to Facebook to provide live updates.
• The University of Alberta Press is looking for a new Director and Publisher. Review of applications will begin June 15.
• From Vintage Edmonton: Television Part 3.
• And from John Hanson here’s a look back at CFRN’s anchor desk in the 80s featuring John Berry and Daphne Little.

Karen Unland bids farewell to Capital Ideas

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Hal Niedzviecki resigned last week as the editor of The Writers’ Union of Canada’s magazine after he wrote a piece called “Winning the Appropriation Prize.” Then late Saturday, Jonathan Kay resigned as editor-in-chief of The Walrus. He had spoken with CBC defending Niedzviecki, prompting an emotional interview with columnist Jesse Wente. Here’s a complete rundown from Scaachi Koul at BuzzFeed. In other fallout, I see that Steve Ladurantaye’s Twitter account has been suspended.
• The CRTC has added new requirements to TV station license renewals, including a minimum of 120 days notice of an intended closure, and at least six hours per week of “so-called locally reflective news programming”. Unifor says “local TV in this country is in crisis” and that the changes don’t do enough to stop further cuts.
• This piece on the local news business model by Ben Thompson has been widely shared over the last week. Good stuff. Also be sure to listen to Episode 114 of The Exponent on this subject.
• Bell is apologizing to its customers after 1.9 million email addresses were stolen from a company database. “It is not clear when the breach occurred, how the data was accessed, or how long the attacker had access to Bell’s systems.”

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• Karen announced the Alberta Podcast Network at PodSummit over the weekend! I love these conference doodles about the news. “We have a lot of details to work out, but we now have some runway to create a self-sustaining network that gets some money into podcasters’ pockets, and helps businesses who want to reach their listeners in a powerful way,” she wrote at Seen and Heard in Edmonton. Go follow @albertapodnet on Twitter. This is very exciting news for Alberta’s independent content producers and is another part of “what comes next” for local media.
• As one new initiative starts up, another comes to an end. Capital Ideas announced that it is shutting down after five years. “Capital Ideas, the entity, is going to step aside. But the entrepreneurial community in each city remains, stronger than ever, and we can’t wait to see what it does next.” There’s a farewell event taking place on Tuesday evening this week.
• Congratulations to Paula Simons on being recognized by the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom for “exposing critical gaps in Alberta’s child welfare system.” She was also named runner-up in the Politics category for this year’s National Newspaper Awards!
• Paula was featured on CANADALAND recently to discuss the story about Alberta’s child welfare system with guest host Omar Mouallem. “I was so deeply grateful for the chance to share Serenity’s story with a national audience – and to put her fate into the larger context of Alberta’s broken child welfare system,” she wrote on Facebook.
• Congratulations to Candas Jane Dorsey, recipient of the 2017 Golden Pen Award presented “to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of outstanding Alberta writers.”
• The Fort McMurray Today/Edmonton Journal/Edmonton Sun were named winners of the Breaking News category in this year’s National Newspaper Awards for their coverage of the Alberta wildfire and the evacuation of Fort McMurray. Metro Calgary and Metro Edmonton were named runners-up in the same category for the same story. Well deserved!
• The next day though, the Edmonton Sun found itself in hot water over its use of a photo of the Fort McMurray wildfire that was taken by Terry Reith for CBC News.
• Here’s a feature on Omar Mouallem in Langara College’s online news section. “After moving to Vancouver from Alberta to become a filmmaker, Omar discovered his love for storytelling led him down a different path as a freelance writer for some of Canada’s top magazines and the likes of Reader’s Digest, NewYorker.com, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian.” I wrote about part of his journey back in 2011.
• Episode 65 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Fawnda Mithrush, “who is managing director of NorthwestFest, Edmonton’s international festival of nonfiction film, art and music” and the brain behind the LunchPods series of live podcast shows.
• Here are three generations of Edmonton Sun editors: Jose Rodriguez, Steve Serviss, and Dave Breakenridge.
• Eighteen Bridges is launching its 10th issue at Yellowhead Brewery on Thursday this week. Tickets are $15 or $10 for current subscribers.
• The Athabasca Advocate weekly newspaper is looking for a Reporter/Photographer. The deadline to apply is May 15.
• Five-year-old Liam Hirsch is a social media star after his “hysterical facial expressions and spirited dancing” during Game 6 at Rogers Place last night landed him on the NHL’s official Twitter account.

Capital Ideas 61: Offbeat marketing ideas, photo by Capital Ideas Edmonton

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• Vicky Mochama writing in Metro: Do black female writers feel valued in Canadian media?
• A new report from the American Press Institute examines wny people subscribe and what it says about the future of journalism. I haven’t finished reading it all, but already there’s some really interesting stuff there. For instance: “And contrary to the idea that young people will not pay for news because information on the internet is free, nearly 4 in 10 adults under age 35 are paying for news.”
• Politico says a new analysis of the available data proves the media bubble is real and is worse than you think. “Concentrated heavily along the coasts, the bubble is both geographic and political.”
• Sinclair Broadcast Group has a $3.9 billion agreement to acquire Tribune Media, “a deal that will bring more than 200 TV stations under one roof and vault Sinclair into the big leagues of national TV.” If the deal goes ahead, Sinclair’s TV stations would reach 72% of U.S. households, “nearly twice the reach of its nearest broadcast competitors” Nexstar, CBS, and Fox.

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!

Want to read great stories about Edmonton? Or maybe you’d like to write them? Join Taproot Edmonton and help us ensure that local journalism has a future in our city.

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.