Chris Palliser

Kohl Fast

CMNS 165

March 26^th, 2019

Chris Palliser

            Chris Palliser started as a student of Camosun College in the ACP Program. His interests were focussed on radio and television. Chris started his career early with an internship in Nanaimo. Not long after he was offered a Program Director job in Fort McMurray. It was here where Palliser learned how fun working in radio was. Working for a small community radio allowed Palliser an opportunity to have more freedom in a less corporate atmosphere.

“Radio is community, it’s fun” claims Palliser. He worked for 3 years in Fort McMurray, building his skills before making the move to Edmonton where he worked for Joe FM. He also used his ACP course experience to get some local work for Shaw to help pay his bills.

After leaving Edmonton, Palliser decided to move to Vancouver where he was offered a job at the Beat Radio station. Here was Palliser’s first experience with Radio being bought out by larger corporations. Bell bought the Beat. Palliser worked in Vancouver for Bell and started to realize that he was more drawn to smaller community radio. Vancouver he claims was overwhelming. “Where to start” asks Palliser as he explains that Vancouver is so large and spread out there are many radio communities, making it hard to please everyone.

Palliser was also starting a family and began thinking about moving away from the big city of Vancouver. A perfect opportunity arose in Victoria, 107 Kool FM was re branded as Virgin Radio and Palliser was offered a morning show. Vancouver Island was a perfect seeming place to move his family so he took the job. Palliser also was interested in a smaller community with a less corporate feel. After working solo for 15 years now Palliser had a morning show with a co-host. Palliser explains some of the challenges of sharing a radio show with a partner by explaining how at times two strong radio personalities can clash. “It will just take time” Palliser explains in regards to getting comfortable with one another. Radio shows take time to gain their flow and comfortability.

Palliser explains how he originally felt pressure with the whole re branding. The company had been given a consultant from LA and was also sinking lots of money into this new radio station. With the radio industry changing this re branding was also exciting. Like newspapers, radio stations are also fading, but Palliser claims they will never die completely. There have been lots of lay offs, and Palliser claims he is seeing the corporate side of radio once again. Many people who have been laid off have moved onto successful careers doing Podcasts.

Palliser explains how he and his partner plan their show by staying prepared and knowing their topic. “You have to be prepared, otherwise you just go on and on” explains Palliser. By using ratings and targeting certain age demographics for specific times of the radio shows makes for getting the most listeners. Palliser explains that “the idea of the show is community, community, community. And with his new morning show, Palliser feels the most attached to the community and hopes to continue his career for many years to come, in Victoria.   

Opinion 2 - (Anti) Social Media

(Anti) Social Media

In this day and age with the accessibility of smart phones, tablets and computers we face many challenges with the new ways in which we communicate. Social media provides us with many benefits, however are these popular platforms driving us away from traditional face to face communication?

The use of the internet now is so popular according to the Pew Research Centre, “A canvassing of experts by the Centre suggested that it might make sense in the near future to stop asking people if they “use the internet” because it will be so ubiquitous. Those experts predicted that the internet would become “like electricity” – almost invisible to users, yet more deeply embedded in their lives.” (P. Hitlin, Sept. 28th, 2018). 

The most popular social media apps being used today are Facebook, with almost 2 billion users, instagram with over 150 million users, Youtube with 1.3 billion users and Twitter which has 261 million users. (J.Pavlik, S.Mcintosh, 2018). Snapchat with 400 million users and Pinterest with 250 million users are also some of the largest photo/ video sharing apps. These platforms offer people a chance to hide behind their computer screens and project a fake lifestyle to the masses online. This gives people who would be too shy or anxious in the real world a chance to be social. These platforms are making social networking so easy that a common question may be asked, “are all your friends on Facebook really your friends?” (J.Pavlik, S.Mcintosh, P. 214, 2018). Is social media really social?

“In her book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, MIT professor Sherry Turkle examines how in many ways social technology has separated us from one another. It gives us the illusion of greater connections and communication but actually makes us emotionally lazy and able to disengage from relationships easily.” (J.Pavlik, S.Mcintosh, P. 214, 2018). It’s now common to see a couple out for dinner not talking but just scrolling through their phones. It’s to the point now where people are using social media apps to carry out full on relationships. “By expanding our ability to communicated be social in a virtual world, social media have made developing and maintaining relationships more complex, especially romantic relationships.” (J.Pavlik, S.Mcintosh, P. 214, 2018).

“A Pew Research Centre study in 2015 revealed that 57 percent of teens in the United States say they have made at least one new friend online. The vast majority of teens (88%) text their friends at least occasionally. Whether these digital connections ultimately build long lasting relationships is a question some scholars have raised including Turkle, and it continues to be a matter of great debate.” (J.Pavlik, S.Mcintosh, P. 214, 2018). The one take away from this issue would be to use social media, but take it very lightly and understand when it’s time to put the phone down and use traditional face to face communication. 

Sourced From:

(Paul Hitlin, 2018)

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/28/internet-social-media-use-and-device-ownership-in-u-s-have-plateaued-after-years-of-growth/

John V. Pavlik, Shawn McIntosh Converging Media, A new introduction to Mass Communication 6th Edition, 2018

Tuition Opinion Piece

Kohl Fast

CMNS 165

Feb 10th, 2019

Tuition Opinion Piece

“Tuition fees have increased 63 per cent since the B.C. Liberals came into power in 2001, leaving the average student with $35,000 of debt, according to the Canadian Federation of Students.” (M. Sihota, C. Hansen, CBC, Jan. 12th, 2015). In order to improve the economy of the province as well as the country itself tuition should be free in Canada. The controversy and challenge to this, is choosing what qualifies as appropriate education. There needs to be very specific trades and skills that are relevant to helping the economy. "We're putting lots of money into trades training in British Columbia — because we're going to need that in the future — rather than just a wholesale, 'Come and take whatever course you like and somehow the taxpayer is going to pay for it.” (M. Sihota, C. Hansen, 2015).

In America President Obama in the past proposed that the first two years of community college should be free. In  BC, Canada  Prime Minister Trudeau has promised a change in more accessible education. These claims have been heavily scrutinized and many are claiming these are just false promises. With student fees and tuitions climbing student debt lingers to haunt countless Canadians. The basic concept with students receiving free tuition is they can live comfortably and re purpose their money back into the economy. Students would be able to remain living in the same province they attend school and further boost the economy. The main controversy surrounding free tuition would be who, when and how will we pay for our education. How will teachers make a living? Will our taxes increase and will we be responsible for paying off others educations for the rest of our lives?

MOOCs are massive open online courses that already exist. With three major MOOCs taking the lead with over four million enrolled students, Coursera, Udacity and edX. These services provide free education available for everyone, internationally. “In the near future, higher education will cost nothing and will be available to anyone in the world. Degrees may not be free, but the cost of getting some core education will be.” (V. Govindarajan, J. Desai, Harvard Business Review, Sept. 5th, 2015). The focus is to educate people in order to get them into the work force, more workers equals more money to be spent back into the economy and without federal debt, people can invest locally and buy real-estate. In regards to hiring, GPAs and test scores do not necessarily dictate a good employee.

In order to become a reality, free tuition would mean the federal government would need to put out heavy funding and our taxes would have to increase. There are currently 40 countries in the G20 that are providing free tuition for post secondaries. This is a great concept in order to support the economies and avoid future debt before student even have jobs. “The government in Canada has decreased funding post secondaries’s operating costs in the last two decades from 80% to 50%.” (D. McIver, J. Haiven, CBC Nov. 28th 2018). Free education would also promote equality with Canadians, giving equal opportunities. 

There are many pros and cons considering free tuition. On a basic level free tuition makes sense to improve the economy. The challenges that this would bring would be very difficult. If Canada as a whole could cut back on the student debt crisis, Canadians would be able to support the economy on a whole other level. 

References:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/programs/informationmorningns/pros-and-cons-of-free-tuition-1.2990031

(D. McIver, J. Haiven, CBC,Pros and cons of free tuition, Nov. 28th 2018)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/free-college-tuition-would-barack-obama-s-proposal-work-in-b-c-1.2897961 

(M. Sihota, C. Hansen, CBC,Free college tuition: would Barack Obama's proposal work in B.C.? Jan. 12th, 2015)

https://hbr.org/2013/09/higher-education-for-free 

(V. Govindarajan, J. Desai, Harvard Business Review, Should Higher Education Be Free? Sept. 5th, 2015).

 

Steve Webb

Kohl Fast

CMNS 165

Feb. 5^th, 2019

Steve Webb

            Steve Webb started as a small business owner over 16 years ago, when he started he had no idea how it would snowball and change his life forever. He started a job as a poster boy, putting up local band posters across town. This was before the age of social media. At the time Webb said there were about fifteen clubs competing for poster space, continuously plastering poles with the same band posters. “I just got so tired of seeing the same band posters” said Webb.

            It occurred to Webb he needed to go to each club and work for them all, getting contracts to equally represent the band posters and distribute them fairly. This was the birth of Webb’s company Metropol. Originally Webb was putting up posters, sometimes four to fives times a day for the first four years. It was around thirteen years ago Webb won the final two local contracts and has never looked back. When Webb started to make small profits he invested that money into some print equipment to start printing his own posters. This ended up leading to a collection of printers and cutters creating other jobs outside of poster distribution such as sign, sticker and business card making.

            “It’s really about looking at what you have and how you can take that and project it into the future” says Webb in regards to running a business. Now Webb owns four Metropol locations with 25 employees. With some of the largest printers on the island, Webb’s next move he claims is to get a new printer that no other business has on the island. Originally he did not expect that he would create so many jobs. The allure of being a local business from the island is something Metropol prides itself on, and has acquired many clients through this. When asked about running a business Webb says “It can be challenging. If you’re not doing something you enjoy it becomes exponentially difficult.”

            “Print is our biggest money maker” says Webb. With his massive success Webb has been collecting old pinball machines. Two months ago Webb opened a completely separate business, Quazars, an arcade with all the machines he had been collecting. “I’ve made some big mistakes at Metropol” says Webb, and with operating Quazars he has the advantage of learning from his mistakes. “Every single company has felt the competition from online.” Webb claims the only way to maintain success as a business owner is to provide great customer service with face to face, in person real experiences. Webb has a plan to consolidate his four locations of Metropol into one ultimate production building, and to continue strong with Quazars. The future looks bright for Webb and his business endeavours.

Re Tweeting Exercise

Re- Tweeting Exercise

- 200 employees laid off from Canada’s largest widget manufacturer.

- 50 Victoria residents let go from Canada’s largest widget manufacturer.

- Middle Eastern competition pushes one of Canada’s oldest family run companies to mass lay off.

-          All 200 NWC employees set to get jobs back.

-          New deal with China, gives ongoing future work for the NWC. Promising jobs. President Bryce says “The increase in sales has been unprecedented. We think this opportunity opens up enormous markets which will last for years.”

-           NWC employees rejoice, the company will be fully functioning within 6 weeks. Bryce says “The opening up of the Chinese residential market represents opportunity and a secure market on which to expand our capacity.

-          The NWC has a new deal with China, opening up factories in Regina and Saskatchewan. Offering 100 new jobs.

-          Chinese deal so successful the NWC has not only re hired the laid off staff but is looking to hire 100 more employees.

-          The NWC has opened up widgets in the residential setting. Creating jobs and work for years to come.