Media Monday Edmonton: Update #33

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

I was very pleased to see some coverage in the Journal for the Prairie Belles Podcast! The duo behind the podcast, Daneel Irons and Lisa Nicole Grace, celebrated two years of recording this weekend – congrats!
The Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards are coming up next week, and Edmonton is well-represented. Virgin’s Lochlin Cross and Sonic’s Adam Thompson are both nominated for Music Director of the Year, Sonic’s Garner Andrews is nominated for On Air Talent, and Sonic’s Al Ford and The Bear’s Rob Vavrek are nominated for Program Director of the Year. Also, Virgin, Now, K97, CISN, World FM, 630 CHED, The Bear, and Sonic are up for various Station of the Year awards.
The Edmonton Journal has received two 2011 National Newspaper Award nominations. Sheila Pratt was recognized for “her investigation of the climate of fear and intimidation in Alberta’s public life” and a team of reporters, editors and photographers were recognized for their coverage of the devastating Slave Like wildfires.
The Journal and the Calgary Herald are also up for a joint International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) Award for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships.
This is really cool, congratulations Karen! “After a successful pilot project that brought 235 students from nine different classes into the media lab over the past few months, The Journal is ready to create a full-fledged site-based school program for the 2012-13 school year.”
Last night was the final broadcast at CTV Edmonton for Scott Roberts – he has accepted a position at CTV British Columbia. Best of luck!
Purchasing a copy of The Journal got a bit more expensive this month. On March 1, the price of a single copy of The Journal rose by 25 cents for the Sunday through Thursday editions.
I love this photo from Fish: two hearts beat as one.
Here’s another photo, courtesy of Brittney: the “party” lights at CHED!
Check out scenes from the March 5 celebration of Avenue’s annual food issue.
Did anyone join West Edmonton Local in capturing a day in the life of west Edmonton today? I can’t wait to see what they came up with.
The Journal has a new blog – Fight Game is a boxing blog written by Warren Tasker. Is boxing really that big of a deal in Edmonton?
Ah, the joy of digging through your blog stats. Heeelloooooooooo Latvia!!!!
Quick reminder that DemoCamp Edmonton 18 takes place next Wednesday – hope to see you there!
Also, early heads up about the Best of Analytics conference on Big Data and the Cloud coming up at the end of April.

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.

UPDATE: Brittney is going to be writing a regular page six column in the Edmonton Sun! From her Tumblr: “I’m joining the likes of Graham Hicks, Danny Hooper, and Marty Forbes. I don’t know which one of us has the best hair – probably Marty.” Congrats Brit! Check out her first column here.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #32

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

The Corus Radio Group was able to raise $1.24 million in last week’s Stollery Children’s Hospital Radiothon. Marty Forbes has that plus a ton of other local radio news in his Sunday column. He notes the surprise announcement that Doug Rutherford is stepping down from Corus at the end of March.
BlogWest kicks off on Thursday! More than 200 bloggers from across Western Canada are slated to attend. Follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #blogwest.
Global Edmonton’s Julie Matthews was among the eight Albertans recognized as consumer champions for their work in protecting consumers in 2011. The story she won the Award of Merit for? Julie investigated online romance scams and posed as a potential love interest to expose a romance scam artist! Here is Global’s story about the news.
Here is Alex Abboud’s latest post as blogger-in-residence at The Journal. He got to sit in on an editorial board meeting with Raj Sherman.
Elise Stolte is looking for feedback on The Quarters project as she explores the topic. There’s a related assignment up on The Bridge too.
Nominations for the 30th annual Western Magazine Awards have been extended until March 16. The awards ceremony will be held in Vancouver on June 15.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, FAVA is hosting FAVA Fest from March 20-24 and will holding an awards gala as well to recognize outstanding documentaries, music videos, and more. Five awards of excellence and three production grant awards will be presented on the 24th!
The Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA) and Crossroads Television Systems (CTS) have launched a new mentorship program for individuals to receive hands-on training experience in film and television production. The deadline for applications for the new program is March 30.
As I mentioned previously, Laurie Callsen will soon be joining Metro Edmonton. Here’s her farewell column for the Camrose Canadian.
Calgary native Pat Kiernan, who was previously a reporter at CTV Edmonton, is apparently keen to replace Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly.
Here’s a bit of history for you – 48 years ago today fish & chips were just 40 cents per order at A&W Drive Ins! There were also stories on the new downtown library, and the last remaining outhouses in the city.
The March issue of Boyle McCauley News is now online!
I haven’t found much use for Pinterest yet (mind you I haven’t given it a chance really) but dozens of other Edmontonians have (such as the City itself). I took a look, and it turns out there are a few media organizations on it as well! There’s a quarterly magazine called Urban Infant that has a page, Global Edmonton has a page, and both the Edmonton Journal (launched on January 26) and The Bridge have pages. There are a few journalists with their own pages as well, such as Liane Faulder. Will be interesting to see how use of Pinterest evolves locally!
Avenue Edmonton celebrated the launch of its annual food issue this evening! In addition to the 25 Best Things to Eat they have a new list for 2012, Edmonton’s Best Restaurants. Corso 32 was named Best Restaurant, while Tres Carnales was named Best New Restaurant.

You can see the rest of my photos from the party here.

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.

Edmonton Notes for 3/4/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

City Council’s annual budget and year-end expenditure reports were released on Friday. Council budgeted $1,263,865 in 2011 and actually spent $1,118,682.
Council is considering a new bylaw that would ban smoking within 10 metres of any outdoor playground, skating rink, sports field, or spray park. Similar legislation exists elsewhere. If passed, the new bylaw could take effect as early as next month.
Monday is the deadline for nominations for the next Historian Laureate. Ken Tingley’s two year term ends in April.
Congratulations to FiliStix, Tres Carnales, Cake Couture, and Guru – the folks behind those organizations made Western Living Magazine’s list of the 40 Top Foodies Under 40 for 2012! Great to see Edmonton represented.
I certainly wouldn’t be handing out any awards until the project is finished, but the City has received an Award of Merit from the Consulting Engineers of Alberta for the North LRT to NAIT project. UPDATE: To be clear, the award was for the LRT tunnel under the new EPCOR Tower, taking advantage of that building’s construction, which makes sense.
Did you know Edmonton still had a milkman? Barry Svederus was the last milkman in Edmonton until he retired on Friday, a job he has been doing for 34 years!
The City of Edmonton is accepting applications for the position of firefighter until March 30.
The list of nominees for the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts was announced this week! Should be a great event.
Congratulations to Sam Pillar, Forrest Zeisler and the rest of the team at Jobber – they just scored a six-figure venture capital investment!
Another year, another uneventful NHL trade deadline. Check out the analysis at OilersNation.
Work is well underway for a new stormwater line in The Quarters. Cool photo of the giant hole crews dug – six stories deep!
Four Edmonton schools made the Fraser Institute’s top 10 schools for 2012. You can check out the full list here.
Police handed out 379 distracted driving tickets in February, the most since the legislation took effect in September.
It sounds like Council will be discussing the Edmonton Stories website this week – Councillor Diotte wants to see the program shut down.
Here are some recent business comings and goings from Bill Mah.
In case you missed it, here’s the first part of my State of the Edmonton Twittersphere for 2011.

Big snowflakes fell in Edmonton today, but with warm temperatures ahead, it won’t last! Here you can see the Jaffer Building signage going up. You can see the finished product here.

Here are some upcoming events to note:

The Innovative Leaders Lecture Series continues on Tuesday with TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle.
Yelp’s Prohibition Party takes place on Wednesday at Suede. Should be a fun way to mark the one year anniversary of Yelp in Edmonton!
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and there are a bunch of events taking place around the city to mark the occasion. The annual Key Communicators Luncheon takes place at the Sutton Place, and there’s a wine & cheese celebration at NorQuest.
BlogWest gets underway on Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite.
The Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton is holding an open house on Thursday afternoon.
The Oilers host the Canadiens on Thursday evening at Rexall Place.
The high-flying Oil Kings will go for six wins in a row on Wednesday as they host Moose Jaw. On Saturday they host Red Deer at Rexall Place.
The Edmonton Rush are back in action at home on Friday evening when they’ll take on Calgary!
You can take part in the International Women’s Day March on Saturday at Tipton Park. Or, check out the Women’s Wellness Fair at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre.
The City of Edmonton is holding a Neighbourhood Engagement Workshop all day Saturday at the Santa Maria Goretti Centre.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #31

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

Most awesome story of the week? The Oilers signed Hemsky to a $10 million, two-year deal, prompting someone with control of the Calgary Flames account on Twitter to post: “$10 million over two years for Hemsky is the funnist thing I’ve heard in a long, long time. I hope it happens. #whatajoke.”
Here is Karen’s latest Edmonton New Media Roundup. She wrote about MediaCamp, as well as a bunch of other cool things happening in the community. We had a dinner with the MediaCamp organizers on Friday, the first step toward answering the question, “what next?”
It looks like retirement isn’t for Graham Hicks, because in addition to writing restaurant reviews he is now also going to be writing a weekly business column called Hicks on Biz. Looking forward to it!
Murray Blakely is one of this year’s RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients. He spent 42 years in the media, including 38 in radio and television and 26 as a traffic reporter. He was among those covering the 1987 Edmonton tornado. He retired in 1996.
Brittney has the scoop on two new members of the iNews880 team!
Alex Abboud posted an interesting entry a couple weeks ago at the Community Newsroom blog. He shared some observations from his first few weeks as the Journal’s blogger-in-residence.
91.7 The Bounce is celebrating its 7th birthday this year. The bash is scheduled for March 22 and features Pitbull and Flo Rida.
Global Edmonton’s Laurel Clark is among the journalists traveling to Africa as part of the joint Shaw Africa Project between Global News and Journalists for Human Rights (JHR). She’ll be in Liberia! Here’s a tweet of support from Vassy Kapelos.
Program director Russell James is returning to The Bounce, the station he left in 2009 when Hot 107 was launched.
Last week the CRTC approved a new FM station in Leduc. 93.1 The One FM will play the hits of the 80s, 90s, and today. You know, like every other station.
Jasmine Franklin, who recently launched her own media business, has joined Councillor Kerry Diotte’s office as a communications/research coordinator.
Congratulations to Dana DiTomaso who is CBC Edmonton’s new technology columnist! You can hear her every Monday morning on the radio.
Laurie Callsen starts as Metro Edmonton’s new digital reporter on March 18. It’ll be great to have Laurie back in Edmonton!
Here’s a sports post for you, over at mc79hockey.com: Stories the EDM media won’t tell, Vol. MX.
The deadline for applications for the 2012 Greg Clark Award is March 16. Last year’s winner, Marion Warnica, recently joined CBC Edmonton.
It looks like this video showcasing Edmonton as a great location to film horror movies and television was posted in October, but I just came across it recently:

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.

Edmonton Notes for 2/26/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Winter is back! Apparently more snow fell in the last 24 hours than has fallen all season long! A parking ban has been declared – all vehicles must be removed from residential bus routes by 7 AM.
All of that snow made illumiNITE even better though. The event featured a number of temporary light sculptures in the Alley of Light on 104 Street. Check out Stu’s blog post for more.
If you zoom in on West Edmonton Mall using Google Maps on your Android device, you’ll now be able to see a detailed floor plan and can navigate your way through the gigantic mall. WEM is the first Canadian venue to partner with Google on supporting indoor places on Google Maps.
There will be no Capitals baseball at Telus Field this year, as the team withdrew from the North American League this week citing the plummeting participation of other teams. So, what are we going to use Telus Field for? Here’s one idea – a 100 team slow-pitch tournament.
Here’s a wonderful profile of everyone’s favorite LRT driver, Tim Mireault. You know, the airline pilot driver!
Edmonton and Kamloops are finalists to host the 2015 Panamerican Junior Athletics Championships, and will face off in May to determine who wins.
The Frequency rave party took place last weekend at the Shaw Conference Centre, the first test of Council’s recent demand that such events curb alcohol and drug abuse.
Have you noticed your bus ride is a little full? ETS is dealing with some overcrowded routes.
It’s amazing to me that police received 41 calls last year about over-sized vehicles causing backups at or near the High Level Bridge.
I guess it had to happen sooner or later – Edmonton’s first homicide of 2012.
There’s $10,000 on the table for an Edmonton film-maker! The deadline for submissions for the inaugural Edmonton Film Prize is March 30.
I love this Edmonton pride – you can get an “e-town” baseball cap at Foosh!
The Edmonton Eskimos reported a net profit of $473,471 in 2011 and are confident that the loss of Ricky Ray won’t hurt them financially.
Moving slowly ahead on the southeast LRT, but how to pay for it?
What do you think, is the Talus Dome located in the right place? I agree that it’s interesting to see how many Edmontonians are interested in debating the issue.

Though I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, the Shit Edmontonians Say video was the talk of town this week so I’ve got to include it here:

Little heavy on the hockey, but I guess that is an accurate portrayal of Edmonton!

February; out like a lion by oudzo

Here are some upcoming events:

The inaugural First Nations Conference on Sustainable Buildings & Communities takes place at the River Cree starting Wednesday.
Feminist Edmonton presents Feminism Week, starting March 1. Learn more here!
The Oilers have two home games this week, on Wednesday against St. Louis and on Friday against Dallas.
The Oil Kings also have a pair of home games, hosting Swift Current on Saturday and Saskatoon on Sunday.
The Jam Union Art House Party & NextGen Social takes place on Thursday evening at the Artery.
Downtown Dining Week starts March 2!
Early heads up that there is a good old fashioned #yegtweetup scheduled for March 10!
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #30

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

Jasmine Franklin has left the Edmonton Sun to startup her own thing! She now has a freelance media company called Jasmine Franklin Media, and she’ll also serve as “a political sidekick for an Edmonton city councillor.”
They take a lot of work, but I love it when bloggers write a series of posts on a topic. Check out Kendall’s Edmonton Wedding Guide over at City and Dale.
On Friday, Telus’ new 4G LTE wireless network went live here in Edmonton. As long as you have a capable device, you can take advantage of the network – there are no new rate plans or premium charges. Learn more at http://telusmobility.com/4GLTE.
In the latest episode of The Unknown Studio, Scott & Adam talk to Alex Abboud about being the Edmonton Journal’s blogger-in-residence.
Some love for local fashion bloggers, and in particular, local male fashion bloggers!
Marty Forbes checks in on retired NHL Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Rod Phillips: “Rod’s doing well…and really enjoying his retirement.”
Taste Alberta is hiring a manager here in Edmonton. The closing date for applications was February 8, so it’ll be interesting to see who gets the job.
Their website is down right now, so I can’t get to the actual post, but Alberta Venture is hiring an editorial intern.
Pretty interesting story from Jay Palter: “It all started with a call from a national reporter about a week before the new census data was released. She mentioned that she’d seen my blog (this one) and wanted to ask me some questions about our move from Toronto to Edmonton.”
48 Hours aired their episode ‘Screenplay for Murder’ on the Mark Twitchell case on Saturday. Read more here.
Here’s an update from Avenue Edmonton on the push for an SCTV Monument.
Yikes, that’s not a very happy headline: This time, the CBC cuts will be noticeable. Not sure how Edmonton will be impacted.
The half hour series Come Dine With Me Canada is coming to Edmonton. No word on when exactly, but you can apply by emailing comedinewithme@propertelevision.com or calling 1-866-598-2591.
On February 3, CBC hosted a forum on downtown safety, which you can watch here. The panel featured Acting Supt. Tony Harder of Edmonton Police, Kyle Dube, executive director of You Can, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, Jan Fox, executive director of Reach Edmonton and Chris Buyze, president of the Downtown Edmonton Community League.
Some cool news for Gord Steinke – he has been appointed Honourary Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th Edmonton Field Ambulance, part of the 41st Canadian Brigade Group. You can learn more about the 15th Field Ambulance here.

The mystery of the “red scarf” billboards has been solved. After much speculation, it turns out the billboards are part of a new advertising campaign for Now! 102.3 FM.

Photo courtesy of West Edmonton Local.

Well tomorrow is Valentines Day, so why not enjoy some Valentines for Journalists, courtesy of 10000 Words! Oh what geeky fun.

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.

Edmonton Notes for 2/12/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Former mayor Cecil Purves didn’t hold anything back in his critique of the arena deal. “When I see a deal that is so blatantly bad for the citizens of Edmonton, and they’re giving it to a private guy who’s a billionaire, then I say to you, there’s no one in this city who’s going to back that up if they knew the facts.”
What do you think about Edmonton making a bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games? We hosted back in 1978.
The communities around Edmonton are growing quickly according to the latest census results. Leduc posted a 43% growth rate, Spruce Grove saw 33% growth, and Beaumont led the way with 48%.
In case you missed it, here’s my post on the local aspect of the 2011 Federal Census.
The new terminal at the Edmonton International Airport officially opened on Saturday. The new Central Tower will open later this year.
Six non-profit public projects are receiving funding through the Community Facility Partner Capital Grants Program. Among other things, Metro Cinema is getting digital projection upgrades and the Arygll Velodrome is getting track and drainage repairs.
Hooray for this! Councillor Iveson submitted a formal inquiry to look at the possibility of an LRT stop between Southgate and Century Park.
ETS is testing a prototype coins-only counting farebox on four buses this week.
Employment in the Edmonton CMA slipped last month by 3500 jobs, as the unemployment rate rose from 4.9% to 5.0%.
Edmonton has reclaimed the prize of Sirens for Life champion in the 10th annual inter-city blood donor challenge.
The province intends to collect an extra $120 million from education taxes this year, which could boost the total average Edmonton property tax bill by 7.2%. On the other hand, the City is in line to received a $2 million MSI increase and more funding for policing.
The Grierson Hill Bridge will be completely closed starting Saturday and will not reopen until the fall when a new bridge is built.
I know you’ve all been waiting for this news: Walmart Canada plans to add five stores to Edmonton this year.

Such a cool shot of the Bay/Enterprise Square LRT Station by Alison Poole:

Here are some upcoming events:

The next round of public consultation workshops for the City Centre Redevelopment takes place this week, with opportunities on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Avenue Edmonton’s 2012 Design Competition winner will be awarded on Thursday.
This year’s edition of the popular Silver Skate Festival starts on Friday, and runs through Monday.
I’m really looking forward to Latitude 53’s 1st Annual Parka Patio Party on Saturday!
Monday is Family Day, which means the end of Metropolis.
The Oilers have three games at home this week: Toronto on Wednesday, Colorado on Friday, and Vancouver on Sunday.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #29

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

MediaCamp Edmonton is taking place on Saturday the World Trade Centre downtown. Check out our schedule, speakers, and sponsors, and get your tickets now!
Old news, but I haven’t written about it here yet: Alex Abboud was selected to be the Edmonton Journal’s first blogger-in-residence.
A couple of losses for CTV Edmonton to report: Simon Ostler is moving to Toronto to join CP24, and Richard Ozero is also departing, though I haven’t yet seen when or to where.
I’m not sure how long ago this happened, but I see that GIG CITY is now a news source in Google News!
Rogers is seeking submissions for the Alberta Local Programming Initiative. They cite “Oil Change” and “The Quon Dynasty” as examples of the kinds of shows they are looking for – “local stories that have relevance to a national audience, with an emphasis on exploring exciting ideas and worlds that have not been exposed on television.” The deadline to get your proposal in is February 15, 2012.
Here is an updated list of all Edmonton Journal accounts on Twitter. It has really grown over time!
To help promote Expansion 2012, the Edmonton International Airport joined forces with The Bridge to have bloggers cover the test day that happened on Saturday. Maybe I’m missing something, but I only see two reports, and really only one that looks related to the weekend. I guess we’ll have to wait to see how successful this experiment is.
“Lesley Primeau comes off like a hard-boiled, old-school journalist you don’t want to mess with if you know what’s good for you.” Haha, yes, yes she does. Mike Ross profiles the Edmonton radio vet at GIG CITY.
Premier Alison Redford invited the media to join her on the LRT last week as she traveled to the Jubilee Auditorium.
Steven Sandor, Editor of Avenue Edmonton, and local bloggers Chris Falconer and Duncan Kinney are among the presenters scheduled to wow us at Pecha Kucha Night 12 on Thursday evening. Looking forward to it!
Global Edmonton’s Su-Ling Goh has joined Twitter. Here’s her first tweet.
Brent Wittmeier reflects on two years at the Edmonton Journal in a recent blog post. He estimates that the Journal printed “roughly 100,000 copies of a 960-page book of Wittmeierian observations, split-infinitives, and awkward transitions.” In a follow-up post, he shared his “favourite” story of 2011.
I love that the Edmonton Sun uses existing off-the-shelf tools instead of trying to roll their own. Disqus for comments, and Wufoo for scoops are two examples!
Derek Zona over at The Copper & Blue calls out the local media for pumping up the Oilers rebuild without much critical analysis.
If you don’t already subscribe to Michael Geist’s blog, you should. Lately he has been covering SOPA, ACTA, and Bill C-11.
The February 2012 issue of Boyle McCauley News is now online!
Targa Communications launched the Alberta Media Network last week, a news release production and distribution service. “Twitter will also play a major role in the operations of the company. News releases will be posted on the social media site so that the public can view them and get involved in the discussion as well.”

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.

Edmonton Notes for 1/29/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Saturday was a big day for the Edmonton International Airport. More than 800 people took part in a trial run, where they did everything a passenger would (minus actually getting on a plane). Expansion 2012 looks awesome!
Earlier this week, the EIA announced that Canadian North will be using the facility as its southern charter home base.
The International Housing Affordability Survey found that Edmonton has the most housing of Canada’s six major metropolitan reasons.
This is why I love blogs. Here’s The Copper & Blue’s take on recent mainstream media coverage of the Oilers rebuild: “Luckily the discerning fan is no longer forced to rely on writers who are forced to list "access" as their single best credential in writing about, understanding and analyzing hockey.”
It was a busy week in Leduc. Both the Downtown Master Plan and and the Intermunicipal Development Plan were approved.
Though he campaigned for mayor on the issue, PC MLA candidate David Dorward says that if elected he would not bring the City Centre Airport up.
I love stories like this. Edmonton-based Liquor Stores N.A. has annual sales of $600 million, employs 2000 people across 240 stores, and has a $355 million market cap. Like too many things in Edmonton, it’s a quiet success story.
According to the Journal, the Shih Tzu is the most popular licensed breed of dog in the city. Buddy is the most popular name.
The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters are opening a second location inside a former carpentry workshop at 9305 111 Avenue.
Don’t miss Alex’s take on winter in Edmonton.
People nominated as Snow Angels throughout the city will receive tickets to an Oil Kings game as a result of a new partnership between the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Oil Kings.
I’ve written quite a bit about Edmonton Stories in the past, so I was quite interested to see that estimates put the cost of the site at $131 per story.
We’re coming up to the 100th anniversary of Strathcona’s merger with Edmonton.

Dawson Bridge by Stoncel

And here are some upcoming events:

The community hearings for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline wrap up on Tuesday here in Edmonton.
Head down to the Stanley Milner library on Tuesday for the Local Money Summit.
The Oilers are in action at home three times this week, hosting the Avalanche on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Thursday, and the Red Wings on Saturday.
The next Bossy Night Out takes place on Thursday evening!
Edmonton’s 12th Pecha Kucha Night is happening on Thursday at the Garneau Theatre.
The Oil Kings play the Red Deer Rebels at Rexall Place on Friday night.
Hope to see you at MediaCamp Edmonton on Saturday! Buy your tickets now!

Media Monday Edmonton: Global Edmonton’s Tim Spelliscy on local news ratings

Last week the first ever BBM PPM (Portable People Meter) ratings for television in Edmonton were released. Known as the Fall 2011 survey, the ratings cover the time period beginning September 12, 2011 and ending December 18, 2011. The ratings are further broken down into three demographic categories: 18+, 18-49, and 25-54. The top show in Edmonton? Big Bang Theory, on CTV Edmonton, with an average of 117,000 viewers per minute during each broadcast. In the 18+ demographic, Global Edmonton scored 5 of the top 10 shows, followed by CTV Edmonton with 4, and CBC Edmonton with 1.

That’s interesting, but what I really care about is local news, stuff that is produced here in Edmonton. Here are the numbers for local news for the 18+ demographic:

18+

Here are the numbers for local news for the 18-49 demographic:

18-49

Here are the numbers for local news for the 25-54 demographic:

25-54

All of that data comes from: BBM Canada PPM, Edmonton EMA, Sep 12-Dec18/11; min 3 airings. AMA means average minute audience, the average number of viewers per minute during the broadcast.

What I find particularly interesting is that in the 18+ demographic, the six o’clock news for both Global and CTV do quite well at #3 and #10 respectively, but if you look at the 18-49 demographic they drop considerably, to #26 and #44. That suggests to me that seniors make up a big chunk of the audience for the local six o’clock news. Not an encouraging sign if that’s your business.

Still, as far as as news is concerned it was a strong result for Global Edmonton, and their news release says as much:

Edmontonians have made it perfectly clear: their number one choice for news is Global Edmonton. According to BBM PPM (Portable People Meter) Fall 2011 survey, all of Global Edmonton’s newscasts continue to win their timeslots – morning, noon and night in total audience and in all key demographics including A18-49 and A25-54. Edmonton was recently added to the BBM’s electronic PPM system, providing a much better estimate of viewing habits.

Given that Global did so well in the first survey, I wanted to hear what Tim Spelliscy, Global’s Regional Director for News in Alberta, thought of the results. He agreed to answer my questions via email.

Why is the BBM PPM survey important to Global Edmonton?

This is the first extensive survey using new (PPM) technology, so we know it’s a more accurate reflection of actual viewing rather than someone trying to recall what they watched and filling out a survey by hand. It reflects viewing patterns that we felt were happening, so it confirmed what our own research had been telling us about audience support.

What’s the impact of being #1 in news?

Edmonton is a strong news market with excellent production provided by several local stations, so to come out as the top news station by such a wide margin is very flattering. We are grateful for this kind of support, and it’s fantastic for all of our sponsors and community partners to know that they are associated with a very strong local news brand. I think the confirmation that we are number one will bring new viewers to our news programs. They want to see what they’ve been missing.

The News Hour is the 3rd most watched program in the 18+ demographic, but it falls to 26th when you narrow the demographics to 18-49. Does that concern you?

We’re still the top news program in 18-49, and the numbers are close with a lot of other shows, but it does give us an area we can work on. We can always do a better job attracting younger viewers.

What’s on the horizon for Global Edmonton? How are you going to remain #1?

We’ve got to keep doing the small things right to remain number one. We have to focus on story selection and story treatment and we need to be on top of breaking news and ensure we are covering the stories that viewers really care about. That seems simple to do, but it’s not. I think there are lots of areas where we can improve the news programs we produce, but there won’t be any major overhauls – just some tweaking. We also need to continue to be the local news leader in our use of technology. We’ve done well with an early conversion to HD and we have the only television news helicopter in our city. We have some good ideas about what changes and improvements we can make next – stay tuned!

Which of the other top Global shows is your favorite?

It’s Glee for sure. We try to watch it every week or I set my SHAW PVR and watch Glee on the weekend. Good characters and good music. It’s light, funny and an “escape”!

Thanks to Tim for answering my questions!

I look forward to the next survey results.

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