John Hinnen: multimedia news pioneer

John Hinnen

John Hinnen, vice-president and general manager of Toronto’s 680News, the flagship Rogers Radio station, is scheduled to address Conestoga’s annual journalism program gala at the Walper Hotel, Kitchener, Ont., on March 25.

In addition to managing the day-to-day operations at the Toronto station, Hinnen also serves as vice-president of Rogers Radio News Programming and is responsible for news on all Rogers Radio stations.

Hinnen began his radio career in September 1974, when he took a job handling weekend sports on air at 680News’s predecessor, CFTR-AM, during an era when AM radio ruled the airwaves and listeners tuned in to hear their favourite DJs, reporters, announcers and music. A million and a half listeners tuned in to listen to the station each week; in many ways, it set the standard for AM radio in Canada.

Hinnen became sports director and assistant news director at CFTR in 1976, then took over as the station’s news and sports director in 1981. Six years later, Hinnen was named vice-president news at CHFI (currently 98.1CHFI), managing all day-to-day news coverage. In June 1993, he was named executive editor of 680News and took on responsibility for the on-air operations of what was Canada’s first all-news radio station. The success of that project eventually made him the chief architect of similar all-news ventures in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax, Saint John, Moncton and Kitchener. During the late 1990s, Hinnen also chaired the Rogers Multi Media Content Committee, which examined ways by which Rogers’ various publications, such as Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Flare and The Medical Post, could work together on news coverage. Hinnen has overseen news at all Rogers radio stations, with a special emphasis on news and news/talk stations, for the past 11 years.

Nearly 40 students are expected to earn diplomas from Conestoga’s print and broadcast journalism programs this spring. Tickets to the spring gala are $30 and are available from full-time faculty. The gala’s emcee will be Conestoga broadcast-radio program coordinator Paul Scott.

Annual journalism gala set for March 25

Mark your calendar — or block out the time on your BlackBerry: The annual year-end journalism gala has been slated for Thursday, March 25, at the Walper Terrace Hotel in downtown Kitchener, Ont. Cocktails are at 6:30 p.m.; dinner will get underway at 7 p.m. Tickets, available from faculty or members of the journalism student association, are $30.

A fine dinner will precede an address by this year’s guest speaker, John Hinnen, vice-president and general manager of 680 News, the Toronto flagship of Rogers Radio. In addition, deserving Conestoga journalism students will be named winners of 29 prizes, generously underwritten or sponsored by local media outlets. Among them are the Cambridge Times, Guelph Mercury, NOW Media, CJOY/Magic FM, Sony Canada, Rogers Television, Goderich Signal-Star, 570 News Radio, Faith FM, the Edward Hayes family, the Ross Weichel family, the Waterloo Region Record and CTV. It’s a great opportunity for students and faculty to mingle with local industry representatives, who provide Conestoga’s journalism programs with such solid support.

A look at Conestoga’s two diploma programs

It’s no secret that the ground beneath traditional forms of journalism are shifting. Newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations are scrambling to meet the challenges being posed by new forms of storytelling tools and platforms. Friends and relatives may have asked you: Journalism? Why? Given the changes going on in the industry, why would you choose that? Here are a few answers.

First: Yes, news media as we’ve come to know them are undergoing great change. New ways of doing business are being explored. But journalism isn’t going anywhere. The ability to report news and tell stories with accuracy and flair is key to a functioning democracy.

Second, we’re up to the challenge. Conestoga’s people and facilities will provide all the training you need to get started, whether you aim to land a job with a mainstream media newsroom, a website or as a backpacking multimedia freelancer.

Third, journalism skills are highly transferable. What employer doesn’t need people who can gather information from a variety of sources, organize it, and present it effectively?

The videos below provide a glimpse inside Conestoga’s two journalism diploma programs. Print . . .

and broadcast. . . .