TORONTO – The Ontario Association of Broadcasters will be inducting two of the great entrepreneurs in Canadian history, Peter and Tony Viner, into the OAB Hall of Fame tomorrow at the Gala Awards Dinner following the Connections 2012 fall conference.
Peter, 67, helped the late Izzy Asper build Canwest Global into a multi-billion-dollar international media powerhouse before the company fell on hard, debt-burdened, times. Tony, 65, built Rogers Media from two Toronto radio stations (Ted Rogers’ famous first media asset, CHFI-FM, and CFTR-AM, now 680News) when he came on board in 1982 to a billion-dollar radio, print and TV enterprise. Click here for Cartt.ca’s in-depth profile of the siblings who worked for rival broadcasters.
While both are now retired (Peter in 2010 for the second time when the ailing Canwest was sold to Shaw and Tony, also in 2010), they still work part-time in the business. Tony is on the board of directors of Sirius XM Canada and Peter will soon work as the trustee for Score Media’s TV assets as it awaits the approval of its sale to Rogers Media.
The Gala Awards Dinner will include presentations of the OAB Hall of Fame Awards, Community Service Awards and Ontario Broadcast Order of Achievement. This is the first year, the OAB will be presenting the Ontario Broadcast Order of Achievement and OAB Hall of Fame awards. Other regional associations across the country have agreed to continue these long standing traditions of broadcasting. Presentations will take place at each Association’s award dinner.
The OAB Hall of Fame will replace the OAB Lifetime Achievement Award. This award will continue to honour excellence at the regional level. A Board nominated honour, the OAB Hall of Fame is presented to individuals who spent most of their careers working for private broadcasters and demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of broadcast excellence.
The Broadcast Order of Achievement is continuing to recognize dedication to the industry, as previously acknowledged by the CAB’s quarter/half century club. There are three levels of recognition, Bronze for 10-14 years of service, Silver for 15-24 years of service and Gold for 25+ years of service. Persons wishing to be recognized for their tenure in broadcasting may do so by applying on-line.
The Gala Award Dinner will be held on Tuesday, November 6th, 2012, immediately following the OAB fall conference, Connection 2012 at the Westin Bristol Place Hotel, 950 Dixon Road in Toronto. Gala Award Dinner tickets are $99 for members/$129 for non-members and can be purchased online.
