2011

You can keep up-to-date with local news and more during the week at Edmonton Etcetera. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

The State of the City Report for 2010-2011 was released this week.
Edmonton is one of eight Canadian cities to make McKinsey & Co.’s list of the top 600 cities. You can explore the report here.
This year’s Donate-a-Ride Campaign raised enough funds to provide more than 80,000 transit tickets to Edmontonians in need. The program has distributed a total of 835,252 tickets worth $1.5 million over the last 15 years.
Edmonton’s new Chief of Police, Roderick Knecht, will start his new role on June 1. City Council ratified his appointment this week.
The winners of the competition to design five City parks were announced this week. It’s the first time the City has used a competition to solicit design concepts for infrastructure projects.
I’m very happy to see the Federal Building finally getting some attention again.
Construction on the north LRT is starting to ramp up, and that means changes and impacts on Kingsway Avenue, which the City has shared information on here.
You wouldn’t know it based on this year’s disappointing 5-11 record, but the Edmonton Rush were nearly in the championship final last year. At least they finished the current season on a high note, defeating the Toronto Rock 18-14.
The City has delayed closing Scona Road until May 3 due to the federal election.
The Edmonton International Airport is looking for feedback on its new Master Plan for future development. You can email them by April 27.
Residential speed limits were back in the news again this week, as a report on the speed limit reduction pilot made its way back to the transportation committee.
City Council approved plans for a new $5.5 million recreation centre in Abbottsfield this week.
Wendy Cooper has been named the first president and chief executive of Port Alberta. She was formerly chief executive of Consulting Engineers of Alberta.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Last week was National Volunteer Week! Thank you all volunteers!
Earth Day has been cancelled in Edmonton. That’s the second time in three years.
The Edmonton Public School Board is holding a series of School Closure Moratorium Committee meetings, and you’re invited.
Coming up on April 29 – don’t miss the Tweetup Cleanup Challenge!
Edmonton Next Gen and interVivos are hosting Candi(date) on Wednesday, a federal election forum.
Creativity in the City sounds like a really interesting free lecture. It takes place Tuesday evening.
The International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety started today and runs through Thursday.
Wednesday is Administrative Professionals Day.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that you can vote for the Best of Edmonton 2011, SEE Magazine’s annual survey of local favorites. This blog is nominated in the best local blog category!

Nelson Webb captured this week’s return to snow quite well. Messy.

Great shot by SkepticRod.

Media Monday Edmonton: Results of the Twitchell Coverage Survey

In last week’s update, I included a survey on the media’s coverage of the Mark Twitchell trial. As of this morning a total of 73 responses were recorded. Here are the results:

It’s the reasons why people are or are not paying attention that I was really interested in, however:

Clearly there’s a difference between paying attention and wanting to pay attention. The good news for the media is that no respondents said the coverage was of low quality, and only one suggested it wasn’t being delivered appropriately.

I know there are plenty of people out there who want to read about the trial. I am not one of those people!

A total of 17 respondents (23%) would describe themselves as a member of the media. Just 4 respondents (5%) did not identify themselves as residents in the Edmonton region.

Twitchell Tweets

I decided to look at Twitchell-related tweets from Edmontonians since March 1. It’s interesting to see the weekends so clearly defined:

Here are the top twenty Twitchell tweeters:

So who’s talking about Twitchell on Twitter? The media, as you can see. Those 20 users account for 69.8% of all local Twitchell-related tweets.

Roundup: The Royal Alberta Museum is moving downtown

It’s amazing how big news can just seemingly drop from the sky sometimes! Yesterday’s big announcement here in Edmonton was that the Royal Alberta Museum will be rebuilt downtown:

A new comprehensive Royal Alberta Museum will be built in downtown Edmonton starting this year, featuring twice as much gallery space, direct connections to public transit, proximity to the Arts District, and the ability to host major international exhibits and rare artifacts. The new museum will be equipped to showcase both Alberta’s history and its natural wonders, and will be free of the limitations of the current museum site.

The new museum is expected to cost $340 million and is set to open by 2015. Budget 2011 includes $180 million over the first three years of the project, which includes $30 million from the Federal government. Here’s a rough rendering of the building:

For a better look, check out this video from the Province introducing the new concept:

[googlemaps https://www.youtube.com/embed/xkbxfUSWgh0″ frameborder=”0″ width=”524″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”>

Here’s where the site is located (click here for Street View):

Lots has been written/recorded about the project already. Here are some of the things I have come across that are worth checking out.

From the Edmonton Journal:

The current museum will stay open for the next four years. Discussions are just starting on what to do with the old museum and the rest of the property in Glenora, although a portion will eventually house a new residence for the lieutenant-governor.

“Right now, I can tell you it’s not going to be condos,” Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett said. He said it’s “very unlikely” the land will be sold to private developers.

From the CBC:

Stelmach said the museum land could be the future home of the Edmonton terminal for a high-speed rail line to Calgary. Land for a Calgary station was purchased in 2007.

Paula Simons picked up on that as well at The Edmonton Commons and added:

There’s no denying the real attractions of this site. It would be accessible by LRT – especially if the city were to “activate” the dormant LRT stop, known as Future Station, that’s already roughed in under the Brownlee Building. It would be linked to the existing pedway system. It would be a block east of that proposed arena and entertainment district, assuming such a thing actually comes to be built. It would be a way to push attractive development into the Chinatown/Boyle/McCauley area. It would make the Churchill Square/City Hall precinct a true arts centre. And it would be a fabulous companion to the AGA – a tourist draw in the heart of the city core. It might also help to give impetus to develop on the Station Lands site directly to the north – and even integrate with possible plans to turn Mary Burlie Park, just to the north of the proposed RAM site, into a Chinese garden and cultural centre.

From Global Edmonton:

The decision to move to a new location was made because of size constraints at the old location, and because the construction process would have forced the museum to close for a significant amount of time while the construction was in progress. As a result, the province says the cost to build on a new location will be less than the cost of trying to redevelop the old site.

From CTV Edmonton:

This spring, a competitive bidding process will seek out a private sector consortium to design and build the new facility.

Finally, while I like the spirit of David Staples’ latest column, it’s unfortunate that most of the words are dedicated to the arena, not the RAM. Still, it is great news for downtown!

What else have you come across that is worth sharing?

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #5

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

As mentioned previously, Tim Spelliscy is set to receive the 2011 RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award for the Prairie Region at the awards banquet in Saskatoon on Saturday. Global Edmonton will also receive awards in the Diversity, Indepth/Investigative, Continuing Coverage, and Editorial Commentary categories.
Here’s an interview with Chris Boutet, senior producer for digital media at the National Post. Chris is originally from Edmonton!
Weekly readership for the Edmonton Sun grew by 3.8% in 2010, according to the latest Newspaper Audience Databank readership study. Weekend readership “remained steady” while the Sun’s online audience grew by 11%. Combined with 24 Hours, “the reach of Sun Media in Edmonton grew to 432,800 individuals each week.”
CBC launched HD broadcasts in Calgary and Edmonton on April 1 for Shaw Cable subscribers. Telus TV subscribers will get access ton May 27.
Local play-by-play legend Rod Phillips called his last Oilers game last week. He worked 10 games this season.
The Journal’s Todd Babiak has been shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal, a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of humour published in Canada. Babiak is one of five finalists thanks to his fourth novel, Toby: A Man. The winner will be announced on April 28.
On March 25, 95.7 The Sound changed formats and is now Lite 95.7. You can see the letter from General Manager Tamara Konrad annoucing the change here. The format change affected more than just the station, however, it is also having an impact on the local music scene.
As a follow-up to my performance entry from February, here’s a handy tool from Google to measure the speed of your website.

Rick McConnell wrote an article in The Journal essentially defending coverage of the Mark Twitchell trial. I’m interested in the media’s coverage of the story, and I’m curious about what others think. I’ve created a quick survey to gather some feedback (it’s not meant to be scientific or anything):

var host = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://secure.” : “http://”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + host + “wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));
var m7x3s5 = new WufooForm();
m7x3s5.initialize({
‘userName’:’mastermaq’,
‘formHash’:’m7x3s5′,
‘autoResize’:true,
‘height’:’1005′});
m7x3s5.display();

If you have trouble with the above form, you can access it here. Thanks in advance!

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!

Edmonton Notes for 4/3/2011

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

It was another big week for arena news. The City released the latest round of reports on Thursday, and held a media conference that you can watch here. Councillor Caterina questioned the arena construction timeline, while Paula Simons thinks its daft to tie all core revenue growth to the arena project. With the federal election underway, local incumbents and candidates had to weigh in on the issue as well.
Speaking of the federal election, Dave has the rundown on the election races to watch in Edmonton.
Preliminary figures indicate that the City of Edmonton posted a record surplus of $42 million in 2010.
Edmonton made a bunch of lists this week: #8 on Canada’s Best Places to Live 2011 (St. Albert was #5), #4 on the Top 10 Family Vacations in Canada, and #6 on the Top 10 Entrepreneurial Cities in Canada.
If you present a valid ETS ticket or monthly pass when purchasing admission at the Art Gallery of Alberta you’ll receive a discount equal to the cost of the transit fare ($2.85).
Here are the Operation 24-Hours numbers for March. A total of 1135 speeding violations and 311 other violations were recorded during the 24 hours beginning March 28 at 7 AM.
The City has renewed its subscription to Envista Enterprise ROW Coordination for two years. It’s an enterprise map-based coordination system for the public right-of-way.
Remember, it’s all about awareness: power usage rose 1.01% during last weekend’s Earth Hour.
Is the coming flood of office space downtown a golden opportunity?
The City of Edmonton has appealed to the province to halt a new fee to search vehicle license places that could cost the cost $10 million in lost revenue from photo radar and red light tickets.
Check it out: Old Strathcona rediscovered in an old fashioned film.
Local radio station 95.7 The Sound changed formats last week to Lite 95.7 and negatively impacted the local music scene in the process.
The Edmonton Police Service is holding an online town hall on Connect2Edmonton this week. Also: pharmacy robberies are apparently on the rise.
Longtime Oilers play-by-play man Rod Phillips called his last game on Tuesday – number 3542, to be exact.
Here’s a great article on the Never Ending Learning conference that was organized by The Learning Centre Literacy Association.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Hope you didn’t get too fooled on Friday. My favorites: The Sprawlette, State of the Edmonton Twitterverses, and a preview of the edmontonian on ShawTV.
In case you missed it, we launched The Edmonton Champions Project on Thursday night.
The Oilers are in action at home twice this week, on Tuesday against the Canucks, and on Friday against Minnesota.
The City-Region Studies Centre is hosting a free lecture on community economic development on Tuesday evening at the Katz Centre on the University of Alberta campus.
Designing Downtown is happening on Wednesday evening at the AGA. Should be a great event.
The next interVivos event, Red Tape Diaries, takes place on Thursday evening at Devlin’s on Whyte.
CityCamp is taking place on Saturday at the Robbins Health Learning Centre.
That evening, the Rush are home to the Colorado Mammoth.
Also Saturday is LogiCON, which brings together members of the scientific and skeptic communities. Get your tickets here.
The next Alley of Light open house is set for Sunday afternoon at Enterprise Square.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

I started shaking my head as soon as I read the first few words of this article:

A new six-lane freeway being planned for southwest Edmonton could someday zip motorists from Anthony Henday Drive to the city boundary at 100 km/h.

That freeway would not be completed for another 40 to 50 years. Why plan for this now? It’s absurd. I can’t believe we’re spending resources on that when we could be building the LRT and removing the need for the freeway altogether.

I had fun at GalaGuru on Friday night! Check out Guru Digital Arts College here.

One of the features at the event: Invisible Art Gallery!

Love the toque!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #4

I’ve decided to rename the “week in review” posts to simply “update” because I don’t do them every week! Here’s my latest update:

CKUA has been shortlisted for the opportunity to receive a $100,000 grant from Pepsi Canada. If they win, they’re going to establish a Songwriter-in-Residence program. You can vote for them here. The voting period ends April 30 and you can vote once per day.
Intercamp, Grant MacEwan University’s student newspaper, is changing its name. They’re also revamping the paper’s look. The plan is to have all of the changes completed for MacEwan’s 40th anniversary, which kicks off on September 1. There’s an online poll with five options: The Griff, The MacEwan Times, The MacEwan Edge, The Tower Press, and The Pickle.
More award nominations for the Edmonton Journal recently! The paper was nominated for two awards in multimedia categories by the News Photographers Association of Canada. One for Ryan Jackson’s video of the world-record dodgeball game, and one for Jackson and Ben Gelinas for their video profiling Susan Wirtanen. Winners will be announced in Winnipeg on May 28.
And more award wins for the Journal. Elise Stotle and Larry Wong both won EdNews Awards recently from the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
Once again I missed Social Media Breakfast Edmonton, which took place on Friday morning. You can see speaker Nikki Van Dusen’s slides here.
From The Globe and Mail: Canada’s first social media election is on, but will people vote?
Apparently $3.28 million will be used to produce or license programs for Citytv in Calgary & Edmonton after the CRTC approved a request by Rogers to “redirect tangible benefits” resulting from its acquisition of CHUM. More focus on local is always good!
This is a neat project – the Edmonton Journal has built an online map to report potholes. Unfortunately they chose to build something separate from the City of Edmonton’s existing report-a-pothole service. It would be nice if they were connected. Still, I love to see this initiative.
Here’s a very thoughtful opinion piece from Jonathan Willis on Edmonton-based coverage of the Nikolai Khabibulin signing. It’s an interesting examination of sports blogging and why amateurs are thriving.
I’ll have more on this later, but a request a couple of weeks ago by the Edmonton Journal and CBC to have Internet access in court during the Mark Twitchell trial was rejected. Read more on the use of Twitter for court reporting here.
The University of Alberta continues its steady march into the world of social media, now with a Tumblr.
You may have heard that we have a federal election on the way here in Canada! Local media seemed a little annoyed by Jack Layton’s inaccessibility while he was in Edmonton on Saturday. He is of course providing updates on Twitter!
The Edmonton Journal has appointed Joseph Wuest as vice-president of advertising sales and marketing. He joined The Journal just over three years ago and was formerly director of advertising for The Brick.
A bunch of “local media celebrities” got to participate in Western Canada Fashion Week on Saturday. Here is Mike Ross’ recap.
About 500 Shaw employees in Western Canada lost their jobs last week, including 50 here in Edmonton.
In its first year of operation, page views on the Edmonton Journal’s mobile site increased by over 1300%.

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!

Edmonton Notes for 3/20/2011

I’m writing this using the excellent free wi-fi at the Edmonton International Airport. So glad we have this now. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

The weather has been great this week – that means it’s pothole season.
The City of Edmonton was recognized as a leader in accessibility this week by the Canadian Paraplegic Association, receiving the Percy Wickman Accessibility Award for the Terwillegar Recreation Centre.
Edmonton’s faith communities have joined forces to formally pledge their support for Edmonton’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.
Northlands and Junior Achievement Northern Alberta announced a new partnership this week that will help educate more than 16,000 students about being prepared for the work world.
Contracting out snow removal would not result in proven cost savings, according to a city report.
Apparently the cost of building a reconstructed movie theatre at Fort Edmonton Park is rising – an additional $2.8 million is required.
Construction on Capital Boulevard, 108 Street between MacEwan and the Legislature, is set to begin in May.
TOTEM is opening a new $20 million, 52,000 square foot store in Ellerslie, the second location that will apply for LEED certification.
After six years, Tu Gallery on 124 Street is closing its doors.
A new city report says the City needs to hire ten more transit peace officers to improve ETS security.
Is Danielle Smith a friend or foe of Edmonton’s LRT expansion plans? David Staples thinks she has to do more.
The federal government is contributing $1.5 million toward a new biomass heating system at Sherwood Park’s Centre in the Park. They’re also spending $3.5 million on a new genomics lab at the University of Alberta.
Technology that stops ice from forming on roadways is being tested on the Anthony Henday bridge over the North Saskatchewan River in the southwest.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
The 2010 Annual Policing Plan Report Card is now available from the Edmonton Police Commission and the Edmonton Police Service.
The deadline to nominate someone for the 2011 Mayor’s Awards is Friday, March 25.
There’s another public information session on the Walterdale Bridge replacement scheduled for Tuesday evening at the TransAlta Arts Barns.
Twestival is happening here in Edmonton on Thursday at. The event is supporting the Edmonton Public Schools Foundation. Get your tickets here!
Western Canada Fashion Week kicks off on Thursday evening.
The Edmonton Rush are hosting the Minnesota Swarm at Rexall Place on Friday evening.
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is launching its 60th season on Friday with a free lunchtime concert at the Winspear Centre. Don’t miss it!
Calgary is in town on Saturday evening to take on the Oilers.
Edmonton Water Week is taking place from March 21 to Saturday, March 26.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

This is what 105 Street looks like north of 107 Avenue now that the City removed a number of trees to make way for the North LRT extension.

There’s a beautiful mural on 107 Avenue, except that it is hidden most of the winter by snow!

This is the biggest puddle (aka mini-lake) I have seen, located at 104 Street and 103 Avenue downtown. You?

Media Monday Edmonton: Title Junk

I’ve been thinking of writing this post for a while now. Back in December John Gruber wrote about title junk, also known as “poorly designed web page titles”. It is something I have thought about more and more since launching Edmonton Etcetera, because I link to so many things using essentially just the title of the web page. I like relatively clean titles, but unfortunately as John wrote, “an awful lot of websites use patterns for page titles that are ugly, hard-to-scan, and/or just plain stupid.” Let’s find out which local media websites are the worst culprits!

Here are the front page titles for some local media sites (in no particular order):

And here are the article page titles for those same sites:

There’s a little bit of everything there, from nice and clean, to full of junk. There are all kinds of delimiters too – colons, dashes, arrows, pipes, etc. I think what is perhaps most interesting is the variety! Aside from the Edmonton Journal and Global Edmonton (which appear to have the same CMS), and a couple of the WordPress sites, they’re all different.

I like the cleanness of the Edmonton Journal’s article headlines, but I think including the source would be better. I love the “awesome since 2009” tagline of theedmontonian. And I despise the lack of anything meaningful in the iNews880 article titles – they’re completely useless as page titles.

I’ve thought about what to use on my own blog, and could never really decide. Source: Headline? Headline – Source? I’ve changed my page titles more than a few times. I settled on the “at” delimiter most recently, which I’m still not 100% sold on, for one reason only: it sounds appropriate when you read it aloud.

The bottom line is that page titles matter. They should be written for humans, not software!

What do you think?

Edmonton Notes for 3/13/2011

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Edmonton received the very exciting news this week that our city was chosen as the first Canadian city to receive a grant from IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge. Edmonton will receive up to $400,000 and access to IBM’s top experts to tackle strategic projects.
City Council’s special initiative assignments were released this week. Their salaries and benefits are also online.
Elephant specialist Dr. James Oosterhuis acknowledged this week that Lucy is showing some health improvements, but he remains concerned about her breathing difficulties.
It sounds like last weekend’s Refinery was another big success for the Art Gallery of Alberta. But is it really an example of how our cultural institutions are changing?
On Wednesday, the Edmonton Public Schools Board of Trustees became the first board in Alberta to pass a motion to develop specify policy to ensure all schools prevent harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ students and staff.
Congrats to Weird Canada on being voted best music site by the listeners of CBC Radio 3! Check out the blog here.
The Courtyard by Marriott was acquired this week by California-based MIG Real Estate. Terms were not disclosed.
The LRT expansion is underway in Central McDougall, but some residents are upset that the City has chopped down a canopy of elm trees without much notice. Large boulevard elm trees are worth about $60,000 each.
More bad news for the Oilers: Sam Gagner has joined Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky in the pressbox for the rest of the season.
SEE has a write-up on Lorne Humphreys, spokesman for Speak Up Edmonton, one of the organizations opposed to the downtown arena.
Victor Mah, a well-known Edmontonian restaurateur, died recently at the age of 91.
There’s another music festival coming up – Utopia is scheduled for June 17 and 18 in Hawrelak Park.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Edmonton Next Gen is running a Vibrant Communities Survey. Fill it out before March 20!
The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation 2011 St. Patrick’s Day Puck Surprise Online Charity Auction (LONGEST NAME EVER) is now on until March 22. Lots of autographed stuff up for grabs!
The City of Edmonton posted a very basic video on the Community Revitalization Levy. I’m hopeful a more in-depth part two is on the way!
Here’s a cool project from Jay Palter: YEG Mappuccino. He’s mapping his quest to find the best cappuccino in Edmonton.
The deadline for nominations for the 2011 Mayor’s Awards is fast approaching! Nominate someone by March 25.
Want to help create walking maps for Crestwood, Laurier Heights, and Parkview? There’s a workshop taking place on Thursday evening.
The Edmonton Collectible Toy & Comic Show takes place on Sunday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
Seedy Sunday is also taking place on March 20, at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall.
Earth Hour is coming up on March 26. There will be family entertainment at City Hall starting at 7:15pm.
The Oilers are back at home this week, hosting Phoenix on Thursday, and Colorado on Saturday.
The Oil Kings are also at home twice this week, on Tuesday against Lethbridge, and Friday against Red Deer.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Sharon and I went to see Hunchback at The Citadel tonight. It was a great show, though Nevermore remains my Catalyst Theatre favorite. Hunchback runs until March 27 in the Shoctor Theatre.

The City Market is back downtown, in City Hall until it opens again on 104 Street.

Warm weather has returned! You know what that means. Photo by one42chrisp.

Media Monday Edmonton: Week in Review #3

Here’s my third week in review:

Biggest news of the week as far as I am concerned is the announcement that the edmontonian will be debuting a 30-minute show on Shaw TV this April. “We wanted new ways to tell Edmonton’s stories. We wanted new ways for you to contribute,” wrote editors Jeff and Sally in their announcement. It’ll be really interesting to see how this marriage of traditional and new media plays out. They’re looking for contributors too, so get in touch if you’re interested (PDF).
The Edmonton Journal has been nominated for two awards by the International Newsmedia Marketing Association. Taste Alberta was nominated for Marketing Campaign With the Best Results, and the Grey Cup 2010 supplement was nominated for Public Relations and Community Service. A total of 72 newspapers made the list. The winners will be announced on May 17 in New York.
Global Edmonton Trouble Shooter Julie Matthews received two Alberta Consumer Champion Awards in the media category today. It was her second and third consecutive win in a row, according to Global. She won for her “Lemon Aid” series on buying a vehicle, as well as for her “Civil Court” series on the basics of the justice system. Global has embedded the videos here.
Here’s an interesting marketing approach. MacEwan University’s Bachelor of Communication Studies has an online contest with some fun questions centered around getting “the real information out.” You could win an iPad. The contest closes March 31. The domain for the contest – www.whatseriously.com – seems as though it might be used again in the future. Follow @MacEwan_BCS on Twitter for updates.
Marty Forbes has a roundup of local media comings and goings. He reports, among other things, that Jason Roberts has landed at UP FM after the E Z Rock flip to Virgin Radio.
The Alberta Magazines Conference is coming up from March 24-26 in Calgary at the Carriage House Inn.
As a follow-up to last week’s notes: Vue Weekly has removed the “100% Independent” banner on its website. Also, they have an “Exclusive Online Content” section on the website – anyone know how long that has been there?
A reminder that Shaw’s customer discussions on UBB start tomorrow in Edmonton.
I’m not sure what the local impact of this news is, but regulators have approved BCE Inc.’s purchase of CTVglobemedia.
The Sun News Network is set to launch on April 18 (follow @SunNewsNetwork on Twitter). They’ve been busy posting photos of the new studios in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg. No love for Edmonton apparently.
This isn’t particularly local but I want to mention it anyway – Metro is expanding to Winnipeg and London, ON.
Edmonton’s foodie blog queen Sharon Yeo made Western Living magazine’s Top 40 Foodies Under 40 for 2011 (PDF) for her popular blog onlyhereforthefood.ca in the Media/Activists category. Congrats Sharon!
Edmonton’s oldest community newspaper is now online: Boyle McCauley News recently launched a new website. Paula Kirman has the story behind the new site here. I think it looks great!

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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