06/29/13 – Longtime CFAX AM 1070 Victoria broadcaster Joe Easingwood died early this morning at age 75. He was a dominant fixture at CFAX from 1981 until his retirement in 2010. Easingwood’s career spanned over half a century. He started as a boy sweeping floors and reading community announcements at CKNW New Westminster in 1948 and also worked at CJVI Victoria. The City of Victoria declared a Joe Easingwood Day in 2009 to mark his 55th year as a Victoria radio personality.
06/29/13 – CHWK-FM 89.5 Chilliwack changed its format Friday from Classic Rock to Classic Hits and branding from The Hawk to The Drive. The move follows numerous phone surveys which showed listeners wanted more classic hits in the music mix.
06/28/13 – Bell Media will divest 10 Bell and Astral English-language radio stations as part of its transaction to acquire Astral Media Inc., approved yesterday by the CRTC. B.C.-based Jim Pattison Broadcast Group has agreed to acquire one in Calgary and two in Winnipeg, while Corus Entertainment has agreed to buy two in Ottawa. The other 5 radio stations, which include Astral Vancouver stations CHHR-FM 104.3, CKZZ-FM 95.3 and CISL AM 650, are to be sold in an auction process now under way.
06/27/13 – Harvey Oberfeld reports that veteran Global TV Vancouver feature reporter Mike McCardell will be leaving the station effective next Tuesday. His departure is one of many recent changes in Vancouver’s television newsrooms. McCardell was “retired” by Global last September, but then retained under contract on a reduced schedule.
06/27/13 – In an interview with Mimi Jung 79-year old Seattle broadcast legend Pat O-Day tells about being dropped from the team calling the Seafair hydro races and his operation last June to remove a benign brain tumor.
06/26/13 – Former Vancouver market CKNW AM 980 news reporter Dave Rutherford, who has been a talk show host at CHQR AM 770 Calgary since 1993, was unceremoniously dumped by Corus Entertainment Tuesday, a month short of scheduled retirement. Rutherford criticized Corus management on Monday’s show for the station s coverage of the Alberta floods. He was on air at CKNW from 1974-83 and has been a talk show host at CHQR since 1993.
06/25/13 – Corus Entertainment has announced that Darren Danger Grieve is no longer employed by the company, effective immediately. Danger has hosted evenings at CFOX-FM 99.3 Vancouver since 2005.
06/24/13 – Seattle market KIRO-FM 97.3 late-morning talk host Luke Burbank is leaving his show after a three-year run. KIRO says Burbank will continue to do fill-in work and produce his popular daily podcast, TBTL (Too Beautiful to Live). Burbank is landing a deal to write a book, doing increased work for CBS-TV and is heard frequently on NPR as a panelist on Wait, Wait, Don t Tell Me.
06/23/13 – CTV British Columbia weekend meteorologist Duane English has announced that today was his last day with the station. He was the weekend weathercaster at Global Television Edmonton before joining CTV BC in 2011.
06/23/13 – Pat O’Day has agreed to host a one-hour hydro race special during Seafair weekend on Seattle market KIRO-FM 97.3, a day after KIRO-TV (no affiliation with KIRO Radio) had announced it would no longer carry him on its broadcast. When word got out that KIRO-TV would drop him, KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don Show got in touch with the legend and convinced him he must be heard on Seafair weekend.
06/23/13 – Vancouver Hall of Fame sports broadcaster Jim Robson couldn’t help but notice the name Bob Robertson listed as the Spokane Indians play-by-play man at the Vancouver Canadians home opener at Nat Bailey Stadium on Monday. College football Hall of Famer Robertson, now 84, was in the next booth doing play-by-play for the Tacoma Raniers when Robson was calling Vancouver Mounties games at Capilano Stadium in the 1960s. Indians games are broadcast on KGA AM 1510 Spokane and Canadians games on TEAM 1040 CKST AM Vancouver.
06/23/13 – Veteran Victoria and Vancouver broadcaster Drew Snider is back on radio airwaves after spending seven years in media relations at TransLink, the south coast’s transportation authority. During his years at TransLink, he was often seen on local television newscasts. He’s now reporting traffic and filling-in on newscasts at News1130 CKWX AM Vancouver. Snider made his start in broadcasting at CKPG-TV Prince George in 1980 before heading back down to the coast in 1982.
06/22/13 – KIRO-TV Seattle has announced that it is no longer going to use legendary broadcaster/promoter Pat O’Day as part of the team calling the Seafair hydro races. Sandusky Radio Seattle has also announced that it won’t use him for its radio broadcast on KKNW AM 1150. O’Day first got a taste for calling the races on KTVW-TV back in 1967 when engineers at other Seattle TV stations had gone on strike. The 78-year old O’Day has been part of the KIRO-TV hydro team since 2005.
06/21/13 – Saskatoon-born TV personality Michaela Pereira, who got her start in 1994 at CHEK-TV Victoria as co-host of CHEK Around with Gordie Tupper, makes her CNN news anchor debut on New Day. She has been on-air at KTLA-TV Los Angeles since 2004. Michael D. Reid, Victoria Times Colonist
06/20/13 – Legendary Vancouver recording engineer, music producer and studio owner Robin Spurgin died May 29 at age 83. He was an important figure in the development of recording in the 60s and 70s, and late- 50s jazz broadcasts for CHQM to Vancouver Complication, an album of punk rock. His Vancouver Recording was the first proper studio in the city. This year, another reissue specialist, Vancouver s Regenerator Records, will release Vancouver Rocks in the 60s: The Lost Robin Spurgin Tapes, an anthology of unreleased recordings.
06/19/13 – Former KUBE-FM 93.3 Seattle Todd Baker joins the morning team at NOW KZZO-FM 100.5 Sacramento. He was on air at KUBE from 1995-96 and most recently hosted morning drive for close to two years at WKQC-FM 104.7 Charlotte NC.
06/14/13 – Clear Channel flipped KNBQ-FM 102.9 Centralia from a simulcast of Sports Radio KJR AM 950 Seattle to Adult CHR 102.9 Now this morning. Branded as Hit Music For The Northwest , the station has launched with 10,000 songs in a row with application for call letters KYNW.
06/13/13 – McLean VA-based Gannett Co., Inc. has reached a deal to buy TV station owner Belo Corp. for about $1.5 billion in cash. Belo operates KING-TV, KONG-TV and NWCN in the Puget Sound market. Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher by circulation, owns USA Today and other newspapers as well as television stations. The deal nearly doubles Gannett’s portfolio from 23 to 43 stations and has to be approved by the FCC and at least two-thirds of Belo shareholders.
06/08/13 – Former The End KNDD-FM 107.7 Seattle air talent Jordin Silver has been hired for part time on-air work at KYSR-FM 98.7 Los Angeles. She wore several hats including night host at The End from 2005-09.
06/07/13 – Former KMGI/KIXI Seattle VP/GM and morning host Bobby Rich has been inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. Currently PD and morning host, he has been with MIXfm KMXZ-FM 94.9 Tucson, AZ since 1993 and was with KMGI/KIXI Seattle from 1989-91.
06/07/13 – Seattle market Warm KRWM-FM 106.9 has announced the appointment of Carey Edwards as production director effective Monday, June 10. He recently arrived from on-air positions in Portland and Phoenix.
06/05/13 – The CRTC has approved a change in ownership and effective control of Salt Spring Island Radio Corp., owner of CFSI-FM 107.9 Salt Spring Island, from Gary Stephen Brooks to Satnam Media Group (BC) Ltd., a corporation wholly owned and controlled by Sukhdey Singh Dhillon. The Commission has also approved transmitter changes for CJJR-FM 93.7 and CKLG-FM 96.9 Vancouver by decreasing maximum ERP to 70,000 watts and increasing HAAT to 707.4 meters.
06/03/13 – Global BC meteorologist Wesla Wong anchored her last weather report Sunday with the announcement that she is moving to the Okanagan. She will be filling in on a casual basis for Global Okanagan CHBC-TV Kelowna weatherman Mike Roberts.
06/03/13 – The FCC has granted a construction permit to Josh Broadcasting for an antenna and directional pattern change for KANY-FM 93.7 Montesano. ERP decreases from 33 to 32 kW and HAAT increases from 677 to 679 meters. F
06/02/13 – A section of North 34th Street between Fremont Avenue and Troll Avenue North in Seattle has been named J.P. Patches Place, in honor of Chris Wedes, who played the lovable clown on KIRO-TV from 1958 to 1981. Wedes died on July 22, 2012 after a long battle with cancer.
06/01/13 – CHEK-TV Victoria’s longest serving employee, news reporter Bruce Kirkpatrick has retired after over 40 years with the station. He began at CHEK in 1972 after a seven year run with CHWK Radio in Chilliwack. He has produced 16,000 stories during his television career.
