Hicks on Six on Fil Fraser and more

[jon]

Time to write

Don’t call Fil Fraser retired.

The former broadcaster, lifelong activist and Order of Canada recipient has churned out books since his retirement as Vision TV CEO and subsequent return to the city.

Reflecting on the Alberta arts renaissance under Premier Peter Lougheed in Alberta’s Camelot: Culture and the Arts in the Lougheed Years, Fraser quietly reminded us of Alberta’s artistic and cultural decline ever since.

He then wrote Running Uphill: The Fast, Short Life of Harry Jerome — a biography of one of Canada’s first black athletes and his challenges.

Now, from Fil’s prolific pen, comes How the Blacks Created Canada, a book reminding us of the achievements of extraordinary black Canadians since the nation’s infancy, for the first time in a single book. Distributed through Lone Pine Publishing, it’s an excellent read.

Art of Conversation XLVIII

In high summer, only the best city patios will do as meeting places for our monthly Art of Conversation.

So the 48th edition of the Art of Conversation will be held on the etched-in-history, river-view patio of the beautiful Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, on Tuesday, July 20 from 4 to 7 p.m.

The Art of Conversation: Where Edmontonians are allowed, nay, encouraged, to engage in face-to-face conversations with perfect strangers soon to be friends.

Kilt day

On the multicultural front, visitors to Citytv’s Jasper Avenue studio tend to do a double-take on Fridays. For audio visual engineer Greg Miller, every Friday is kilt day, when he wears the family Scottish tartan kilt to work.

“It started at Halloween,” said Greg. “I’m now expected to wear my kilt every Friday, even when it’s -30 C!”

The Hicks on Six blog can be read at www.edmontonsun.com/hicks.

Graham Hicks can be reached at 780-468-0290 or hickson6@sunmedia.ca.

ref. - http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/columni ... 72856.html

[jon]

From EdmontonBroadcasters.com:



Fil Fraser - Operator CKFH Toronto 1951; CKGB Timmins, Ontario; Sports Director & play-by-play announcer CKBB Barrie, Ontario; News CFCF Montreal mid-1950s; founder and publisher Regina Weekly Mirror 1960; Program Director MEETA (forerunner of ACCESS Alberta) 1969; News co-anchor CBXT-TV Edmonton 1971-73; Talk show host CJCA Edmonton 1974-79; Fil Fraser Show CITV-TV Edmonton 1974-75; Morning Host CKXM-FM Edmonton 1979-1983; Host, Alberta Morning CKUA September 1, 1983-84; National Task Force on Broadcasting Ottawa 1985-86; Director Development ACCESS Alberta Edmonton 1987; chief commissioner Alberta Human Rights Commission 1989-92; Order of Canada 1991; President Vision-TV Toronto January 1995 - December 2000. Born in Montreal in August 1932.

Click here for Fil's Edmonton Broadcasters Club bio.