Communications in Hamilton Ontario

Print, broadcast and electronic communications in The Mega City-State of Hamilton Ontario are mainly conducted in English, form an important business in their own right, and help establish and express the national and provincial culture. Broadcast media is probably the most important, followed by print and finally the internet.

Television

Everyone likes to watch one’s “stories,” and Hamilton Ontario is no different than the next country. In fact, its citizens would prefer to watch television than consume any other type of media, and a sedentary lifestyle is threatening public health and social well-being of the city-state.

The federal government operates Communications Hamilton Ontario to provide its own official channel for news, sport and culture. The government also intervenes to regulate and licence the panoply of private sector broadcasters who freely flourish here, subject only by the laws of the marketplace, libel and fraud.

Technically, the country is small enough and the over-air transmitters powerful enough to be covered by one tower. However, CHO has multiple transmitters placed on the borders of the city-state to serve dual purposes of increasing the signal output for the benefit of outlying domestic areas and flooding neighbouring nations with the Hamilton Ontario government's view of the world.

The eight largest transmitting and cable-only television stations, by order of market penetration, are:

1. Mtv (Mountain Television): private, general interest, Upper Hamilton transmitter reaches about 90% of the people (excepting rural Ancaster, Flamborough outside Waterdown and southern fringes of Glanbrook), somewhat associated with the National Democratic Party.
2. ChanWest (Channel West): private, general interest, Mount Hamilton transmitter reaches about 80% (excepting rural Stoney Creek, Binbrook half of Glanbrook, western Flamborough, closely associated with the Business Party.
3. CHO or CHO-TV (Communications Hamilton Ontario, TV service): public, general interest, main transmitter at Upper Hamilton and retransmitters north of Carlisle, on the Escarpment above Winona, south of Mount Hope and southwest of Lynden reaches 100% plus those approximately 50 km beyond its borders, official government station.
4. Magic Shadows: private, film, cable only, approximately two thirds of the country's households subscribe, apolitical.
5. S&E (Sports and Entertainment Station): private, sports and middle-brow culture only, cable only, approximately one half of the country's households subscribe or steal cable from their neighbours, apolitical.
6. T&C (Town & Country): private, rural and lifestyle, cable only, approximately one third of the country's households, theoretically nonpartisan but pro-Business Party.
7. NEWStation: private, factual (news, weather, newsmagazines, documentaries), cable only, present in about one quarter of households, nonpartisan but very political.
8. CTN (Christian Television Network): private, Christian (especially Protestant) general interest, cable only, approximately one tenth of households, pro-Righteous Dominion and Business Party.
9. RainbowTV: private, multicultural and multilingual general interest, cable only, approximately one tenth of households, theoretically nonpartisan but pro-NDP.

Radio

When first introduced, radio served all the functions that TV now does. However, over time, video killed the radio star. In the process, radio drama, audio newsmagazines, radio sports coverage and radio political coverage have practically disappeared on private sector channels. The state-supported and money-losing government channel continues to produce high quality, broad-spectrum programming for a small but politically active, articulate, cultured, aged and loyal audience.

Public sector high fidelity FM channels are given over almost exclusively to music, punctuated by short spot, sports and weather news segments. Public sector AM channels are given over almost exclusively to talk radio -- a strange brew of paranoid delusions, radical fantasies, religious bigotry, esoteric ramblings and student projects. With the exception of HONI and the three most popular campus stations, no account is given of these low-fidelity AM channels because they are of no account.

Communications Hamilton Ontario's Radio Service also serves an international outreach arm for the federal government, with nearby foreign areas covered by strong transmitters at the borders north of Carlisle, above Winona, south of Mount Hope and southwest of Lynden. The shortwave service is focusing entirely on news and current affairs because of the limitations of the medium. Full shortwave service is provided in five languages (English, French, German, Russian and Italian) and various reduced services are provided in twelve other languages.

By law, over-air radio transmitters are somewhat less powerful than their TV counterparts. This means that it typically takes a few transmission towers to cover the whole country, and radio stations are indirectly encouraged to narrowcast or focus on a smaller geographical area. The most popular and middle of the radio stations tend to have more than one transmitter, as this is a sign of market penetration and attractiveness to potential advertisers.

Unlike their TV counterparts, radio stations bear call letters. The entire country has H as a prefix, which in common usage is omitted unless it is part of the "corporate name," e.g., HITS 101, HOME 95. The number indicates the megaherz wavelengths of the radio station, and is typically rounded to the nearest whole number if ending with .1, .2, .8 or .9. The fifteen largest radio stations, by order of market penetration, are:

1. HITS-FM: Hits, Hits 101.4; Top 40, rock, pop, easy listening; Mount Hamilton, Upper Stoney Creek, Waterdown
2. HROQ-FM: The Rock, ROQ 104.5; rock, heavy metal; Upper Hamilton
3. HOME-FM: Home 106; easy listening; Ancaster, Upper Stoney Creek
4. HHIP-FM: The Hip, Hip 99; dance, pop, Top 40; above Dundas, Upper Stoney Creek
5. HCAW-FM: C-and-W 8-and-90; country & western; Mount Hope, Upper Stoney Creek, Rockton, Waterdown, Jerseyville
6. HOTS-FM: The Hots Hot 103.4; Top 40; Upper Stoney Creek; Waterdown
7. HCHO, FM 100 and AM 1000: CHO; government news, sports, culture and music; domestic Waterdown, Ancaster, Upper Hamilton, above Stoney Creek, Binbrook
8. HJZZ-FM: Jazz 97; jazz, classical, blues; Upper Hamilton
9. HONI-AM 1400: News and Information Radio; news, weather, sports and current affairs; Waterdown, Upper Stoney Creek, Lynden
10. HCLS-FM: Class(ical) 108; classical; Upper Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Waterdown
11. HMAC-AM: Mac 1200; MacAdam University campus; Westdale
12. HBLU-FM: Blues 102.6; rhythm & blues, soul, jazz; Upper Hamilton
13. HITL-FM 109: Radio Italiano; Italian language general interest; Upper Stoney Creek
14. HITC-AM: Technology 1350; South Hamilton Institute of Technology campus; Upper Hamilton
15. HMLN-FM: Multi 108.6; multicultural, multilingual general interest; Upper Hamilton
16. HUHO-AM 1250: University Radio, Yoohoo! [derogatory]; University of Hamilton Ontario campus; Hamilton City.

Daily newspapers

The oldest periodical in the nation is The Hamilton Ontario Gazette, but this is not a newspaper but rather an official government publication announcing appointments, regulations and the like. Large circulation dailies dominate the field, but smaller circulation weeklies fill important geographical and cultural niches which advertisers and politicians sometimes find useful.

The oldest, and by far most successful and prestigious, general circulation newspaper is The Hamilton Ontarian. It was founded by the Northpork family in the 19th century, and through various mergers and name changes in its first forty years acquired this nationalist moniker. It serves as the paper of record, and is relatively non-partisan if rarely non-political.

Three other dailies began as explicit challenges to the hegemony of The Hamilton Ontarian in the central and most populous province. Up the Creek, founded in the 1890s when the phrase was not nearly as risqué, began in Stoney Creek Province, which is second only to its larger neighbour. It has become associated with the NDP while still maintaining a certain amount of independent thought.

The Daily Grind was founded in the 1880s to serve Ancaster Town and was associated with the milling industry there. Over time, its interests became more closely associated with various rightwing parties until now it is seen as the voice of the Business Party, from which it maintains an official distance. The newspaper is especially well read in the western and rural parts of the nation.

Finally, the The Valley Times is the latest incarnation of a Dundas Town newspaper which has mostly coexisted with The Hamilton Ontarian and its predecessors. The Times was established in the 1930s after MacAdam University moved into nearby Westdale, and represents a political liberal ideology supportive of civil rights but without any clear attachment to any specific political party. It is regarded as the mouthpiece of the nation's intellectuals, such as they are.

Weekly newspapers

Weekly newspapers can be generally divided into the provincial (or more accurately local) and cultural press. The oldest and most prestigious newspaper with a mostly provincial outlook and circulation is The Flamborough Independent published in Waterdown. It supports the usual rural and rightwing causes, but does it in such a folksy yet thoughtful way that its larger counterpart, The Daily Grind, is often put to shame.

The Binbrook Bee and Glanford Gleaner, as the name implies, is a merger of two separate newspapers which existed in the two smaller provinces which combined to create Glanbrook. At various times its owners tried to introduce a sensible name changed to The Glanbrook Bee and Gleaner, but the staunchly conservative readership refused to accept the change. It is like a less articulate and less political Independent, the cooking, farming and gardening columns being far more closely read and commonly clipped than the politics and pundit columns.

The Mountain News, founded in the 1950s, is technically not a provincial newspaper since its market (Ancaster Town, Mount Hamilton, Upper Hamilton, Upper Stoney Creek and Mount Hope) actually spans four provinces; however, these communities are linked by their common location above the Escarpment. Its politics, when it bothers to articulate them, are vaguely leftwing and populist like the NDP; however, it is mostly a sports, entertainment and local newspaper without any broader pretensions.

Similarly, The MacAdam Mirror, founded in the 1930s, is more of a campus newspaper. However, it does serve as a local paper for Dundas Town, Ancaster Town, Westdale and Hamilton City. Its politics are more fiscally conservative than most student publications, but remain as socially liberal. Many student reporters at The Mac wind up as professional reporters at their more mainstream competitors.

Cultural press

Most cultural newspapers focus on one cultural community and often publish extensively or exclusively in an unofficial language. However, the largest -- but not most profitable -- one in this category, The Rainbow News affiliated with the RainbowTV channel, does neither. It covers a wide range of multicultural beats, with at least three quarters of its reporting and one half of its advertising in the English lingua franca rather than the local tongue. It serves as a great integrator, and not unnaturally its sympathies lie with the NDP.

The second largest and most profitable cultural weekly is the Corriere Hamiltonese. The newspaper is published in Stoney Creek City, but also sells well in East Hamilton City and areas surrounding both cities. At least three quarters of the newspaper is in Italian, and the English portions are not typically aimed at integrating first generation immigrants but rather maintaining a cultural hold on those members of the second and subsequent generations who have not retained fluency in their heritage language.

The Hamiltoner Kurier, Journaux nationaux and Novy Domov serve the germanophone, francophone and slavophone communities respectively. They publish each article in English and a heritage language, hoping to maintain the interest of first and second generation immigrants but with neither an overt integrationist nor retentionist intent.

The smallest of the even half-way successful cultural newspapers is The Celtic Courier. Except for small and usually insignificant portions of Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, Breton or French, its content is entirely English. Its publishing schedule is incompatible with a true periodical since it is geared not to conventional periods like weeks, fortnights, months or quarters. Instead, its twenty-one issues are geared towards the festival and cultural calendar:

• The Maughold Cat Show – first weekend after New Year’s Day - a celebration of tailless Manx felines on the farm and in the home on the Isle of Man and elsewhere
• Robbie Burns Day – January 25 - English or Scots poetry and prose of Robert Burns, addressing the haggis and such
• The Leek and Onion Festival – February – nominally non-Celtic, but with leeks both a Welsh symbol and food there is high Celtic interest
• Bitters Days and Whiskey Nights – February - Irish and Scottish brewers and distillers showcase and hawk their wares, and publicans place their orders for the upcoming drinking season
• St. David's Day – March 1 – feast day of Welsh patron saint Dewi Sant, sedate celebrations mainly serve as a reminder that raucous St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner
• St. Patrick's Day – March 17 - outdoor Irish parade combined with heavy drinking
• Cornish Fowl Festival – nearest weekend to May 8 - a celebration of the Cornish hen in society and cuisine, near one or both of the feast days of two of its patron saints
• The Scottish Kitchen – late May - deep fried Mars bars, bannock, haggis, Scotch broth, shortbread and other misunderstood Scottish delicacies are promoted at the National Convention Centre in Hamilton City
• Dundas Highland Games – June - caber tossing, hammer throwing and the like in the Valley Province
• International Scottish Tattoo – early June - The Highland and Lowland regiments of the Hamilton Ontario Militia host their foreign counterparts for marching, piping, drumming and dancing, various army bases
• Bloomsday – June 16 - recreating the Irish literary heritage of James Joyce’s Ulysses
• Highland Dancing Revue – early July - civilian Scots, whether by birth or adoption, and their foreign hosts perform folk and sword dances
• Celtic Music Festival – mid-July - mostly Irish presentations with harps, whistles and voice
• Fête bretonnaise - weekend closest to July 26 - The Celtic and French culture of ethnic Bretons and their patron St. Anne.
• Gallican Celtic Culture – weekend closest to 5 August - a Spanish spin on a largely British culture and its patron Santiago Mayor (James the Greater).
• Celtic Cavalcade – late August - summer pan-Celtic festival of culture
• Sons of Erin – September - Irish cultural festival focusing on (mostly) male artists performing in dance, song, instrumental, metalwork, sculpture and drama
• Diwylliant Cymuru – September - Welsh culture festival
• Upper Hamilton Highland Games – October - caber tossing, hammer throwing and the like in the so-called Hamilton Highlands of Mount Hamilton and Upper Hamilton
• St. Andrew's Ball – November 30 - Scottish indoor dances in Dundas and Hamilton Provinces
• Songs from the Valley – December - Welsh choirs sing national and Christmas airs, held alternatively in Dundas Town and Hamilton City.

Internet

The top-level domain name in the country is .ho.ca. The government regulates internet providers and users, but no more so than any other businesses and customers. Most outlets in other communications media are also represented on the internet, typically on the models "SandE.ho.ca," "jazz97.ho.ca" and "thehamiltonontarian.ho.ca."

The residents of Hamilton Ontario prefer to consume their media passively, which is why the slightly more interactive medium represented by the internet is the least important in the nation. However, this does not imply that the internet has no place, but rather it is clearly subordinate to print, radio and especially television.

E-business is possible and increasingly common throughout the nation, but less so than the region of Canada in which it is located. Residents here still prefer to hand over their steel ingots for actual merchandise, rather than rely on mere electrons and faith for online purchases. Besides, the country is small enough that face-to-face business interactions are still feasible.

Telephone

Voice communications within the nation and to the outside world are provided by a network of fibre optic cables and low-power cellular transmission towers. The government dismissed the issue on the supposed health dangers of cellphone, but the people are not especially enamoured with the technology and many prefer a nice reliable landline over the static-prone ether.