Fagstein

Small Montreal radio stations up for licence renewals

Fagstein — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:45:35 +0000

While I was watching intently at a hearing in Montreal where BCE was making its case to buy Astral Media, the CRTC published a series of licence renewal applications, mainly from community, campus and other small stations across the country. Six of them are in the Montreal area, and their applications are summarized below. For [...]

City TV’s Montreal Connected debuts May 30; Alyson Lozoff, Wilder Weir to host

Fagstein — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:40:33 +0000

CJNT, which officially became City Montreal in February after it was bought by Rogers, will launch its first local program a week from now. Rogers Media announced on Wednesday the details of its new weekly sports show called Montreal Connected (formerly "Connected Montreal"), which starts May 30. Here they are in point form: Schedule: Half [...]

Caption Catherine Cullen

Fagstein — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:00:09 +0000

Related Posts Caption Quebecor’s new CEO Robert Depatie Caption Franky Fingers Cavallaro Caption what Aislin is writing Caption The Beat’s Paul Hayes and Donna Saker Caption Mike Finnerty

Rogers says it’s willing to buy TSN 690

Fagstein — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:10:36 +0000

See also my story on this in The Gazette. Though it had seemed cool to the idea previously, Rogers says it is now willing to make a "reasonable offer" to Bell Media to purchase CKGM (TSN Radio 690) and keep it running in its English-language all-sports format. The revelation came through Rogers's final submission to [...]

Voir to publish twice a month

Fagstein — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:11:56 +0000

Voir, the last remaining of Montreal's alternative weeklies, will soon no longer be a weekly. Editor in Chief Simon Jodoin announced on Wednesday that, beginning this summer, the paper will publish twice a month instead of weekly. In a fine example of burying the lead on bad news, the announcement is at the very end [...]

Montreal TV ratings: Global morning show struggles out of the gate with 500 viewers

Fagstein — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:34:21 +0000

Global Montreal's Morning News hasn't had the smoothest start. As a guinea pig for a new way of producing live TV, with local control-room staff using servers across the country, it has been plagued with technical problems, some so serious they have forced the show off the air a couple of times. Marketing for it hasn't [...]

Elysia Bryan-Baynes named late-night anchor at Global Montreal

Fagstein — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:52:19 +0000

Global Montreal has finally filled the seat that was vacated by Richard Dagenais when he moved to mornings in January: Reporter Elysia Bryan-Baynes is being upgraded to the anchor desk, it was announced on Wednesday morning. Her first day on air is June 3. Bryan-Baynes, an avid comic-book reader, has been with Global Montreal since [...]

Paul Hayes leaving The Beat

Fagstein — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:49:51 +0000

Paul Hayes, who has been doing the evening Heartbeats show on The Beat since the station rebranded in September 2011, is leaving the station at the end of June to go back to the U.K. The news came out yesterday as people noticed two ads for announcers at The Beat on MilkmanUnlimited and elsewhere. "I've [...]

Caption Quebecor’s new CEO Robert Depatie

Fagstein — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:00:19 +0000

Related Posts Caption Catherine Cullen Caption Franky Fingers Cavallaro Caption what Aislin is writing Caption The Beat’s Paul Hayes and Donna Saker Caption Mike Finnerty

The third option for TSN Radio 690

Fagstein — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:54:14 +0000

If you don't want to read this really long post, you can get the short version in this story and this followup in The Gazette, and this story at Cartt.ca. I'd thought about it. Some people had asked me about it. Others suggested it to the CRTC in their written submissions. And the CRTC asked [...]

Follow the Bell/Astral CRTC hearings (again)

Fagstein — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:21 +0000

This week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission conducts five days of hearings into BCE Inc.'s purchase of Astral Media Inc. You can follow the hearings in one of the following ways: In person: The hearings take place at Hôtel Gouverneur Place Dupuis, 1415 St. Hubert St., corner Ste. Catherine St. They are open to the public, [...]

Five challenges for Bell in front of the CRTC

Fagstein — Mon, 06 May 2013 00:25:58 +0000

Starting Monday, Bell Media appears before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in a second attempt to convince it to approve its acquisition of Astral Media Inc. The burden is on the applicant to convince the commission that this change of ownership is good for the broadcasting system. And since the CRTC has already rejected [...]

Caption Franky Fingers Cavallaro

Fagstein — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:00:12 +0000

Related Posts Caption Frank Cavallaro Caption Catherine Cullen Caption Quebecor’s new CEO Robert Depatie Caption what Aislin is writing Caption The Beat’s Paul Hayes and Donna Saker

Mike Boone still has the last laugh

Fagstein — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:09:56 +0000

"I don't feel a burning desire to write." That's the last thing I scratched into my notebook when I sat down with Mike Boone at his home last fall. It's funny because it's coming from a newspaper columnist. I just did a search, and from 1985 (when the Gazette's electronic database starts) to his goodbye [...]

Book Television and the de-specialization of specialty channels

Fagstein — Thu, 02 May 2013 00:23:49 +0000

These days, what little public attention is devoted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is split between two major hearings taking place back to back: The mandatory carriage hearings, in which more than a dozen groups are trying to force themselves onto basic cable to get maximum audience or free money, or both; and [...]

CRTC mandatory carriage applications show existing broadcasters are lacking

Fagstein — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:40:29 +0000

In coverage of the CRTC's mandatory carriage hearings, which is probably the most important thing that will happen this year as far as TV subscribers' wallets are concerned, various pundits have expressed opinions for and against forcing certain services on all Canadian subscribers. Many have questioned whether we should even have mandatory carriage at all, [...]

The Don Cherry/Ron MacLean relationship in 12 images and 2 animated GIFs

Fagstein — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:42:15 +0000

"I don't believe women should be in the male dressing room" and other nice thoughts: The video, in case you missed it. Stories from CP (which is being posted everywhere), National Post, Globe and Mail, CBC, QMI, La Presse, HuffPost Quebec, Radio-Canada, TVA Sports, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, NESN, Puck Daddy, Deadspin Related Posts National Post explores HNIC production trailer [...]

Caption what Aislin is writing

Fagstein — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:00:43 +0000

Related Posts Caption Catherine Cullen Caption Quebecor’s new CEO Robert Depatie Caption Franky Fingers Cavallaro Caption The Beat’s Paul Hayes and Donna Saker Caption Mike Finnerty

The sad reality of metro disruptions

Fagstein — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:20:00 +0000

sachez qu'à chaque fois que vous sacrez après les pannes dans le métro il y a peu être qq1 qui vient de se tirer sur les rails par désespoir — ? Drew ? (@Kityara_) April 19, 2013 It's easy to get frustrated when the metro goes down. We're always rushing to get somewhere, and we [...]

Gazette food critic Lesley Chesterman unveils herself

Fagstein — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:00:41 +0000

Restaurant critics have the best and worst jobs at newspapers. They get paid to eat at fancy restaurants all the time, and have the power to make or break them with a review. On the other hand, they're not recognized in the street because they can't have their picture in the paper. They have to [...]