689 replies to this topic

[AllseeingEye]

Thanks for the post, it bought back a lot of memories from my time there ... almost could not recognize a few of the faces as I know them as they look now and forgot what they looked like back then. 

 

Yer welcome!

 

There is a new "ex-CHEK employees only" FB group which I can't join in spite of the fact dad was a "face" of CHEK TV back in the 60's, having done everything from hosting "Club 6", to weekend reporter-newsreader, voice over, master control etc., all at the old Epson Dr location.

 

Interestingly since time is passing most of the posts and posters on this new group seem to go back no further than the early-80's probably because most ex-staff today who are posting arrived long after dad, Frank Bond, Andy Stephen, Ida Clarkson etc were roaming the halls. You should search it out and join. Probably lots of folks on there you know.....

Edited by AllseeingEye, 01 April 2024 - 12:55 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

This spring Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation (MMFN) will be opening the doors of their new hotel, Baymont by Wyndham, previously known as the Gold River Chalet, alongside new tourism information services aiming to bring more visitors to the region.

 

Gold River Chalet closed its doors in April of 2023, according to the hotel manager Rohinton (Roy) Kharadi. Over the last year the building underwent “complete renovations,” he noted.

 

“Total wow,” said Kharadi, when asked what past hotel visitors can expect with new renovations.

 

The hotel is now pet friendly with air conditioning and heating, while the rooms underwent complete renovations. Previously with only four kitchen units, they have now jumped to nine, with the addition of a meeting room, a large new suite, and two accessible rooms, he shared.

 

Additions are inclusive of a restaurant, gym, and hot tub.

 

Kharadi expects the Baymont by Wyndham to be among the “go to” places in Gold River.

 

 

 

 

More awful writing can be found here:

 

https://www.cheknews...rvices-1203774/

[Mike P.]

Since Chek upgraded their Roku and Apple TV last week, it's impossible to stream the most recent daily news. From now on, it's yesterday's news... tomorrow.

[UDeMan]

Steele and Vance show ending on Chek TV. I can say I never watched one episode.

https://dailyhive.co...nce-chek-finale

[AllseeingEye]

Two industry vets who more than earned their chops. That said I had lunch a few weeks back in Vancouver with 3 very well known industry (radio) jocks - all now retired - who were giants in the Vancouver and BC scene. All of them started in radio and over time moved back and forth between that medium and TV and later in their careers moved to podcasting.

 

All of them are beyond grateful their days on the airwaves are done as the web/online/streaming channel has turned 'traditional' MSM upside down and those traditional means of getting out whatever your message happens to be no longer apply or really appeal to the younger consumers of "news". Good luck to both Vance and Steele as they navigate whatever media/medium they land in eventually.

[Victoria Watcher]

as the web/online/streaming channel has turned 'traditional' MSM upside down and those traditional means of getting out whatever your message happens to be no longer apply or really appeal to the younger consumers of "news". 

 

The traditional means is still there.

 

And it's been supplemented with other very, very low cost ways of getting your message out there.

 

YOU just got your last message out there for all of us to read.  You could not have done that 20 years ago.

 

You can start a podcast in your living room this afternoon if you want.

[AllseeingEye]

The traditional means is still there.

 

And it's been supplemented with other very, very low cost ways of getting your message out there.

 

YOU just got your last message out there for all of us to read.  You could not have done that 20 years ago.

 

You can start a podcast in your living room this afternoon if you want.

 

I think you missed the point; ''traditional" radio - remember my comment references specifically a conversation with RADIO guys and by 'traditional' I am talking about 20+++ years ago - does not hold the same sway as it did 30/40 years ago. Not even close. That was their lament during lunch. Old guys pining for an industry past trying to comprehend what happened to that industry they knew.

 

I was a talk radio consumer fiend in my 20's. As were many of my university cohorts of the time. No kids today at that age listen to 'talk' radio. They don't even listen to radio.

 

Not really surprising therefore that Vance and Steele are leaving the airwaves, no one in the younger generation has a clue who they are and their traditional audience is aging and even dying out. Everything now of course is streamed off the web. Why do you think traditional talk radio titan CKNW is but a pale shadow of its former self? That station was the most influential radio 'factory' in Canada west of Toronto in its heyday, with over a 40% share of the BC market. Those numbers are fantasyland today. Now I don't think its even in the Top 5 just in the Vancouver market, at least last time I checked.

 

Why do you think the shares of its corporate master Corus are dropping like a rock? They've tumbled into penny stock territory trading at .15/share currently. They’ve lost half of their value these last couple of weeks, making Corus’ stock market capitalization around $50 million. As recently as 2022, it was more than $1 billion.

 

Comparatively advertisers have abandoned (especially) radio in droves and combined with the massive consolidation in the Canadian media market the future is bleak for radio "jocks" as we once knew them. Rogers is currently trying to grab multiple programming and trademark deals for channels owned by Warner Bros, Discovery Inc. etc. Corus is at risk of losing their Canadian rights to programming on five key channels, including HGTV and the Food Network. Those channels are vital to Corus’ business, yielding about $155 million in revenue per year and over $50 million in earnings. WAY more than their radio stations generate. 

[Victoria Watcher]

I think I get your point. But you said:



web/online/streaming channel has turned 'traditional' MSM upside down and those traditional means of getting out whatever your message happens to be no longer apply or really appeal to the younger consumers of "news".


I’m saying to some extent, perhaps the old way, many were excluded from being seen, getting their message out. Big media decided who would be seen, in the limited outlets available.

Now anybody can be heard. And we can all choose what we want to see or hear. Whether we are young or old.

I ageee it might be a bit sad, but I see the saturation or choices as a positive, more so than a negative.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2024 - 11:10 AM.

[vortoozo]

CHEK has done a good job of leaning into podcasting while using those podcasts to produce low-cost television content. Political Capital with Rob Shaw, MicCHEK, etc.

[Victoria Watcher]

I agree. Hard to know if many watch/listen though.

Podcasts with just local or regional issues have numbers that can’t support them with advertising.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2024 - 11:31 AM.

[Matt R.]

It’s better now they anyone can broadcast, get rid of all the gatekeeprs.

[LJ]

I still listen to CKNW each morning, but not like I used to listen to Webster et al.

[max.bravo]

I’d guess the same % of university kids that listened to talk radio in the 70s are listening to podcasts now.

It’s a double edged sword though. On one hand, less corporate gate keeping and greater access to a range of perspectives, but on the other hand, most people only listen to podcasters who agree with what they already believe- echo chamber algorithms don’t help with this.

[AllseeingEye]

I still listen to CKNW each morning, but not like I used to listen to Webster et al.

 

Yep almost mandatory listening back in the day - just consider the on-air talent: Gary Bannerman, Webster, Frosty Forst, Bill Good, Rafe Mair, Philip Till, Jon McComb. No other station in western Canada came close to matching that group. By the time McComb signed off in 2019 however the writing had long been on the wall.

 

Corus purchased the station in 2000 and its been a steady erosion ever since. Starting in 2001, the station has gone through at least two significant restructurings focused on reducing costs, which resulted in dozens of lay-offs. Over that time many senior reporters and off-air talent have left CKNW for other opportunities. Significant cost-cutting decisions made by Corus, along with the increase in infomercials, unsurprisingly has resulted in CKNW suffering a huge decline of its listening audience.

 

Which was only compounded by the loss of the BC Lions CFL broadcast rights to Team 1040 in 2004. Worse In 2006, CKNW lost the rights to broadcast Vancouver Canucks games also to Team 1040 as well after broadcasting every one of the club's games since their inaugural NHL season in 1970. Some industry insiders at the time estimated that the loss of the Canucks games may have resulted in the station losing up to a third or more of their cumulative audience by 2006-07. They've never recovered after that.

[Mike K.]

Is CHEK still using computer generated news readers or was that just a test/one-off?

[AllseeingEye]

Don't know about CHEK specifically. I have heard about an AI "weather person" coming online recently at a US TV station; and one of the hot topics of the YVR lunch convo was the prevalence of AI radio DJ's pioneered in Dallas, a trend that is spreading. The Dallas "DJ" was introduced quite recently but others have quickly followed.

[Mike K.]

We pointed out a CHEK piece that was very obviously a non human voice. Maybe they were asked not to do that.

[dasmo]

Max Headroom was the GOAT!

[Mike K.]

Well, that very obviously non-human voice was, in fact, human.

I spoke with Joe Perkins this afternoon, and what sounded like an AI generated voice was a young coop student who came from the radio world and has a distinct voice. He is no longer with the station following his coop term.

Here’s a clip of a story with the individual, Harry Corro: https://www.cheknews...spital-1196088/

Crazy!

[Nparker]

You know the end is near when humans start taking on the characteristics of AI.