BANFF – Wendy Mesley, CBC broadcaster and co-host of Marketplace, accepted the ACTRA John Drainie Award today at the 27th Banff World Television Festival’s Annual Awards Luncheon on Monday.
A multiple Gemini Award winner, Mesley has an extensive journalism career spanning 30 years. Her work includes stints as a CBC radio reporter, parliamentary correspondent for The National, anchor of Sunday Report and host of both Undercurrents and CBC News: Marketplace.
Past recipients of the John Drainie Award include, among others, David Suzuki, Pierre Berton and Wesley’s mentor, Barbara Frum. Touched by the opening clip showcasing her career, Mesley joked…
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BANFF – In her speech launching the 2006 Banff International Television Conference on Sunday, Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, announced the government will ask the CRTC to study the technological changes facing the broadcast industry and throws her support behind sustaining our public broadcaster.
“Other nations began to build the policy framework for the new digital world decades ago,” says the Minister. “Unfortunately, Canada did not.”
“Without a doubt,” she adds, “there are challenges.”
“With the arrival of new technologies, the growth of the private sector and the virtual explosion of choice on our…
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BANFF – Fire up the consultants, it’s going to be a hot summer of TV policythink.
As expected, CRTC chair Charles Dalfen announced a review of the TV broadcasting industry today at the Banff World Television Festival this morning.
In light of narrowing profit margins for conventional broadcasters by two percent since 2001, not the kind of showing seen by the growing revenue line of pay and specialty networks, and the limited spending on Canadian drama, among many other issues presented by new and emerging technology, the CRTC has decided to take a step back and re-evaluate the entire…
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ST. JOHN’s – The Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada handed out its coveted RTNDA National and Network Awards last week at the 2006 RTNDA National Conference in St. John’s.
The 2005 NATIONAL RADIO winners are:
Byron MacGregor Award – Best Newscast
* KG Country in Red Deer for KG Country Newscast – RCMP Funerals March 11/2005 – (Small Market) * Sun FM Vernon for 8 am News – (Small Market – Honourable Mention) * 980 CJME News Talk Radio in Regina for CJME 7:00 REPORT – (Medium Market) * AM 800 CKLW in Windsor for 7 am News…
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TORONTO-BORN BRAD SCHWARTZ’s task looks to be a programmers dream.
To establish a new, analog channel with 4.5 million pre-existing paying customers using one of the world’s best-known media brands among the highly coveted young set: MTV.
The man knows his television. His first job in the industry was as assistant to Saturday Night Live founder and executive producer Lorne Michaels. From there, Schwartz hung around the music and media industries, working his way onto MTV and up the ladder there to director of global marketing in New York, before returning to Toronto as senior vice-president and general manager…
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TORONTO – The TV host who’s been synonymous with CBC Sports – especially the Olympics – for 30 years, Brian Williams, will start work for CTV this December.
In a day filled with announcements from the country’s largest private broadcaster surrounding its fall upfront presentation in downtown Toronto today (click here to see all the shows), this one was the biggest surprise. It’s pretty rare when a talent move like this happens.
Williams was introduced by Bell Globemedia president and CEO Ivan Fecan and CTV Inc. president Rick Brace. The two added Williams will play a leading role…
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TORONTO – Visitors to the CBC’s popular web source, www.cbc.ca, over the past few days will have noticed a dramatic overhaul of the service.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the public broadcaster’s site was due for re-design and this one began over a year ago, with a survey of more than 5,000 audience members, asking what people liked and disliked about the web site. The results of that survey, combined with the feedback CBC.ca gets daily through e-mail, phone calls and online forms, formed the basis of the redesign project, says a press release.
Since there is a large appetite…
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MONTREAL – The Alliance for Children and Television handed out its annual awards for excellence in French language youth television in Montreal on Thursday.
A total of 10 awards were given out.
The grand prize for best program, sponsored by CBC/Radio-Canada, is Zone3’s Cotoons (which aired on Radio-Canada). The show is a 3D program for preschoolers, blending live-action and animation.
For the full list of award-winners, click here.
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TORONTO – Krista Harris, executive director, digital programming and business development for CBC’s English Networks, died suddenly on the weekend in her home town of Barrington, N.S. She was 42.
This comes as a great shock to all of us," said a CBC memo from radio head Jane Chalmers and CBC TV chief Richard Stursberg. "Krista was a cherished colleague and a fervent supporter of CBC and of public broadcasting, one who had worked her way up through the ranks of the corporation over the last twelve years, first in the Maritimes and then at the network."
Since joining…
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FORT MCMURRAY – OK Radio’s Fort McMurray country station 93.3 CJOK this week refused to run a series of spots that Economic Development Lethbridge tried to purchase, reports cbc.ca.
The series of ads targeted Fort McMurray’s hyper growth rate – driven by the expansion of oil sands development – by saying the town wasn’t better than Lethbridge, just more expensive – urging people to think of Lethbridge instead, which is nearly 1,000 kms from Fort McMurray.
A Lethbridge spokesperson said that the ads were meant as a humorous jab at Fort McMurray, and reminding Albertans about the province’s…
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