Fagstein » Navel-gazing

Tales from Cogeco

Fagstein — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:45:38 +0000

Cogeco President Louis Audet

On Thursday, I got up early (meaning: before noon) and went to the annual shareholders' meeting of Cogeco, the cable company that is also a big player in the Quebec radio industry.

I covered the meeting for Cartt.ca, the online publication about the broadcasting and telecom industry run by Greg O'Brien. If you're a subscriber, you can read my report here. If not, it's not the end of the world. Much of it is industry stuff you probably don't care about that much.

The stuff you might care about is repeated below:

The finances

There is, of course, the financial side: The company released its quarterly results that morning, and depending on how you measure these things they're either really good or disappointing. The company is still very profitable, but its profit margin is lower, mainly because radio doesn't bring in the kind of money that cable television does.

You can read details of their quarterly results here (PDF).

The previous year has been a big one for Cogeco. There was, of course, the finalization of the purchase of Corus Quebec and its radio stations including CKOI, CHMP, CKAC, CFQR and others around Quebec. This acquisition had major effects in radio stations outside Montreal. One former Corus station in Saguenay wasn't bought by Cogeco and now has a new owner. Two stations in Quebec City were sold as required by the CRTC, and a station in Sherbrooke was shut down because Cogeco already owned too much in that market. Meanwhile, in Montreal, the company went ahead with a plan for all-traffic radio stations, converting CKAC into a French-language one when the CRTC process took too long and eventually failing to secure one of two clear channels for its English-language one. They're going to try again (more on that below).

There were also other purchases, like data services providers MTO Telecom and QuietTouch Inc., and transit advertising company Metromedia CMR Plus.

On the flip side, rumours abound about Cabovisao, the Portuguese cable provider that Cogeco owns (its only major asset outside the country). That company's poor performance has been a drag on Cogeco's bottom line, and analysts assume they'll sell it at the earliest opportunity.

The press conference

I was invited to a press conference just before the shareholders' meeting at a conference centre downtown. "Press conference" might be pushing it a bit. It was in a tiny room, at a table with about eight chairs. On one side, Cogeco President/CEO Louis Audet and his flak. On the other, me and three other journalists: One from Cogeco Nouvelles (of course), and a reporter and photographer from Presse Canadienne.

(I find it funny that 98.5's website ends up using the PC story)

It would be easy to condemn other media for not being present, but they didn't really have to be. The financial results were sent out, and reporters could listen in on a conference call with analysts (the Financial Post's Jamie Sturgeon got a whole story out of that about how cable providers are increasingly moving to a Videotron-style à la carte package system).

Still, it was interesting to attend, particularly for someone like me who doesn't get to play reporter at press conferences too often. The three journalists asked Audet questions about its decisions over the past year, about why it was getting into transit advertising, whether it would sell Cabovisao (they won't announce anything in advance, but he's not exactly defiant that they're never going to sell it), and whether he's worried about Radio X coming to Montreal and competing with CHMP. (He's not).

There were also the questions that I'm sure Cogeco is tired of hearing. Can it continue to survive as a mid-sized telecom as its competitors get bigger and bigger? Yes. Is it planning to set up or buy TV specialty services so it can have better leverage versus vertically-integrated companies like Bell, Shaw and Cogeco? No (the CRTC ensures they don't abuse their positions). Is Cogeco Cable going to come to Montreal? Absolutely not. Will Cogeco enter the wireless phone market? No.

We had about half an hour with Audet before the meeting came to an end so he could prepare for the shareholders' meeting. There weren't any pressing questions remaining, so the journalists packed it in without a fight.

Cogeco chairman Jan Peeters chairs the shareholders meetings of Cogeco and Cogeco Cable

The meeting

I'd never been to a shareholders' meeting like this before, so I decided to stick around for it. There were lots of people in suits, many of them of advanced age. The kind of people who have enough invested in a company (and enough free time) to want to go to such a meeting.

Journalistically, it was boring. When one person has 90% of the voting power (through proxies), there isn't about to be any big power struggle. The meeting had no questions, no one voted against any decision as far as who should be on the board of directors, who the auditors should be or any of the other standard annual general meeting stuff. The motions were moved and seconded largely by the company's directors (who are also shareholders), who read from notes that told them what they should say.

The more interesting part was afterward, when Audet gave a presentation about the company (one that included some promotional videos).

News from Cogeco Diffusion

At the shareholders' meeting, I spotted Richard Lachance, the Cogeco VP who's in charge of its radio operations. He was front and centre at the table when Cogeco made its presentation to the CRTC about its plan for an English-language all-traffic station. During that hearing he seemed frustrated, perhaps because Cogeco's competitors were attacking it, or because he knew he might not get the clear channel he was going for (even though those channels had been vacant for more than a year after the shutdown of CINW 940 and CINF 690). But he was quite friendly with me, answering my questions frankly and even giving me his card at the end.

Like Audet, Lachance isn't panicked about the possibility of another competitor in the francophone talk-radio market in Montreal. He pointed out that they already have one in Radio-Canada, and that they are also fighting music stations for audience. Lachance said content is king, and that is the main reason they would come out on top against Radio X or the new French news-talk station being prepared by Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy Media at 940 AM.

Lachance pointed out improvements made to 98.5, including bringing over sports shows and Canadiens games so it has more original content during the evenings, and adding more weekend programming, including a weekend overnight show that is also carried by FM93 in Quebec City and FM98 in Saguenay.

A two-transmitter traffic station?

Asked about Cogeco's new plan for an all-traffic station in Montreal, Lachance maintained what he said during the CRTC hearings, that the 690 and 940 clear channels were the only ones that could adequately cover anglophone areas of Montreal, and that other options like 600 or 990 were not sufficient.

But Lachance said their engineers have devised new plans that they can bring back to the CRTC. He wouldn't get too specific on the details (like what frequencies they'd be on), but he did say that at least one of those plans involves having more than one transmitter. So they could, for example, use their existing Kahnawake tower on an AM frequency, and supplement it with another transmitter in the West Island or Vaudreuil/St. Lazare area that covers holes in its coverage.

Lachance said plans will be presented to the Ministry of Transport next Friday (the station, like its French-language counterpart, would be dependent on $1.5 million a year in funding from the government), and if they can agree on one a new contract will be signed and Cogeco will re-apply to the CRTC.

Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy is also readying another application to the CRTC for an English-language AM station - a news-talk station to complement its French one and share some of its costs. Details on that, too, are not public yet but there's also speculation that they might try a multiple-transmitter approach to solve the problem of poor West Island coverage.

Six years later, security

Fagstein — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:32:49 +0000

WARNING: This post is about me. If you don't care about me, stop reading. Here, you can watch this YouTube video of a cute cat thing and browse from there.

It was so long ago that it's hard to remember what it was like back then.

It was seven years ago this month that, while attending a national student journalism conference in Edmonton (thankfully that year there were no debilitating illnesses), I got a call on my cellphone from the city editor at the Gazette offering me a paid internship that summer.

My reaction was subdued. The man who offered me the job even remarked on that point. It's not that I wasn't happy - I was over the moon - but for some reason the only thing that I could think of was how much this conversation was going to cost me in roaming charges.

Though it occurs to me now that I'm not the kind of person who pulls out the theatrics when someone gives him really good news.

After a short, unpaid internship at the West Island Chronicle that I actually enjoyed even though it wasn't exactly hard-hitting journalism, and another at CBC Montreal that resulted in a few paid shifts at CBC Radio over the previous holidays (which in turn convinced me that being a guest booker wasn't quite my cup of tea at the time), I was really excited at the idea of working at a major newspaper in my home town.

The summer of 2005

I remember parts of that Gazette internship (I was the copy editor, and there were four reporters, a photographer and a designer). I remember meeting Michelle, the person who did the copy editor internship the year before me and who said I could come to her if I had any questions. Michelle is now the paper's city editor.

I remember breezing through my training on my first day, since I was already familiar with QuarkXPress (at the time they were using version 3.32, while I had been using version 4 for my entire time at Concordia's Link newspaper). So even though the first day was to be just for training, they put me to work on the next day's paper for a few hours.

I remember Ray, the foreign editor at the time, handing me a page with a Washington Post story on it, and me discovering that a name was spelled two different ways in that story. I remember that when I pointed this out to him, he told me to call the Post and ask them about it, and he gave me the number to call.

I remember thinking that was insane. You mean I just call up the Washington Post? But I did, and after I explained what happened, they realized there was an error and a correction moved on the wire a few minutes later. I remember thinking how awesome that was that I found a mistake in a Washington Post story on my first day.

I also remember all the mistakes I made during my internship. Thankfully I wasn't put in charge of anything for months, and there were plenty of people to check my work. Whenever I made a mistake, a more senior editor would calmly explain what I'd done wrong and have me try again.

I remember when the internship came to an end, when the schedule went up for mid-September and my name wasn't on it. I didn't have any plans for what I'd do next. My education was done and I had no desire to go back. I had no jobs on the horizon, and I'd never done any paid freelance work.

I remember a strange twist of fate when a position opened up for a part-time copy clerk, an entry-level job that involves a lot of running around at night fetching proofs and doing small tasks. As it turns out, I went directly from one to the other without missing a week. I remember the newsroom manager telling me she had to get back my termination papers from HR. I was in that position for two months, which was enough time for me to literally write the book on it (I put together a fancy-looking guide on how to perform each of the tasks), before another copy editor position opened up and I was back on the desks with the two monitors.

The year of firsts

I remember the first times I did various copy editing jobs, particularly slotting (i.e. laying out) sections. The first time I slotted Nation. The first time I slotted World (which involved going through the wires and choosing what stories to put in the paper). The first time I slotted the city section. The first time I edited the front page. The first time I was given the responsibility of floor editor, which made me the last line of defence for all pages before they were typeset. (It was when I was in that position that, one night when a major error was caught on the front page after deadline, I got to literally call up the plant and tell them to "stop the presses").

I remember about a year later, September 2006, when again a schedule went up without my name on it. As it happened, there was no twist of fate this time. After my last shift (in which I was the last one in the building at 1:30am), I left and didn't come back. Everyone said something would happen to bring me back. But it didn't.

The year of nothing

For the next year and a half, I was unemployed. I had gotten into freelancing, which combined with unemployment benefits kept me afloat. But while I wasn't ~~loosing~~ losing money from my savings, I wasn't adding to them either.

I knew I had to do something, but I wasn't sure what it was. I don't remember offhand if I applied for other jobs, or what they were. I remember that I enjoyed what I did at the Gazette more than any other job I'd done, and I didn't want to do something less enjoyable than that.

It was during this time of no salaried work that I setup a blog and started sharing random thoughts with the Internet, not sure where that would lead.

The return, and again

I remember when, completely out of the blue in January 2008, I got an email from my former boss asking if I'd be interested in a nine-week contract to fill a parental leave. That nine-week contract lasted two full years. And then again, in January 2010, when my bosses ran out of ways to extend my contract, the schedule went up and my name wasn't on it. Once again, I was unemployed.

I spent the month of February 2010 in my apartment watching the Olympics and contemplating my next move. I'd even had discussions with a different media company, though that ended up going nowhere.

As they had in 2006, my colleagues said I would be back. I was skeptical. But they were right.

Again out of the blue in the middle of February, I was told by a bunch of people simultaneously that a handful of temporary copy editing positions had just been posted. The paper was switching from QuarkXPress (software that was 14 years old) to Adobe InDesign, and needed relief staff to put out the paper while everyone was trained on the new system.

The interview was short, I was asked if I could start again on Monday, and the day after the closing ceremonies of the Olympics I was back at my old job. I've been there ever since, working between two and five days a week depending on how many shifts they needed to fill.

The contract life

It's the nature of contract work, especially in a field like journalism where so many people want jobs but there are so few good ones available. Despite the on-again-off-again employment, I considered myself lucky. The two people who were copy editor interns the years before me are still there, but all who came after aren't. Jennifer, Kate, Lucas, Cari, Sebastien, Ambreen, Angela, Dylan, Mel, Jill and Kamila. Those who filled in on short-term contracts like Phil, Jasmin, Amy and others I've probably forgotten about. Plus all the reporter and designer interns who came and went within months, and the photographer interns whose best hope after their stay was to be added to the end of a long list of regular freelancers. Many of them have found other jobs, some even better than The Gazette. But others would probably jump at the chance to come back, if only there were positions available.

On the flip side are those who went from contract to contract for years without having permanent jobs. There was even a name for this: "permatemp". In one extreme example, a copy editor was working for nine years before he was finally given a full-time permanent position as a copy editor.

I haven't done any research to confirm this, but I believe I'm the person who's been there the longest without any permanent status whatsoever.

The permatemp situation has for the most part been eliminated. Partly because there are much fewer people taking maternity leaves (most temporary replacements derive from that). Partly because of an agreement with the union when the last contract was signed to post new positions for people whose jobs were temporary in name only. And partly because there have just been so few non-interns hired in the past five years for even temporary jobs.

On the copy desk, I was the last on the seniority totem pole (I'm now second-last, thanks to a temporary job filling a short-term parental leave), despite being first hired six and a half years ago.

Welcome to the family

I think I've buried the lead enough. Last week, I was offered (and accepted) a permanent position as a weekend online copy editor. As of Feb. 1, I'll be working at least two shifts a week on a contract that never ends.

I'd like to say it's forever, but with the industry the way it is, one can't be certain of anything. What I do know is that my job is a lot more secure than it was before, and my worries about unemployment are much less pronounced. They're more abstract, more long-term, more if-this-company-goes-bankrupt or if-they-lock-us-out. And I'm in the same boat as my colleagues.

The difference is mostly psychological. The pay is the same, the work is the same, and the benefits are similar. But as corny as it is to say, I'm part of the Gazette family now. I'm no longer a temporary fill-in. I'm an employee. As much as The Gazette is permanently tied to me, I am permanently tied to it. I can think of my work there in the long term, not just three weeks ahead.

I don't know what that all means, and what will change. But I know there will be a slightly different mentality toward things like big projects. I've already been asked to help with one, and am eager to do so.

The position technically replaces Tyler Todd, who left the paper months ago for personal reasons and decided not to come back. I know this disappointed many of his coworkers because even though he didn't seem to enjoy it terribly, he was a very good editor. There's some irony in that Todd was first hired in the fall of 2005 to replace me as a part-time copy clerk. In hindsight, my path to permanence might have been faster if I'd stayed a clerk back then.

The next generation

As I remember my past, I remember the editors who helped me learn to excel at the job I enjoy so much. I remember the managers who praised me to their managers, and who did what they could to make sure I had chances to succeed. I remember the people who came after me and whose chances weren't as good as what I had.

And I think of the people yet to come, whose job prospects are even worse than mine were. Those for whom six years on and off part-time contracts would be a dream come true.

I think of the journalism school I came from, where last I checked the program I was in has since doubled in size, putting out twice as many journalists even though only a handful of the people I graduated with have salaried jobs as journalists.

Nathalie Collard wrote in La Presse last week about recent departures at Radio-Canada. Unlike The Gazette, where people are on contracts of three months, at the CBC they have casual workers who will know they're working only when they see their name on the schedule. Or in extreme cases, those who sit at home hoping to get a phone call asking them to work that day.

It's a system that on the one hand lowers the barrier to entry for new employees, but on the other hand offers them no security whatsoever when they get inside. Some people have been contract, temporary or casual workers there for years, de facto permanent but technically not.

I wish I could offer reassurance to people just coming into this business, or who are still looking for jobs. I can offer advice - be flexible, don't undersell yourself freelancing, don't work for someone else for free, find a niche, go where there's demand instead of where everyone else is, think outside the traditional media box - but I know there are cases where it doesn't matter how good you are or how much you love your job or how much your coworkers consider you invaluable. I know because I lost the job I love three times for reasons that were out of my control.

Now I don't have to worry about that happening for a fourth time. Unless there's a lockout, or a strike, or a situation where they have to lay off permanent ~~employes~~ employees (something that, despite the company's financial troubles, hasn't happened in the editorial department since I started there), I'll keep working indefinitely.

I hope the next generation doesn't have as much trouble getting a real job as I did. I hope it doesn't take decades before the journalism industry has found a proper business model. I hope freelancing for a few scraps won't be a last-resort career option for people who are so dedicated to this profession they are willing to live poor to make it happen. And I hope those whose passion isn't really journalism realize that quickly and move on.

For young journalists to be, I can only say I hope you succeed. Hard work does pay off, but not always in the ways you expect. And it takes a while. In my case, six and a half years.

In the meantime, follow good advice, like these nuggets from Gazette Arts editor Basem Boshra, a must-read particularly for those who want to freelance for big papers.

And, as Michelle said to me my first day, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

You failed my subscription challenge

Fagstein — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:40:46 +0000

I'm very disappointed in all of you

So a week ago, I asked you to participate in a fundraising event in which I spared you from the guilt trip of asking you for money. Instead, I promised to give away my own money in proportion to how much you helped to inflate my ego by subscribing to my RSS feed or following my Twitter account.

Kind of like those emails that say Bill Gates will donate money if you forward them. Only this one was real.

I gave you a week, so that news of my good deed would spread far and wide and everyone would have a chance to let themselves be counted.

One week later, here are the results: The number of Twitter followers has gone from 3,816 to 3,854, an increase of 38. Subscribers to my RSS feed haven't changed, and could possibly have even declined.

So my grand total to be given to charity, under the generous formula I set, would have been $38. Enough for a family of four to ... have dinner at a McDonald's.

Seriously? I can't get you lazy bums to do something as effortless as hit "follow" or "subscribe" even if I'm paying for you to do it? At that rate, I'd wonder if you'd even remember to breathe if there wasn't an unconscious brain function that forces your lungs to expand and contract. What do I have to do, deliver a pizza? Show you porn?

Look, I know, lots of people already follow me, and not everyone has more than 3,000 Twitter followers. Well, I'm not everyone. My extended family (which includes a lot of those aunts whose sole purpose in life is to initiate awkward converstaion) thinks I'm some sort of Internet superstar, and my attempts to dissuade them of that notion are interpreted as false modesty, which only makes it worse. Put simply: I have a reputation to build, and such a piss-poor participation rate in a yearly charity exercise is embarrassing. Like a reader poll that only gets two responses.

And if those great aunts stop believing in the legend of Fagstein, they'll move on to even more uncomfortable questions, like wondering why I'm not married and don't have kids yet.

So you know what? Screw it. Screw the whole formula. Screw the "subscription challenge" and counting Twitter followers like some narcissistic douche.

The Gazette Christmas Fund is getting a cool $1,000 from me this holiday season, which will be used to write eight cheques for $125 each to families in need. And I'm not going to put something like "on behalf of Fagstein readers" as the name that goes on that list of donors, because you had nothing to do with it. If you couldn't care enough about these families to even get off your ass and setup a few hundred fake Twitter accounts to follow me with, then you don't deserve to be associated with this donation in any way.

You want to make Christmas brighter for someone, you're going to have to do it with your own money this time.

That is, except for the 38 new Twitter subscribers. To you, I thank you from the bottom of my ever-expanding credit card balance.

To the rest of you, you can all go to hell.

Merry Christmas.

Fagstein’s Fourth Annual Subscription Challenge

Fagstein — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:32:22 +0000

I'm giving away some of these (the money, not the condoms)

To celebrate yet another year of employment, I'm giving away some of my money again.

And as in previous years, your participation does not involve you spending any money, just helping to inflate my ego a little bit.

In the past I've given to Dans la Rue, the Welcome Hall Mission and the Old Brewery Mission. Now all of them are annoying me regularly with letters in the mail, which I find annoying not because they're charities asking for money but because they're wasting so much on printing and postage. It just seems weird that there's someone who has gone through the calculation and determined that this money needs to be spent to get people to donate.

This year, I was told by my boss that I've reached the five-year rate of pay at work. Under the current collective agreement, that's the maximum rate, even though I'm still a part-time temporary employee whose future there isn't at all set in stone.

While I could use some more job security ... and my own weekly column too, while you're at it, imagination ... my bank account can attest to how much I've benefitted from these people paying me to do something I enjoy so much, so I'm giving back by sending my big donation to the Gazette Christmas Fund. Or The Gazette Christmas Fund. I'm still debating whether the "T" should be capitalized.

Anyway, here's how it works: I'm going to give $1 of my own money for every new (legitimate) follower to my Twitter feed between now and one week from today (Dec. 21), and $2 for every new subscriber to my RSS feed. The former is currently 3,816 and the latter is 1,196 (though I don't know how reliable that Feedburner count is). And to save myself going bankrupt in case this goes super-viral, there's a combined limit of $2,000, which I can totally waive if I feel like it, because I set the rules, man.

So go forth and sing my praises, and together we can give away a bunch of my money and make me cool at the same time.

And if you insist on donating your own money, go ahead. I'm not going to stop you.

Dropping dead isn’t such a bad thing

Fagstein — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:30:45 +0000

Warning: Deep thoughts below.

My great-grandmother died yesterday. She was 104.

It wasn't a surprise. She had been in a coma in the days leading up to her death, and it was just a question of timing. As it turns out, it happened just before my mother was scheduled to come in and do her shift by the hospital bed.

It's sad, but it's being met with a feeling of acceptance, and it got me thinking about death, and about the downside of being near-immortal.

I was watching an episode of The Simpsons, recorded on my PVR, when my mother called to give me the news. The episode was one of those this-is-what-the-future-is-like ones, and made jokes about the various technological ways some characters used to extend their lifespans. Just before that I was watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has also explored the idea of how immortality isn't the best thing in the world.

Up until very recently, Jeanne Clément (née Béïque) was remarkably healthy for a woman her age. Even in a society where life spans are increasing, the average state of health at 100 is dead. But it wasn't just that she was alive. It was only a few years ago that she moved out of her home in Châteauguay and (reluctantly) into a nearby nursing home. Well into her 90s she was living alone and independently, doing her daily chores and occasionally getting help from one of her kids.

This story, written two years ago for the local paper, describes her dancing. At 102. I don't doubt it. By then she had a walker, but she was still quite agile, considering.

Obituary in The Gazette

Her first name was Jeanne, but I can't think of anyone who would have called her that recently. To the people in her home it would have been "Mme. Clément", and to everyone else, she was "Mom", only think of that word spoken with a moderate Québécois accent.

I'd like to say I knew her well, but I didn't. By the time I was old enough that going to grandma's house meant something other than finding toys to keep us occupied while the grown-ups talked about boring things, her ability to sit through long social events was waning.

She had 10 children, though by the time I came around it seemed like dozens. Those kids were married, many had kids of their own, and in some cases grandchildren. Even a simple gathering limited only to her descendants and their spouses became a big affair. The photo above was taken at one of those in 2008. The family is so large at this point that while I recognize just about everyone, I can barely remember where people are placed on the family tree.

I saw her once, with my mother, shortly after she moved into her retirement home. We looked at some old photos, and I remember being impressed with how intact her memory was, describing things that happened in a past three times my lifespan. It was like someone from that era had walked through a time machine. In hindsight, I wish there had been more experiences like that, and maybe fewer where I was playing with toys in the basement and counting the seconds until we left for home.

She might have lived to 110 or 120 had it not been for a stroke less than two weeks ago, that left her in that coma. Given her age and the brain damage caused, it made sense to simply let her life slip away and keep her as comfortable as possible.

I don't have strong feelings either way on the issue of euthanasia or assisted suicide. I think people should be given the power to end their suffering if there's no hope of recovery. But I also think that opening the door to making such life-or-death decisions could lead to abuse, or to people making these decisions for the wrong reasons.

In this case, at least, the wishes of the patient weren't really an issue.

"I'd like to drop dead, you know," she said in an interview conducted a few years ago, back when she was still living at home and in complete control of her faculties. My mother laughed when she heard that statement, entirely deadpan. It wasn't that this old woman wanted to see herself die, merely that she'd rather a quick death than a long, painful or depressing one. It's a sentiment my mother shares.

There were also psychological reasons, as much as physical, for not wanting to do on. As fun as it might seem to live to such an old age, my great-grandmother lived to see all her peers die. Her husband, her friends, even one of her children (the latter slowly, from cancer). It's a depressing thought. When you reach that age, and realize that almost your entire life is behind you, and that you've already accomplished almost all of what you're going to do in your life, there's the temptation to wonder whether there's any reason to go on, no matter how healthy you are.

I don't want to paint the picture of a depressed old woman just waiting to die. She had a long life and raised some great children (with some pretty fantastic senses of humour, at the very least), and I remember her as someone who was caring and well loved. It's unfortunate I didn't know her during the decades of her life lived before I was born.

Her funeral will be some time next week. Hopefully, from her children who are now grandparents (and some even great-grandparents of their own) I'll hear some stories of that part of her life I never knew. And I won't be tempted to pull that electronic toy out of my pocket to pass the time.

As for my own life, I honestly don't know. I'd hate to be in a position of facing a slow and agonizing death, and if there was no hope of recovery I'd probably want my family to pull the plug. But it scares the heck out of me to think of being in that position. I have no desire to die. I could see myself living even if it meant nothing more than filling crosswords or watching TV all day. But that assumes my brain still functions and I am not in constant pain.

Hopefully I won't have to make any tough decisions about my own life for another 80 years. And by then, maybe everyone will be immortal.

If not, I fully expect a statue will be erected in my honour.

Oh Kurtis

Want to watch me talk in front of a brick wall for half an hour?

Fagstein — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:54:54 +0000

Last month, I gave a talk to some student journalists from Ontario and Quebec who gathered in St. Henri as part of a regional conference of Canadian University Press.

I occasionally get asked to talk to students, and like most professional journalists I'm happy to do so, because it gives me a chance to help others and because it totally inflates my ego to see so many people look up to me.

As it happens someone was there with a camera and recorded the whole thing.

About half of the talk (which is in English but has questions answered in English and French) has been posted to YouTube in three parts (keep in mind I was low on sleep and didn't have enough time to prepare a script or even a list of talking points, so you'll hear a lot of "uhh"s and awkward pauses - the question period is better):

I was asked to talk about "online freelancing", but as I explain right off the bat there isn't really much of a difference between online and regular freelancing, except (usually) for the pay.

I turned on YouTube's transcription service on that first video, and the first words out of my mouth get recognized as this:

"Service to the following online freelancing outsourcing harvest session ... really ridiculous"

Sounds about right.

I reference a few things in the talk that I should link to here:

Last call for interns

It's not part of the videos uploaded to YouTube, but I also talked a bit about my internship application to The Gazette.

The deadline for applications for next summer's interns is coming up Dec. 16. Applications (cover letter, CV and up to five clippings) for jobs as reporters and copy editors (print and online) can be sent to city editor Michelle Richardson (The Gazette, 1010 Ste. Catherine St. W., Suite 200, Montreal Quebec H3B 5L1). The jobs are full-time for 10-12 weeks somewhere between early June and mid-September, paid at 80% of the starting salary of the position, which works out to a decent pay for a student. It's open to people who are university students in the current academic year.

Applicants need a driver's license and need to be bilingual (i.e. able to speak, listen and read in French).

The full posting (PDF) is posted on Concordia's journalism department website along with postings for other internships.

This internship is how I got started, and look at me now!

Oh, wait...

More from CFCF’s new studio

Fagstein — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:31:28 +0000

Todd and Mutsumi play with their gadgets between live parts of the newscast.

In September, I visited CFCF to write a story for a magazine about their new studio.

That story just came out in Broadcast Dialogue, a controlled-circulation trade magazine for the radio and television industry in Canada. Fortunately for us without TV and radio stations, it's posted online.

You can read the story, cryptically called "CTV Montreal's new studio", in PDF form. It's part of the December/January issue, which is available in its complete form here as a PDF or here as a Flash-based digital version.

It marks what is technically my first foray into trade magazines (or freelancing for any magazine, for that matter). And I must say it was a pleasure to work for the Christensens, who run a mom-and-pop operation and wanted to treat freelancers well, a rarity these days. I even got a personal cheque in the mail with my fee just to make sure I got it as soon as possible.

The same image appears on background screens as the rotated plasma

The story is illustrated with photos taken by me during September before, during and after the launch. It starts with a little anecdote about different screens using the same feed of an animated CTV News logo, as illustrated above. It wasn't a major problem, but required careful attention to camera movements to make sure the screens you see here with rotated graphics weren't visible in the opening pan shot.

I've published photos of the new studio taken before the launch, as well as for my behind-the-scenes look at the first newscasts.

You can find more photos of the new studio sets below:

The plan

Plan for the new studio, with markings of camera angles. Note the four structural pillars that had to be designed around.

Designers of the studio had to work around a few constraints, mostly due to the fact that they were converting former office space. The ceilings were lower, requiring more lights (a lot more). There are four structural pillars in the middle of the set that needed to be dressed up and worked around in camera shots.

Artist's conception of the new studio - pretty close to the final product

When I first saw the artist's conception for the new studio, I thought it looked really spacious. It turns out those drawings are a bit of a distorted perspective, but not by much. Even though the new studio is smaller than the old one, because the camera control centre and the Antichambre set each took up about a quarter of the old studio, they have more space to work with here. And because it can be shot from almost 360 degrees, and some parts of the set are movable, there are even more options.

The anchor desk

The anchor desk, when empty

The anchor desk you're familiar with by now. Chairs are removed from the desk when not in use (which results in a lot of moving around as the weather presenter and sports anchor come on and off the anchor desk during a newscast).

The anchor's view (though during a newscast you'll see the cameras up close)

Aside from the problem of glare (more on that in a bit), the anchor's view also looks out onto René-Lévesque Blvd., which means people or vehicles who go by could attract their attention.

View of the anchor desk from the anchor's perspective

You can't see it well above, but there are two computer screens at full brightness underneath the desk. The bright lights embedded in the desk, designed to light the anchors from beneath, create an enormous amount of glare.

Overexposed shot shows working computer screens. Sadly human eyes can't be as easily adjusted

Heavily overexposed, you can see the working monitor on the far side. Both of them sit on blocks of rigid foam. They're used by the anchors to make last-minute changes to scripts.

Behind the anchor desk, a printer for paper copies of scripts.

Nothing particularly special behind the desk, except for a printer, a recycling bin, some steps and a bunch of cables. The platform has a raised edge to prevent the anchors from accidentally rolling off (this shot was taken before they had wheels on the chairs).

The backdrop behind the anchors is on a roller

The skyline behind the anchors is obviously fake. There are two versions, one for daytime and one for night. There was also a bit of photo editing done, to remove corporate logos from buildings and to make Place Ville-Marie taller so it seems more prominent.

Anchor desk with CTV News backdrop

A third backdrop with the CTV News logo is used mainly for promo shots, and perhaps also for special occasions like election nights.

The rest of the set

Lori Graham in front of the green screen

The green chroma-key wall used for weather can be stored behind the set when not in use. Here we see Lori doing a weather segment. Notice she has the battery pack for her wireless mic strapped to her ankle. She says she used to have it at waist-level, but people would ask her if she was pregnant. Her left hand has the clicker she uses to cycle between weather graphics.

Neutral-density light filters on the windows

One of the biggest changes in the new studio is that it has windows. But because the sun can be a lot brighter than any studio could hope to be, it sometimes needs to be blocked out. Three neutral-density (read: colourless) filters of different degrees of shade can be lowered electronically into place to get the desired brightness.

The cozy corner had two problems: unsightly camera cables and a lot of green

The "cozy corner" set used for sit-down interviews with one to three guests. Two problems emerged on the first day of its use. First, that camera cables were visible in wide shots (the other two cameras are on the other side of the pillar to have close and wide shots of the guest). The second was that the green chroma wall is visible through the translucent window in the set. This can be solved by simply storing the green wall behind the set, but sometimes this is forgotten.

A new backdrop is added to the cozy corner set

The second problem was solved by adding a backdrop to that translucent wall. Now it doesn't matter whether the green screen is stored, it won't be visible from this part of the set.

Interview desk dubbed the "anti-cozy"

The "anti-cozy" is also a new feature of the new set, conceived for more formal interviews. It has a large screen at the back (concealing another one of those structural pillars) that can be used to show video during the two-shot. The camera on the right is right up against another pillar, which has another large screen. It's so close that, two weeks in, it had already scratched that screen.

The pillows on the chairs aren't just for comfort. They found that people were too low compared to the desk when they sat here, so pillows were added to make the anchor and guest higher.

The camera control centre in the corner of the newsroom

While most of the action happens in the control room upstairs, the three studio cameras are controlled from here, as is the prompter.

Literally behind the scenes

The back of the green screen is blue.

The 103-inch plasma screen used for show openings

One of the surprises when the set was constructed is that this 103-inch plasma screen (which was used during the Vancouver Olympics coverage) runs on 220V. That required some unforeseen electrical work.

The weather desk from another angle. The Quebec part of the map is kind of hidden.

Some people have noted that the map of Canada behind the weather desk tends to show the west coast more than the east. So here's what the Quebec part of the map looks like.

Arrays of TV sets showing the same image means lots of wires behind.

Here we see the back of those TVs between the anchor desk backdrop and the weather desk. It actually looks pretty neat considering the large number of electrical and signal wires involved.

The old newsroom set

The former anchor desk in the temporary set has been converted into a reporter debrief set

During the period from the beginning of July to the beginning of September when the old set was being torn down and the new one was being built, CTV News had to be done from a temporary set in the newsroom. To say it was cramped is putting it mildly. The anchor desk had room for only one chair behind it, so segments that required two people (like the handoff to sports) required one of those two to be standing.

The two cameras and temporary anchor desk are against a wall in the newsroom

Since the inauguration of the new studio, the desk has been slimmed down and has only one camera in front of it.

The temporary anchor desk close up. Not much room for anything.

Green screen for weather in the temporary newsroom set

The situation wasn't much better for weather. You can see the anchor set at the far left of this photo, and note that the weather presenter and anchor couldn't see each other directly. The same was the case for noon-hour interviews, in which the interviewee was across the newsroom from the anchor, in front of another camera.

Move over, Movember

Fagstein — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:59:55 +0000

I'm not a fan of fundraising. It's panhandling for the middle class. It's guilt-tripping, getting people to overpay for stuff they don't even want, or worse - "pledge" in favour of someone doing something entirely unnecessary. And they can't complain because, well, it's all for a good cause.

I've also never been a moustache man. But I thought it might be fun to try it for a month in the spirit of Movember. Dreading the thought of asking people to donate in exchange for nothing more than the honour of seeing me look like a 70s used car salesman, I decided I'd make a donation of my own at the end.

I thought I'd be a bit clever by making the donation dependent on the number of hairs my face could produce in that gap between my nose and lip. As it turns out, there's a lot of them, and they're very difficult to count.

My best estimate, by looking at the sink after shaving, was about 500. Multiplied by the entirely arbitrary figure of 25 cents per, that gives me $125, which I just sent to the Movember people to spend trying to cure prostate cancer. I figure that'll be enough to put them over the top.

It certainly doesn't hurt Canada's position as the top Movember country.

I'm just glad to have my face back.

My Grey Cup screwup

Fagstein — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:32:40 +0000

I have, in the past, made light of errors made in various media. In some cases they're minor and entirely understandable. In some cases there is a fundamental problem with something that has been reported.

And in some cases, it's technically minor but incredibly embarrassing. I always sympathize with unintentional errors, even when I expose them for all to see.

If this had been any other Montreal media, I'd be posting it here with, I admit, a little bit of childish glee. But it was my paper.

And worse than that, it was me.

Erroneous Grey Cup scoreline in Monday's Gazette

I got an email this morning from Sarah Leavitt at OpenFile asking if I was working last night "when the Grey Cup mess up on the front page happened." Since I had no idea what she was talking about, I turned on my laptop and looked at the electronic version of the paper (I'm too lazy to walk downstairs for the print version). I read the pointer text I had written, looked at the photo of the players and of the Grey Cup, looked at the page number it pointed to. I looked at the score to make sure it went in right. Yeah, it was 34-23 for the Lions...

Oh crap.

In case it hasn't occurred to you, the error, which appears downpage on A1 on Monday, is that the name "Hamilton Tiger-Cats" should be "Winnipeg Blue Bombers". It's not like I wasn't aware the Blue Bombers were the ones playing. But for whatever reason it didn't hit me as I was filling in the rest of the text that Hamilton wasn't the right team.

And it didn't strike the other editors who read the front page, who are not big sports fans and had specifically asked me to write this text because they were worried about getting something fundamental wrong.

Naturally, this error did not go unnoticed. Influence Communication saw it and told its 12,000 followers. Mike Finnerty noticed it (and was nice about it, comparing it to one of his own errors). OpenFile has a story on it, by Leavitt, which quotes me trying to explain myself.

But really, there is no excuse. Just a very embarrassing correction in Tuesday's paper, some teasing by fellow editors on the sports desk, and some reader email questioning our competence, all of which is clearly deserved.

Correction printed in The Gazette on Page A2 on Nov. 29

UPDATE (Nov. 29): I got some good-natured ribbing from my colleagues at work, and the newsroom manager said she got about a dozen phone calls from readers, many of them dripping with sarcasm. (I didn't see any emails about it, though. Perhaps because the mistake wasn't repeated online.)

News of the mistake made it to the Hamilton Spectator, which posted a story about it on Monday afternoon and included an image of the error in Tuesday's paper.

The Gazette correction appeared in Tuesday's edition on Page A2. ~~I'm hoping my mom doesn't add it to the scrapbook~~ Too late, apparently. There are also two letters to the editor on the subject.

UPDATE (Dec. 4): Craig Silverman wrote this up for his column in the Toronto Star.

Behind the scenes with Tasso and Patrick at Mike FM

Fagstein — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:59:28 +0000

Patrick Henry Charles (left) and Paul Zakaib (aka Tasso Patsikakis)

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Big local radio personality decides he's had enough of how faceless corporations have micromanaged what happens on air, taking all the fun out of it. So instead, he's moving to a low-power station few of his fans have ever heard of, becoming a big fish in a smaller pond, sacrificing a big paycheque for more creative freedom. The small station, not licensed in a way that would normally make it a competitor to the big commercial stations, decides it's going to go after a bigger mainstream crowd to attract more advertising revenue.

It's easy to see the parallels with Ted Bird here. Give me another example of this happening and I can write a trend story about it.

I went by Mike FM (CKDG) last week to sit in on a broadcast of the Tasso and Patrick show, which debuted on Oct. 24. It stars Paul Zakaib, who has been better known as Tasso since the 80s and has been mostly off the air since he was sacked from the CFQR morning show he shared with long-time partner Aaron Rand in 2009. With him is Patrick Henry Charles, who worked on the Aaron and Tasso show from 2001 until he got a better offer from competitor Astral to be part of CJFM's morning team, but about a year later was moved into a position that gave him less airtime and far less exposure.

I talk about Mike FM and Tasso and Patrick in an article that appeared in The Gazette on Tuesday. It reveals, among other things, that there were talks about bringing an Aaron and Tasso show to the station, but they fell through the cracks when Rand was hired to do an afternoon show at CJAD.

So Zakaib called up his old pal Charles, who had recently left Astral because he felt his talents were being wasted there. They met with CKDG GM Marie Griffiths, and before long the Tasso and Patrick show was born.

Every radio station needs an SUV with its logo on it. (Photo: Patrick Charles)

Marketing push

Griffiths is taking advantage of the big names coming on board to promote the station, which includes things like a branded SUV, a Page A3 ad in The Gazette, and hiring a PR company to send out a press release and organize a VIP meet-and-greet (celebrating the announcement as well as the first anniversary of sister station CKIN-FM).

That PR part complicated matters for me somewhat. I had arranged with Charles directly to sit in on their program during its first week, but was turned away when I showed up, asked to arrange it with the PR agency instead. I understand the logic, not wanting to see that PR money go to waste, but it still resulted in me losing an afternoon. Shortly thereafter, I sold The Gazette on the story, and after a few emails back and forth I was scheduled to visit the station again.

Though it was implied that there were other journalists wanting to get a piece of Tasso and Patrick, it probably won't surprise you to learn that I'm the only one to publish anything about them since their debut, aside from the usual press release republishers.

Paul Zakaib takes notes of break times

Inside the studio

Perhaps the thing that struck me most about sitting in on this show was the sight of Zakaib with a binder and a stopwatch. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was timing how long they were talking. They're still tinkering with the show, and he wants a log that he can reference while planning.

For someone who comes across on the air as an improvisational slacker, Zakaib is taking this job surprisingly seriously, at least from the perspective of someone who doesn't work in the industry.

They can't put an exact time on it, because much work is done at home at odd hours, and because they don't really consider it work when they do things like read articles they might want to discuss on air, but Zakaib and Charles say they spend a few hours preparing each show. That means coming up with a script, but in most cases that's something as vague as a subject or news story they've agreed to discuss.

Patrick Charles at the mic

Charles, of course, does music parodies, which are posted to the show's Facebook wall. The day of the visit from me and Gazette photographer Allen McInnis, Mike FM had taken an ad out in that morning's paper. (The timing was a coincidence - I wasn't aware of the ad until I saw it in the paper.) Charles celebrated by writing a song about it, to the tune of Elton John's Bennie and the Jets.

A week later, when the article came out, Charles took the same song and rewrote it slightly (the chorus, "we're in today's Gazette", works for both).

The format

The show itself is about what you'd expect for an FM music station. Lots of hits (the focus is on hits from the 70s to 90s, so you can hear everything from Britney Spears to AC/DC), and funny banter and bits between (many of which involve Tasso going to his car and phoning in using a funny voice).

What you won't hear much is the extras that drive-time shows are filled with. There's no newscast, just the two hosts chatting about interesting stories in the news. Weather is done occasionally by reading off Charles's iPad. And traffic is rare, and half of that is fake, funny traffic from special correspondent Elaine Closure (get it?). I wrote in the piece that Charles finds traffic reports annoying, but he clarified on air that it's more the frequency of them that he can't stand.

To give you an idea of what they sound like, I've compiled clips from their first show on Oct. 24 (MP3). There's also some nuggets of information in there.

Producer Felix (Shotgun) Sullivan

Tasso and Patrick are joined, mostly behind the scenes, by Felix (Shotgun) Sullivan, who handles the board and music. On the left, you'll see a small whiteboard he writes the names of songs on (in the photo, it's Van Halen's Panama), to remind the announcers when they forget (which is often). He might look like a pot smoker off the street, but Sullivan actually studied at the London School of Economics and was hired for his financial skills, until his passion for music resulted in him being moved into an in-studio job.

No ratings

Zakaib admitted that this is all a big gamble, for both sides. He and Charles are gambling that they can make a decent (though not necessarily lavish) living at a small-budget station. Griffiths and Mike FM are gambling that the money they're spending on this talent will repay itself in the form of increased audience and ad revenue.

Because it's not willing to pay the $40,000 a year it costs to be part of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings system, CKDG doesn't get the kind of numbers that the big stations do. Instead, they're grouped in with every other small station from CKUT to CKRK in that 6% block of "other" when the ratings come out.

Griffiths doesn't object just to the cost, but the fact that BBM separates the audience into French and English, which she says introduces a bias against multicultural stations (CKDG broadcasts in other languages, particularly Greek, outside of the morning and afternoon drive shows and her own mid-morning call-in show MG Live).

So instead, Griffiths relies on contests to keep a measure of audience, and uses testimonials to attract new advertisers.

Power boost, maybe

Owner Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio Ltd. (the name comes from the fact that CKDG used to be a cable-only station) has an application in front of the CRTC for a year and a half now asking for a change in frequency from 105.1 to 106.7 MHz, with a boost in power from 141 to 407 watts. Even with that boost, which will increase its coverage area and make it easier to pick them up from inside buildings, it still compares very poorly to the 40,000-watt commercial music stations.

(The application also points out the marketing advantage of having CKDG and sister station CKIN-FM 106.3 closer together on the dial, and being able to sell them as "the 106es" - I'm not a radio marketing expert, but I don't know how significant that is.)

The application paints a dire picture if CKDG isn't awarded the frequency, but Griffiths downplayed the application, saying "there's no urgency" for the change, though she would have liked to have had it done before the big marketing push this fall.

The delay is curious, with the most logical explanation being that the CRTC had to deal with a pirate radio station in Kahnawake operating on 106.7. That station, Kahnawake Keeps It Country, got CRTC approval for low-power broadcast and launched as CKKI-FM on 89.9 MHz on Nov. 1.

Good start

Listening to the Tasso and Patrick show, it's clear that Charles and Zakaib have chemistry, which is natural from them having worked together for so many years. Even Astral VP Martin Spalding, who admitted that the company couldn't find somewhere to use Charles's talents properly, said he liked what his former employee was putting on the air.

As for the suggestion that this show puts Aaron against Tasso, both parties reject that. Yes, they're both on weekday afternoons, but Rand is doing news-talk (Spalding said Rand had impressively reinvented himself to fit in with his new role at CJAD), while Zakaib is doing music and comedy.

I don't know how many fans there are out there who want to listen to both, but I guess they're just going to have to live with it and pick one.

The Tasso and Patrick show airs weekdays from 3 to 6pm on CKDG-FM 105.1. You can listen live from MikeFM.ca

UPDATE (Jan. 14): Richard Burnett talks to Zakaib (along with returning radio star Terry DiMonte) for his Gazette blog. Zakaib had some not-so-nice things to say about Montreal's radio ownership oligopoly.

CRTC hears applications for 690 and 940 AM

Fagstein — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:33:45 +0000

In what is believe it or not considered an expedited process, the CRTC begins hearings Monday on five applications for the vacant frequencies of 690 and 940 kHz for commercial radio stations.

This story, in The Gazette on Saturday, gives the skinny on what the CRTC will be deciding. (Bonus points if you correctly point out that the file photo attached to the story is of the Mount Royal tower, which has no AM transmitters. Now get a life.)

Quick history lesson: These frequencies belonged to Radio-Canada (690) and CBC radio (940) for more than half a century, until both stations moved to FM (95.1 and 88.5, respectively) in 1998. A year later, what was then Metromedia launched Info 690 and 940 News on those frequencies. Both stations struggled, 940 in particular, for the next decade. Two format changes (news-talk with "940 Montreal" and then automated music with "940 Hits") later, then-owner Corus put both out of their misery, shutting them down. They've been silent ever since.

Fast-forward a year and a half, and Cogeco, which bought Corus Quebec - including the unused transmitters - announces a deal with the Quebec government to run all-traffic stations in French and English, to the tune of $1.5 million per station per year. The deal requires the stations to be running by Oct. 31.

The CRTC application was supposed to be a simple thing, with approval easily acquired by the deadline. The frequencies had been unused for a year and a half, and it had been a year since the licenses for CINW and CINF were revoked, but there were no applications to use them. While the FM band is saturated in Montreal, there are plenty of AM frequencies that sit silent (600 and 850 are two other examples) because nobody wants them.

But the CRTC got quite a few interventions demanding an open call for applications. The CRTC agreed, and set a hearing date for Oct. 17.

Judging that far too late, Cogeco shut down CKAC Sports and replaced it with their French all-traffic station on Sept. 6. They subsequently withdrew their application for 690 AM, figuring they're unlikely to be awarded a fifth French-language radio station in Montreal.

That leaves five applications for the two frequencies. You can download and read the applications from the CRTC's website. Here they are in brief:

For 690 kHz:

Radio Fierté, a French-language music and talk station targeted at Montreal's gay community, owned by Dufferin Communications/Evanov Communications, which runs PROUD FM in Toronto.
TSN Radio, currently at 990 kHz. The Bell Media all-sports station wants to change frequency to improve its coverage, particularly at night, when it has to modify its signal to avoid interference with other stations on that frequency. Bell says the former Team 990 has never been profitable, and probably won't unless it gets better coverage.
7954689 Canada inc., a company formed by businessmen Paul Tietolman, Nicolas Tétrault and Rajiv Pancholy, which wants to start a French-language news-talk station. Tietolman (the son of CKVL/CKOI founder Jack Tietolman) and Tétrault (former city councillor and PQ/BQ candidate) unsuccessfully tried to present a counter-offer to Cogeco's $80-million purchase of Corus Quebec, and part of their offer would have been to revive 690 and 940.

For 940 kHz:

7954689 Canada inc., a corresponding English-language news-talk station with what is so far a nearly identical format.
Cogeco's English all-traffic station, which it says would be operational by "mid-winter" if approved.

The agenda for the meeting has presentations from all these applicants on Monday, and support/opposition debates on Tuesday.

Scheduled to appear are, among others:

For Bell Media (TSN Radio), General Manager Wayne Bews, host Denis Casavant, ~~Ringside Report host Dave Simon~~ Bell Media Radio Engineering Director Dave Simon* as well as Bell Media Radio president Chris Gordon and Bell Media regulatory affairs bosses Mirko Bibic and Lenore Gibson
For Tietolman/Tétrault/Pancholy, the three owners, representatives of Léger Marketing as well as former CJAD program director Steve Kowch and morning host Jim Connell
For Dufferin Communications (Radio Fierté), Proud FM operations manager Bruce Campbell, sales manager John Kenyon, Evanov sales VP Ky Joseph, Proud FM announcer Bob Willette, Dufferin VP marketing Carmela Laurignano, Evanov VP finance Michael Kilbride, and lawyers Chad Skinner and Andrée Wylie
For Cogeco (Metromedia CMR), Richard Lachance, VPs Yves Mayrand, Daniel Dubois, and Mélanie Bégnoche, 98.5/CKAC assistant GM Michel Lorrain, The Beat 92.5 GM Mark Dickie and consultants Serge Bellerose and Maurice Beauséjour

On Tuesday, the presentations will get responses, mostly from the other applicants. (Astral Media, which owns CJAD and four music stations in the city, is certainly following this, but isn't appearing at the hearing.) Radio Fierté and TSN Radio each have four supporters offering testimony to the hearing.

You can read all 226 interventions (many are repetitive, thanks to campaigns by TSN Radio, Cogeco and Dufferin to have people write to the CRTC, in many cases using form letters). All are on the record even if the writers aren't appearing at the hearing.

The only intervenor appearing independently is Sheldon Harvey, the moderator of the Radio in Montreal group. Harvey submitted multiple interventions, supporting the applications by Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy and opposing those of Cogeco and Dufferin (he didn't submit an intervention regarding TSN Radio). Harvey deemed the 50,000 watt clear channels "overkill" for an all-traffic station, and proposed Cogeco operate CKAC 730 bilingually instead. He also said a clear channel was "overkill" for Radio Fierté, and recommended they use another vacant frequency.

The deadline for interventions passed weeks ago, so the CRTC won't be hearing any new opinions on these applications, but

The hearing takes place Monday and Tuesday, starting at 9am, at Delta Centre-Ville, 777 University St., room Régence AB. Audio from the hearing can be streamed online via the CRTC website. You can listen to the direct floor audio here or an English translation here.

*CORRECTION: Dave Simon of Ringside Report emails me to say it's not him who's appearing at the hearing. It's actually another Dave Simon who works at Bell Media Radio. That is, unless there's a third Dave Simon associated with TSN Radio. Only Cogeco provided titles for the people appearing with them (Tietolman/Tétrault/Pancholy has what companies they work for), hence the possibility of confusion in case there are other cases of people with the same name.

My six minutes with Ezra Levant

Fagstein — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:44:58 +0000

With apologies to Stephen Colbert

It wasn't quite the way I pictured it would be, but on Friday evening I was on national TV for the first time.

Well, maybe calling it "national TV" is an exaggeration. It was during the 5pm hour on a Friday, and the audience was probably somewhere in the low five figures at best. I was actually more curious about the experience than I was excited about the idea of having wide exposure or getting famous or something.

I got an email just before noon on Thursday from Aaron Rosenberg, a production assistant with The Source with Ezra Levant, the first of four (now five) prime-time "straight talk" programs on the new Sun News Network. He wanted me to appear on the show on Friday to discuss a proposal that has been floating around recently about establishing a "professional journalist" certification in Quebec.

The proposal has been public information for quite a while. I've even written about it multiple times as it made its way through the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and was a key feature in a report on journalism by professor Dominique Payette. But it was only after Quebec culture minister Christine St-Pierre proposed a public consultation on the matter, prompting an opinion piece from Graeme Hamilton in the National Post, that Sun News and others took notice.

Last Tuesday, Levant went on a rant in video and in text, questioning why Quebec has a minister of communications, suggesting that the fact that St-Pierre and Payette were former Radio-Canada journalists showed this was some government/CBC conspiracy to control what we see and hear through "government journalists". His opinion piece contains such loaded terms as "Soviet-style", "dictator", and "corrupting influence".

I responded to Rosenberg that "I'd be happy to clear up some misconceptions people may have about this proposal." I figured that was a more diplomatic thing to say than "I'd be happy to provide some information to combat the ridiculous hyperbole being spewed by your show's host." My only condition was that I be out of their Montreal studio by 3pm so I could make it to my real job at 3:30.

No problem, he said. The show is recorded in advance, around 2-3pm, so there's no trouble getting me out by 3.

TVA/LCN building at 1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.

I had an appointment for 2pm Friday at the TVA building on de Maisonneuve Blvd. I've never actually been in this building before, so it was an educational experience. I stopped by security, got an electronic pass and made my way to the 10th floor. There, I wasn't quite sure where to go (there's no sign for "Sun News" anywhere), but someone eventually found me and brought me to ... makeup.

I hadn't really expected that part. I know TV people get makeup and hair done before they go on air, but I wasn't a journalist or an anchor, I was just a guy they were bringing in to talk about something. So while making some small-talk, the makeup artist patted my face to get rid of the buckets of sweat, then put on some flesh-toned foundation. The hair guy played with my hair for a few seconds, and I was done. Next, I was brought into the TVA newsroom.

TVA newsroom with boxes everywhere

I was seated at an empty desk at the far end, and stayed there for a few minutes. There were boxes all over the place, because everyone was moving around. TVA just launched a new studio, and this one on the 10th floor is being dismantled and replaced with a new one for LCN.

I also noticed that there were 10 high-definition television screens at the other end of the room, and not one of them was showing the Sun News Network. They had the usual main networks, plus CNN. One even had TVA's shopping channel.

After a few minutes twiddling my thumbs, I was brought to just outside Studio J, a single-camera room with a fake backdrop where remote interviews take place. There was a man in there, and I was next in line to use it.

Studio J at TVA with its fake backdrop

By now it's about 2:30. After a few minutes, the interview before mine wraps up, and a technician begins setting everything up for me. The earpiece is cleaned with alcohol and clipped to the back of my shirt, and I'm handed a lapel microphone to run up the front of my shirt and clip on. I'm showed the volume control, the camera is pointed at me, and they arrange to hook it up to Sun TV in Toronto. It takes a few minutes, but I finally start hearing the live Sun News feed in my ear. It's the voice of anchor Caryn Lieberman, who hosts the 1-3pm show.

The technicians leave, and I wait. And wait. And wait. I can hear the network in my hear, as Lieberman does her regular segment talking to producers and hosts about what's coming up on their shows later (she talks to Levant, but he doesn't tease his segment with me). I don't see the network on the monitors though. Instead, one is showing an infomercial on TVA, while the other shows a western movie with Clint Eastwood on specialty channel Prise 2.

After about 10 minutes, I hear a dial tone, and the signal goes blank. I keep waiting. I start wondering if they've forgotten about me. I peer out the window, and spot some recognizable TVA faces walking about, including Pierre Bruneau. I'd say hi, but I'm literally tied to a chair.

Finally, just before 3pm, after about 20 or 25 minutes of waiting, I hear a crackling in my ear and then the tail end of an interview between Ezra Levant and another guest. Levant says "coming up, a blogger with a funny name" and then throws to commercial. After the music stops, he asks if I can hear him, and for the first time I'm actually talking to someone in Toronto.

Camera setup in Studio J. Look straight into the camera, I'm told.

Talking, but not seeing. I can see myself on one of the small monitors next to the camera lens, but I don't see Levant. During our entire interview, I can't see the man I'm talking to. If you see my eyes wander a bit, that's partly why. I'm talking to a voice in my ear.

I make some crack remark about him saying I have a funny name. He responds that he actually likes it, and likes my blog because I'm not "beholden to" any group. By the time the show goes to air, he re-edits the piece to say "an unusual name" instead of "funny", which I kind of find funny.

Our conversation goes on identically to what ended up on air. Levant suggests my name would somehow cause me to break human rights laws in Canada, something I dismiss politely. I then explain through the interview that this wasn't St-Pierre's idea, that this was the journalists - not the government - that first proposed it, and that this isn't a bill or a law yet but a public consultation. I even get Levant to admit that his five-alarm fire "is maybe not a five-alarm fire after all", though I doubt that means they're going to treat the issue any differently.

I was actually a bit surprised by how many important points I was able to get across. I've done enough six-minute interviews for radio that I know how fast they can go. The only thing I didn't get a chance to do was challenge Levant's bizarre characterization of the FPJQ as a "secret society" with a "secret handshake", which isn't even remotely close to being true.

I should probably point out here, for the sake of those who don't want to read my earlier posts, that I actually agree with Levant on the fundamental issue here. I think creating a professional journalist status is a bad thing, and could have lots of negative repercussions for freedom of information, creating two classes of journalists and using government power to establish an elite media that has even more reason to look down upon the rest of us. It's hardly a conservative-only viewpoint. Even Le Devoir's editor was critical of this idea. But just because I agree with his conclusion doesn't mean I agree with the reasoning or the conspiracy theories.

Anyway, eventually Levant cuts me off in the middle of an "uhh" and it's over. He throws to commercial again, and after a few seconds the line goes dead. No goodbye or thank-you, just a click and nothing. I'm just a guy sitting alone in a room again. Being about 10 minutes beyond my 3pm deadline, I unclip the microphone and earpiece, grab my bag and slip out the door. I arrive at work just on time for my 3:30 shift.

A rather unfortunate preview image for the interview video on Sun News's website

Why?

I haven't published a full review of the Sun News Network. If I ever get enough free time, I'll finally put it together. But I've seen a lot of the network, and I know it well enough to question its commitment to journalistic integrity. As much as I think some of the opinions its personalities have are worth debating and worth adding to the public discourse, it's the way they express those opinions, ridiculing those who disagree with cherry-picked facts or even conjecture made up from pure paranoid fantasy that really gets me, just as it does when I see it on MSNBC or in clips from Fox News.

But, since government censorship is unlikely to stop it (nor should it), there are two ways to deal with this: boycott them, hoping that their business model will eventually fail and they'll have to shut down for economic reasons, or work with them, treat them like adults, and try to engage them in constructive dialogue like adults.

Maybe it was because of an irrational desire to want to build bridges with enemies in the wake of Jack Layton's death, or maybe it was a naive hope that the truth could act as a cleansing force, but I decided to try the latter option. And I think Levant's viewers were probably better informed about an important issue after my appearance than they were before.

Call me naive if you will, but I think once Sun Media gets over its persecution complex, we can start having honest, serious discussions about the issues being brought up by conservatives.

My first Sun News appearance (unpaid, I should add - it's not like I did this for the money) was fun, overall. Whether I'd do it again, I don't know. It will probably depend on the issue, and on whether Sun News producers are as interested in reasoned sober analysis as they are in hyperbolic buffoonery masquerading as righteous political opinion.

Even more details about Montreal’s digital TV transition

Fagstein — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:01:51 +0000

Mount Royal tower is about to go digital

I wrote a feature that appeared in Saturday's Gazette (Page E3, for those clipping) about the transition from analog television to digital, whose deadline is Aug. 31.

The main story focuses mainly on how local broadcasters are coping with the transition. It's a big endeavour, and with less than 10% of Canadian households still using antennas to get their television service, it's difficult to justify the cost (in the neighbourhood of $1 million per transmitter, but varying widely) of replacing the analog with digital.

That's to say nothing about the consumers, many of whom are on the lower end of the income scale, who must now spend money on new equipment.

The sidebar focuses on consumers, and tries to explain how people can prepare. If you haven't already heard 1,000 times, cable and satellite subscribers are unaffected. If you get your service by antenna, you either need a TV with a digital ATSC tuner (most new HDTVs have one) or a digital converter box.

My editor was very generous with the assigned length (in all it clocks in at a bit under 2,000 words), but even then there's a lot of information I had to leave out, including a few conversations I had with actual TV viewers. I'll try to include most of that information here.

The digital transition in Montreal

First, here's how the digital transition is going for the nine television stations broadcasting in Montreal (updated 9am Sept. 1):

Five (CFCF/CTV, CFTM/TVA, CIVM/Télé-Québec, CFJP/V and CJNT/Metro 14) have completed the transition, switching off their analog transmitters and replacing them with digital ones that are now transmitting. They should all be at full power from their permanent antennas.
Three (CBMT/CBC, CBFT/Radio-Canada,CKMI-1/Global) have shut down their analog transmitters and have digital ones operating on their permanent assigned channels, but are not yet operating from what will be their permanent antenna on top of the Mount Royal tower. (CBMT and CBFT are also running at reduced power.) Those who don't get these signals now may see that improve over the coming weeks.
One (CFTU/Canal Savoir) has been given a two-month extension to make the transition. It is still broadcasting in analog until the digital transmitter begins running.

Here's more detail, by station. A few explanations first:

Power: Digital transmitter power for most of these stations is considerably less than analog power. That doesn't necessarily mean the digital signal will be weaker. Because digital transmitters are far more efficient than analog ones (about 10 times in the case of UHF transmitters), the same range can be achieved with much less power. Most stations expect their coverage area will remain about the same. I use "authorized power" here to denote the average effective radiated power authorized by Industry Canada. The actual transmitters could be operating at less power than this.
Virtual channels: It's kind of complicated, but the ATSC digital standard allows stations on one channel to pretend they're on another. This is used so that stations that must change channels as part of the digital transition can show up on TVs under their former analog channels. So CBMT (CBC Montreal), for example, will actually be transmitting on Channel 21, but will appear on TV sets as Channel 6.1. The ".1" denotes the digital subchannel, because digital transmitters allow more than one channel to be transmitted. So far no Canadian broadcaster is taking advantage of this.
CRTC cost estimate: The CRTC commissioned a study by engineers to determine a rough idea of the cost of changing transmitters to digital. This cost depends on a number of factors, including the pre- and post-transition channels. It should be taken with a truckload of salt, because it doesn't take into account any particular characteristics of individual transmitters.
PSIP: The Program and System Information Protocol is a system that allows digital transmitters to send information to TV receivers. Among them, content ratings and program descriptions, like you'd find in a digital cable or satellite menu. Its use by broadcasters in Canada is mixed, because it's not seen as a necessity.

CBMT

Status: Transmitting in digital on permanent channel but temporary antenna.

Brand: CBC Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 6
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 20
Authorized power: 57,410W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: switched to post-transitional channel on or before Aug. 27

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 21
Authorized power: 436,340W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: will become active when new antenna is installed by November

Virtual digital channel: 6.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Not properly. Shows are given names like "CBMT Montreal English HD, Event 470" without descriptions
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (606), Bell TV (896/1030), Bell Fibe (1206)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $3,191,581
Retransmitters: Dozens of analog stations throughout Quebec (CBC Montreal is the only CBC station in Quebec with original programming). Digital transition postponed until Aug. 31, 2012 in the following mandatory markets: Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/dtv/Montreal_CBC.shtml

CBMT has had its digital transmitter up since 2005, but it's waiting until Aug. 31 to shut down the analog one. While the transition in Montreal is expected to happen on schedule, CBC decided it didn't have the money to make the switch for retransmitters (including Quebec City and Sherbrooke). The CRTC said it would allow a one-year extension so the analog to keep the analog transmitters running so they wouldn't have to be shut down, but the CBC's Steven Guiton told me they will probably just ask for another extension when that one comes up.

I asked José Breton, the guy who protested outside CBC in Quebec City demanding they not shut down the transmitter there because he wanted to watch Hockey Night in Canada, about the extension. I thought he would be happy, but turns out he's not. "It's a false compromise," he said. Instead, the CRTC should have forced CBC/Radio-Canada to setup digital transmitters in mandatory markets before the deadline instead of saving money for "some white-collars' salaries". He also suggested the CRTC was being influenced by cable and satellite lobbyists.

CBMT's digital transmitter has already switched to its permanent channel (which means digital tuners must rescan for channels to find it).

CBC Montreal's newscast has been 16:9 since 2009, though the quality of the video during newscasts is poor even by standard definition standards.

As noted in the guide in The Gazette, because CBMT transmits in analog on Channel 6, which is just below the FM radio band, its audio channel can be heard at 87.75MHz. Most FM radios allow you to tune that low, even though the band ends at 88 MHz. The only perceivable difference between the audio channel of an analog TV transmission and an FM broadcast radio transmission is that the former has a lower volume. So people can do things like listen to Hockey Night in Canada on the radio. This will, unfortunately, end on Sept. 1 when the analog transmitter goes down.

CFCF

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: CTV Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 12
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:05am Aug. 31 (this was pushed up a day, was originally to be Sept. 1)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 51
Authorized power: 2,700W
Location: Bell-Nexacor tower on Remembrance Rd.
Status: reduced power significantly around Aug. 27, shut down just after midnight Aug. 31

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 12 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 10,600W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:50am Aug. 31

Virtual digital channel: 12.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (607), Bell Fibe (1205)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.ctv.ca/digitalswitch/

CFCF setup a temporary digital transmitter in January specifically so it could get it on air before the Super Bowl to take advantage of simultaneous substitution in HD. In a letter dated Jan. 4, 2011, CTV VP Kevin Goldstein specifically cited the Super Bowl as reason to expedite the application:

CTV respectfully requests that the Commission consider this application in an expedited manner as we hope to have Commission approval on or before January 28th, 2011 in advance of the broadcast of the Super Bowl on February 6th, 2011. CTV holds the Canadian broadcast rights to one of the most high profile sporting and broadcasting events of the year and approval of this application will rectify some concerns we have with respect to the requirements of certain BDU's to carry out simultaneous substitution during this broadcast.

CRTC gave approval on Jan. 21. The digital transmitter went live on Jan. 28. It's on a small tower on Remembrance Rd. near Beaver Lake, about 400 metres from the main Mount Royal tower and with an antenna about 100 metres below where their analog one is.

CTV Montreal General Manager Don Bastien said everything is ready to go. The digital transmitter has been tested twice and all that's left is to wait until the cutoff date. The analog transmitter is set to shut down at 12:05am on Sept. 1 - just after the end of the late newscast - and the permanent digital transmitter (using the same antenna and same channel) should be up 45 minutes later, he said.

Technical changes - including replacing the antenna, which had been in use since 1961 - happened last summer. Television transmitters on the Mount Royal tower were shut down overnight throughout the summer months as the tower was altered to prepare for the digital transition.

Bastien said the coverage area of the digital transmitter should be about the same as the analog one was (exact comparisons are difficult because of how reception of analog and digital signals differs).

CKMI-1

Status: Transmitting digital-only using temporary antenna as of Aug. 17.

Brand: Global Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 46
Authorized power: 33,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down Aug. 13

Transitional/post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 15 (was assigned 51, but got approval to use 15 instead)
Authorized power: 8,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (running on temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active since Aug. 17

Virtual digital channel: 15.1 (Global is the only Montreal station to choose a virtual channel different from its analog one)
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No (except ratings)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (608, replaced Global Toronto HD on Aug. 23)
Power (average ERP): 8,000W
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $280,544/$380,994
Retransmitters:

Quebec City (CKMI), Channel 20, digital as of Aug. 13
Sherbrooke (CKMI-2), Channel 11, digital as of Aug. 10

Digital transition website: http://www.shaw.ca/dtv/

Global Montreal used to be based in Quebec City (which is why Quebec City's station is CKMI and Montreal's is CKMI-1). Canwest bought the station and setup transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke to create the regionally-licensed Global Quebec network. It then asked the CRTC to be re-licensed as a Montreal station so it could be allowed to seek local advertising.

CKMI-1 was the first of the nine Montreal stations to shut down its analog transmitter. It went dark on Aug. 13, and the digital transmitter started transmitting on Aug. 17. Global has been announcing that it's now on Channel 15, and its virtual digital channel is 15.1. Its satellites in Quebec City and Sherbrooke had already made the transition earlier in the month. Both remain on the same channel.

Videotron has been carrying Global HD from Toronto, which has been kind of a strange situation where Montreal viewers have been seeing Toronto local newscasts unless they switch to the standard-definition version of the channel. Videotron replaced Global Toronto HD with Global Montreal HD on Aug. 23. (Global was so happy it sent out a press release on the subject.)

Global Montreal's newscast is technically in high definition. The opening graphics are HD, as is the weather report (which is done out of Toronto). Master control is in Edmonton (I made a mistake in the original article, saying it was Vancouver - it switched to Edmonton in May 2009), which has HD facilities. Even the studio cameras are HD (the newscasts are anchored in Montreal, in a green room), but the data connection between Montreal and Edmonton isn't fast enough to deliver an HD signal.

Thankfully, Global is owned by Shaw, which has experience in telecommunications. A fat pipe is being setup, edit suites in Montreal will be upgraded and HD field cameras will be issued. "We are optimistic that our newscast will be produced in HD by the end of the year," said Shaw Media's Dervla Kelly. Once that happens, CFCF will be the only station in Montreal that produces a newscast that's not in HD.

"We've increased our over-the-air coverage area in all three markets," Kelly said of Global's Quebec stations. "More viewers will have access to our digital signal than had access to our analog signals."

CJNT

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 27.

Brand: Metro 14
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 62
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: roof of building next to Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down morning of Aug. 27

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 69
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 49
Authorized power: 4,000W
Location: roof of CTV building next to Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: began operation on evening of Aug. 27

Virtual digital channel: 62.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (expecting 614 on Aug. 30)
Power (average ERP):
Digital transmitter location: Roof of CTV transmitter building next to Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $273,881
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.metro14.ca/

You know CJNT, right? The multicultural station? It was scooped up by Canwest after failing to make money for many years, and it continued to not make money. Canwest threatened to shut it down along with the rest of its secondary E! network, but a company called Channel Zero bought it and sister station CHCH Hamilton for a grand total of $12. Since then, the station has produced no original programming, and has been embarrassingly repeating local shows from 2009 to fulfill its CRTC requirements. It has promised new programming for this fall, though, and some of it has already begun.

Metro 14 (the number is reference to its Videotron digital cable channel) went pretty well as scheduled for its digital transition. According to its schedule, the analog transmitter was to be shut off at 7am on Aug. 27 and the digital one was to be operational by 6pm. The delay was necessary to retune the antenna from Channel 62 to Channel 49. CHCH Broadcast Operations Manager Wayne Rabishaw, who is handling the CJNT transition along with four transmitters of CHCH, said the coverage area would actually greatly improve with the change, almost doubling, because the antenna they're using (which the station originally got used) was actually better for Channel 49 than Channel 62.

CHCH itself made the switch on Aug. 15, and Rabishaw said they had already gotten hundreds of phone calls from viewers. London and Muskoka were scheduled for this week, and Ottawa is set for Aug. 31. Their four remaining retransmitters (Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins) will stay analog for now.

Rabishaw couldn't put a price on the CJNT transition, but said switching all five transmitters will cost Channel Zero "several million dollars".

CJNT is transmitting in HD, but so far I haven't spotted any actual HD programming on it. (Lots of programming in SD with black bars around it, though.) Rabishaw said programming will be in HD.

Metro 14's note says Videotron will add the station's HD feed on Channel 614 on Aug. 30. Cogeco will also begin carrying the station in standard and high-definition, but the satellite companies (Bell and Shaw) are only taking it in standard definition for now.

Once Videotron adds the HD feed, viewers can expect simultaneous substitution to begin in HD for American programming carried on CJNT. This includes 20/20, Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

CBFT

Status: Transmitting digital-only, on temporary antenna.

Brand: Radio-Canada Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 2
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down at 12am Sept. 1 (the last thing that aired was a beer ad)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 19
Authorized power: 54,970W
Location: Mount Royal tower (temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active

Post-transitional digital channel:

Channel: 19 (same as transitional)
Authorized power: 447,820W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: will be active once new antenna is installed

Virtual digital channel: 2.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (602), Bell TV (1802/860), Bell Fibe (1112), Shaw Direct (244/380)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $4,266,294 (highest in Montreal)
Retransmitters: 28, none in mandatory markets or above Channel 16
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/tvn/montreal_radio-canada.shtml

Like CBC, Radio-Canada has had a digital transmitter in Montreal since 2005. Since the transitional and post-transitional channels are the same, it is effectively operating in post-transitional mode, though I'm guessing from my signal meter that it's not operating at the post-transitional power level yet. At nearly 450,000W, it will be the most powerful digital television transmitter in Quebec.

Just about all of Radio-Canada's local and national programming has been in HD for some time.

Radio-Canada, like the CBC, will keep analog transmitters running in mandatory markets where it doesn't originate programming. This mostly affects the Prairies, southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada. All mandatory markets in Quebec will transition.

Radio-Canada also has two full-power transmitters that are on channels in the 52-69 range: Sainte-Famille and Lac-Etchemin, both retransmitters of CBVT (Quebec City) and both on Channel 55. The Lac Etchemin transmitter will become low-power, staying on the same channel, while the Sainte-Famille transmitter will be shut down.

CFTM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1.

Brand: TVA Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 10
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:01am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 59
Authorized power: 6,140W
Location: TVA building (1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.)
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 10 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:35am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 10.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (604), Bell TV (1804/861), Bell Fibe (1115), Shaw Direct (245/381)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None (but this is the flagship station of the TVA network)
Digital transition website: http://tva.canoe.ca/emissions/transitiontelenumerique/

TVA has, strangely, not been broadcasting in digital yet (or if it has, it's such low power that nobody has seen it). The plan is to make the switch directly on the night of Aug. 31 to Sept. 1. TVA has to coordinate its switch with CTV, since both use the same antenna.

TVA's local and national newscasts and other programming have been in HD for quite a while. Because it doesn't simulcast American programming, it doesn't need to setup a digital transmitter to take advantage of simultaneous substitution.

Across Quebec, TVA owns six stations, five of which will switch to digital (Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières) and one will not (Rimouski). The transmitter in Saguenay (CJPM) will run at first on a temporary digital transmitter, and then a full transmitter by Oct. 31, TVA's Serge Sasseville said. You can get channel information in this PDF file.

There are also four TVA affiliates not owned by Groupe TVA. Two stations in western Quebec are owned by RNC Media and are in mandatory markets (Gatineau and Rouyn-Noranda).

Two others in eastern Quebec are owned by Télé Inter-Rives:

CIMT in Rivière du Loup (a mandatory market), which has eight retransmitters, including one that fills a hole in coverage in the city of Rivière du Loup, and one in Edmunston, NB.
CHAU in Carleton-sur-Mer (which is not), which has 11 retransmitters around the Gaspé peninsula and northern New Brunswick.

Even though the CRTC's requirements would only force Télé Inter-Rives to switch its transmitters in Rivière du Loup to digital and move its retransmitter in Les Escoumins off of Channel 57, it has applied to switch all of its transmitters to digital. The transition for CHAU and its retransmitters has been delayed until mid-November due to delays in getting equipment. But since these are all transmitters that could stay analog if they wanted to, there's no deadline for making the change. CIMT and its retransmitters are still set for a Sept. 1 transition.

CFJP

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: V
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 35
Authorized power: 697,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 11:31pm Aug. 30

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 42
Authorized power: 13,900W
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (corner of Amherst St.)
Status: shut down Aug. 30

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 35 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 13,750W (note this is actually slightly less than transitional transmitter)
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 11:35pm Aug. 30

Virtual digital channel: 35.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (605), Bell TV (1803/862), Bell Fibe (1114), Shaw Direct (248/388)
Digital transmitter location: Sherbrooke and Berri Sts. (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, but digital one will stay downtown for "strategic reasons", the network says)
CRTC cost estimate: $280,713/$463,894
Retransmitters: None

V was kind of hard to get a hold of for this article. Emails and phone calls went unanswered until I finally heard from spokesperson Tim Ringuette, who blamed the network's fall launch for keeping him busy. Ringuette said the station has moved its digital transmitter off the Mount Royal tower site. "Décision stratégique," he wrote in a brief email. This most likely translates to "money" and V's reluctance to spend a lot of it renting expensive space on the Mount Royal tower (not to mention all the engineering work that goes into setting up a transmitter next to a bunch of other high-powered transmitters).

Ringuette said the coverage area should be almost identical to the analog signal now. I'm very skeptical that a transmitter on a downtown building (more than 200 metres lower in elevation) at a tiny fraction of the power can have the same coverage, particularly because I don't receive the digital transmitter at all right now.

CIVM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1

Brand: Télé-Québec
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 17
Authorized power: 889,500W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down for good at 1:30am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 27
Authorized power: 8,956W
Location: Olympic Stadium
Status: shut down just after midnight Sept. 1

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 26
Authorized power: 160,600W
Location: Olympic Stadium (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 2:45am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 17.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Yes (detailed)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (603), Bell TV (1839/799), Bell Fibe (1138)
Digital transmitter location: Olympic Stadium (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, transitional digital one has been broadcasting from Olympic Stadium and will stay there post-transition)
CRTC cost estimate: $522,438/$676,519
Retransmitters: 11 (All Télé-Québec stations are effectively retransmitters of CIVM, and Télé-Québec plans to switch all of them to digital, regardless of market size)
Digital transition website: http://transitionnumerique.telequebec.tv/

Télé-Québec is the only one of the four French Quebec networks that has committed to transitioning all its transmitters to digital, regardless of market size. "La transition au numérique est notre priorité," said spokesperson Catherine Leboeuf. "Il s’agit du plus important changement technologique à court terme."

Digital transmitters are running in Montreal and Quebec City, the rest are scheduled to transition by Sept. 1.

Two exceptions are CIVB Rimouski and CIVB-1 Grand Fonds (which serves Rivière du Loup but is not considered a mandatory market station). They will be switching Sept. 7 and Sept. 15, respectively, and will maintain analog signal until their transition. Their website has a breakdown by transmitter.

The Montreal transmitter was setup on Olympic Stadium instead of Mount Royal and will remain there. The signal is very strong on the eastern side of the city, but those on the western side of the mountain are reporting trouble receiving it.

CFTU

Status: Transmitting in analog only. Transition deadline delayed until Oct. 31.

Brand: Canal Savoir
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 29
Authorized power: 10,000W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: active, to be shut down by Oct. 31

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 54
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 29 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 387W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: to be activated by Oct. 31

Virtual digital channel: 29.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Not available in HD on cable/satellite
Digital transmitter location: Université de Montréal
CRTC cost estimate: $210,606
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.canal.qc.ca/passage_au_numerique.php

Canal Savoir had the most interesting transition story, so much so that I made it the lead of my article. General Manager Sylvie Godbout explained to me that, you see, they wanted to make the transition deadline, but haven't been able to access their transmitter because (1) the university is removing asbestos in the tower, and (2) a quartet of young peregrine falcons was just born there and couldn't be disturbed by construction work. (They're not technically endangered, but they're considered at risk, depending on the region and subspecies.)

The asbestos work makes sense. The university decided to do it in August when there weren't that many students around. The birds are just funny. In researching the article, I discovered that there's even a blog dedicated to them. They're named Tawodi, Rick, Éole and Altius, they're all boys and were hatched in early May. You can see videos of their development if you go back a few pages on the blog.

So the CRTC has "graciously" given them an extension until Oct. 31. Godbout said the plan is to get it done before the end of September. Until then, the analog signal will keep running.

A station run mostly by volunteers with an annual budget of $1.2 million, Canal Savoir would seem the least likely to want to spend a lot of money on a new transmitter. Godbout didn't pretend as though the money wouldn't have been better spent on programming, but she said they've known about this coming for three years and have been setting money aside for it. She wouldn't say how much it's going to cost (mostly because she doesn't know exactly), but it wasn't anywhere near the $1 million a transmitter figure that has been cited by the major broadcasters.

Canal Savoir is saving money, Godbout said, thanks in large part to assistance from Télé-Québec (Godbout used the term "graciously" more than once). Their analog transmitter - running for 25 years - was a used one from the provincial public broadcaster, and their technical help has also come from them. Though the station will have to buy a new digital transmitter, it will get help installing it.

Among the work that needs to be done is to reinforce the base of the antenna. Not easily done without disturbing the nest of some peregrine falcons that sits on the same tower.

Godbout also looked on the bright side: the old transmitter is the size of a fridge, and the new one will be smaller and generate much less heat, while serving the same population.

Though, Godbout said, she's going to have to buy herself a digital converter box. Not because she doesn't have cable service, but just so she can check on her station's transmitter from home.

Stores: What DTV transition?

I stopped by a few electronics stores to see how they were promoting the converter boxes people would need to get their TV signals after the transition. I was puzzled to see not one of them was actually promoting this, just a week before the end of analog TV.

The Source, which is owned by Bell (and plugged by name in its DTV transition ads, which is kind of pushing an ethical boundary there), had plenty of information and displays about Bell TV service, but I found only a single DTV converter box, and a few tearsheets about the transition.

At Future Shop downtown, lots of shiny HDTVs, but no big signs explaining the DTV transition. I found the converters on a shelf next to cable and satellite boxes. There were about 20 of the cheap Access HD box, which is about the size of a portable CD player and costs $50, but has a reputation online of getting very hot and forgetting its digital channel programming every time it's turned off. There were also some Coby boxes for sale for $60.

The flyers that came out this weekend for Future Shop and Best Buy also aren't really plugging the DTV transition. Both have the Access HD box, but Future Shop has it on page 28 and Best Buy has it on the back page.

A media spokesperson for Future Shop nationally said sales of converter boxes are "exceeding expectations". I'm guessing those expectations were fairly low.

When I went to Future Shop, I saw some people eyeing the converter boxes, spending quite a while trying to figure them out. I also overheard conversations between customers and staff looking at HDTVs that made it clear they had heard about the transition.

At Centre Hi-Fi, I stopped by, couldn't find the converters, and when I asked a staff member where they were he said they were all sold out. A few days later they had more Access HD boxes in the store.

("Access HD" is kind of a misnomer, implying that ... well, it's HD. It converts HD signals into analog, which is definitely not HD.)

My experience suggests you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding converter boxes unless there's a sudden rush for them (which could happen Sept. 1). Just stay away from The Source.

Digital subchannels: no thanks

One thing that kind of bugged me in the wake of the CBC transition delay was why Canadian stations weren't using digital subchannels. The American networks are taking advantage of this technology, with a main channel carrying HD programming and multiple standard-definition channels with things like 24-hour weather, repeated newscasts or alternative network programming. But Canadian broadcasters aren't using it.

I, and others, thought this would be a fine solution to CBC's problem. In most of the markets affected, the CBC is setting up a digital transmitter for its other network. Quebec City has a Radio-Canada digital transmitter, Fredericton has a CBC digital transmitter, etc. Couldn't they add a standard-definition subchannel with the other network on it? Quebec City's Radio-Canada station would be in HD on 12.1, and CBC could be in SD on 12.2.

Martin Marcotte, CBC's director of transmission (yeah, they have one of those), explained thusly:

CBC has looked at multiplexing of signals on a single transmitter.

First, that approach is not consistent with our general policy of building DTV transmitters only where we have originating stations.

Second, CBC-SRC wishes to transmit at the highest quality possible.

Third, it is correct that the subchannel would need to be SD so there would be a quality difference between the main channel and the subchannel.

Fourth, we are investigating mobile TV applications. Because a digital channel has a fixed bandwidth, any additions whether subchannels or mobile TV take away capacity from the main channel. That means a drop in quality. If you have a or more subchannels and mobile TV, the main channel essentially becomes SD or worse.

It sounds like a lot of different reasons, but it basically boils down to CBC not wanting to degrade the quality of its HD signal to fit in a secondary SD signal. While they would technically have to do that, I don't think compressing an HD signal from 19 to 15 megabits per second results in such a dramatic decrease in quality that it can't be done.

As far as the CRTC is concerned, there's no rule against using digital subchannels (or "multiplexing", as it calls the technology). But the subchannels would have to be licensed. So if, say, CTV wants to put its new CTV Two network as a subchannel to CFCF, it would probably have to get the okay from the CRTC before doing that.

Some people have suggested having specialty channels as digital subchannels (RDI on Radio-Canada's subchannel, Bold on CBC's, CTV News Channel on CFCF's, etc.). That probably wouldn't work out too well because of complaints from cable and satellite companies. They took RDI to task for having a livestream of the channel on its website, arguing that specialty channels shouldn't be distributed freely if they expect cable and satellite companies to pay for them. A similar issue would arise if the channels would be broadcast freely. Or, alternatively, the cable and satellite companies could then decide or even be forced to treat the specialty channels as over-the-air broadcasters and carry them free of charge to subscribers. The broadcasters probably wouldn't want that.

Is this even necessary?

In 2009, when the United States was set to do its digital transition, I argued that it seemed unnecessary. I understood the need to vacate part of the TV broadcast spectrum to sell off for better uses, but it seemed entirely possible to do this by simply reassigning channels 52 and above lower vacant channels in all but the biggest markets. How many markets do we have with more than 50 television channels, even if you include neighbouring markets?

It's not like digital television takes less space. Each channel still gets the same 6 MHz allocation. The only difference is that more information can be packed into that space now, allowing for HD or subchannels.

I asked the CRTC about this. They sent me to the Heritage department. Chaouki Dakdouki, the director of distribution and access policy (and possibly the most punctual person in the world - he said he'd call me at 10:30am, and my phone rang at exactly 10:30am), mentioned that digital signals will reduce interference between signals that are on adjacent channels. This would allow channels on adjacent channels in the same market instead of being spaced two apart. If this is true, then it makes sense. But even then, there aren't that many markets with more than a handful of stations - and few markets even have anything transmitting in the channels they want to get rid of.

It's too late to change anything now, but I still think some stations are being forced to switch unnecessarily. Thankfully the CRTC came to its senses and isn't forcing small towns to switch yet. The CBC has made it pretty clear most of those small transmitters will never be replaced with digital ones.

No coupon program

Those who were following the U.S. DTV transition might remember there was a coupon program that gave households discounts on converter boxes. It caused some ruckus because the government ran out of coupons (or, more accurately, ran out of money in the coupon program). This contributed to the decision to delay the transition a few months.

In Canada, there is no coupon program. No assistance for poor Canadians (or small broadcasters) to help them make the switch. It "wasn't deemed necessary," Dakdouki said, because of how few Canadians this would affect.

It's a curious position. The proportion of Canadians using antenna TV is lower than the U.S., but not by that much. And the U.S. drastically underestimated how many people would need converters for the digital transition. Judging from what I heard from Future Shop, I think the same might be happening here.

Dakdouki also pointed to the fact that, of the 7% or 8% of Canadian television viewers who don't have cable or satellite TV, about 35% of them watch programming online or through other means, which knocks this number down even further. I don't know how this compares to the United States, but it's interesting to note how fast other forms of television distribution are growing.

Antennas: Rabbit ears aren't dead

This transition is being called the death of "rabbit ears", but that's not exactly true. There's no difference between a digital and analog antenna, because the antenna is just a piece of wire cut to match a certain frequency. There's no reason analog antennas, including rabbit ears, can't be used for digital.

Antennas marketed as DTV-ready are different in two major ways: They have higher gain (which gives you a stronger signal whether in analog or digital), and they're better tuned to UHF frequencies (channels 14+) than VHF ones (2-13). This takes into account the fact that many VHF analog stations are switching to UHF channels for their digital transmitters. Most rabbit-ear antennas have long telescoping rods for VHF and a small loop for UHF. It's tempting to play with the length or position of the VHF antennas when watching a UHF station.

In Montreal, two stations are moving from VHF to UHF: CBMT (CBC) and CBFT (Radio-Canada). Two stations are staying on the (high) VHF band: CFCF (CTV) and CFTM (TVA). And the rest are staying on UHF.

The difference between Channel 2 (55 MHz) and Channel 10 (193 MHz) - the lowest post-transition channel in the city - is very significant, so there's definitely a shift upward in terms of frequency range (which means a shift downward for antenna length). But rabbit ears that pick up a wide range of frequencies should be able to pick up most strong stations.

Since most stations won't be at full power until after the Sept. 1 transition, I would recommend waiting until after that (maybe even give it a week or two in case things need to be fine-tuned) until deciding that your existing antenna is insufficient for the task.

Thoughts from viewers

I asked for input from antenna TV watchers while researching the article. I got plenty of responses, though most were people who either already had digital TVs or tuners or were planning to get them by the deadline. I had a vision of the perfect source for the story, a poor family with a dozen kids and an old TV, too poor to buy a converter but who sat by the old box and watched the broadcast networks for hours a day.

The closest I got to the perfect source was a man who wrote in to the paper in early August. The handwritten letter was left on my desk one night with a note from my editor saying that sometimes it just falls in your lap. I called him up, but while he was fine sharing his story, he didn't want his name publicized. He didn't want people to know he was on social assistance. Understandable, but frustrating. He said he'd probably buy a converter, and half-joked that he'd go around collecting refundable cans and bottles to raise the money.

For the record, here are some stories I've heard from the rest of you. Hardly a random sample, but interesting anecdotally:

Micah Galizia: "I watch OTA with an antenna and am very happy the DTV conversion is finally here. ... My TV is about five years old."
Regis Glorieux: "Cut the cord when I moved from Montreal to St-Eustache over 15 years ago. Been on antenna ever since. ... Our TVs are old school analog tube, I bought a couple ATSC digital tuners a couple of years ago when the US stations were switching over to digital."
Richard Archambault: "2 TVs (one is digital ready, small bedroom TV isn't) - both with DVD players; 2 young children at home who watch TeleQuebec on TV ... My wife and I usually watch the news, DVDs (including TV series), docs and movies on TeleQuebec and occasionally whatever other stuff may be on, but otherwise turn it off if there's nothing. I used to not be able to afford cable (rather pay for Internet access), but I recently got a promotion and thus I could afford it now if I really wanted to, but.. I find that when I visit my mother's house, sometimes I'll spend 20 minutes flipping through channels and not really finding anything worthwhile. Ideally, if I could pick only the channels I wanted (NatGeo, Discovery, maybe a sports channel for the occasional Habs game midweek when CBC doesn't play them usually, Spanish-language channels for my wife), and if I wasn't limited by the amount of Canadian channels I am required to have (I invariably have too many non-Canadian channels when I test-run my channel selections on Bell or Videotron's websites, for "pick your own" packages), then, and only then, would it be worth paying cable. So yeah, I figure I'll get a new antenna eventually, sometime in September likely."
Sarah Szefer: "Yes, I'm still using rabbit ears to access digital TV on my HDTV. Although I do get tons of interference from the Montreal Port (which means no US stations come in at all), I still can get flawless signals from Rad-Can, CBC, V, and Télé-Québec."
Rose-Line Beaupre (Regina): "I own 2 television sets. I have bought a converter box for one TV only. It was about $90. It's a very old TV and in a year or when the TV dies, I will buy a digital TV and put the converter to the other TV. The other TV is mostly used to watch movies when I'm working in my sewing room. I don't watch a lot of TV and this is the first reason I don't have cable. It's not worth the money. I'm a Francophone native living in the Prairies. I essentially bought the converter box to be able to watch Radio-Canada - Regina and watch the national news from Montréal. The news are also available on the net but I don't want to be limited to the computer in order to stay connected."
Jack Nathanson: "I am still on analog. I get the impression that the digital broadcasts won't actually begin until after September 1, so I won't get a digital box until after the analog signals have stopped." (I called Nathanson, and gave him some information about the transition. He lives on the fourth floor of a building in the Snowdon area, which should have pretty good reception. He says he used to watch a lot of TV, but does less so now. Still, he'll probably get a converter box.)

Thanks for everyone who shared their experiences. Feel free to add your own below, or ask any questions you might have.

No conspiracies

In talking to people and reading comments about the digital transition, a lot of the ones familiar enough with media ownership believe broadcasters are manipulating the switch in some way as to force people to aligned cable and satellite services. (CTV is owned by Bell, Global is owned by Shaw, and TVA is owned by Quebecor, which also owns Videotron.) Strained logic has even been contradictory - some claiming that an early switch is pushing people to pay for TV because they no longer get analog signals, others claiming a late switch is pushing people to pay because they think they can't get HD over the air.

The evidence indicates that, if anything, the opposite is true: broadcasters affiliated with cable companies are more likely to provide a better signal after the transition. Of the broadcasters on the Mount Royal tower that are not CBC/Radio-Canada (which runs the tower), it's the two that aren't affiliated with cable companies (CIVM/Télé-Québec and CFJP/V) that have decided to move off the tower, sacrificing coverage in order to save on rent. TVA, CTV and Global are staying on the tower, and are either replicating their coverage area or improving it slightly. (CJNT/Metro14 is not on the tower itself, but at its base, but its coverage has improved significantly.)

That's not to say there isn't some silliness going on. CTV's transition information points people to buy Bell TV or converter boxes at The Source, which is also owned by Bell. Shaw is plugging their free satellite program (but not very much - they're doing this as part of a promise to the CRTC, but the fewer satellites they give away, the less it costs them), but otherwise not pushing people to get Shaw service. (Global's story about the DTV transition even points to competitors' programs.) And TVA's transition page makes no mention of the word "Videotron".

But what really matters - and where the costs really lie - is the transmitters. The CRTC is forcing the switch, broadcasters have waited until the last month if not the last minute so their analog viewers have service as long as possible, and the digital transmitters for the most part try to replicate coverage area. In short, I don't see much of a conspiracy here.

Sacré orange!

Fagstein — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:29:38 +0000

Quebec consumed by an orange wave. Graphic from CBC's vote results map

"It's all orange."

I looked at the map of Quebec ridings about 10:30 p.m., and I couldn't believe it. It wasn't just pockets of orange, or lots of orange. It was all orange. With the exception of a few ridings on the island of Montreal, ridings in the Beauce region, and the giant Haute-Gaspésie and Roberval ridings you can see above, it was all orange.

Montérégie is all orange. Outaouais is all orange. Quebec City is all orange north of the St. Lawrence. Laval's four ridings all orange. Gilles Duceppe's riding orange. West Island Liberal stronghold Pierrefonds-Dollard orange.

In all, 58 of Quebec's 75 ridings elected New Democratic Party MPs on Monday, with the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois left to share the handful that remained.

I followed the campaign. I even commented about it for CBC's All in a Weekend show (you can listen to my discussions with host Dave Bronstetter and community activist Sujata Dey here: March 28, April 3, April 10, April 17, May 1). I watched the news about the NDP "surge" in Quebec and saw the poll numbers at threehundredeight.com. But even as it was projecting 30 seats in Quebec for the NDP, I was convinced those numbers were too high, the result of lots of soft support from people who, when it came to the ballot box, would change their minds and vote for one of the more established parties or more recognizable candidates.

As we all know now, those numbers actually far underestimated how the NDP would do here.

My night

My regular job kept me busy on election night. I'm not complaining, in fact I love working election nights. There's excitement, unpredictability, lots of people, free food, and free beer after the last edition is put to bed.

Unfortunately it meant I couldn't spend much time looking at the various networks' coverage of the results so as to make snarky judgments about them. I had the Sun News Network live streaming feed on my computer, and I could see a TV tuned to RDI at the office, but otherwise my attention was focused on the results and my page.

Election night at any journalistic outlet is crazy, and The Gazette is no exception. Almost everyone is working that day, including most of the managers, and the work doesn't stop until the final final edition, which had people in the office past 1:30am. So many are in at once that seating is arranged in advance so they can make sure there's room for everyone.

I was assigned Page B5, a page in the special section devoted to results from Quebec. Reporters were taken off their regular beats and assigned to key ridings in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec. With another editor sharing duties on the page, I got files from four reporters who would write three stories (one for each edition): Jason Magder covering the two West Island ridings, Alycia Ambroziak in off-island Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Monique Muise in Laval–Les Îles, and Jeff Heinrich in Denis Coderre's Montreal-North Bourassa riding.

With the exception of Heinrich, the reporters were surprised having to write about unexpected NDP upsets. Vaudreuil-Soulanges was one of dozens of Bloc ridings that went to the NDP despite the "star killer" power of Meili Faille. Laval–Les Îles was a Liberal stronghold, and even after the surprise retirement of Raymonde Folco it was expected to stay that way. A draft story even said it was expected to hold while the adjacent riding would see the Bloc candidate cruising to victory. In fact, all four Laval ridings would turn orange quickly, forcing reporters to scramble to find the winning candidate. He invited them to his campaign headquarters - at his house.

Lac-Saint-Louis was expected to be a tough fight. The Conservatives had put star candidate (and a one-time Gazette publisher) Larry Smith there against Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia. But Smith, who briefly led early voting results a couple of times, fell to third as the riding bounced back between Liberal red and NDP orange for most of the night. Scarpaleggia eked out a win in the end. Bernard Patry, who represented my parents' riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard since 1993 and won with huge majorities in every election since, was stunned when he lost to a New Democrat most of the people there had probably never heard of.

All fantastic stories, but then these were only a few of the crazy results in Quebec that night.

TV coverage commentary

Without the ability to surf the networks from the comfort of my living room, I can't really evaluate how the networks did on debate night. My PVR is limited to two simultaneous recordings, and I picked CTV (for its popularity) and Sun News (because it's the newest).

Fortunately others were watching, and I direct you to a Gazette liveblog by Mike Boone and a blog post from TV Feeds My Family's Bill Brioux. In The Suburban, Mike Cohen also praises the work of radio stations CBC and CJAD during the campaign.

Mario Dumont's election night show (described by some as good considering its very poor resources) is all online. It also has the best line of the night I've heard so far, courtesy of Caroline Proulx: Quebecers electing a wave of NDP candidates is like having a one-night stand and finding out the next day that she's pregnant.

I will add this, which I spotted today as I reviewed the CTV coverage. Their election desk did house projection ranges early in the night, as results were coming in and after they had projected a Conservative government.

CTV election seat projection as results come in

In the end, not one of the four parties' seat totals would fall within these projected ranges.

Pylons

You'll be hearing a lot over the coming days and weeks about the dozens of new NDPers elected to the House of Commons:

There is, of course, Ruth Ellen Brosseau, the ~~unilingual~~ anglophone who works at an Ottawa bar and vacationed in Vegas during the campaign but still managed to win in the riding of Berthier-Maskinongé. (UPDATE: Turns out her abilities in French have been underestimated - she struggles, but she can speak the language)
There's Isabelle Morin, the ~~unilingual~~ francophone elected in mostly-anglo NDG riding ~~(prompting some to ask: why didn't they switch those two?~~) (UPDATE: Like Brosseau, it seems Morin's bilingualism has been underestimated).
There's 19-year-old Pierre-Luc Dusseault in Sherbrooke, the youngest man ever elected as an MP.
There's 20-year-old Charmaine Borg in Terrebonne-Blainville (who a local paper tried unsuccessfully to locate during the campaign but found on election night) and the other McGill students.
There's Eve Peclet, the Un souper presque parfait contestant, and Alexandrine Latendresse, who the Star's investigative team found out doesn't like George Bush.

And these are the ones whose background we know about.

What you won't hear are the stories of all the similar candidates for the other parties in no-hope ridings. The Liberal in Jonquière who works for a moving company. The Conservative in Papineau who's a hairstylist, a mom and helps her husband work as a real estate agent. The Bloc candidate in Pierrefonds-Dollard who just started a degree at UQAM and whose previous work experience includes a job at the library at Collège Gérald-Godin and as a cashier at IGA.

And these are based on their official biographies posted to the party websites. One can only imagine if even the slightest digging was done into their backgrounds.

The ADQ had the same problem in 2007, when they unexpectedly rode a wave of popular support into official opposition in Quebec City. We all know how that turned out: The ADQ is all but wiped out and its former leader is now a TV host.

Everyone runs whoever they can find in no-hope ridings because they're no-hope ridings. The parties want to be able to say they're running someone in all 308 ridings across Canada (of 75 across Quebec, in the case of the Bloc) and don't want to give up on any vote. But this is the natural consequence of that strategy.

This isn't to excuse the NDP putting in phantom pylon candidates in ridings they didn't think they'd be competitive in. Surely they could have put in the effort to find locals who were interested enough to try for a seat.

But nor should this small number of candidates with questionable issues be confused with the dozens of others whose only crimes are that they are young and/or not politically experienced. Many of those elected in 1993 for the Liberals, Bloc and Reform shared those qualities. And now many of those Liberals and Blocquistes are shocked at falling to political neophytes who were barely present in their ridings, resisting the urge to appear a sore loser by saying the people in their constituencies are absolute morons for electing someone who is horribly unqualified for the job.

I feel for the losing candidates. I even feel bad for the Bloc. Maybe, if Canada had a form of proportional representation, this problem wouldn't occur. Voting for a leader wouldn't be so easily confused with voting for a local MP.

Anyway, the votes are cast, and we're not turning back time. These kids have been elected. Thomas Mulcair will be busy getting his caucus educated. And as the pundits are saying, the NDP is fortunate that a majority government gives them four years to get their affairs in order.

As someone who likes good stories, I have to admit that watching these brand-new MPs figure out how to be politicians will be fun. And we'll finally figure out if the Conservatives have that "hidden agenda", putting that issue to rest once and for all either way.

On the other hand, the journalist in me is saddened that the minority-parliament drama we've had since 2004 has finally come to an end. It made for great political stories, and sold a lot of papers.

Gazette editorial workers approve three-year deal

Fagstein — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:34:57 +0000

Employees in The Gazette's editorial department (including myself) voted 63-20 (76%) on Sunday afternoon in favour of a three-year labour contract with 1.5% yearly salary increases (plus a signing bonus equivalent to 1.5% of wages during the previous year).

Turnout was 76% of the 109 editorial employees.

The workers have been without a contract since the summer of 2008, so wages have been frozen since then. The increases (besides the signing bonus) apply to the three years following ratification, up to 2014.

Among the features of the new contract:

Reporters can be asked to shoot video without additional compensation.
Permanent part-timers will have pro-rated paid vacation, as well as a guaranteed two consecutive days off a week.
Photographers get an increased car allowance, adjusted based on gas prices. Permanent photographers are also protected against layoff during the contract as a result of reporters shooting video.
Shift differentials (paid to employees for each shift worked before 7 am or after 7pm) increase from $8 to $12

The contract also included controversial language that redefines how seniority is calculated. Previously, many workers in editorial were given leave or alternate work arrangements (working fewer days a week) on the understanding that their seniority would not be affected. A letter of understanding with the new contract means time worked after May 2007 will be calculated based on actual days worked.

The Gazette has also agreed to post three new permanent full-time positions in the editorial department: two reporters and an online copy editor. This measure is designed to cut down on the numbers of "permatemps" who have worked non-stop but don't yet enjoy the benefits of permanent status. Some have been working for up to nine years. (UPDATE April 22: City reporter Max Harrold, business/tech reporter Jason Madger and sports/online copy editor Kevin Mio have been made full-time permanent as of May 8.)

The editorial department voted in January 2009 against a contract that called for larger union concessions.

Three other smaller departments also voted on contract offers (with similar provisions for salary and benefits):

The IT department voted unanimously (4-0) in favour
The Reader Sales and Service department voted 7-4 (64%) in favour
The Business department voted unanimously (0-4) against their contract. They return to the bargaining table.

UPDATE: A brief in The Gazette and a press release from the CWA union.

Justin Trudeau is a good sport

Fagstein — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 05:45:28 +0000

The tweet that started it all

Well, another 15 minutes in the bank.

As long-time readers know, April Fool's Day is a holiday for me. Like Christmas, it's anticipated gleefully. I spend weeks looking forward to it and ~~months~~ ~~weeks~~ ~~days~~ hours preparing a series of fake blog posts that go up throughout the morning of April 1.

I never know as I'm writing them which one will take off. It's not strictly a question of which one I spend the most effort on, or which one seems the most plausible, or which one is the most outrageous. It's all just a question of luck.

That clever story about Le Devoir charging for tweets? Not a peep. Bupkis. Gesca buying Rue Frontenac? Not nearly as much reaction to that as to last year's Rue Frontenac scoop. A late-morning story about CTV's mascot entering rehab (complete with a digitally edited photo of bags of jellybeans on an evidence table) apparently caused a few chuckles within the station but didn't get traction elsewhere. CKAC's decision to stop airing Habs games to add more Habs analysis didn't fool many but did get a few laughs from Sportnographe and others who think the station talks a bit too much about Canadiens line combinations.

All these were nothing compared to a little story I made up about QR codes on Justin Trudeau's campaign posters bringing people to porn sites.

How to manipulate the media

This is the first time April Fool's Day has come during an election campaign here since (checking Wikipedia...) the 2003 provincial election, long before this blog or Twitter existed.

It wasn't a conscious decision to focus on the election. It just happened to be in the news, and I happened to notice that the Liberal candidates are using these QR codes on their posters so tech-savvy constituents can easily find out more about them.

I chose Trudeau as my victim simply because I live in his riding, and his poster is outside. The fact that it's a young, popular, tech-savvy candidate is kind of icing on the cake.

I didn't spend much time writing it up. You've heard this story countless times before: Someone makes a typo in an address or a phone number, and that address or number leads to something involving pornography or sex. (Typos like this are common, but they're not news unless they involve some funny contrast between what it's supposed to be and what it is.)

I spent some time thinking about what the best typo would be. I finally settled on changing "Liberal.ca" to "Luberal.ca", even though Trudeau's website is "justin.ca". I grumbled when I realized through a tweet later that "lustin.ca" would have been awesome. Though I didn't link to anything, I checked to see what, if any, website was at "luberal.ca" and found it hadn't even been registered. Eventually, as my blog post accumulated traffic, someone registered the domain and pointed it to an interesting - and relevant - place (safe for work, unless the redirect changes).

The story probably wouldn't have resulted in much - maybe a few fooled Fagstein readers and a few chuckles. But two things happened:

1. Justin Trudeau himself was sent a link to the story by someone, and for a moment thought it might be real (he later said he called his office in a panic, only to learn the mass sign repair I wrote about wasn't happening).

2. After learning he had been fooled, Trudeau decided to play along, tweeting the story to his 60,000 followers with a note saying "we're working on it". That was retweeted by 87 people, including me.

That little tweet caused the story to take on a life of its own. About 2,000 clicks in the hour after the tweet, now about 4,500, not including these 777 or others who didn't use bit.ly shortened links. Dozens of tweets with comments (some questioning early on if it was an April Fool's joke). Many fell for it right away, laughing at the incompetence of Liberal campaign staffers.

At the end of the day, the page got about 12,000 visits, which totally obliterates any previous record for a single blog post on this site. (I only wish such a record is surpassed by, you know, some actual journalism I may someday choose to do.)

Looking at referring pages, the biggest by far (not including Facebook, Twitter and Google) was this post on SmallDeadAnimals.com (about 2,000 clicks), with the CBC a distant second at about 300.

Le awmerde-isation des médias

Deleted story from Le Devoir's election blog about Justin Trudeau hoax

Among those to be fooled was Le Devoir, where the story was posted as fact on its election blog (without, I might add, citing me as its source - a lesson to always cite sources to cover your ass). The blog post was subsequently deleted rather than corrected (another journalistic error on Le Devoir's part, I think), though you can find evidence of it here and an apologetic tweet from the reporter here.

I might have sympathy for Le Devoir, except that in addition to not citing its source, the paper was well aware that it was April Fool's Day. It published an "exclusive" about how the Quebec government was planning to bury its wind turbines to cut down on visual pollution. Editor-in-chief Josée Boileau tweeted a link to Le Devoir's Trudeau blog piece, saying "et c'est pas un poisson d'avril!" ... only to find out minutes later that, actually, it was a poisson d'avril. And apparently a really funny one at that.

Trudeau himself let everyone in on the gag on Twitter, explaining that he had at first been fooled and called his office in a panic.

It was perhaps the revelation about this phone call that caused the story to jump from April Fool's gag to election story.

During elections, everything is news

Look ma, I was on Page 8 of the Journal de Montréal!

One thing I hadn't considered in writing this blog post is how desperate the news media are for election-related stories. News organizations have reporters on each of the four big campaign buses, plus people writing about the campaign as a whole. There are election websites hungry for news, and lots of blogs where little stories from the campaign trail are posted regularly.

As it turns out, a story about a big-name candidate falling victim to an April Fool's joke is one of these little stories. Combined with a relatively slow-news Friday and the fact that April Fool's Day itself was in the news, and suddenly it's getting a lot more attention than it's worth:

24 Heures wrote a story online about the post and reaction, which got picked up by Agence QMI and posted to other Quebecor news websites. The story originally said I was a "Gazette blogger", which isn't true because this blog has nothing to do with The Gazette. I pointed that out on Twitter and the story was later corrected, though copies of it on other websites like TVAnouvelles.com kept the earlier version. The version on the Journal de Montréal website is also slightly different, adding the name of my blog. (None of the stories think to actually link to the post they're referencing.) The print Journal put the story on Page 8 on Saturday.
The Toronto Star had it lead an election briefs package after its reporter had a brief email exchange with me. Bonus: They copied the photo from my blog and marked it as "supplied photo", which I guess is Torontostarese for "we copied this from a website somewhere and hope they don't sue." The story appeared on Page A6 of Saturday's Star.
La Presse's Anabelle Nicoud used the story (and my photo) to lead its April Fool's Day roundup, also mentioning Le Devoir getting the story wrong, Le Devoir's own April Fool's prank, and, in passing, my other story about Gesca buying Rue Frontenac. It ran on Page A13 of Saturday's paper. Online, it includes a video from Tristan Péloquin that also leads with the Trudeau story and has lots of pretty pictures of my blog and my Twitter account.
CTV Montreal's Debra Arbec mentioned this story at the end of her election notebook on Friday (which led to a voicemail message from my mother saying she saw my blog's name mentioned on TV)
Rue Frontenac's Jean-François Codère led his April Fool's Day roundup with me (and Le Devoir's error), and they even went to the trouble of having a photographer take a photo of a Justin Trudeau campaign poster
David Patry-Cloutier went all meta in a blog post for MSN in which he talked of how Rue Frontenac actually sent someone out to test the QR code after the Le Devoir story raised doubts that it was a gag.
Radio-Canada's Sur le Web blog led its April Fool's Day roundup with the story
Sympatico News/Branchez-Vous included it as part of a list of technology-related April Fool's Day gags
MarketingQC mentioned it in its list of April Fool's gags
CBC's website led its campaign trail April Fool's tweet list with Trudeau's.
Yahoo! News used CBC's list as a source, and called my story "risqué"
Canadian Press had it as the last item in its Tales from the Campaign Trail. CP being what it is, the story got copy-pasted on lots of news sites.

and Trudeau posted the blog post on his Facebook page, prompting a flurry of comments and likes.

I also got a couple of interview requests from local radio stations. I went into studio to talk to Homerun's Sue Smith, and recorded an interview with CJAD's Dan Delmar that aired while I was working. Both shows also talked to Trudeau, though I didn't get a chance on either to talk directly with him.

So what did I get out of this?

I didn't profit financially from this craziness, and any fame was fleeting at best. In the end, I got to have a lot of fun watching the story get propagated (both before and after everyone realized it was false), and I hope I've convinced at least a couple of journalists that it's better to check your facts before you republish stuff you found on the Internet.

Homerun Houseguest mug given to me after my interview

Oh, and Homerun gave me a mug after I appeared on their show. (There are advantages to making the trek to the studio, besides clearer audio and stumbling on the sight of Paul Larocque and Anne-Marie Dussault discussing their moderation of the upcoming leaders' debate.)

I couldn't help noticing the marking on the bottom of this mug from Canada's national broadcaster:

CBC outsources to China! This would make a great story for Sun News!

But I digress...

So yeah, it was fun.

Ironically, despite all the brouhaha, I've yet to either meet or speak with Justin Trudeau himself for the first time, even though I've listened to him having a conversation about something I've done and approved a comment he left on my blog.

When I meet Trudeau for the first time, I'll have an interesting way of introducing myself.

Welcome to my new home

Fagstein — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:38:40 +0000

If you're reading this post, it means you have successfully reached this blog on its new server.

After three years with U.S.-based SiteGround, and not particularly impressed with their customer service after an unfortunate emergency a little while back, I decided to wait until my two-year agreement had expired and move the site to Montreal-based iWeb. It's not an endorsement (ask me in a couple of years and we'll see), but the fact that they're closer to home and don't charge extra for things that should be free make me more comfortable.

Anyway, the transition should be entirely transparent (in fact, considering my experience with software projects in general and dealing with servers in particular, I'm a bit surprised how easily and seamlessly it all worked). The entire database has been moved over, so all 3,157 posts, 17,678 comments and about 240MB of photos and audio clips are still here at their same URLs. Hopefully, nothing except this post should give any indication that anything has changed.

If there is something obscure that I missed, please let me know by commenting below.

And now that this project is over, I can get back to working on content again.

Fagstein: “En français SVP”

Fagstein — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:57:32 +0000

The comments attached to this amuse me. Perhaps it's time I create some automated Google Translate version of this blog.

Or I could send my blog posts to QMI Agency's translation department.

(For the record, this is what the Google Translate version of the post referenced above looks like)

Wait a second, I’m giving money to a brewery?

Fagstein — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:38:58 +0000

Now I feel slightly less guilty about not giving my spare change to panhandlers

I asked you to show your support, and once again the response was "whatever", but I have enough of an existing audience that the Old Brewery Mission will still be slightly richer for the Christmas season.

For the record, my Feedburner subscription count went up a whoppingly massive nine, while my Twitter follower count went up by a slightly more respectable 46. So $650 for existing feed subscribers + $9 for new feed subscribers + $23 for new Twitter followers + a bonus $214.7 for existing Twitter followers ($0.10 each) = $896.70 to help society's forgotten.

So as the charity thanks me for my donation, I thank you for your continued support, and particularly thank the Gazette, my employer for 11 of the past 12 months, whose union wage scale (combined with my lack of dependents and serious medical issues) means I have the kind of money to stupidly give away like this.

Merry Christmas, folks.

p.s. If you totally want to show me up, or even just feel a bit less bad for the fact that I'm donating my money in your name, you can make your own donation. The Old Brewery Mission accepts money online through CanadaHelps.org.

The Third Annual Fagstein Subscription Challenge

Fagstein — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:00:38 +0000

I made so much money this year, it made me go CRAZY!

I don't know why, but I still have a job. And because I don't have ~~a life~~ a dozen kids, pets and other regular expenses, I've decided once again to give away some of the cash I've been hoarding to a different financial black hole: a local charity. And the amount will depend on you.

If you're new to this, you can see the posts from 2008 and 2009, but the idea is the more people who subscribe to this blog via feed readers (like Google Reader), the more money I give away. According to my spies at Feedburner, the current subscriber count is 1,250, which is pathetically similar to what it was a year ago. Like last year, I'll start with $0.50 for each of those people as a base ($650), and add $1 for every new subscriber after one week, to a maximum of $1,000 (just in case this goes viral and I end up having to pay a quadrillion dollars or something).

As a bonus, I'm also donating $0.50 for each new Twitter follower (spammers and other non-human accounts not included, along with those who have astronomical following counts). At the moment of writing this, that number is 2,147. Again, this will be up to a maximum of $1,000 (so don't bother following me if the count hits 3,147, I guess) - yeah, I know everyone's doing it, and for more money, but I don't have Véro cash.

The recipient of my stupid crazy giveaway this year will be the Old Brewery Mission, who will no doubt then add me to a mailing list like Dans la Rue and the Welcome Hall Mission, where I will be reminded regularly through the mail of how my contributions are helping people.

As if I care about helping people. I'm in this to get famous, and giving money to readers directly doesn't give me a tax receipt.

This not-contest ends exactly one week from now, at noon (ish) on Wednesday, Dec. 22.

P.S. Speaking of giveaways, I have a small collection of swag - some media-related, others of local interest - that people have handed me over the past little while that I can't really use because it offends my ethical sensibilities. I haven't figured out the most fun way of distributing this stuff to those who might enjoy it, so I welcome your suggestions below. A charity auction? A party? A contest? Use it to bribe people into becoming friends with me? Just throw it in the garbage? Hand it to Jean Naimard where his burning rage will cause it to immediately combust?

Fagstein » Navel-gazing

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