Peter Young Passes Away 2026

Peter Young was the sports guy who turned CKY into a powerhouse of local in 1974 when he came aboard as sports director from background in sports reporting in Thunder Bay. The job was part time and he attended school at University of Manitoba for a Master's program at the same time. The heavy competition between radio, TV and print to cover sports in Winnipeg became a big deal when the WHA Jets came on the scene in 1972. Very few games were televised back then so it relied on radio, TV and print to cover the games in reporting form.

There have been a few reports on his passing. Take note of Marty Gold's story in the Winnipeg Sun. He does a far better job than CTV news with their 47 second story about the death of the person who helped the station take number one and keep it all these decades. His interview two years ago with Peter Young shows there is still important stories to tell on people in the city that can't come from generative AI. The sooner the owners of AI pay creators of content rather than just scraping the Internet of material they don't own, the better.

Peter Young was responsible for a lot of the sports and entertainment hires in Winnipeg. Don Percy and Rod Black both came to the city either with job offers or referrals. In one funny story related on Marty Gold's story, he helped a Blue Bomber player get a job in another city when his time ran out here. I expect the memorial service will bring out all the stories and hope some get to be made.

Peter Young was not content to do just a re-cap of a few professional sports, he set out to cover local amateur sports in a major way. It really forced other media to increase coverage. Now, most newscasts in Winnipeg don't mention much about sports at all, even professional ones. But it wasn't always that way.

My recollection of Peter Young is the multiple sports he covered including three Olympics and the Wide World of Sports where he was prolific. School athletes were always given priority and reporting on coaching and teams with player highlights was not just a tiny spot on the one hour broadcast. It was a focus of that was superior to the public broadcaster for local sports.

Sports coverage is evolving for sure. However, one thing can be said about the new digital coverage. None of it focuses on local sports. It is generally all professional sports. Peter Young showed that it was possible to do it. He gave many reporters both men and women their first chance at broadcasting. He covered so many different sports that he was indispensable in telling the story to Winnipeg and throughout Canada. 

His kind of reporting will be missed.

Journalism Support Manitoba 2025

It seems ironic that the Manitoba government would advertise meetings on journalism in the province by buying advertising on social media owned outside of Canada. Not surprisingly, the first meeting had no one attending because they didn't hear. None of the social media is based in Manitoba nor does the ad money spent there stay in Canada. That isn't to say that all aspects of social media are bad but it is often a dumpster fire.  The artificial intelligence is now allowing for racist and abusive material that even freedom if speech supporters must feel queasy about. The outright propaganda from outside the country is very alarming.

Governments have legitimate reasons to advertise. For example, the changes to Winnipeg Transit are being advertised on social media. It is unclear whether this is just a general information release or paid advertising. Certainly the Recycle Everywhere ads are paid advertising when they appear on social media. In fairness though, Recycle Everywhere ads appear to spread out among local media.

Ontario has several initiatives in place to support local journalism and media. It is usually redirecting money from social media that is now owned in Canada to media that actually is owned and covers regional content. It is the money the government already spends but now being spent in Canada. It is not a subsidy.

Freedom of speech has never been to allow crying fire in a crowded movie theatre. In recent weeks the content on TikTok on politics has been awful. I long deleted my Twitter account even before Elon Musk bought it. Even then it was becoming a bit repetitive and less reliable. And sometimes fairly reactionary. I'll admit to sometimes getting into it online but I don't recall ever being outright cruel or piling on someone. I continue to blog and generally the response time for people can be months and years later. I'm okay with that.

It used to be newspapers had a lifespan of a day or two, a week tops before they went in the bottom of the birdcage or out with recycling. However, digitally, a story could be read weeks, months and years later. One doesn't have to wait for it to be available at the public library. But what happens when you local newspaper, radio station, TV station, magazine or other media shuts down with nothing to replace it? Even the archived material on websites aside from the waybackmachine disappear. 

Communities, like Brandon, that continue to grow in Manitoba have lost their TV station, weekly newspaper and lack talk radio. They still have a daily newspaper that has Manitoba ownership. Sadly, many Manitoba communities have lost their only local sources of news, weather and sports. And the only archive of it might be in the local museum if it is in print. 

There is a local news initiative funded by the federal government to assist in salaries for specific regional coverage. Both the Winnipeg Sun and Free Press get this funding.  There is also funding coming from social media giants for content they use from local media. The government has had to push for this because these large companies have been using content without paying for it. 

There are some that are opposed to any government involvement but government has posted ads and notifications in media for decades with no editorial interference. Those have dried up as has private advertising. Large foreign social media hoovers up all that revenue. 

There is a lot the Manitoba government can do to help and much of it is what they did before social media and that is advertise in local radio, TV, newspapers and podcasters. Fortunately, for Manitoba there is a lot of Manitoba-owned media to support. This isn't true all over Canada. The national Post Media group which includes newspapers all over the country is American-owned. Our Winnipeg Sun is Manitoba owned but still gets a lot of content from the American-owned National Post. Something to keep in mind when the Sun asks for CBC to be defunded just so private media owned by Americans can be more profitable and send those profits south of the border.

The ties to the Republican party in the ownership group that has majority shares in the Postmedia group pushes for ever more conservative reporting. And this is the group that pushes for the end of the CBC and is generally closing their own newsrooms each year.

Thankfully, Manitoba still has a locally owned media that the province of Manitoba can support.

Here are the main ways it can support local:

1. Set a fixed amount of government and Crown corporation advertising money that is already being spent on Manitoba-based media. Makes that list of approved media available to to municipalities and private interests.

2. Create a tax credit for those approved media for anyone buying advertising on various platforms. Not sure what sort of cap should be on that spending if any.

3. Supports for changing media to a non-profit where the absence of support may result in the closure of that media. In fact, make it possible to create different types of ownership for media.

The failure to do anything could see more closures. Thompson, for example, has lot both its print papers. Any of the above supports might have helped those paper survive.

Politicians might have a love hate relationship with media but if the local media completely disappears, it can result no local coverage of what is important to the area that supports local business, news, weather and sports. The fact that an all party committee is looking for answers shows that this isn't just a business decision anymore. It is a matter of concern when an area just gets abandoned in favour of companies that are not even Canadian. 

Donald Trump, Next President of the United States?

Following the Trump trial in New York, more commentators have said it won't stop Trump from running and possibly winning the next election. Canadians following along can only wonder what such turbulent times can mean. While we have no say in the end results of a U.S. election, we are sure to be affected by it. It sometimes doesn't matter if the President or Congress is Democrat or Republican as either can be tough on Canada whether it is trade or foreign policy.

We are not nearly as polarized although there are people who have hated Trudeau with all their hearts. A surge of Canadians going to live in the U.S. have cited that as a reason to real estate agents for moves to such places like Florida. It will be curious if a different prime minister hastens a return. The truth is people move for work, climate and other reasons so moves might continue regardless. Home prices in Canada have had people cashing in for retirement moves or leaving for less expensive living in the U.S.

There is a lot of anger that has built up in North America and in the U.S. in particular. A seething grievance and upset is fueled by the various silos of information catering to beliefs its audience might already have. In Canada, we have only two cable news channels which some people on the right might consider extremist left wing. There was the Sun cable news channel that tried to make a go of it but it's ratings were poor which they blamed on regulators for not making it mandatory on cable. Rebel Media has taken over the right wing voice in Canada and is probably more outspoken than it was on TV.

In the U.S. there are multiple platforms for the left wing, right wing and very little for those who report straight news. FOX news is the biggest on the right wing media front in the U.S. and fully got on board in support of Donald Trump's return to the presidency. The polarization has gotten so pronounced that the primaries were a wash and the chosen candidates pretty much decided months ago.

Joe Biden has been down in the polls for months despite evidence that the economy has bounced back. However, inflation has made people angry and upset  about the rising costs. It will take some time before prices start to feel affordable. Some stores in the U.S. are lowering prices because the market has reached a peak. Habits have changed in many cases so that people are eating earlier, looking for bargains and feeling a little disengaged from the world.

The cutting of cable wires, streaming and fewer local sources of news means more limited sources of information getting out to people. There is less tolerance for any view not already established. News sources on the left and right reinforce established views and news operations that report straight news are treated with disdain. It is hard to see how people can information when there are no agreed upon reference points or facts.

Donald Trump is largely unaffected by the court cases or what the judge says in July. He can still run and win. It is entirely possible that Republicans wins Congress as well as the Presidency. I've said it before and I will say again: Canadians should not take a U.S. election personally. The majority of us don't live there, vote there and probably won't be affected any differently than if it was a total sweep of Democrats. In fact, we have been treated more severely sometimes by Democrats.

The next election will be about mobilization and turnout. Either party has anyone less than motivated and they will likely lose. Canada can only stand back and watch. Some international players might try to influence the results both legally and illegally but Canada should be vocally neutral. It is very possible we will be baited into world debate about how secure Canada is, how unfair a trading partner we are and how we don't contribute to defence. 

Canadian politicians, journalist and citizenry should have answers to these questions and more but not to get angry nor take lightly who is saying something and what they are saying. If Trump is elected and looks to punish countries that spend less than 2% on defence, Canada must have a response. And not just the prime minister but Parliament and its leaders. 

In the past, and even with Donald Trump, Canada has managed the relationship with the U.S. as best as it can. We want the U.S. to pay attention to our issues, many of which revolve around trade, but not so much attention that we are a target of negative outcomes. It is not easy. If Trump is in power though, we should realize that we could face a sudden policy change if we don't work through other layers of power in Washington. And no, a change of government to a Conservative party will not necessarily give Canada a boost with Trump. Ask the British if they were cut any favour with Trump during a Conservative government.

It is probably best for all Canadians to prepare for the possible election of Trump as president and everything that goes with it.
 

Janet Stewart to Leave CBC News for CBC Radio Noon

Announced by Janet Stewart herself, she will be taking over CBC Radio Noon for the Majorie Dowhos who will be on maternity leave for a year. Stewart's job, which she has held since 2007, has been posted internally. Stewart has said she would still be doing anchoring from time to time but it is clear the radio job is something she has worked comfortably in over her career.

Stewart was CTV News local anchor prior to her long time position at CBC. She served in that job from 2001 to 2006. The latest ratings periods are unknown but John Sauder, the long time meteorologist at CBC, departed in retirement several weeks earlier. There have been a series of people on the anchor desk over some weeks but it is likely the position will attract interest from a variety of people both in Winnipeg and in other CBC positions in Canada. It is also possible that the job will attract outside CBC interest as well.

CTV has been the highest rated TV News locally but has been badly wounded by losing their noon, weekend and holiday newscasts.. Global and CityTV also have news divisions so there could be a shuffling of how each approaches the changes.

Anchor jobs at CBC don't come up often. CBC Radio where Stewart is heading has been number 1 for several years and has a strong news department. The time for CBC to reclaim first in local TV news will lie in a makeover for the news in people and format. It will be interesting to see what they intend on doing.

CTV Cuts 4,800 Across Canada

CTV blames the federal government for the 4,800 cuts and the loss of noon hour and weekend news shows. They received $40 million from the federal government just last year. They cited uncertainty in the regulatory system. What they wanted was to get out of the news business for the network except for Toronto while holding onto their licenses across the country. To be clear, the company is reporting hundreds of millions of profit in the last quarter and an increase in dividend for the 20th straight year.

Last year, CTV gutted their evening news broadcast and cut reporters in London, Washington, Los Angeles and in Ottawa. In Winnipeg they shuttered AM radio station 1290 which was presenting comedy and titled Funny. It was ranked last in the ratings. No radio stations lost this time in Manitoba but 45 sold across the country. More on that later on.

Now, CTV isn't the only one making cuts. CBC and Global have also cut. Newspapers as well like Toronto Star. Postmedia too which includes Winnipeg's Sun newspaper. The cuts in Winnipeg are such that they don't send a reporter to cover the Jets or Bombers when they are out of town. Is it is no wonder teams hire their own reporters now?

Some critics are saying that Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 which try to get online companies like Facebook and Google to pay into a system that supports journalism are to blame. Google will pay $100 million and Facebook has opted out and blocked Canadian media. Assuming a new Conservative government ends these bills and dissolves the the CBC and allows CTV, Global and others to drop all news in favour of U.S. programming, what will we actually have in Canada? In all likelihood, no Canadian programming at all in news, sports, music, drama, comedy or weather. 

It is highly probable that the Canadian companies would ask to be sold to U.S. or international players since their argument is their is no economic basis for anything Canadian to exist. Is Canada economically not viable? In our quest to have products from all over the world in Canada including cultural, does this mean Canada really produce anything that Canadians and the rest of the world wouldn't like?

It should be pointed out that all over the world, digital giants are changing every cultural industry. Companies are merging over and over again, often to the detriment of workers, other industries and countries themselves. Monopolies have been broken up over the decades because by their very nature they are not competitive. In some cases they are anti-democratic. There likely would not have been an Internet as we know if AT&T had not been broken up.

CTV wants out of the news business. In two years they have cut nearly 10,000 workers. If capitalism can't be part of the grand bargain of providing a public service then government has no choice but to intervene. It goes back to the point above about whether there is a business case for Canada's very existence. And if there is, what is the consensus on that?

For the government, the question is how to support journalism without it becoming state journalism? If it is radio or TV, listen to or watch it. The advertisers will support it without you having to pay for it. If you can afford it, subscribe to a newspaper or magazine. The government can support directly or indirectly. Directly, by money to media or indirectly by tax supports to advertisers to buy ads locally.

Winnipeg is lucky in that it has one of the last large independent newspapers in the country in the Free Press. They have at least one reporter travel with the Jets and the Bombers which is now unusual in Canada. Sadly, they don't have an Ottawa-based journalist now. The Winnipeg Sun makes it a two newspaper town. The city has a digital news service with ChrisD.ca. There are a number of ethnic newspapers. CJOB remains largely a news, sports and information station. CBC Radio and Television have fair sized newsrooms. CTV has quite a few reporters in Winnipeg although they no longer cover sports or have a national correspondent. Global and City have smaller units but do their part on covering the city. And let's not forget the APTN News team based in Winnipeg. The Athletic has a Winnipeg-based NHL reporter.

The podcasts from sports to news such as Illegal Curve, Hustler's Winnipeg Sportscast, The Great Canadian Talk Show are covering Winnipeg in detail. All of those reporters once worked in radio in Winnipeg. There are a few music podcasts as well. And Tik Tok has a few influencers out there who cover things in the city.

However, where do young people get their news? When it comes to local stuff, it seems probably Tik Tok. Or other social media such as Discord, Telegram, Instagram or many others. Those social media sites can be hit and miss and for those that do have news in them, they probably source it from other news gatherers and only do a little research themselves on it or express an opinion on it. While this is useful and interesting, it may put you in algorithm that reinforces that point of view.  It is hard to know what is true since deep fakes in music, politics seem to be first tested out on social media. And now AI has got everyone scared since it can cause outright harm equivalent to shouting fire in a crowded movie theatre.

CTV's cuts hurt when the level of talent, loss of regional and international correspondents and variety of areas journalists cover is taken into consideration. I like a number of choices for news and information. But how do we ensure Canadian voices get heard and how do you monetize it? Most of the industrialized nations have some form of public broadcasting support. Even NPR and PBS in the U.S. receive over a billion in direct federal support through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The support rises if the 100% tax-free savings donors get from their donations by the U.S. government is counted. Even Manitobans donating to Prairie Public (Manitoba) receive a tax deduction although many other jurisdictions of Canada have lost that ability. About 1/4 of Prairie Public's budget comes from Manitoba. 

The Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre have said they want to end the CBC. They haven't indicated if they support a PBS Canada model either. If they end all public support for CBC, for news of any kind, it is possible we see most if not all radio and TV collapse in Canada? In comparison to 20 other industrial countries, Canada ranks near the bottom for public broadcasting as well as cultural spending. Ending public broadcasting would put Canada below the U.S. is spending.

This could politically backfire for the Conservatives if Canadian media groups become absorbed by U.S. or international interests who might not want to spend money on hockey broadcasts or Canadian Olympic coverage. This isn't a wildly speculative thought. If Bell Media is angling to be sold outside of Canada decisions will be made outside of Canada. ABC/ESPN and Turner  do not cover as much of hockey as Canadian channels do. What happens when there are no Canadian channels? I can't imagine that would be too popular in Canada. 

Bell Media and CTV have to figure out how to turn things around. Becoming a pure play streaming company to escape Canadian regulation seems doubtful if even big companies like Paramount can't make money at it. Seems radio and TV and cable are more profitable by far. And Bell Media knows this because they keep increasing the dividend each year.

John Sauder Retires from CBC Broadcasting

For nearly 40 years John Sauder has been a broadcasting legend in Winnipeg. For many, his introduction came as Captain John in the KY 58 traffic reports from 1984 to 1994 from his Cessna. Pretty much every other radio station would listen in and use his information in their own traffic reports. As Sauder tells it, he didn't know he would be the one making the radio reports. He had thought he'd be just flying.

It is worth noting that when budget cuts ended the air traffic reports, there were no air reports for many years. Most cities in Canada, if they do have air traffic reports, use a company that that flies helicopters and supplies the report. I don't believe we have had that in place for a number of years now.

Sauder's personality came out in his reports and they were by far the most accurate and up to date reports on car traffic in the city. Think it made people think we were now big enough to have these type of reports. We'd all seen the chopper reports from the U.S. and although we didn't really have highways in the city, any tips to avoid the trains was more than welcome.

The end of air traffic reports must have left Sauder not knowing what to do next but he ended up at CKY doing weather reports for a number of years and that became permanent full time in 2000. He also got his meteorology credentials which cemented his reputation for forecasts.

It was in 2007, after so many years of radio and TV broadcasting at CKY/CTV, he went to CBC and it is there after 39 years he announced his retirement in 2024. Not entirely sure who is replacement is or if there will be one. Newscasts in Canada are almost all going to one anchor only. They have dropped their second anchors, sportcaster and in many cases weather reporter.

Say what you will about U.S. local broadcasts but they generally have two anchors, a dedicated sports reporter and often a meteorologist. U.S. stations take weather forecasting seriously. We don't seem to have nearly the trained broadcasters in this area as would seem warranted. One would hope that we have not seen the last meteorologist to work in broadcasting in Winnipeg.

John Sauder was dedicated local broadcaster who took his specialty roles seriously whether it was traffic or weather and he attained the credentials to do the work  while being personable and community minded. He will be missed on the air.

Bell Media to Close CFRW Funny 1290 AM

Bell Media laid off 1,300 staff on June 14, 2023. In Winnipeg, it means CFRW Funny 1290 AM has been closed down. The 60 year old station had one of three top stations for decades and had regained some mojo as TSN Sports Radio with Winnipeg Jets coverage till 2020. But the station gave up the rights and wet to a low cost comedy format. However, even lower ratings and poor ad sales, Bell shut the station along with five others and sold three more.

This was not the only bloodletting. Bell shut down foreign bureaus, fired senior reporters and unified the news room for all radio and TV stations across the country. London and Los Angeles bureaus are shut down, Washington Bureau majorly cut. Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, chief international correspondent Paul Workman, senior political correspondent Glen McGregor and London news correspondent Danielle  Hamandjian and Los Angeles Bureau Chief Tom Walters were all fired.

The loss of CFRW will generally only be felt by those with nostalgia. The comedy format on the AM dial was not compelling enough for audiences. However, back in the day CFRW, CKY, CKRC and CJOB battled it out. Eventually CFRW and CKY led a multi-year battle for top 40 radio listeners through the 1970s and 1980s. I was partial to CFRW myself but would flip back and forth between CKY and CFRW in the case. The yellow CFRW offices on Main Street were recognizable there for years. In recent years they have been on Pembina Highway with sister stations Virgin 103 and Bounce 99.

The growing strength of FM music station eventually led to format changes or stages where AM players moved to the FM dial. CKY was one station that jumped to GM and changed formats. CBC carries a signal on both and FM. CJOB remains the one large holdout.

In recent news, it has been announced that new cars will not have AM stations anymore. Only FM and HD Radio will be automatic (although many cars also have Sirius XM built in). and  It seems the writing is on the wall is for AM and makes you wonder when CJOB will move to FM. Stations with only an AM signal will lose audience for every new car that goes on the road. There are no HD Radio channels in Manitoba presently. For those who see it on their new cars, it is a curiosity unless they have travelled to the United States recently. Then a station will pop up and say HD radio and can have at least three other stations off the same signal. Public radio in the U.S. seems to have taken advantage of this quite well where they will have their main signal but run classical music and other fare on the other channels. A top 40 radio station might have sub-channels of Spanish or oldies.  There are a number of other provinces that have dipped their toes into this. Quebec Radio-Canada channels seems to have caught on with it. Might we see this in Manitoba?

The big concern is the combined newsroom Bell Media is talking about. Does it mean a Toronto anchor for local broadcasts in Winnipeg? Or do local news broadcasts just stop because local stations are closed and we only get a Toronto broadcast? What we do know is that CTV National news is going to be less international, less experienced and less unique in what it broadcasts. The answer for revenue is one news group for all platforms with the goal of increasing profits. But to what end? Is a sale to a U.S. hedge fund for the whole company in the works? To create the circumstances for a Rogers/Bell merger? What? Is the answer one big giant company for all of Canada for media?

In the mean time, we can reflect on the end of a 60 year old radio station in CFRW that is gone. If Canada is about to approach 40 million people, how is it that we can support less local media?

Pierre Poilevere To End CBC If Elected

By Manning Centre c/o: Jake Wright - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32870907

The leader of the Official Opposition has made it is mission to defund the CBC. For his base supporters, this has been an objective for decades. In actuality, he wants to defund English CBC while keeping Radio-Canada which would require a change to the Broadcast Act. And likely an explanation why Canadian taxpayers should support one over the other.

The defund the CBC platform is right on the Conservative website. But why not Radio-Canada in Quebec? The answer is votes in Quebec. The Conservatives need to find votes there or some way to win a majority. The big question is whether Quebecers will believe that Conservatives would actually stop defunding at English CBC and not continue to gut the whole corporation.

Outside of the Conservative party, it is unclear whether is support for ending CBC. In recent weeks, Poilevere has been trying get Twitter to classify CBC, among others, as government funded. He succeeded in doing so and says this is evidence of the network being a propaganda arm of the Trudeau government. This is an accusation he has made against all forms of media in Canada for twenty years. It is a dubious accusation because he has never able to show marching orders coming from the Liberal government to slant stories. His argument is that it is self evident which requires no proof. This may be adequate for the base but to win an election on this will require a little more substance.

People will want to know what actually happens if the CBC is actually closed. Does it include radio? Does it include northern Canada? Will assets be sold to the private sector? Will Hockey Night in Canada have less of a reach in the country where some places won't be able to get it without difficulty? Will government support also be dropped for other print, radio and TV. Will Canadian content guidelines and ownership rules be eliminated?

One question leads to another and even some who might be allies ideologically with the Conservatives might come to realize implications beyond a victory of seeing the CBC ended. The big companies that own the media, including the Sun and Postmedia, also receive money from the government. Ending the CBC doesn't necessarily help if it ends their supports too. And if their supports remain, the base of the Tory party might ask why. Quite simply, the Conservatives will have to explain why they pick winners and losers for support. Keep in mind the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun and all the private stations including CJOB receive some sort of government money, protection or support. Does everyone get cut off? And if they do and news rooms shut down around the country, does this serve the nation well?

As for cozying up to Elon Musk and Twitter, it seems seeking legitimacy in someone who receives government money for Tesla as well as SpaceX while devaluing his overpaid asset in Twitter, is shortsighted. I left Twitter some time ago. I'm not sure what the future is there and who knows if anything will survive AI. Even Elon Musk is afraid of AI because the veracity of real human beings on the site is near impossible. A blue check make might not keep AI from flooding a site like Twitter with inhuman conversations.

But back to CBC. it seems to generate the same hatred in the far right that Trudeau does. It is a deep and ferocious anger that is slightly deranged which is ironic because that is what they often accuse the left of in terms political leaders on the right. One wonders what happens if they truly get their wish and end CBC's existence if that will make them happy. Or will they be like the dog chasing bumpers finally catching one and then not knowing what to do with themselves after as in the case of conservatives defeating Roe v Wade in the U.S.

In the case of the U.S, some Republican are wondering now that they have achieved their goal on abortion, how do they win elections after if the feeling is that they are the wrong side of how Americans actually think? For Conservatives in Canada, if they achieve a majority and end the CBC, do they find that the decision produces another majority or makes them a one term government? Do they care? I suppose they should because as demonstrated by south of the border, elections have consequences. And if your record is one of competent governance, fighting culture battles seems a waste of time and energy.

The $1.2 billion in government funds and the $500 million of commercial revenues helps run a coast to coast to coast network. Eliminating English CBC means that Radio-Canada won't have source material to provide nation-wide information in Quebec. Presently, no other network does that. And in the north, will resources still be left if place there for non-English and French programming? Or do they only get information from the south...in non-native languages? 

If Conservatives become the government, actual legislation has to be introduced to indicate what the plan is. Will the network be sold? Will assets be sold? Will the government allow international players to come in buy CBC, other Canadian networks? Will they eliminate Canadian content regulations? Will they eliminate Canadian ownership rules? It is can of worms where the outcome is unknown. Will it end up with U.S. owned media that eliminates all news in Canada and even hockey coverage because there is no mandate to produce content made in Canada?

While it might appear to be controversial bringing attention to this policy of Pierre Poilevere, it is something that he brings up in every speech. Not Ukraine, but this. He wants his policy to be known and in the absence of a defined way a Conservative government achieves this, we can envision almost anything. It is no wonder that Conservative MPS in Quebec don't want to say anything on this. They are literally hiding under their desks as Radio-Canada remains popular in Quebec. Even if this branch of CBC is preserved, questions about what changes to the Broadcast act and budget will invariably have to be discussed. 

It is possible the Conservatives believe they lost the last elections, including the one when Harper was prime minister, because of the CBC and the media. His supporters seems to think so and it isn't likely anyone can convince them otherwise. It is not much different than Republicans believing the election results were altered and instigating an insurrection. This belief that media is for the left flies in the face of print media across Canada endorsing Conservatives pretty much across the board. As for TV, they don't do editorial endorsement and every news show have Conservatives on their panels to explain policy.

Sadly, many government and opposition parties are frequently avoiding media and are more reluctant to share any information or take questions. Case in point is Joe Biden has down fewer news conferences than Ronald Reagan. This is deliberate on his part. Canada's House of Commons makes it more difficult to hide from questions. However, Question Period is a poor format for information and is more about talking points. It is why journalism can be so effective. It is this journalism that Poilevere depended on this week to reveal Prime Minister Trudeau's visit to Jamaica to a billionaire's house.

Poilevere reaching out to Twitter feels childish and angry. Elon Musk is pushing all the buttons there while the adults in business are heading for the doors. There has to be some serious concern with Conservatives being a freaking train wreck firing Bank of Canada Governor, ending the CBC and ending all the carbon taxes in the first 100 days and watching some serious responses. Not all of it will come from Canada. Much of it will come from world markets. 

It isn't entirely clear that Poilevere can pivot from Opposition to Government. His permanent campaign of anger and accusation that nothing is working means his approach might be a bull in china shop. It also doesn't bode well for letting his cabinet operate independently. It could very well be him in the Prime Minister's Office not telling anyone what he is doing akin to Brian Pallister. Except, you can expect it to be more of a disaster than a premier ditching WWII ceremonies to go on a tour of Europe and visit businesses without their staff.

If the Conservatives expect to win the next election, they need to look less unhinged. They really don't appear to be able to show they are competent enough to take over for a government that walks into rakes all too regularly. It doesn't look great that they walk into rakes just as much.

Lisa LaFlamme Fired by CTV

Lisa LaFlamme has been with CTV News for 35 years. She has been anchor of the highest rated national news since 2011 when she took over for the retiring Lloyd Robertson who left at age 77. At competing network CBC, Peter Mansbridge left at 69 in retirement. LaFlamme with years left on her contract was fired at age 58. She was told to keep quiet. She did not have final words for her last broadcast. Her payout was likely dependent on saying nothing till she was done.

In Winnipeg, we saw a similar dumping of Gord Leclerc from the same network. It seemed pretty harsh for a station that was in ratings command. At 53, you get dumped for reasons that still don't make sense? As a cost saving measure? Understandably, Leclerc was shocked and took a year to recover from what had been 25 years in the job. He has new work as a contractor now and seems at peace.

It is hard to imagine LaFlamme is not up for a challenge. As a bilingual former journalist with more to give, you have to wonder if she is a good candidate for the Lt. Governor position in Ontario. The present candidate has served since 2014 and is 77 years old this year. Appointed by Stephen Harper, Elizabeth Dowdeswell is serving in a position that normally runs give years. Dowdeswell is a remarkable woman but the prime minister Justin Trudeau shouldn't put so much pressure on public servants. We have just seen Janice Filmon serve almost as many years in grace and in sometimes difficult health for her and her husband before hearing this week she will be replaced by Manitoba's first Jewish Lt. Governor, Anita Neville. At 80, Neville is older than Ontario's LG who started the position at 69.

LaFlamme did her job, maintained the ratings for CTV and for many was a role model. Letting her hair turn white when it was not easy to style in the pandemic resonated. Her firing makes a lot of women question whether they are allowed to age gracefully. They should take note of Leclerc to realize most TV broadcasting gravitates to young news teams. The problem with this is the lack of institutional memory. There are not enough people on any TV news team in town who were reporting when Glen Murray was last mayor, for example. Heck, there are a lot of people missing from news teams from even the last civic election!

I don't know what is next for Lisa LaFlamme. She could find new work in journalism, academia, vice regal or wherever. Still, it seems in a country where many jobs are unfilled, you fire skilled people like they were nothing.

Gord Leclerc Laid Off from CTV News Winnipeg

At one time CBC News in Winnipeg was number 1. CKY and later CKND and much later than that MTN were way behind in the ratings. Garth Dawley read the news from 1970 to 1983 and CBC was solidly in front. In 1983, CBC enhanced that success with the changes both nationally and locally. The National and The Journal had moved to 10 PM and the Winnipeg 24 Hours supertime broadcast had Sandra Lewis in 1985 and Kevin Evans in a solid combination that dominated the 1980s news. Often full length 24 Hours documentaries from Winnipeg would headline The Journal. The product being produced was that good.

CBC would tinker with the format nearly non-stop from 1990 to 2000 due to cutbacks or news format changes such as the Canada Now experiment that tried to place a national news broadcast at the supper hour. That experiment extended to the national news moving to 9 PM with poor results till it moved back to 10 PM.

Sandra Lewis would move on and the news in Winnipeg would be anchored by Diana Swain from 1995 to 2000 with some maternity leave breaks in there as well. It was around 2000 when Swain left that the local news in Winnipeg switched. It was no longer number 1 in the market. They stuck it long term with some familiar faces that were not headed off to Toronto like Lewis and Swain. It was a bit of a revolving door after that. Krista Erikison and Jennifer Rattray along with some fill in anchors for seven years with multiple format changes with Canada Now.

Meanwhile, CKY stuck to its knitting. They brought a reporter called Gord Leclerc in 1995 and in 2002 he became the news anchor. The one format remained intact and they allowed for community personalities to evolve. Sylvia Kuzyk in weather gave a sense of continuity. Janet Stewart as Leclerc's co-anchor and John Sauder would add to 6:00 PM lock on number 1 for CTV News.

In a uprising change though, Janet Stewart left CTV tin 2006 to anchor CBC News at Six in January of 2007. She would not make the move alone, John Sauder who had also been at CTV since 2000 would also join the CBC broadcast team in 2007. Sauder was a well known commodity for Winnipeg for being the pilot and traffic reporter for Winnipeg from 1984 and flying at "Captain John" for decades. Alas, Stewart and Sauder were not able to break the stranglehold CTV had on 6 PM news. However, you could say that a partnership was more solidly worked out with the radio division using TV news people that has helped CBC Radio One achieve number 1 status in Winnipeg and across the country.

Leclerc at CTV would be eventually joined by Maralee Caruso in 2007. Caruso was a veteran of the newsroom since 2001. Together, the two anchors continued CTV News at Six dominance despite the efforts of CBC to re-take lead with Stewart and Sauder.

In 2019, CTV News in Winnipeg unceremoniously dumped Gord Leclerc and wiped him from website. It was described purely a budgetary matter. All of the past years has seen CTV cutting staff. They're not the only ones. CBC across the country wielded the hatchet this week, mostly in Toronto.

After nearly 25 years, Leclerc was erased from the news. Were it not for his industry friends, it is likely no one would have known the day it happened. Not even an acknowledgement the broadcast took place. Maralee Caruso continues to be solo anchor but it must have caused a chill for all of CTV Winnipeg. The rumour has been that the network has been interested in maybe cutting even more.

The years of community engagement and charity work counted for nothing. And while it is a business, it is a pretty cruel one. The chasing of ratings and advertising money has meant people come and go. However, it is worth noting that Leclerc helped them achieve and maintain number 1 in the market. The very stability and consistency that made CTV number 1 might tip the tables back in favour of the CBC News at Six program.

Can a job offer from other media in Winnipeg for Leclerc be in the offing? Or will all those years of community engagement bring other job offers.

Still, if CBC really wanted to stick CTV in the high, they would hire Gord Leclerc.

Where Do You Get Your News? Part 1

Where do you get your news?

It isn't an idle question. And it just doesn't refer to news, sports and weather. Nor does it mean just newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. For many people news is information. However, not all information is news.

The dictionary says that news is selected information based on current events. The earliest news was most likely disseminated orally by those who travelled between communities. Perhaps the first written news was actually government edicts from the Pharaohs in ancient Egyptian times around 2400 B.C. These communique were delivered via a courier system throughout the land.

By the time of the Romans, Julius Caesar, 44 BC to 100 BC, the Acta Diurna was the daily system or gazette for delivering news from the government.

Various nations around the world used the written gazettes to inform the public about what was happening. However, the first newspaper didn't appear till 1605 in Strasbourg. It was called Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien.

The literal translation for this German language paper is:

Account of all distinguishable and commemorable news.

And so it has gone with news. It is the dissemination of information by governments, organizations and individuals.

The New York Times says it publishes "all the news that's fit to print." That is a lot. And if you work for FOX News, you find what the Times say laughable because they say that only they publish is "fair and balanced."

In Winnipeg, how does one receive news? I would hazard a guess that being the city we are, we look for news that is free first and foremost. That would be television. I always like to point out that TV is hardly free. It requires a device to receive it and to get the best quality signal, you generally have to pay a distributor like a cable company a significant chuck of change. But whatever, people often believe TV is free when for the buck, the newspaper delivers more for less.

So what do we have for news shows on Winnipeg TV? Well, for all intents, we have four news slots in a day. Morning, noon and evening and late night. Not all networks avail themselves of all those times though. City TV, for example, only has a morning program from 5:30 AM to 9 AM. It is cut from the same cloth as Good Morning America in that it is very light on news and is more about information and entertainment. The news segments are basic reports culled from news service or other reporting sources. However, for the longest time it was pretty much the only act going when it came to local morning TV? The Big Breakfast is less about standard news and more community activities.

In 2011, CTV decided that City TV had the mornings too much to themselves and started running CTV Morning Live from 6 AM to 9 AM. They brought in experienced new staff from their local evening news and used them to do more reports as well as follow City TV's format of light entertainment and community programming.

The last entrant in the breakfast programming crowd in 2012 is Global TV's Morning News. It runs 6 AM to 9 AM. It has some experienced news staff on air with one notable addition brought in. They have a traffic helicopter for their reports. This is as tactic used by U.S. local programming to some success.

CBC Morning News runs on the main channel from 6 AM to 7 AM. It is a national news program very light on local content.

Suffice to say that, CBC, CTV and Sun News all have national news programming on their all news channels all day long, Throw in CNN and several U.S. and international news networks. The main U.S. networks run both local and national news and entertainment programs all morning.

However, for our purposes, we will only talk about the local ones here.

For many years, it has only been the City TV offering local news and entertainment in the morning. It is now three stations who actively compete for content to fill three or more hours every day now that Global and CTV have joined the fray.

So what is news can be derived from watching these morning programs? The most likely thing is traffic and weather and maybe quick re-caps of news and sports. Nothing is in depth on such programming but it is enough quick info that maybe useful for someone's day to start. Often times, the morning local programming amounts to a community bulletin board.

If someone wants more depth that than early morning TV, is radio the answer?

Continued in part 2

Latest Fall TV News Ratings

There was a bit of a dip for all three TV news programs in Winnipeg in this last fall ratings period. CTV News remained on top, followed by Global News and with CBC trailing in third place in the 6:00 timeslot.

TV News Ratings through October/November 2010 6 to 6:30 p.pm.

CTV News 129,000 viewers (130,000 - 2009)
Global News between 37,900 viewers (42,600 - 2009)
CBC News 27,600 viewers (33,800 - 2009)

As mentioned, all the ratings were down in the 6:00 p.m. timeslot. It was a marginal drop for CTV News and bigger drop for Global and CBC.

But does this tell the full story? Not quite.

CBC News has a 90 minute offering.

Here is the CBC News ratings in the hour before:

5:00 to 5:30 p.m. 38,100 viewers (28,500 - 2009)
5:30 to 6:00 p.m. 39,000 viewers (32,900 - 2009)

In both timeslots has seen some fair increases. Put together, it is a fairly good number over last year. Each of those half hours has more viewers than Global's 6:00 p.m. news.

CTV News that has the 6:30 to 7:00 p.m timeslot to itself for local news fared thus:

CTV News 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. 113,300 viewers (117,000 - 2009)

That is down a bit. I'd be curious as to where viewers went. To Coronation Street?

CTV News has a right to be happy but there should be some concern that their numbers in the second hour tail off even in the absence of news competition.

CBC News has a right to be happy because the first full hour of their news has seen this marked increase. The hour where they compete with CTV and Global News is weak though. It may be time to think of a somewhat different approach. Perhaps a long form story in that hour? Maybe a panel of pundits? Longer interviews with the Premier, leader of the Opposition?

The point is that repeating the same things from the previous hour seems to be losing audience for the CBC.

As for Global News...second place and falling numbers means a re-think as well. If CBC News can pull up its britches in the last half hour of their news, it could mean trouble for their team.

As to the quality of the news...CBC tends to be a bit repetitive. Global News tends add too many stories produced elsewhere. CTV is the best overall but can turn a bit fluffy at times.

In short, we have been better served by TV news in years past. It is possible to report compelling news without breaking the bank. Interviews in the studio might be a way to go for a full newshour. For Global News with only a 30 minute format, they should stick to local coverage only. Picking up obvious Toronto created content is not the way to go. And for CBC, try not to be so repetitive.

Superstreets

CTV has an article about the superstreets concept that is being tested out to help improve flow of traffic and put an end to left turns that can cause danger.

In short, the idea is to have people make right turns and then a U-turn to avoid the problems associated with a left turn.

I think anyone in Winnipeg could come up with several deadly intersections in town where left turns are brutal. Check out the article and let's hope that someone in city planning is looking at this. It may be more expensive initially to set up but if it saves lives and reduces congestion, it will be worth it.

Great Canadian Talk Show Ended... Shock

Marty Gold with Sam Katz when he guest hosted on CJOB

It is with complete shock that I read that The Great Canadian Talk Show has been cancelled.

I am completely bewildered by the announcement.

I'm aware that some people might not like the show or the host but I believed that the program fulfilled its education and civic responsibilities to the college and to the community in general.

Update: It appears Marty Gold will be interviewed on CTV NEWs at 11:30 PM tonight.

Crappy Coverage on Winnipeg Election...Update

I missed Brad Oswald's column on Saturday, the same day as I gave my thoughts on media coverage.

He also took CBC up on their not showing up on election night. If everyone has gone home for the night and you are interviewing the losing candidate, you are there too late.

Toronto had full TV coverage on both CBC, CTV and everything in between.

The TV news stations better have better provincial election coverage or they should turn in their licences.

Kudos to The Great Canadian Talk Show for taking the TV news to task on this.

Crappy Coverage on Winnipeg Election

I won't go into content as that is a separate subject. I am more concerned about the TV news not showing up till one hour after the polls closed. In some cases, they really didn't show up at all.

Where were you CBC TV? was Dragon's Den more important than local election coverage?

Would you have skipped covering Toronto's election if Dragon's Den was on?

Well, the above would indicate that you did cover the election results through television last week in Toronto. Manitoba's civic election doesn't seem to have mattered as much.

The polls closed at 8. First to televise was Global at 9 pm. On at 10 was CTV. City TV doesn't do news anymore, do they? How do they even get a local licence?

CBC, the organization with the biggest news room for radio and TV's combined operations really only did a radio outing this time around. No slight on the radio people but TV visuals are hugely important in election coverage.

CBC Radio, CJOB and Kick FM all did radio coverage. Good work showing up to do civic duty, in my view.

The Free Press did some interesting work with a live feed. Good work on updates from the counts. Poor work done on what appeared on the counts in the margin.

Perhaps in a future civic election, someone from the paper will put up the unofficial count from their media group versus the count reported in to the election website.

Good to see some new people giving analysis. However, the half-hearted coverage and the late reporting showed a lack of preparation and care.

The overall effect was that anyone wanting to get election results and some excellent coverage was left bereft in terms of TV coverage, confused at print coverage with its live feed but out of whack elections numbers or radio coverage that lacked the visuals.

A provincial election is a year away. News media groups should be considering how they will cover this election in terms old technology and new technology. No doubt that cell phones and texting can update faster than anything we have seen. However, someone has to mind the fort and put up the data on screens whether it is the TV screen or computer screen.

Having someone who moderates the huge influx of info and offers context is an absolute must. Moreover, good analysis can help when data is slow in coming and background helps bring understanding of the candidates, the campaign and the issues.

While the non-mainstream media can cover certain aspects of an election, they generally don't have the resources to do what major media groups do when it comes to election night. This time around, the major media groups showed that even having better resources doesn't necessarily mean great coverage. I hope they put a better effort in these next months in advance of the provincial election.

In the mean time, alternative reporting can and should do its best to cover the provincial election.

I propose that we get numerous bloggers to shed some insight into the various ridings in the province and cover the election the best we can.

I am willing to work the Tuxedo riding as that is my home constituency. I will try to put some effort in a few adjacent ridings as well but hope that others will lay claim to some areas for themselves.

If someone could have a central webpage for the articles, all the better.

Let's hope for good election coverage in the weeks and months ahead.

CBC Changes

The CBC announced the changes to their schedule for the fall. Once again they are tinkering with their presentation of the news. In some cases, they have been successful doing this as when they moved The National news broadcast to 10 pm back in 1982. It was part somewhat of a golden age for the CBC which saw the broadcast teamed with The Journal and regularly win its timeslot.

CBC's daily local news broadcast 24Hours started in 1970. Priot to that, Winnipeg's local news came once a week on a program called Eye-to-Eye. Garth Dawley was the original newsreader.

The local CBC news occupied its present 6 to 7 pm slot in 1977. It proved to be a very successful model for the local CBC and for decades, 24 Hours won its timeslot over local rivals.

From 1985 to 1990, 24Hours LateNight ran on the CBC. It was a more robust platform than the local late night news round up that had existed in the years before. Alas, it was abandoned due to continued changes when 24Hours Talkback expanded the supper news to 90 minutes from 1990-1992.

Local latenight news returned from 1994 to 2000 but it never has the same robustness of the 1980s.

In 2000, cutbacks at the CBC resulted in a national news program taking the 6 pm slot in Winnipeg. The program was renamed Canada Now and hosted by Ian Hanomansing. Local news was relegated to 6:30 pm. The change proved to be deadly for ratings and the national news experiment ended in 2007.

Since 2007, the CBC has returned to a one hour news format called CBC News: Winnipeg at Six. now hosted by former CTV News corespondents Janet Stewart and John Sauder. It has slowly restored ratings for the one time champion of local news but CTV News (CKY News) has been number 1 for many years now. In the last ratings period in spring in 2009, CBC local news vaulted back into second place.

From the Free Press:

CBC-TV was the biggest winner in this spring's version of the local-news ratings race, according to figures released this week by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement.

CTV maintained its dominant position among local newscasts, despite a dip in ratings, while CBC leapfrogged Global to take over second spot among Winnipeg's supper-hour news programs.

CTV News drew an average audience of 126,700 during the spring BBM ratings period, compared to 165,800 in the same period last year. CBC News at Six increased its viewership dramatically, attracting an audience of 43,600 compared to 31,200 last spring.

It would be terrible if the CBC experiment that failed in the 1990s hurt the CBC's present climb back to better ratings. In part it looks like the news is being bookended with products picked up last year and this year.

The new schedule starting August 31 looks like this:

4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Ghost Whisperer
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM CBC News
6:30 PM to 7:00 PM Coronation Street
7:00 PM to 7:30 PM Wheel of Fortune
7:30 PM to 8:00 PM Jeopardy

There has been some criticism from some anonymous CBC sources.

The gist of the argument is that it is very hard to produce a 60 minute broadcast and doing 90 minutes is going to extremely difficult. It is also argued that the move to an earlier hour is to get bigger ratings for its British and American imports.

Time Program National Toronto Calgary

4:00 p.m. Fashion File 22,000 3,000 No rating

4:30 p.m. Rick Mercer 34,000 No rating No rating

5:00 p.m. The Simpsons 169,000 13,000 9,000

5:30 p.m. Wheel of Fortune 370,000 18,000 3,000

6:00 p.m. Local News 294,000 44,000 6,000

7:00 p.m. Coronation Street 557,000 173,000 11,000

7:30 p.m. Jeopardy! 683,000 161,000 9,000

It remains to be seen whether this move will hurt the CBC even more or whether this will turn local ratings around.



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