REGINA – From a house explosion in Regina Beach to Weston Dressler rejoinng the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the cult classic Corner Gas returning to TV screens, 2014 has had a little bit of everything.
The staff at Global Regina has reflected and here are some of their favourite stories of the year:
Whitney Stinson is Global Regina’s Evening News Anchor. A story that stood out for Whitney in 2014 was a natural gas explosion in Regina Beach.
Whitney: My favourite story of the year was the Regina Beach home explosion.
Before you think I’m terrible person, hear me out.
We got a tweet from a viewer about the explosion just seconds after it happened. We were able to verify the information within 4 minutes. Within 10 minutes we had a shooter en route. Within 15 minutes our very dedicated reporter, Kim Smith (called in on her day off!) was also on her way there.
We were updating the story on the website all afternoon. We had details no one else had. We took a ton of calls from viewers who were able to give us first-hand accounts of what they saw, felt, and heard.
By 6 p.m. Kim (Smith) had talked to the homeowners and officials on scene, and delivered a polished live report for our viewers.
By 10 p.m. our coverage had expanded to a comprehensive web story, and an impactful television piece.
This is how good journalism works. On that day, Global Regina came together as a news team, and viewers and online readers reaped the benefits. That’s favourite story of the year worthy.
Our evening Weather Specialist Tiffany Lizee and Morning News Weather Specialist Liz Pittman are in their element when extreme weather hits Saskatchewan. But the weather story that stood out for Tiffany and Liz in 2014 was provincial flooding.
Tiffany: If I had to nail down a weather story that stuck out the most in 2014, I’d have to say the flooding we had in the province at the end of June.
Throughout the days of heavy rain, photos came pouring in of cars under water, washed out highways and flooded homes.
Yet despite the chaos, we all kept one another informed. People sent me what they knew or what they could see and I passed it on.
On Twitter, #SKFlood got going and people were wonderful at tagging their updates with the hashtag, so it was easy to find the latest information.
On Facebook, someone created a group called ‘SK Flood Help’ where people could post information on Recovery Centres and offer help to those affected in their area.
I was proud at how our communities came together and how exceptional Global Regina’s reporters were at covering the tense situation.
Liz: I didn’t move to Regina until September, but I lived in the province for all of 2014. The community support following flooding in southeast Saskatchewan struck a chord with me.
It was amazing to watch so many people pull together and see positivity in such a challenging situation. When I found out I would be moving to the area, I knew I would be surrounded by some pretty amazing people. Saskatchewan residents continue to inspire me!
Mike McKinnon, a reporter for Global Regina, also picked flooding as his top news story of the year – but he chose it for an entirely different reason.
Mike: It’s almost a cliché at this point: small town or rural residents pitching in to help their neighbours. Saskatchewan people – Canadians in general – always seem to come to the aide of their fellow man in times of crisis. But every time I witness it as a journalist, it has a new impact on me.
A local arena-turned-emergency shelter was practically having to turn volunteers away because so many came forward, even as their own basements were flooded. As the water crept closer to a business, people seemed to come out of nowhere to compile a wall of sandbags that may have saved the owner’s livelihood – all with smiles on their faces, happy to be of assistance to their friends, neighbours and strangers that likely became new friends that day.
Myself and photographer Taryn Snell were equipped with the technology to send video to our newsroom via cellular signal, but it wasn’t working that day. The only remaining option was a strong internet connection. We flagged down someone driving by the nearly-flooded Melville hospital, and without hesitation, she invited us to her home on the other side of town to use her internet. We made a new friend that day too.
Shanelle Kaul, host of the Morning News, chose a story in 2014 that concentrated on people meeting people, instead of communicating with them online.
Shanelle: In an age where digital communication is so readily available at our fingertips, it’s easy to put in-person connections on the backburner.
Ben McLellen and Levi Durston of Regina set out to change that with the Humans of Regina movement, which started in New York and made its way into communities across the continent.
The idea is to encourage people to get off the web and onto the streets: photographers will approach a stranger, instigate a conversation and then post a photo and quote online.
This story was special to me since it pushed the boundaries of 21st century social etiquette. Too often, we see people walking or driving with their eyes glued to their smartphone. This movement is getting Reginans to go back to basics – the art of conversation.
Andrea Dion, Morning News Live Reporter, has only been in the province for a few months but what she saw in Regina Beach after the house explosion is something she’ll never forget.
Andrea: Over the last roughly four months I have learned a lot about the province and a story that stood out for me the most happened early on in December.
The Regina Beach home explosion resonates with me the most – and also, I think with residents who experienced it first-hand. The story ranged from the impact on residents affected by the explosion, SaskEnergy’s stance on the situation after it was linked to an underground gas leak, the aftermath, and the cost to residents to clean up the disaster.
Homes were without power and families were displaced, but it was just really positive to know and hear that fellow residents did what they could to help out in a time of need.
Global Regina’s weekend anchor Teri Fikowski’s favourite story of 2014 was her 3 part Feature Series on UAV’s.
Teri: Often as a reporter, a story begins in the morning or whenever news breaks and you have until that 6 o’clock deadline to put all your elements together. Working on a three part series, ‘Rise of the Drones’ was an opportunity to really dive into the world of UAVs and explore an impressive and rapidly changing technology.
As I worked on the story, it was so interesting to see how many people and businesses in southern Saskatchewan alone had already begun to take advantage of the technology’s seemingly unlimited potential.
Perhaps what made the story the most memorable for myself was the passionate people we were able to interview about their use of drones, whether it be for work or play.
Taylor Shire, Morning News Sports Anchor, picked #DresslerWatch2014 as his favourite story of the year because of the frenzy the province went into with anticipation that Weston Dressler could once again be a Saskatchewan Roughrider.
Taylor: This was a memorable story to cover. After Weston Dressler was cut by the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, Rider Nation begged for him to come back to Saskatchewan. There was speculation for several days as to where he would sign in the CFL and nobody really knew. Would he follow the money and head to Ottawa? Or would he follow his heart and come back to Saskatchewan? He was offered more money to go to Ottawa but he’s always said Saskatchewan is his second home.
This story definitely got people talking. At one point, it was all people were talking about. We had a daily Dressler Watch 2014 update and it proved to be a happy ending for Riderville.
Dressler ultimately chose free blizzards and car washes, as he donned Green and White once again.
Derek Meyers, Sports Director for Global Regina, chose soccer’s World Cup in Brazil. Derek couldn’t believe how Regina got behind the event.
Derek: The World Cup. No event captures the attention of the world like the beautiful game…64 countries play, but the entire globe watches.
It was really cool to just see how diverse our own city has become during the month long spectacle. Sports bars were packed, workers would stop mid sentence to peer over your shoulder to check a score, and best of all were the collective cheers of joy that rained down after each and every triumph. It truly was the event of the year.
Raquel Fletcher host of Focus Saskatchewan, went on a mission to learn about the history of hockey in Saskatchewan.
Raquel: “Greatest Saskatchewan pioneer? You should do a story on Pere Athol Murray!” a friend of mine suggested back in July.
“Who?” I’m embarrassed to admit I asked.
That question launched three months of research into Saskatchewan’s hockey history and the pioneers who made the province the biggest NHL player-producing per capita province in Canada. The end-result was a two-part feature called Heroes and Builders, and my favourite story from 2014.
Derek Putz, editor and photographer for Focus Saskatchewan, chose everyone’s least favourite summer pet, mosquitoes, as a story that stood out for him in 2014.
Derek: Mosquitos suck, plain and simple. But they were also the inspiration for one of my most creative stories of 2014. The pesky insects were taking over the city in July, and reporter Mike McKinnon and I were assigned to a story, exploring all of the remedies for getting rid of them.
We could have stuck to the traditional way of telling the story, but decided to try something new. Fashioning a Go-Pro camera to a hockey stick we ventured out, first to the park where Mike stood like a statue while mosquitos bit his arm for the up-close visuals, and then to my own backyard. Mike poured a cold glass of iced tea and sat out in the sun. With the Go-Pro-hockey-stick-contraption in my hand, I became the mosquito, whooshing in and out of branches, over the fence, around my dog Charlie, and onto Mike’s arm, where he would eventually slap the mosquito-camera to the ground before signing off.
I left work that day with a new appreciation for mosquitos. They still sucked, but at least they made for good storytelling.
Longtime Global Regina videographer Adrian Raaber couldn’t narrow down his favourite story to just one but he picked two that he enjoyed in 2014 because he was able to shoot them in a creative way.
Adrian: My favorite story for 2014 are actually two stories, that are similar in the way we shot and edited them, but different in content. One was an exploration of what privatizing liquor sales could mean, and the other was a demonstration of various apps that raise money for pet charities.
What I liked about these stories is that they appear to be one continuous sequence of shots (it appears as if the stories take place in under two minutes).
I liked that both reporters, Mike McKinnon and Kim Smith, worked hard to accommodate this innovative way of telling a news story.
Matt Myers, videographer for Global Regina, chose his assignment to Saskatchewan Fashion Week to get the sights and sounds of the show.
Matt: I had never attended any sort of fashion show before and was unsure of what to expect. But as soon as the music started and the first outfit was shown, I was hooked.
The talent from the designers here in Saskatchewan was great in itself, but the music, lights, and general positive vibe from the entire room made the show all the more entertaining. I had so much fun, I ended up going again the next night to another runway show as a spectator.
They certainly made a fan out of me!
Taryn Snell, videographer, joined Global Regina from South Africa and one of her memorable stories in 2014 was Regina going into a deep freeze in late November.
Taryn: It was so insanely cold outside, and our National News wanted man-on-the-street interviews about the bitter cold.
Kim and I were dreading going outside, but two of the people we found were so positive about it! What we thought would be a big rant turned out to be quite cheerful and made the day a lot more bearable.
From everyone at Global Regina we would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.
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