I don't know what "The Bay Observer" is (it's apparently a local Hamilton-Burlington community paper) but they've put out an interesting look at life at CHCH post layoffs. The linked article also examines how the station blew up and what can best be called the rather "irregular" way the entire sordid ending came about. 

Among its revelations:

-Not all employees received the $4,000 "severance" that tipped off workers something was amiss in the first place.

-Some of those hired back say they're essentially now part timers or on standby, still don't have full time jobs and are getting far fewer hours than they did before.

-Before the layoffs, one videographer was encouraged to step up the training for a far less experienced part timer. He was summarily cut and replaced by the guy he trained just days later. 

-Just one month before the mass firings, owner Channel Zero filed a warning with the CRTC that unless they received a subsidy like the one from the recently cancelled Local Programming Improvement Fund, which added a small amount to cable/sat subscribers' bills, the station couldn't maintain its current output. And The Commission and station ownership were at serious odds, as the CRTC tried desperately - and apparently unsuccessfully - to figure out who owned what among the company's endless amount of spun-off subsidiaries. 

It's an interesting little article and well worth the read. And with a CHCH licence renewal hearing coming up this year, this story is far from over.

Many Unanswered Questions In CHCH Aftermath 

Last edited by RadioActive (January 14, 2016 12:45 pm)