Industry News

IT WAS AUG. 23rd …when singers Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, “The Happiness Boys”, first appeared on New York’s WEAF radio, sponsored by Happiness Candy stores.,, When the BBC’s experimental TV service featured the first televised boxing match between Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri, almost 15 years before the TV era began … When Seattle radio station KKND “The End” FM 107.7 was born, billing its music as “The Cutting Edge of Rock.” The format helped give birth to Seattle’s famed Grunge movement… ..and when Richard Hatch was revealed as the winning castaway on the first season of CBS’ “Survivor.” ALL the milestones for Aug. 23rd INSIDE!

Jay hasn't just moved on up, but home to Edmonton... Good on Jay! As Jay says, 'It is said that the best journeys in life lead you home.'

IT WAS AUG. 22nd … when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began its first experimental TV broadcasting from London… When “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy” became a three-times-a-week 30-minute feature on ABC radio, after 14 years as a daily quarter-hour strip… When Toronto’s CBLT-TV Channel 9 did its first test broadcast, covering the opening of the 73rd Canadian National Exhibition… ..and when Vancouver radio station CKLG dropped it’s Middle-Of-The-Road programming and switched to a Top 40 format in direct competition with C-FUN. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

The political scientist who witnessed almost 50 years of drama in B.C. politics, died after a long battle with cancer.

The number one sports brand in this city and province is the Vancouver Canucks and now that brand is on Sportsnet — TV, radio, digital and the Hockey Night in Canada tie-in.

Before there was CITY TV in Edmonton there was A-Channel, owned out of Manitoba before being sold to CHUM Toronto. Some very good and successful broadcasters spent time at the station — including Ryan Jespersen, Stacey Brotzel, Michael Kuss, Dawn Chubai, Ashla Tomlinson, Jennifer Martin, Adam Cook, Mark Scholz, Carla Turner, Gene Principe, Daren Drager, Rob Brown, Kristi Gordon, Janice Mackie-Frayer, Julie Nolan, Jamie Thomas, Alan Carter, and the inimitable Bridget Ryan to name just a few.

IT WAS AUG. 21st … that gave us career broadcasters Ken Carpenter, Chris Schenkel, Jack Buck, Harry Smith, and actor Billy Idelson of the Vic & Sade radio show … When The Four Preps and the Lionel Hampton Orch. were the musical guests on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show… When NBC News fired their Canadian-born TV reporter Arthur Kent (pictured), nicknamed ‘the scud stud’ for his reporting during the first Iraq war, after he refused an assignment to war-torn Croatia… ..and when the CRTC approved the sale of Victoria’s CKDA-AM and CFMS-FM Victoria, CKDA to the owners of The Q 100.3, CFMS to become ‘The Ocean’ under Rogers ownership. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

Axios’ Jonathan Swan hears Bannon has told friends he sees a massive opening to the right of Fox News, raising the possibility that he’s going to start a network

Jerry Lewis, the brash slapstick comic who teamed with Dean Martin in the 1950s and later starred in “The Nutty Professor," has died...

IT WAS AUG. 20th .. when the first U.S. commercial radio station, 8MK (which later became WWJ), began daily broadcasting in Detroit… When Prince George (BC) TV station CKPG-TV signed on Channel 2 as a CBC affiliate…. When the first episode of the teen sitcom “Saved By The Bell” aired on NBC. It was a Saturday morning favorite for 4 seasons.. ..and when Moffat Broadcasting sold off its empire, two Edmonton stations going to WIC (now Corus), two in Winnipeg going to Rogers, a pair in Calgary going to Golden West, while Vancouver’s CKLG-AM and CFOX-FM were sold to Shaw. ALL the milestones for Aug. 20th INSIDE!