Media

CBC Hamilton to Open on James North

By RTH Staff
Published February 08, 2012

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) just announced that the office for their flagship Hamilton Digital Service will be at 118 James Street North, between Wilson Street and Cannon Street East.

The news release describes James North as "a street that is helping to lead the revival of downtown Hamilton" and quotes Susan Marjetti, CBC's marketing director for the Toronto Region:

We're absolutely thrilled to have found such a remarkable home at the centre of Hamilton's growing arts, entertainment and design scene. Being at the very heart of Hamilton has been our goal since we announced we'd be coming to the city, not only in the news and information we'll be providing but also in our deep desire to be an active part of this community. Having our bureau on James St. puts CBC where the action is and will only help us to cover the city when and how Hamiltonians want.

The station will be run by Roger Gillespie, a former managing editor at the Hamilton Spectator who most recently worked for the Toronto Star.

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By NoSugarAdded (registered) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 14:51:50

Extra info from the spec (Part of the article)

Budget could put CBC Hamilton in jeopardy

Mark McNeil The Hamilton Spectator February 7, 2012

A public broadcasting advocacy group says if expected funding cuts are made to the CBC in the upcoming federal budget, the corporation may have to kill its planned online service in Hamilton.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesperson Ian Morrison said the cuts would “have devastating consequences for listeners and viewers and could well scuttle new services the CBC has promised to Hamiltonians and residents of several other communities.”

A spokesperson for the CBC stopped short of saying the Hamilton service could be dropped, but acknowledged a heavy budget hit could send planners back to the drawing board.

“We’re facing a budget cut, questions about the future of the Local Programming Improvement Fund and a softening ad market. Dealing with the financial pressures will be a challenge,” CBC spokesperson Chris Ball said.

“If the budget reduction remains within the range originally envisaged and other funding sources remain stable, progress toward our five-year strategy may slow, but the ultimate goal remains achievable — including our expansion of local services across the country, including Hamilton.”

The federal budget is expected this month, and many believe it will contain at least a 10 per cent chop to the CBC.

http://www.thespec.com/print/article/667...

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By Pxtl (registered) - website | Posted February 08, 2012 at 16:55:50 in reply to Comment 74007

But of course, we totally had to get Russel Crowe for the season premiere of Republic of Doyle. I mean, it's Russel Crowe! He's Canadian, right? ..... isn't he!?

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By George (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 00:13:54 in reply to Comment 74021

"Crowe’s got “a really big part, a big, meaty part,” says series star Allan Hawco, who isn’t giving anything else away – although he does say that Crowe worked on the script with him before shooting.

It’s the third season for Hawco’s – and co-creator Perry Chafe’s – show about a slightly disreputable father-son pair of private detectives in St. John’s....

...Getting him (Russell Crowe) to appear in the series was a bit of a package deal: Crowe was joined on set by three other actors who were with him in the movie Robin Hood – Alan Doyle from the Newfoundland band Great Big Sea, Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand.

Hawco met Crowe on the Toronto set of Cinderella Man. “I remember thinking, wow, I’ll probably never get to see this guy again … and I decided to just truly be myself, and we had a great night, he was a great host, a super gentleman, and over the years, we’ve stayed in contact,” he says. “It’s such a great sign of support that he’s on the show.”

For his part, Crowe said during shooting, “It’s been a lot of fun. It doesn’t take any kind of encouragement for us to get together and socialize. But because of the type of personalities we are, if we get together and have a creative catalyst for that get-together, that’s a perfect world.” "

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts...

http://www.cbc.ca/live/the-russell-crowe...

Comment edited by George on 2012-02-09 00:16:03

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By rednic (registered) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 15:05:36

great news ...

maybe SunTV will move as well when they find out how much rent CBC is paying. Then we could run a pool on how long Ezra Levant will last on James North.

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By Pxtl (registered) - website | Posted February 08, 2012 at 15:24:43 in reply to Comment 74008

Idunno, I've often heard horror stories of Hamilton's commercial landlords running half-assed buildings at Toronto prices.

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By Jonathan Dalton (registered) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 15:08:55

Good to see that building filling up with high profile tenants and more jobs coming to the area. Looking at that aerial photo, there is way too much grey space. I hope with the increased profile of James Street, developers see potential in the lots surrounding it.

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By The Pogues (anonymous) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 16:30:44

I sat on the floor and watched TV

Thanking Christ for the CBC!

An 'expletive deleted' place to be

On James Street

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By Ram Jam (anonymous) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 17:05:17

Hopefully James North doesn't lose its soul when its economy shifts from part-time to full-time.

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By Kiely (registered) | Posted February 11, 2012 at 11:37:55 in reply to Comment 74023

Actually there may be some truth in what Ram Jam is trying to say.

Is the soul of Yorkville the same now as it was in the 1960s? Is the soul of Queen W. what it was in the 1980s? Gentrification can change the "soul" of a community.

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By DrAwesomesauce (registered) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 20:12:36 in reply to Comment 74023

A thriving neighbourhood is in a constant state of metamorphosis; it's nothing to be feared. A few years back, Hess used to be nothing but restaurants, James South had all the galleries, Locke was a dump, John st was Chinatown and people flocked to Barton to go shopping. Who knows what the future holds for James North.

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By Soul Sucker (anonymous) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 17:18:21 in reply to Comment 74023

I've been working on James North full-time for a year and a half. I like to think that I'm destroying the soul of the street a little more with every hour I work. I worked some overtime last week - take that soul of James North...one day you will be mine!

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By moylek (registered) - website | Posted February 08, 2012 at 19:54:26

May I be frank?

I am just plain giddy excited about this.

I know that I'm probably too excited. But there it is.

I have my problems with the CBC. Metro Morning - Matt "Perhaps" Galloway, in particular - just gives me the hives sometimes. Nevertheless ...

Yay.

And will we get to see what's behind that dreadfullest of all the dreadful aluminum facades?

Comment edited by moylek on 2012-02-08 19:56:13

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By D. Shields (registered) | Posted February 11, 2012 at 16:11:39 in reply to Comment 74041

Are you the person was was cranky about Gian & his British-isms? Some of us grew up with them & they sometimes just 'happen'. I rather have 'Q' (GOOD Talk Radio!) than what we have in Hamilton now. I've never really noticed Galloway & 'perhaps'. If you want to talk annoying, there's Mary Ito's music choices. I've got to think that she is programming her own music since it's so ummm... "Unique'.

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By RB (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 13:22:44 in reply to Comment 74041

That's been gone for a long, long time.

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By DrAwesomesauce (registered) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 20:18:19 in reply to Comment 74041

Ummmmm the siding's long gone and the reno is done. Check out Thier Curran's website for some pics: www.tcarch.ca

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By lawrence (registered) - website | Posted February 09, 2012 at 16:47:26 in reply to Comment 74044

A more direct link to this specific project. I was wondering what this would be used for. Looks much better then the last before pic!

http://www.tcarch.ca/projects.php?projec...

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By moylek (registered) - website | Posted February 08, 2012 at 21:35:53 in reply to Comment 74044

Ummmmm the siding's long gone and the reno is done

Wait - this is the building with the curving border of glass panes?

I completely forgot that this was the forgettable siding-clad building where I used to buy Sailor Moon crap in the early 90s.

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By its a shame (anonymous) | Posted February 08, 2012 at 20:30:38 in reply to Comment 74044

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By seancb (registered) - website | Posted February 09, 2012 at 09:35:39 in reply to Comment 74046

Based on what I saw back when the building was still for sale, the original facade was gone - there was nothing left to restore.

They recently put new leaded glass in above the main floor and it looks awesome

At one point the city was not going to let them put the original window configurations back - they were going to force them to reduce the area of glass by about half due to some stupid bylaw. Thank god they got past that...

Comment edited by seancb on 2012-02-09 09:36:06

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By its a shame (anonymous) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 10:17:48 in reply to Comment 74073

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By DowntownInHamilton (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 07:05:30

Looking forward to this. I was disappointed a while back when it was revealed that this wouldn't be a radio station I could listen to in the car, but will definitely be listening to it regularly online.

I hope they have a street-level studio too. Also, it would be great if they had opening windows there so if they had concerts in the summer it would allow people to gather on the sidewalk and hear the music... maybe during art crawls or open streets Hamilton...

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By rednic (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 08:59:09 in reply to Comment 74060

I don't think the economics of a 'radio station' would have made sense. It would have required an application to CRTC an then a transmitter. As it stands they've applied the CBC3 model, which bypasses the CRTC. Im assuming that the hamilton 'station' will be available on their mobile apps. So with the right phone it will be possible.

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By Radio Free Bismuth (anonymous) | Posted March 12, 2012 at 15:10:26 in reply to Comment 74066

Colin Eatock pegs another possible economic factor, when comparing BBM's Radio 2 audience stats.

Toronto: 1.8% in 2007, 1.3% in 2011 (1.5% in 2012)
Montreal: 3.5% in 2007, 2.5% in 2011 (2.7% in 2012)
Calgary: 2.2% in 2007, 2.0% in 2011 (2.2% in 2012)
Edmonton: 5.3% in 2007, 2.3% in 2011 (2.6% in 2012)
Vancouver: 6.5% in 2007, 3.5% in 2011 (4.4% in 2012)

For sake of local comparison, Vinyl 95.3 claims a 2.1% market share in the most recent BBM numbers.

http://www.colineatock.com/1/post/2011/9/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit1.html

Whatever its limitations, I suspect that local digital is at least a niche that you can own to a greater degree than the airwaves.

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By DowntownInHamilton (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 21:29:22 in reply to Comment 74066

I believe that the CBC already attempted this but it was denied by the CRTC.

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By ntomkin (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 11:24:09

It's funny that they chose that building. As a bit of a skunk work project, I designed an interactive installation demo that I thought would be cool for CBC's Digital-only broadcast - more as a way to engage people walking by. Initially, I was going to use the Lister Block as the background, but I decided to use a photo I took of 118 James N and used it as the background for the demo: http://orbital.ca/nova/cbc_hamilton_demo...

Talk about serendipity.

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By lawrence (registered) - website | Posted February 09, 2012 at 16:48:43 in reply to Comment 74080

Awesome! I would have loved to have seen them in the Lister.

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By highwater (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 17:04:58

They're almost here!

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By BeulahAve (registered) | Posted February 09, 2012 at 22:11:33

It won't be too soon when they finally open up! After spending the last month trying to attract media coverage for an issue that should be of interest beyond Hamilton, I am realizing what a media vacuum we live in, and just how difficult it is to attract Toronto-based media to anything that happens here. CBC only mentions Hamilton when it comes to news and weather.

I know these views have often been expressed in other RTH posts, but just want to echo the excitement I have about finally getting a larger voice.

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By D. Shields (registered) | Posted February 11, 2012 at 16:17:07 in reply to Comment 74124

Heck! Never mind Toronto media, sometimes you have to apply a baseball bat to the local media to get it to talk about what's going on in the GHA. (Media by KGB?)

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By Cultural Harmitage (anonymous) | Posted February 10, 2012 at 10:53:36

CBC Digital? It's a natural!

http://www.alancross.ca/a-journal-of-musical-things/2012/1/24/cbc-dismantling-music-archives.html

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By Capitalist (anonymous) | Posted February 14, 2012 at 14:42:22

I'd be excited if it was Sun News instead of CBC, dt has enough taxpayer subsidised orgs as it is.

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By Steve (registered) | Posted February 15, 2012 at 19:19:52

Not thrilled it will be an ex-Spectator employee at the helm. Aren't we underserved enough by that media outlet? My concern is the Spec culture will infiltrate this outlet...

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By CBClistener (anonymous) | Posted February 16, 2012 at 09:14:41 in reply to Comment 74446

Agreed. Terrible choice. The CBC couldn't find someone in Hamilton to take this position? Really?

Instead they pick someone who fled Hamilton and who hasn't been in touch with what's going on here for years (that's assuming he EVER was). This whole thing has started out on a terrible footing.

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By theOther (registered) | Posted February 16, 2012 at 19:41:03 in reply to Comment 74470

Fellow CBC listener: I am not president of the Spectator Fan Club, but how about we shelve the pre-criticism (just for now) and give the wee thing a chance?

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By CBClistener (anonymous) | Posted February 23, 2012 at 10:17:39 in reply to Comment 74497

According to twitter rumour, CBC Hamilton welcomes (so far):

Roger Gillespie (Toronto)
Conrad Collaco (Toronto)
Samantha Craggs (St. Catharines)
Julia Chapman (Toronto)
Jessica Young (Kingston)

No one hired from Hamilton? Hopefully this isn't the complete list.

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By JoeyColeman (registered) - website | Posted February 23, 2012 at 11:26:08 in reply to Comment 74699

Yes, I'm reporting (using Twitter) those three as the reporters hired by CBC Hamilton.

"No one hired from Hamilton?"

We can't win them all nor can we have it both ways.

We cannot complain about hires with CHCH or TheSpec on their CV and expect someone to be hired from Hamilton. Everyone in Hamilton who could reasonably be considered by CBC has one or the other on their CV.

In terms of Conrad and Roger - both have Hamilton experience. In the case of Roger, he lived in Hamilton for 20 years.

Jessica Young is no stranger to our fair city. I do not know her background (none of the hirees were on my radar) but I've seen her post pictures from past visits to our fair city and she's already running the Wentworth stairs.

I, for one, I'm pleased with the decision to start fresh with two experienced leaders at the helm.

Comment edited by JoeyColeman on 2012-02-23 11:35:38

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By highwater (registered) | Posted February 16, 2012 at 20:19:42 in reply to Comment 74497

I am not president of the Spectator Fan Club...

Me neither, but I have to say I've heard only good things about Roger.

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted February 20, 2012 at 20:46:06 in reply to Comment 74498

... although hand-on-chin is the serious journalist's answer to duckface.

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By RenaissanceWatcher (registered) | Posted February 18, 2012 at 15:52:01

Will the CBC Hamilton digital service offer a totally fresh perspective on local news, politics and the arts scene? Or will it offer the “same old, same old” with the occasional dollop of fresh?

That is the challenge facing CBC Hamilton executive producer, Roger Gillespie, a former Hamilton Spectator journalist prior to his recent position with the Toronto Star, and CBC Hamilton producer Conrad Collaco, who worked in the CHCH-TV newsroom prior to his most recent position at CBC Radio Toronto. This city is in serious need of a local news service with more depth and objectivity than CHCH-TV or CHML radio has provided. A rehash of the existing local news formats with existing local media personalities would not be worth listening to, watching or reading. A new, objective local news service with new local media personalities would be most welcome.

While we await the launch of the CBC Hamilton digital service in the next several weeks, it is encouraging, even exciting, to read about their move into their new headquarters at 118 James Street North in the heart of downtown Hamilton: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamiltonbl...

Comment edited by RenaissanceWatcher on 2012-02-18 16:53:23

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted February 20, 2012 at 20:41:44 in reply to Comment 74534

Judging by the photo credits, OpenFile Hamilton's Sheryl Nadler is working for CBC now. So that's another Spec veteran.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamiltonblog/2012/02/cbcs-first-look-at-118-james-street-north.html

It wouldn't be Hamilton if there wasn't organizational incest.

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By JoeyColeman (registered) - website | Posted February 20, 2012 at 21:29:01

Let's all take a breather.

I have confidence that CBC Hamilton will do what's needed in our local news ecosystem.

Roger Gillespie and I have known of each other for years. While he and I did not meet prior to a few weeks ago, I know from his professional reputation that he's the right person to lead this service.

My first impressions of Conrad Collaco are positive as well.

I've met with Gillespie three times now. We've had very productive discussions about the direction of CBC Hamilton and I'm sure everyone that frequents RTH will be very happy with the service.

There are three hires yet to be announced. (I do not know who they are) Let's wait until they've actually had the opportunity to prove themselves before rushing to judgement.

I'm working on a blog post with more depth than reasonably possibile in a comment.

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted February 22, 2012 at 14:40:40 in reply to Comment 74566

My last line was a little over the top. I didn't intend it to be as biting as it reads. Apologies to Roger, Conrad and Sheryl (who, going off LinkedIn at least, is an Associate Producer at CBC).

I shouldn't prejudge. I am certainly eager to see what comes of it all and how it spurs other local media to step up their game.

I'm also sure that this venture will water a thousand seeds, and those seeds will flower and fruit and brighten our city in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine at this point.

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted February 22, 2012 at 14:46:46 in reply to Comment 74643

PS: Even if this ends up being a medley of local MSM types, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will repeat the mistakes of the past. Collaborations that expand the dialogue should be celebrated.

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By Fred STreet (anonymous) | Posted March 02, 2012 at 07:59:24

Another Hamilton news portal, courtesy Metroland.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/metro-hamilton

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted March 07, 2012 at 07:14:48

Undoubtedly an add at some point, and useful to anyone with a new computer and a white-hot connection: HD weather "microforecasting" is being rolled out starting today with Newsworld.

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