last link on the left

Just as local media observers were absorbing the announcement of the departure of 630 CHED's Gord Whitehead came word that for the first time in over half a century there will not be a Hogle in the CTV Edmonton newsroom.

As of August 2007, third-generation news director Steve Hogle accepted a position as the Alberta Research Council's vice-president of communications and public affairs.

“I love television news and wasn't looking to move, but this brand new challenge came up,” Steve told the Edmonton Journal.

“I looked at the newsroom and thought, I've done every job there is here.”

Steve joined CTV Edmonton, then CFRN, in 1982. He began working overnight radio, but later moved to the television side as a weekend sports anchor and part-time news reporter. After landing a full-time reporting assignment he became the station's City Hall reporter. He moved to roles behind the scenes including assignment editor, sports director and senior executive producer. In 2002 Steve assumed the position of the station's news director.

Hogle started in the news business as a reporter and photographer for the Camrose Canadian newspaper, and made the jump to electronic journalism when he joined CKRD TV in Red Deer covering news, sports and weather.

During his thirty years in the business, Steve has seen a lot of change in the media landscape. Concentrated ownership and national re-branding (the local station no longer refers to itself as CFRN and there have been three changes of hand in 11 years) are part of a long list of indictments of how the local news business has been altered.

In his Edmonton Sun column covering Steve's departure, Graham Hicks speculated "The pay isn't comparable to communications jobs, absentee owners are forever squeezing the airtime, resources and personnel allotments to regional news and local programming. It ain't what it used to be. If it was, I don't think Steve would be leaving."

But according to Steve, he was well looked after at CFRN and cited the opportunity to grow and learn a new set of skills as the primary motivation behind his move.

As for Hicks' comments, they apply equally to all forms of media – including the Edmonton Sun.

And Steve's departure could not have been easy. His grandfather, Bill, joined CFRN TV in 1956 – two years after Sunwapta Broadcasting first brought television to Edmonton.

Canadian Communications Foundation image

Steve's father, Bruce (pictured), came on board the news department in 1965.

Bill and Bruce Hogle offered Edmonton news junkies their first taste of on-air 'editorials' – musings on events of the day from the perspective of those inside the business.

The tradition was transferred to radio when 630 CHED's Eddie Keen took over the torch, often promising listeners "I'm going to tell you a story that's going to make you sick." The now presumptuous pulpit of professional public opinion is now presided over by Bob Layton on CHED and Global Edmonton TV.

Steve Hogle's move out of the television news business came within days of word that his father Bruce was about to be inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.

Speaking at a luncheon held in Edmonton in wake of the announcement, the elder Hogle commented on the profession of journalism.

"I think we have a deep responsibilty to say what has to be said to cover what needs to be said."

The CAB ceremony honouring the longtime newsman was set to be held in November 2007. In the meantime, Bruce remains active on the news scene with his monthly Media Minute columns in Edmontonians magazine, and he only just recently retired as head of the Alberta Press Council.

So what did Bruce have to say about his son's departure from the drama of the newsroom?

“My dad is excited as well and thinks it's a great opportunity,” said Steve.

And others speaking of the third-generation newsman had nothing but praise as they wrote of him in local blogs and online forums.

The Last Link has enjoyed a more than amicable relationship with the man behind Edmonton's most-viewed newscasts – especially when the local CTV outlet was taken to task for its less-than-stellar web site.

CTV Edmonton replaces the 51-year-long Hogle legacy with homegrown in-house talent: longtime managing editor Glenn Kubish will take over the post of news director.

Meanwhile, Steve can pack his bags with pride knowing the Hogle tradition left Sunwapta Sam's Stony Plain Road building at the top of local news game.

For more about all three generations of the Hogle story, read Lawrence Herzog's The End of an Era at CFRN article at Real Estate weekly.

Herzog joined CFRN at about the same time as Steve and the two worked together for the next 15 years.

television - edmonton television news 2007 - Hogles in and out of the news