Bell Media is logging off from radio news

This legacy has left the building

Dave Agar @dave1agar

"The Dave Agar Newsroom" at NewsTalk1010 was named such upon my retirement nearly 6yrs ago. It was an extraordinary honour. It is no longer. I have asked that the award be removed asap.

The history of CFRB as a Toronto journalism institution has taken a hit due to Bell Media eliminating most of its radio news team as part of national cutbacks. Dave Agar, the last to formally retire from Newstalk 1010, wants his name off the wall. The layoffs coincide with growing criticism for Bell recently taking labour subsidies while boosting dividends.

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The strange front page days

Robert Benzie @robertbenzie

In a rare move, the ⁦@globeandmail⁩ uses its front page to denounce the federal government’s botched pandemic response on vaccines and airports. (A ⁦@TorontoStar⁩ poll found 52% blame Ottawa for the vaccine shortages.) #COVID19

The lagging pandemic responses from Ottawa are tallied in a Globe and Mail editorial sparked by the delayed deal with Novavax. According to the National Post, what Canada is missing is a modern-day Lord Beaverbrook. But at the Toronto Sun, the cover belongs to Joe Warmington meeting a man portrayed “in forced detention” inside a quarantine hotel.

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“The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the Embassy shows a stylized W, and is not intended to represent a bat.” Chinese state media scolded Canada over embassy staffers ordering “Wu-Han” shirts. But the commemoration of their efforts to repatriate Canadians during the pandemic was playing off the logo of the Wu-Tang Clan.

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A non-neutral shout-out

Toronto city council got back to virtual business by approving a five-stop SmartTrack stations plan and funding new mental health crisis teams to replace police during some 911 calls. But a bigger picture relates to how the city adjusts to the pandemic, which is linked to a campaign to transform downtown Yonge Street:

yongeTOmorrow @yongetomorrow

"Swedish government says Yonge Street is the best street in Canada" Thank you for supporting #yongeTOmorrow!

blogto.comSwedish government says Yonge Street is the best street in CanadaToronto’s main thoroughfare has recently been recognized somewhat bizarrely by a foreign government that has decided to chime in about the street’s...

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Indigo’s new president comes from Anthropologie. Peter Ruis is relocating from the U.K. to Toronto to lead the bookseller brandishing a new agenda: “Living With Intention.” The previous president, Kirsten Chapman, was part of a shuffle in June 2019. CEO Heather Reisman has remained vocal about the lockdown impact on Indigo.

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Finally, a very joint initiative

Cartel Madras is a South Indian sister act from Calgary whose SoundCloud stylings led to a deal with Sub Pop Records. Their latest single, “Drift,” also had the distinction of being played on the debut of CBC Music’s new nightly show, The Block, which allowed their repeated refrain of “pass that spliff” to be transmitted across the national airwaves: