Industry News

Lots happening in the local media as everybody ramps up for ratings season. Here’s a brief description of some of the activity going on in town

IT WAS SEPT. 3rd .. when CHAB-TV Moose Jaw and CHRE-TV Regina switched to CBK call letters as Moffatt completed their forced sale to the CBC… When the last original episode of ‘The Lone Ranger’ aired on ABC Radio after nearly 3,000 episodes …. When ‘The Lawrence Welk Show’ aired for the last time on ABC-TV, enroute to becomng a syndicated property… ..and when Jerry Lewis smashed all previous records for TV charity fund-raising, as $32,074,566 was pledged on the Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

A funeral will be held at the Christ Church Cathedral on Sept. 29. His companion of 10 years said the 58-year-old died in their Vancouver home on Aug. 14 of an apparent heart attack.

IT WAS SEPT. 2nd … when the radio show “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” debuted on CBS. For the first six months it ran six nights a week…. When “The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” expanded from 15 to 30 minutes, becoming US television’s first half-hour nightly newscast… When the CJOR call letters and its News/Talk format disappeared from 600 on Vancouver’s AM dial, as Classic Rock CHRX was born in its place… ..and when Hootie & The Blowfish made their national T.V. debut on NBC’s Late Night With David Letterman. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

Pat (seen here with Jimi Hendrix) was the king of Seattle Top 40 radio from 3 to 6 weekdays in the Sixties. The jingle he wrote for his station is nostalgic catnip to hundreds of thousands of aging Puget Sound baby boomers. They can intone it on cue: “KJR Seattle, Channel 95!”

IT WAS SEPT. 1st .. when radio station CKNW officially signed on, with 250 watts on 1230 KHz, some two decades after AM radio had begun on the lower mainland… When CFRB Toronto moved to 1010 KHz as Canada’s first 50,000 watt radio station …. When colour television officially arrived in Canada, courtesy of CTV …. When Edmonton and Vancouver each got their third TV stations, two years apart … When Courtenay and Port Hardy each signed on local AM radio stations, 20 years apart … ..and when the last episode of “I Dream of Jeannie” aired on NBC-TV, after a 5-year run. ALL the milestones for Sept. 1st INSIDE!

Groups in both the English and French market will be required to allocate an average of $5.5 million a year to support the production of musical programs.

Both HBO & Cinemax have phased out content including Taxicab Confessions, Real Sex and Cathouse as well as other adult movies.

Nearly seven years after getting approval to operate an English-language commercial AM radio station, Elliott Kerr says the station is ready to launch Sept. 4 and deliver news of interest to the local market.

Rich McHugh, a former producer at NBC News' investigative unit, says the order to stymie the investigation came from "the very highest levels of NBC."