Although the video above pertains to the United States, figures for Canada and our neighbour to the south are approximately the same. The issue of wealth inequality across the North America is well known, but the video shows you the extent of that imbalance in dramatic and graphic fashion.
The video, which started going viral on Friday and whose traffic continues to climb on YouTube — reflects the facts as seen from many different sources. VanRamblings presents it without comment, letting you, our readers, be the judge.
Radio Wars: Vancouver Autumn Radio Ratings Now Available
Although radio remains an afterthought for many, as popular culture media fixation focuses much more on iPods and various assortments of portable mp3 listening devices, tablets, and laptop computers, the bare fact is millions still tune in every week, multiple times each week, to their favourite local radio station. The age-old quest for ratings in radio remains of paramount importance to the conglomerates that own our local radio stations, given that all but two of those stations listed in the graphic below are funded solely through advertising. Thus, today, we present the Vancouver Autumn Radio Ratings, for your amusement and perhaps edification, and to provide you with some insight into how popular your radio station appears to be among listeners across Metro Vancouver.
First a few notes, and a couple of observations on Vancouver’s radio wars.
Bell continues to make its pitch to take over the Astral network of radio and television stations. In Vancouver, The Shore, Virgin Radio, and CISL are all owned by Astral Media, a media conglomerate looking to get itself out from under a tough market, and sell itself off to Bell. Locally, Bell owns CHQM-FM, TEAM 1040 and 1410, and FM rocker, The Beat, as well as the local CTV television outlet. Bell’s acquisition of Astral is all but a fait accompli given the assurances that Bell has given to the CRTC to be “fair” wth their competitors — of course, if the takeover is successful the CRTC will insist Bell divest itself of some of their local radio properties. Nat and Drew, the morning hosts at Virgin Radio make a little fun of their current predicament in the video above, as they visit all of the current (and a couple of currently unemployed) morning radio teams at radio stations across Vancouver.
Ratings notes: The Shore continues its basement run, a surprise given that it’s among the better and more listenable radio stations in town. The Beat took a hit in the ratings as their former morning host Kid Carson took his morning schtick over to Sonic Nation, seemingly to good advantage.
Astral Media: According to Astral, in the latest Vancouver radio ratings, perennial runner-up in the young folks listener category, their local Virgin Radio outlet 95.3 “jumped” in this book from number three to a solid number one in market share, with adults 25-54, based on the gain from 11.6 to 13.3 “commercial share points”, or a rise of +14.7% from the last survey of radio listener habits. With SHORE 104 and AM650, Astral Radio now claims 17% of of the 25-54 demographic of the commercial radio listening audience across Metro Vancouver.
Our local Mother Corp station, CBC Radio One, continues its months long run atop the ratings heap, while former Top Dog CKNW (and its 65+ age audience), although near the top of the ratings, can really be said to only be languishing, a comment that holds true for bottom dweller, The Peak. JR-FM has rebounded in recent books, as listeners look for an alternative to the middle-of-the-road music most Vancouver radio stations programme. The rest you can figure out for yourselves. Here then are the ratings …
Oscar 2013: Awards Season Truly Underway, Must-See Films
As 2012 draws to a close, films’ Awards Season is well underway.
Last Tuesday, December 4th, VanRamblings reported out on the winners of the New York Film Critics Circle awards. Sunday, December 9th, several other critics’ associations announced their winners of 2012’s top film prizes.
The most prestigious and influential of the film critics associations announcing awards on Sunday afternoon was the 35-member Los Angeles Film Critics Association, who released their list of awards for Best Films and Film Performances of 2012. The tender study of an elderly couple in their twilight years, named Palme D’Or winner at Cannes and at the recent European Film Awards, Michael Haneke’s Amour was chosen overwhelmingly as Best Picture in voting by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Paul Thomas Anderson was voted Best Director for The Master, which presents a portrait of a charismatic cult-like figure. The Master also won a Best Actor nod for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Supporting Actress for Amy Adams.
The Los Angeles Critics Association vote halted earlier momentum for Zero Dark Thirty, which won Best Picture and Directing nods for Kathryn Bigelow from the New York Circle of Film Critics, National Board of Review, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Online (click on the preceding links for a full list of the winners). Bigelow was the Los Angeles group’s runner-up. The full LA Film Critics awards are as follows …
BEST PICTURE: Amour
Runner-up: The Master
BEST DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ACTRESS (TIE): Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Runner-up: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, The Master
Runner-up: Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises & Les Miserables
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-up: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
BEST SCREENPLAY: Chris Terrio, Argo
Runner-up: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST EDITING: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
Runner-up: William Goldenberg, Argo
BEST ANIMATION: Frankenweenie
Runner-up: It’s Such A Beautiful Day
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Holy Motors
Runner-up: Footnote
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, Skyfall
Runner-up: Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master
BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Gatekeepers
Runner-up: Searching For Sugar Man
NEW GENERATION AWARD: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts Of The Southern Wild
BEST MUSIC SCORE: Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, The Master
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: David Crank and Jack Fisk, The Master
Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom
DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL/INDEPENDENT FILM/VIDEO AWARD: Leviathan
Come back later in the week for a listing of VanRamblings’ favourite films currently playing around town, or due to open soon.
On The Road: Opening in Vancouver on January 18, 2013
Although, according to Ken Eisner in this week’s issue of the Georgia Straight, Walter Salles’ film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road won’t open until Friday, January 18th, 2013, there’s no reason not to post the video above, which apart from presenting the John Wages song Takin’ Life As It Comes, also provides a more beguiling insight into the film’s content than does the film’s rather prosaic and prettified trailer.
Yes, there are some wonderful films both playing in town at the moment (Argo, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook), with even more great films on the way (Not Fade Away, On The Road, The Impossible, Promised Land, Django Unchained, Jack Reacher, Les Misérables, Liverpool, among others).
And the list directly above doesn’t even include the films playing at the Vancouver Film Festival’s Vancity Theatre: Michael Apted’s 56 Up (we’ll be there for tonight’s 8:10pm screening), Phil Grabsky’s In Search of Haydn, as well as screenings of the restored epic films, Roman Polanski’s Tess, and David Lean’s 1963 Best Picture winner, Lawrence of Arabia.
For those who love the movies, the Christmas / Hannukah season is very much the holiday season, indeed! We’ll be seeing you at the movies.