TORONTO – Broadcaster, entrepreneur and community activist Don Shafer is being inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony will take place during Canadian Music Week at the Canadian Radio Music Awards luncheon scheduled for May 8, 2015 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel in Toronto.
Shafer has dedicated more than 50 years to the broadcasting industry, earning respect and recognition for his strategic ability to turn around radio stations, revive their image, restore their profitability and make a difference in their local communities. Working both on and off the air, he has collaborated with many of Canada's best broadcasters developing legendary brands such as CHOM FM, CHUM FM, The Fox, Rock 101, SUN FM and Q107.
A true visionary, Shafer was a proponent and one of the early supporters of webcasting and programming over the Internet. He has been at the helm of various broadcasting properties including the TorStar Media Group where he helped create Toronto Star TV – a direct response TV enterprise – and developed the company's television production facilities to extend the Toronto Star newspaper brand into television. In addition, he was one of the primary drivers of the successful transition of Standard/Astral/Bell Media's radio and television properties in the BC interior.
An active member in the broadcasting community, Shafer has served on a number of boards and committees including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Marketing Bureau, Television Marketing Bureau, the Small Market Independent Television Group, the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters and FACTOR, and is a past president of the Ontario Association of Broadcasters.
Under contract with the Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group in Winnipeg, Shafer assisted with the acquisition of QX104 and FAB 94 before engaging in his latest project ‘Roundhouse Radio’. As president and CEO of the station, along with his team and an independent B.C. ownership group, Shafer will be launching a new urban talk radio station in Vancouver in early 2015.
“I am both humbled and honoured to be the recipient of this award and be in the company of so many good friends, mentors and colleagues," Shafer said in the announcement.
Canadian Music Week 2015 will take place May 1 – 10, 2015 in Toronto.
