Crime Can Happen Anywhere But Let's Try to Live Our Lives

It’s been a busy night and day for the Winnipeg Police Service. One man died and another was injured after a shooting inside Salisbury House on Pembina Highway around 3 yesterday morning.

That neighborhood is not known for being riddled with crime, but the shooting is bound to make some Winnipeggers concerned for their safety and others simply wondering what is happening to our city. Police said they believe the shooting was not random and there is no threat to public safety.

Growing up in River Heights, I suppose I believe the stereotype that certain parts of Winnipeg are more dangerous than others, Fort Richmond not being one of the areas on my “dangerous list.”

This shooting does concern me, but I take solace in a few things that you may also have considered. It happened at 3 in the morning in the middle of the week. Certainly not all, but a good many crimes happen at night when there are less people around. This doesn’t make the shooting any less tragic, but it should put people’s minds at ease who are worried about being targeted by gunmen in broad daylight.

Speaking of being targeted, that was exactly the circumstances of the Sals shooting: police said the two men shot were targeted. Again, that fact doesn’t make this any less of a tragedy, but it lets us know that our neighborhood restaurants are still fairly safe.

It also teaches me an important lesson: crime can happen anywhere. Perhaps there is more of it in my so-called “dangerous neighborhoods”, but there is no crime-free part of Winnipeg.

Having said that, I’ve always been a firm believer that we should not live in fear. If we are too scared of being gunned down to walk down the street, visit a neighborhood restaurant, or go out at night, I don’t really think that’s living. Is it?

So, as good citizens, let’s be concerned as we should be. Let’s express our condolences to the families of those who were shot and the staff members who had to go through this ordeal. Let’s hope that our municipal, provincial, and federal leaders are getting ever-closer to addressing the route causes of crime and therefore preventing crimes from being committed. And most of all, let’s try and live our lives as best we can, being concerned citizens, but not living in fear.

Real Pros, on and Off the Air

It’s been an exciting time in Winnipeg radio this week. CITI-FM hired away Winnipeg’s highest rated rock morning show to boost ratings, which led to some job losses, and I was pleasantly surprised at the way the guys getting the axe handled the situation.

Dave Wheeler, Phil Aubrey and Rena Jae were the hosts of ‘Wheeler in The Morning’ on Power 97—that is until a week ago last Wednesday when contract negotiations broke down and CITI officially hired them a day later.

Wheeler and company’s new gig saw the cancelation of ‘Tom and Joe in The Morning’ (hosted by Tom McGouran and Joe Aiello), an institution at CITI FM for the last 18 years. Rogers Media, who owns CITI, opted to move Aiello to sister station 102.3 Clear FM to join co-host Kerri Salki.

McGouran and Clear FM’s Jay Oliver have both been let go.

Of course this story was all over the media, but the Winnipeg Sun’s coverage specifically caught my eye. Why? Well even though I would expect a certain amount of diplomacy and face-saving on the part of Tom and Joe, I was particularly impressed at their attitudes and their professionalism when they were interviewed by the Sun’s Ross Romaniuk. Here are a few examples:

“It’s actually not unfortunate. At the end of the day, it’s business. So now, I look for a gig and re-emerge somewhere else,” McGouran, 55, said after being told of the moves following his show on Thursday.

“I understand how business works. They’re trying to cut costs, so they bring in a younger crew who are cheaper,” he said of Rogers. “That’s the way it goes. We live on contracts, year to year. That’s the business we’re in, because we’re working in the greatest business in the world. I love it. Every day I do my gig, it’s not like ever working. That’s the risk you always take.”

Aiello called it “kind of a goofy day” that he hadn’t seen coming after 18 years on CITI’s morning airwaves with McGouran, a 30-year veteran of Winnipeg FM radio.

“The old line for us is that you’re hired to be fired. As entertainers, we know that. And the show has to go on, as they say. But it’s been a tough day, because in anybody’s line of work you never want to see people lose their jobs,” said Aiello, 46.

McGouran said he’s taking the shakeup in stride.

“I love the business. I love Winnipeg. It will work out,” he said. “I’ve had a fantastic time, and I’m looking forward to a fantastic time at the next place I’m working at. Just tell Winnipeg it will hear from me soon.”

As a young broadcaster, Tom and Joe’s attitudes are pretty inspiring.

We hear all the time about the radio business being cut-throat and that “nice guys finish last”, it’s nice to see that McGouran and Aiello are being truthful but respectful.

They could bad mouth Rogers all they want and even display some bitterness about what went on. Of course, you could argue that they’re responding the way they are because they know what good PR is and they don’t want to burn any bridges.

That may be true, but I had the opportunity to meet them once and they seemed like great guys. They’re also pros on the air, and I think it’s a wonderful example to see that they’re pros off the air as well, whether they’re just being nice guys or smart business men.

Good luck Tom and Joe in your new ventures!

Bell Buying Astral: What Are We in For?

This week, CRTC hearings are taking place concerning BCE’s (owner of Bell Media) proposed $3.38 billion purchase of Montreal-based Astral Media, and as was the case in March when the deal was announced, media concentration in Canada is top of mind for consumers and industry professionals. Put more simply, this could be a little scary.

 

Bell Media Radio currently owns 35 radio stations. Astral owns 84. Those numbers alone represent a large chunk of the media pie in Canada.

Because the CRTC says a radio company cannot own more than two (English) FM and two AM radio stations in a given market, Bell will have to sell off 10 stations if the takeover is approved. Even so, that doesn’t put much of a dent in their acquisition.

But acquiring radio properties is not a big concern in this deal for Bell. CTV — which Bell owns — operates more than 25 TV stations across the country and 30 specialty channels including sports networks TSN and RDS. Astral is Canada's largest pay and specialty TV broadcaster, with 24 TV services, including specialty channels. If the sale is approved, Bell would also have to get rid of some television stations because the CRTC ownership policy for TV is the same as radio.

As a young broadcaster and journalist, the fact that Bell stands to gain as much of the Canadian media landscape as it does is concerning, especially when we think about Bell (or C TV) as a news outlet in Canada.

In theory, journalism is supposed to be as fair and balanced as possible—free of corporate and government influence.

Whether you’re a consumer of news, a journalist yourself, or both, you know that isn’t always the reality in the Canadian broadcasting industry. However, one of the objectives that minimizes concentration and corporate or government interference is what the CRTC calls “diversity of voices.”

Basically, their aim (sometimes more on paper than in practice) is to license radio and television broadcasters so there are as many players as possible in the industry. With a variety of players comes a variety of editorial voices and increased competition.

All good things, right? Things that give consumers multiple perspectives and allow broadcasters and writers to express differing points of view? And those are some of the many reasons communicators like myself are attracted to the media industry, right? I think so.

However, those aspirations may be pipe dreams for us young upstarts. According to the Montreal Gazette, The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada told the CRTC Wednesday that media concentration in Canada has had troubling consequences.

“Apart from chilling diversity and neutering competition, concentrated media ownership has reduced employment opportunities in content creation,” said union vice-president Peter Murdoch.

“This is why CEP opposes this application.”

If the CRTC does approve the deal, it should ensure that Bell strengthens original, local broadcast news, Murdoch added.

Bell says that if it acquires Astral, it will own 33.5 per cent of the English language market and 24.4 per cent of the French-language market. That’s under the 35-per-cent threshold set by the CRTC for approval, but Bell’s competitors dispute that figure and say it’s actually higher.

Here’s hoping the CRTC does not take concerns over unfair monopolies and a possible lack of jobs in the industry lightly. They’ve certainly got their work cut out for them.

CRTC Says We Still Love Traditional Media, but Is Change On The Way

This post is the first in what you might call a rejuvenation of this blog. Up to this point, Scott’s Best has been a place for me to showcase my work as a Creative Communications student. While it will still continue to serve that purpose, Scott’s Best will now be a place for you and I to discuss media news and issues, as well as other events in the news. I hope to offer my perspective as a media industry observer and as someone who is entering that field.

As luck would have it, I came across the perfect topic to begin this rejuvenation with.

In a report released this past week, The CRTC says we (Canadians) spent more time watching TV or listening to radio in 2011 than the previous year, despite our frequent use of digital media.

The commission says on a weekly basis, we watched an average of 28.5 hours of television, up from 28 hours in 2010, and we listened to an average of 17.7 hours of radio, up from 17.6 hours the previous year.

That is interesting news. As a traditional media junky and communications student, I often hear how radio and TV as we’ve come to know them over the last 50 years are dead. Broadcasters say they’re losing listeners, viewers, and money because of “new media”; they try to cut costs wherever they can, which often means eliminating or reducing local programming, if they have any in the first place.

These cuts sometimes result in lower ratings, but more often, just discontented listeners and viewers.

Having said all of that, it appears as if we’re not ready to abandon traditional media just yet and it still seems to be somewhat profitable.

Yes, most radio stations stream their signals online or provide access via mobile devices and a large number of TV programs are available online, but not enough consumers are able to listen and watch their favourite programs through digital platforms while they travel, perhaps because mobile technology hasn’t been around long enough for mass media consumers to take full advantage of it. But … that will come.

There is still popular audio and video content that is not available on a mobile device. So maybe we’re still enjoying our familiar old radios and televisions, but also texting or surfing the net on our smartphones at the same time.

As for the money, the CRTC says broadcast revenues climbed 5.5 per cent to $16.6 billion last year from 2010, but revenues from telecommunications services also increased by 2.5 per cent to $42.7 billion.

Perhaps broadcasters aren’t hurting financially as much as they say … yet. However, the commission also points out that 78 per cent of Canadian households had Internet service in 2011, and the number of subscribers of wireless services grew by six per cent, with newer competitors doubling their market share to four per cent.

As part of their 2012 technology predictions, Deloitte said that five per cent of full-screen smartphone owners and one in ten tablet owners would use their devices at least once a month to catch up on TV viewing while commuting. Globally, they say this could represent an additional five billion hours of TV viewing for the year. Deloitte also tells us that five billion tablets could be in consumers’ hands by the end of the year.

They point out that catch-up commuters will represent a golden opportunity for content producers and advertisers.

So what can we take away from all these numbers and predictions? I’d say we still love to curl up on the couch and watch TV or listen to our favourite morning radio show in the car.

But as the song says “change is gonna come.” It won’t be long before both of those things will be done through digital platforms. As media professionals, we don’t have to go into crisis mode, but we do have to think about the content we provide for our audiences and how it’s delivered. We don’t have to abandon traditional platforms, but we can’t ignore digital ones. If we do, we’ll be left in the dust.

Sources:

http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Canadians+spent+more+time+watching+listening+radio+2011+than+2010/7187982/story.html

http://insights.deloitte.ca/predictions/?utm_campaign=green%20dot%202012%20tmt&utm_term=deloitte&utm_medium=friendly%20url&utm_source=%2Fpredictions