Don Shafer

Don Shafer (born May 25, 1947) is an American-born Canadian broadcaster and radio industry executive. He worked at and later managed many radio stations in the United States and Canada for more than 50 years.

Early life

Shafer was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served in the US military from 1965 to 1969 as a communication specialist.

Broadcast career

Shafer began his broadcast career at WEEP AM Pittsburgh, and also with KNAC FM and KPPC FM in Los Angeles. He then immigrated to Canada, and worked on-air with CHOM FM (Montreal) 1969 - 1972,^[1] CHUM FM (Toronto) 1972 - 1976^[2] and The Fox (Vancouver) 1976 - 1986.^[3]

Shafer was named Program Director at The Fox in 1980 under Moffat Communications and for the rest of his career served in management and executive capacity. In 1986 he was hired as the program director for Rock 101 in Vancouver. In 1988 he moved to Toronto as the President, and General Manager and WIC Director of Programming at Q107. He was Senior vice president at Pelmorex Radio Network in Ontario from 1992 to 1997.

Shafer was hired as Torstar Media Group's Vice President and General Manager) in 1997, working on the development of Toronto Star TV which extended the Toronto Star newspaper brand into television.

Shafer moved to SUN FM/AM1150/ CILK FM in the BC Interior as Vice President and Regional Manager in 2003, where he remained until 2013. In 2013 and 2014 he was interim general manager at Jim Patterson Broaidcasting's Q104 & FAB 94 in Winnipeg, participating in the acquisition of the two stations. He oversaw 22 radio stations and two television stations in the BC Interior, as Vice-President and Regional Manager with Standard Media,^[4] and took part in the transition to new ownership by Astral and then Bell Media.

In 2014 Shafer co-founded Roundhouse Radio in Vancouver, and became its president and CEO.^[5][6][7] In 2015 Shafer is a partner in the independent ownership group of 98.3 Roundhouse Radio Vancouver which was granted a license by the CRTC in August 2014.^[8]

Shafer has served on a boards and committees including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Marketing Bureau, Television Marketing Bureau, the Small Market Independent Television Group, the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters and FACTOR and is a past President of the Ontario Association of Broadcasters.

Community Service

Shafer has served on the boards of Variety Club International in Vancouver and Toronto, The Canadian Culinary Championships and the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation. In 2015 he is working with PFLAG and Qmunity Vancouver, the Canadian Red Cross, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and the BC Chiefs of Police Association.

He received the British Columbia Association of Broadcasts 50 Year certificate of service in 2014, and was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.^[9]

Shafer was presented with the 2015 Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award.^[10]

References

1. "A Conversation With... Don Shafer". FYI Music News, By Bill King Thu, 04/30/2015
2. "A different kind of radio". By John Mackie, Vancouver Sun October 15, 2015
3. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (19 July 1986). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 87–. ISSN 0006-2510.
4. "To the Rescue: When disaster struck, radio is where Canadians turned". Broadcaster, By: Laurel Hyatt 2003-10-01
5. "Vancouver eastside neighbourhood shifts from industrial to mixed commercial". Vancouver Sun. Evan Duggan, March 31, 2015
6. " Roundhouse Radio: Bringing the hyperlocal to Vancouver’s airwaves". KAT SIENIUC VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail, Aug. 11, 2015
7. "Roundhouse Radio hits the airwaves". Michael Geller / Vancouver Courier, October 28, 2015
8. "New FM stations signal more change in local radio market". Business Vancouver
9. "Don Shafer to join Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame ". CARTT.
10. "Magic! Win Big at 2015 Canadian Radio Music Awards". Billboard, by Karen Bliss | May 09, 2015