Bala Power Plant – Not a Done Deal! Our Feds – Transport Canada, must provide approval under the Navigation Protection Act before any in-water work can commence. We’ve asked Minister Tony Clemet to include public consultation in this matter. Why would they not?? We have many concerns about SAFETY. DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that the proposed generating station would be remotely- and automatically-controlled? Video cameras would only be as good as the lighting and weather conditions – and the remote operator’s attentiveness – permit. NOT good enough for safeguarding life given how many people will be both up, and down-stream of this location, day and night, and in all seasons of the year. Based on the weather, there may not be any way for those nearby to know if the water is safe. Our Concern – HELLO !!! During the summer months, the variable and treacherously turbulent water would occur often enough that it would always be a “clear and present danger” Action: Please Help – Our representation for such federal matters is through our Minister Clement, you can e-mail him at And…. SIGN UP our newsletter at www.SaveTheBalaFalls.com ...
Learn MoreIs less really more? An overused expression to be sure. Often verbalized by yours truly, and many others who ‘get it’. As a Radio writer, and a voyeur and creator of clients print and graphic display ads, relative ease of listening or reading, is crucial for the message to be viewed, listened to and remembered. After all, you must remember, to be persuaded. In Print it is iconic memory we utilize, and in Radio it is echoic memory. In Radio, (and often on TV), how often do you hear the writers and production gurus speed up an ad right at the end to ensure they get all their ‘conditions’ bleeted out. Horrible. My point is, writing 30 sec radio or 15 second radio, LESS IS MORE. A pause in the action can be a head –turner. A nicely paced, perfectly read script, is just SO MUCH more effective. Next time you want to add a location or a telephone number or some feature or benefit to an already jammed up script…. consider giving your voice professional a little breathing room and your audience a chance to use their echoic memory without trying to jam it between their ears. Is Less Really More? You bet it...
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Comments Off on A Voice Makes A Difference
It’s a small world – even smaller in Muskoka. I have the pleasure of working with the Dunn family at Walkers Point Marina (WPM) and looking after their Radio. We’ve had some nice success and like many clients I work with, they trust me to be organized, detailed and creative. To be persuasive and as ‘they’ say in Radio jargon, you must ‘cut through’ be ‘intrusive’ ‘memorable’ ‘effective’ – yada yada. Over my career, Ive had the good fortune to work with some of Canada’s finest and talented announcers. For WPM, possibly my finest work surfaced a few years back with a ‘boating memory’ campaign ( check it on my web site – MP3 Highlight reels) voiced by the fabulous Carl Banis. Carl once recorded the entire “A Christmas Carol” and did ALL the voices! I still have the album. Ah, but I digress….. This year, heading into the July 1st weekend WPM had a complex scenario arise whereby they had TWO events taking place at virtually the same time – how the heck do you differentiate and promote that?! Bring in a great and well know voice to broadcast the Radio – that’s how! WPM had their traditional July 1st wakeboarding and wakesurf demos at the marina, plus...
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Comments Off on Father’s Day Promo
for reasons unknown was my old man’s lucky day, so I adopted that positive position at an early age and have sailed through the years unscathed from bad luck. (Will keep my future fingers crossed for writing this). So it was, that this year we promoted another very successful Father’s Day RADIO event at Rob Clark’s Home Hardware store in Bracebridge. This year was the 4th rendition with Moose 99.5 FM and it was called the Father’s Day Face Off ( Cdn’s love hockey! ) even though it had nothing to do with hockey ☺. We qualified 3 Dads out of 20 on air, and had them show up outside the store by the co-sponsors’ Napoleon tent where they NO IDEA what the contest details were to be – a Radio surprise. So we lined them up on brand new fired up Napoleon charcoal grills and gave them each a beautiful steak, a piece of salmon and asparagus (courtesy of Morley’s in Port Carling) to cook on the spot, with a myriad of spice and accoutrement options. To add the final polish to the promo we had Dave Friesen of Riverwalk Restaurant fame and Esa Paltanen, GM of Sherwood Inn, on location to be the celebrity judges of their...
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Comments Off on “Only Once”
As I’ve said verbally and in writing probably a thousand times, you only get to do a Grand Opening once (hopefully ☺)…so do it well, make some noise and make it memorable. For those who do not know, I had a non-compete with Vista Radio since my departure as Director of Sales for the Moose FM clan of stations since March /April 2013. While allowed to operate my North45 Communications Ad Agency, I could not, of course work for a competitor of the many Moosers in the northern regions of Ontario. So it was, that I became acquainted with Jeff Carter who had sold his SureNet Internet business to manage and broadcast a full time gig operating a successful on line radio station Hunters Bay Radio ( Muskoka Online). Awarded a Community Radio license from the CRTC , Jeff and partners officially launched the station at 88.7 on the FM dial May 15th. A fun nite at the Huntsville Theatre where many people spoke and more bands played live as a tribute to Jeff’s local efforts to make his community proud. I predict this to be one of Canada’s finest Community stations. Give it a listen, on the dial or on line...
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