Courtesy of  Sharon MacLean's "Edmontonians"

MARTY FORBES



I’m one of those proud Edmontonians who is now in the minority. That’s right, I was born and bred right here in River City.

Being a civic-minded person, I note that having a magazine that is Edmonton in its full scope is a rare treat these days. I say that respectfully because consolidation is changing our media landscape at a rapid pace. We’re getting less and less Edmonton on our radio and television stations, and in our newspapers and magazines. We often joke about Toronto being the “centre of the universe” but that’s exactly where most of our media outlets are now headquartered. To realize the importance of this paradigm shift, I think it’s wise to chronicle and respect some of the past greats who pioneered local media operations.

The late Dr. G.R.A. “Dick” Rice

began building Sunwapta Broadcasting/CFRN radio in 1934 and CFRN TV in 1954. Recently, they became part Bell Globemedia—now called CTVglobemedia—and part Standard Radio. Standard’s owner, Allan Slaight, who started in the old Sunwapta log cabin on Stony Plain Road, just became a billionaire when he sold to Astral Media, based in Montreal. That means The Bear, EZ Rock and The TEAM 1260 Sports Radio—where I hang my hats as VP and general manager—are now Astral-owned.

Jerry Forbes

My late father, Jerry Forbes launched CHED in the early 1950s with Slaight as his news director… Edmontonians founder Dick MacLean was one of his reporters. The total talk station is now owned by the giant Corus operation, jointly managed from Toronto and Calgary.

CHQT is also part of Corus and everybody in the media knows and respects Lou Roskin for his work at QT in the 1960s. Ditto CISN, started by legendary CHED announcer Bob McCord. In its formative years, K-97 was operated by a number of well-known Albertans, most of whom are no longer with us. Now called K-ROCK, it was acquired by NewCap, based on the East Coast.  Colourful Harold “Hal” Yerxa founded CFCW in Camrose in the mid ’50s—long before it moved into Edmonton, but retained its country roots—and hired Dick MacLean as a news reporter, not long before he moved to Edmonton. Yerxa also put Big Earl/96X/Mix96/Lite 96 on the air. All are now owned by NewCap. I actually launched JOE/Power 92 in 1982—alas now part of the Corus network—while I was with the Maclean-Hunter group, that large Toronto publisher.

In the beginning, Global was ITV, earning local surgeon and financier Dr. Charles Allard

new-found fame in the broadcast industry. These days, Global and the Edmonton Journal are among the outlets that form the CanWest empire, owned by the Asper family from Winnipeg. The Edmonton Sun is managed back east by Sun Media Corp, a Quebecor company. After many years of “local” publishers who embraced the spirit of the city throughout the past several decades, Edmonton’s dailies take a lot of their editorial direction from afar.

A Channel was at least put on the air by Craig Media, with western roots in Calgary and Manitoba. It became Citytv when it was sold to Toronto’s CHUM. Now manager Craig Roskin, son of Lou, awaits the CRTC decision on a take-over by CTVglobemedia, also from Toronto.

Sharon MacLean

So, in a long and round-about way, my compliments go to Sharon MacLean and her team for being a truly locally-owned, locally-run, locally-focused medium that is highly important to the people in the Greater Edmonton area. The magazine is so much more than entertainment. It’s about people—the people who make our great city click on so many levels. Without Edmontonians magazine, it’s quite possible that much of what you read, view and hear are opinions, editorial thrusts and news directions determined, written and/or produced far, far beyond our city limits. With the current boom changing the landscape in our city so quickly and so dramatically, I really think it takes an Edmontonian to relate the impact the boom is having on our residents—not somebody sitting in an ivory tower on Bay Street in Toronto.

Marty Forbes is VP and general manager of The Bear, EZRock and The TEAM 1260 Sports Radio. Contact marty@edmontonians.com

http://www.edmontonians.com/index_June07.html

Dick Rice, Charles Allard, Jerry Forbes. I would imagine if it weren't for this article, many of you might never have known who these gentlemen were and how important they are to the radio/television industry today. The reason they are so important today is for what they did back in their day. They GAVE and asked for nothing in return. They gave of themselves, they gave of their time, they gave of their media properties and they instilled a giving nature into the people who worked with them and for them. After reading this article, I scrolled back to the top and looked at the picture of my good friend of over 30 years. It compelled me to write a reply and remind anyone who has ever worked with Marty Forbes, to remember what he has instilled in his employees, past and present. I'm not kissing ass, here...Marty knows what he has taught me. And I know. We have talked about it many times and always end up asking each other where the next batch of Rice's, Allards', and Forbes' are coming from...