http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl? http://www.eblah.com en http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283978050/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283978050/#num1 As passed along by Gord Lansdell in his Recent News at the Northwest Broadcasters website:
                                                                            
                                                              
Long-time News1130 CKWX Vancouver weekend traffic announcer Sabrina Del Rey (above) (aka Sabrina Storey) is leaving to pursue other opportunities.  
Her last day is September 26.  

      

The station picks up Lara Fominoff (above) as weekend anchor/weeknight reporter from CKNW AM 980, where she was a part time beat reporter and anchor.  
She starts September 13.  
CKWX has also acquired Denise Wong from AM 1150 CKFR Kelowna for its web desk three days a week along with various weekend duties beginning September 18. ]]> Wed, 8 Sep 2010 13:34:10 clockwatcher http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283972099/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283972099/#num1

Looks like Lynn Colliar has had it with the 12 years or more of early morning starts at BCTV/Global Vancouver.

Lynn is leaving the early morning news with Steve Darling after Friday's show to become a senior investigative reporter with Global.  

Sophie Lui has been tapped to take over Lynn's early start chair as of Sept. 27.  Since she's already been filling that role on weekends it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for Sophie, who's been one of my personal favorites since she arrived at C-FAX about 13 years ago.
          ]]> Wed, 8 Sep 2010 11:54:59 clockwatcher http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283867797/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283867797/#num1 CHEK TV marks year of rebirth
Employee-owned station could be model for future, professor says
By Ian Shelton,
Victoria Times Colonist
September 7, 2010  

                      
                 Reporter Tess Van Stratten shares the camera with Victorians
who braved rainy weather to help CHEK TV celebrate its first year as an independent TV station.
                                          Photograph by: Darren Stone, Times Colonist

The employee-owners of CHEK TV celebrated their first year of independence yesterday, a year in which, some say, they started to find their footing as an experiment in the future of local television.

Under grey skies and drizzle, country music, magic tricks and hot dogs helped CHEK staff and well-wishers mark a year since an employee-led bid bought the station from Canwest Global, which had planned to close it down.

"It's been a year of ups and downs," said general manager John Pollard. "But overall, more ups than downs."

The downs included surprise changes to their three-year plan, like having to build control rooms in the first year instead of the second after an agreement with Canwest fell through.

Staffing numbers are a definite "up." While most Canadian news organizations are faced with staffing cuts, CHEK has grown from fewer than 30 full-time equivalents a year ago to 43 full-time and 21 part-time staff today, said Pollard.

All those staff remain under the original employee ownership plan, which requires full-time staff to invest $15,000 and half as much from part-timers.

The year has also seen a rebirth of the channel's production department, including the rehiring of Michael Woloshen. Woloshen started with CHEK in 1980, but was cut along with the department in November 2008.

"This was definitely a building year for CHEK," Woloshen said. "Being independent means we can write the rules. It's very exciting and very daunting at the same level."

Woloshen said deals to bring in shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and Supernatural, are expected to attract a healthy base of national advertisers, but the station is also looking for chances to partner with production companies to develop more local programming.

Cedarwood Productions is one example. The Victoria-based company is behind Flavours of the West Coast, a travel and food show premièring this month.

Other plans for Year 2 include an expensive transmitter upgrade for high-definition ahead of the legislated August 2011 deadline.

News content has already benefited from a content-sharing deal with CBC, an arrangement that Royal Roads University communication professor David Black said recalls CHEK's origins as a CBC affiliate in 1956.

The loose affiliation could also point the way forward for local television in Canada and other countries, Black said. The large network model is suffering in a world of specialty channels, and local stations need to find ways to attract audiences that want more narrowly focused programming.

He said local television needs to be more than a dumping ground for network content and that by allowing truer independence, even network-owned channels can find a niche as a kind of local-focused specialty channel. CHEK has the freedom to experiment with the right mix.

"CHEK, if it survives, I think, will become something that will be emulated more and more when the networks pull out of small markets, or when they adopt models like resource sharing that are less economically risky for them," Black said, adding that the challenges Canadian networks face are shared in other Western countries.

Already, CHEK has seen interest from other stations in Canada, the United States and further afield, said Island 30 host Dana Hutchings. She points to a group of University of Western Australia professors who asked how CHEK's model worked.

"This is a whole other continent halfway across the world saying, 'How did you do it?' and 'How can we make it work here?' " Hutchings said.

Employee ownership has had its downside. Hutchings and Pollard both noted the unpaid overtime many staff have put in to keep the channel going.

ishelton@tc.canwest.com
]]> Tue, 7 Sep 2010 06:56:37 TurnTable3 http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283721595/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283721595/#num1 FORMER member of the band Electric Light Orchestra, was killed when a nearly 318kg bale of hay rolled down a hill, flew out of a field and smashed into his van as he drove by.

http://www.theaustralian.com.a.....3dxity-1225914564718]]> Sun, 5 Sep 2010 14:19:55 QRK http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283648694/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283648694/#num1 (excerpted from Greg Douglas' Vancouver Sun column, Sept. 4)

                                                    
                                                                Jeff

END ZONE: FormerTeam 1040 and Citytv sportscaster Jeff Leyland has landed a weekend gig anchoring supper hour and late night sports on CHCHTV in Hamilton. He makes his debut in the vast southern Ontario market on Sept. 25 and will continue providing highlight packages for the in-house NHL Network through the week. It's Leyland's voice that funnels through the jumbo screens in arenas around the league.

Jeff's broadcasting bio, courtesy Vancouver Broadcasters:
BCIT Broadcast journalism program 1998-2000; assistant to Sports Director CJJR-FM/CKBD Vancouver 1995-99; sports video library assistant Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment 1999-2000; Grizzlies basketball reporter CKNW Vancouver 1999-2000; Director of Media Relations Vancouver Canadians Baseball Club 2000; reporter/broadcaster mycityradio.com 2000-01; reporter ESPN sports ticker 2000-02; sports reporter/host CKST Vancouver 2001-08; radio reporter Broadcast News/Associated Press 2002-06; freelance reporter The Sports Network (TSN) 2003-04; weekend sports anchor citytv Vancouver 2004-06; scripting/voicing highlight packages for NHL Network Toronto 2009-current; weekend sports anchor CHCH-TV Hamilton ON 2010-current.]]> Sat, 4 Sep 2010 18:04:54 TurnTable3