Emergency alert system test failed to reach cell phones in Quebec

Oh well. It's only Quebec, so no sleep lost

betaylored wrote:

Now that technology has made it possible for listeners to interact with radio personalities, the thrill of going to a McDonald's on McHappy Day to see what each voice looks like, so to speak* and say hello is definitely different.

Last year I think several talk radio hosts mentioned they were supporting McHappy Day, and appearing at a couple of local locations. I must have missed the on-air discussions this year leading up to McHappy Day..

There's still something to be said for meeting listeners, and supporting a worthy effort, but manning the Big Mac special sauce gun, asking someone if they'd like fries with that, and being a public presence at various events seems, at best, an uneven priority for radio stations in general, with the exception of the occasional sporting event, or if a music station is presenting a band.

*"you don't look like your voice"
"I thought you were a hot blonde"
"you're shorter than I thought'
"boy you're tall"
"you're a redhead in real life!?!"

Still surprised that businesses still go for these remotes. They are sparsely attended, even if you are a big name in the industry. You will get hardcore P1s that turn up, but not many faces beyond that. I'm not blaming the talent that is assigned to these remotes, just stating a fact.

I remember seeing a CHFI pop-up in the North York IKEA (aka 8th Circle of Hell) entrance last year. A dozen CHFI interns in a circle around the on-air personality (not sure who it was that day). I had to wait at the entrance for a good 30 minutes for family to arrive, and during that entire time, I didn't see a single soul approach the group.

I hear many tales from you older folk about the fun that was had at radio station events, back in The Greatest Generation. Sounds like some good times were had.

betaylored wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

What happens if you're actually on the phone when the alert starts? Do you get cut off, is the call interrupted? Or does it just make a noise alerting you that your attention is needed? Is this thing that intrusive that it would stop the phone from working normally for the duration of the alert?

Good questions all RA.

And what if you have your phone on mute, with the vibrate feature off. I have a Moto G phone, and I'm with chatr. I checked the company website. Moto phones aren't listed as one of the phone brands to receive emergency alerts under the chatr umbrella of coverage.

Guess we can find out next Monday. Oddly unsettling that the whole rollout leaves so many questions beforehand. A bit of a half-arsed execution as the English would say.
 

Let's just hope Pelmorex isn't at the helm of this anno.... aw shite.... nevermind.

When they were only interrupting radio and TV on a provincial scale a few years back, it was great fun trying to decipher the pig latin the came spewing forth. Especially when it was warning residents in downtown Toronto about strong winds whipping around in a three-hut village located a half day's drive outside of the city!

Or the fact that Pelmorex often breaks into radio and TV feeds with news of a story that many of those outlets are actually covering! The last big mishap in that case was a year ago, when a young child was inadvertently taken hostage during a carjacking. The story was covered by radio and TV outlets throughout the GTA all morning long.

If memory serves correctly, it wasn't until 30 minutes or so before the girl and the stolen vehicle were

betaylored wrote:

Prod Guy wrote:

A reporter I know asks, "What do you want the world to know about your husband/son, etc.?"  That takes some attention away from the person who committed the crime and allows the family to let people know that their loved one was more than a name, gender and age.  It can be done tactfully if the reporter has a brain and a heart.

 
When I hear these kinds of reports, it really hits home. It's a high risk/high reward question, that can humanize a fact filled story.

Bang on, both of you.

Great response, Steve.

I'll chime in with my experience.

In the mid 00's, I was assisting a morning radio show during one of Toronto's peak periods of gun violence. I can't recall if it was The Summer of the Gun or not.

A young man had been shot dead the day before in the Rexdale area. And by young, I mean mid-teens. This was big news the next morning, given the number of shootings at the time.

We had the man's name. The producer I was working with asked me to find his mother. Those were my only instructions. Somehow, I had to find the deceased boy's grieving mother at 6 a.m., the day after her offspring was taken from her, and ask her to talk about her emotions on air.

How the fuck was I going to find her without canvassing the neighbourhood, knocking on doors, or gleaning her phone number/home address from a Magic Eight Ball?!?

Luckily, the deceased had a unique name. I searched for the last name using 411.ca or yellowpages.ca, and found a few names in the Rexdale area. I dialed them one by one, at 6 a.m.

I eventually reached a woman who turned out to be the deceased's aunt. I expected her to aggressively tell me to take a flying leap. Amazingly, however, she instead opted to give me the contact information for the deceased's mother, as she thought it would be important to share the family's story with the listening audience.

One of the most gut-wrenching things I had to do during my time in radio, was call this mother. I rang her up, quickly explained how I obtained her digits, and asked if we could speak with her on the show. She agreed.

The producer called her back on the guest line, and she was connected for what turned out to be an emotional, powerful and tear-filled conversation with the host.

I felt dirty. Uncomfortable. It was a completely inappropriate process.

But we got the story. And hers was compelling and moving. She had a message to share with the world, about what happened to her son, how he ended up in that situation, and how she wanted

cGrant wrote:

Radiowiz wrote:

Tax dollars are only a small part of the full big picture.
 

 
Well, if they're so small, cut them out entirely, and let me decide where I spend my money on amusement.

Have to agree with cGrant on this one. If CBC wasn't so dependent on taxpayer dollars, this ratings issue would be a much bigger concern for McGuire. Wonder what her response would be if the ratings were down even further, say to 350,000? Would she have "expected" that?

And you have to love that spin. Numbers are below what you expected, and promised advertisers, so you say "we expected that" and chalk it up to the fact that people have to get used to the program. Numbers are above what you expected, so you say "we expected that" because you just knew that the new show would resonate with Canadians. Works both ways!

If you promise advertisers that you will see 532,000, but end up with 460,000 (nearly 15% off), you're going to have some concerned advertisers who bought in expecting higher numbers. TV Advertisers also won't like the excuse that the show needs "time to grow" on the audience.

And where views online (Youtube, etc.) are concerned. Sure, they're getting hits on their content, but how many views are people who view more than once for over 30 seconds (YouTube) or 3 seconds (Facebook)? And how many viewers are non-Canadians from around the globe?

Here's another G&M piece on The National, this one from the ever controversial John Doyle.