This may seem like a silly thing to say, but once upon a time, the only way to get music was to listen for it. You turned on a radio or you bought a record.

If it sounded good, there was a chance the song might become a hit. That’s what mattered: the sound of the record.

That all began to change in the 1970s, and in less than ten years, sound began to matter less. How the song looked became the thing.

Critics laughed at the notion of a “music video” in the early days. But then came MTV, the world’s first 24-hour music video channel. They called it “illustrated radio”—and it worked.

After that we got MuchMusic, VH1, M2, Edge-TV, MuchMoreMusic, MuchLoud, The Box, and dozens of others around the world. And for years and years, if you wanted a chance to make it big, you had to make a music video. Yes, it was expensive, but too bad—it was all part of the game.

During the heyday, some videos cost millions and millions of dollars. Remember the video for “Scream” by Michael and Janet Jackson back in 1995? In today’s money, that video, which runs four minutes and 47 seconds, cost just under $15 million. Madonna made three videos with budgets of more than $10 million. You can make a feature-length movie with that kind of cash.

Pretty singers with mediocre songs often became stars, while less-attractive performers with good songs had a real chance of being passed over.

The art of the video affected the art of moviemaking. It influenced the way we look at television, not to mention fashion, language, politics, gender fluidity, LGBTQ issues, and so much more. Videos may have altered our attention spans—which kind of concerns me, because this program is an hour long and I need you to hang in there with me.

Music videos exported soft power from the West—especially the United States—to the rest of the world. At one point, MTV was one of the most influential creators and disseminators of culture—and by “culture” I mean America.

That was then. Music videos are still an art form and still necessary (well, mostly necessary) for promoting music, but things just aren’t what they used to be.

How did we get to this point? This is the rise, fall, and future of the music video.

Songs heard on this show:

• Captain Beefheart, Lick My Decals Off, Baby
• David Bowie, Ashes to Ashes
• The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star
• Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer
• Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit

Eric Wilhite has a playlist.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations.

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
• Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
• Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
• FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
• Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
• 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
• The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 9am and 9pm
• The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
• The Goat Network/Interior BC
• Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

Don’t forget there’s a  podcast version (along with hundreds of others) available, in case you miss an episode. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.

 

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Wet Leg, featuring Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, is one of the most exciting bands to come out of the UK this decade. Here are a few facts about them that might have escaped your attention so far.

First of all, the band is from the Isle of Wight. Rhian and Hester were friends for about ten years before they formed the band. Hester had a job making jewelry while Rhian was a stylist.

(2) They found their name by playing a game with emojis. When the emojis for “wet” and “leg” came together, they decided that was it. Well, maybe that’s the story. Another explanation is that “wet leg” is Isle of Wight slang for non-locals.

(3) When they first started playing live, they were booked for hour-long sets. The problem with that is they only had 35 minutes’ worth of music. They had to fill time with covers and extended jams of their own songs. It was…awkward.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Here are some facts about Linkin Park that you can use to impress your friends.

(1) Before he moved to LA to join Linkin Park, Chester Bennington had a job slinging Whoppers at a Burger King in Phoenix.

(2) Drummer Rob Bourdon decided he wanted to play the drums when he was ten. His mom was best friends with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer. Mom got them both backstage, where Joey gave Rob his first-ever drum pedal.

(3) In August 2001, during an early Linkin Park tour—they were part of Ozzfest and playing Boston—Chester was bitten by a poisonous recluse spider at the band’s hotel. His reaction was so bad that he got a fever and endured delusions during a week-long hospital stay. A couple of shows had to be cancelled

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The minister in charge of Canada-U.S. trade says he will be sitting down with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade czar in the coming weeks to discuss the looming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.

Dominic LeBlanc says he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the phone after his American counterpart last week said Canadians had barriers that made it difficult to have bilateral trade talks.

The Trump administration has been causing uncertainty about the trilateral trade pact, known as CUSMA, ahead of a mandatory review taking place this year.

Trump has mused about leaving the agreement and Greer has talked about negotiating separate bilateral trade pacts with America’s closest neighbours.

LeBlanc, who is leading a large trade mission to Mexico this week, says Ottawa and their Mexican counterparts are in agreement that a North American deal involving all three countries is the best way forward.

He says Canada and Mexico do have different trade relationships with the United States but there are many areas of common ground.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A victim of a man charged with over 70 voyeurism-related offences says she was left shaken after learning of his release through social media, only to discover hours later that he had been arrested again.

Kyle Hameluck, 37, was released from custody on Feb. 14 under statutory release in Saskatoon and was subject to court-ordered conditions. A public warning about his release was put out at the time.

Saskatoon police later confirmed that he was re-arrested within hours for allegedly breaching those conditions.

“I was not contacted by the police that he was being let out. I found out on Facebook,” the woman said, whose identity must stay anonymous due to a court-ordered publication ban.

She said the news triggered fear and anxiety.

“It was still really upsetting to find out in the middle of the day on social media. It also ensued a lot of panic and fear in myself knowing he was being let out into the community.”

In the police-issued public safety advisory ahead of Hameluck’s release, they cited concerns about his criminal history and potential to reoffend.

Hameluck’s prior convictions were tied to dozens of offences, including voyeurism, indecent acts and trespassing at night.

Authorities said Hameluck’s release conditions prohibited him from possessing or using any cellphone or digital device capable of taking photos or videos.

Saskatoon Police Service said the decision to issue the advisory was made “in the interest of public safety.”

“The release regarding his re-arrest was issued in follow-up to the public safety advisory to maintain the same level of communication in keeping the public informed,” said Saskatoon police in a statement to Global News.

According to police, Hameluck was arrested near Midtown Plaza less than four hours after his release for allegedly using a cellphone contrary to his conditions.

Shea Neudorf, a defence lawyer who specializes in sexual assault cases, said statutory release is a standard part of Canada’s correctional system.

“In Canada, we don’t have a system where we just lock people up and throw away the key. Sentences are typically finite,” Neudorf said.

“When Mr. Hameluck finished serving two-thirds of his sentence, he would have been eligible for statutory release, where he is released into the community under very strict conditions.”

While on statutory release, offenders are still monitored, Neudorf said.

“It’s important for the public to know that we don’t want people serving their entire sentence and then being pushed out into the world where they are no longer subject to corrections,” she said.

However, she said victims and families are not always fully informed about how the process works.

“That process isn’t always made clear to complainants and families at the beginning, so they’re often left in the dark about what to expect.”

The victim said she has since moved to another community, which has helped ease some of her fears, but she remains concerned for others.

“When people are determined to do something, they’re going to find a way to do it, no matter what,” she said.

“I feel fearful for the people living there… it is a heavily university student-populated area.”

The woman said she has written to elected officials calling for changes to how such cases are handled.

“I still feel like my life has changed.”

Hameluck’s bail hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Saskatoon residents are wiping the dust off of their shovels and snowblowers after they woke up to a thick blanket of snow Wednesday morning.

Kids who had a week off for February break are out in the cold conditions, making the most of it with sledding, but adults who had to dig out this morning aren’t having as much fun.

But some were happy to see the snow, saying they love the look of the white blanket and winter isn’t the same without it.

With poor road conditions, some were snowed in and couldn’t make it to work.

The RCMP is warning people to drive according to the conditions until the roads improve.

“Those winter driving conditions are quite evident out there with the icy conditions, snow-covered roads, reduced visibility and we ask that the public be very aware of that when they are travelling, if they have to travel,” said Insp. Lee Knelsen, operations officer of F Division Traffic Services.

Watch above for more on the aftermath of the big snowfall.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says immigration is one of the topics she will discuss during her province-wide televised address to Albertans on Thursday.

Smith was reacting to online comments made by one of her staffers, Bruce McAllister, who is the executive director of the Premier’s office in Calgary.

In comments posted online, McAllister said “unsustainable mass immigration into Canada” fills him “with profound disgust.”

“‘Why import from nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here?'” asks McAllister.

Asked about the comments during an unrelated news conference in Calgary on Wednesday, Smith said the province faces plenty of challenges ahead of next week’s provincial budget.

“Our expenses have been growing faster than our revenue growth, and part of that is we’ve had the fastest-growing population in Canada adding 600,000 people in the last four years alone,” said Smith.

“I think there’s only one country in the world that’s exceeded the level of population growth that Canada has had and so this clearly needs to change. This is not sustainable, so I will have more to say about that in the address and we will begin the conversation with Albertans about what happens next,” added Smith.

Canada’s transport minister, Steve MacKinnon, who was also in Calgary on Wednesday to attend an event hosted by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, stood by the federal government’s immigration policies.

“Canada has an immigration system that is admired the world over that has helped build this country and this province,” said MacKinnon.

“‘How have we done that? Well, we’ve focused on the skills that we require and attracting the best and the brightest.”

“It is simply math that we will require people, particularly in rural parts in this country to staff some of these jobs we need to meet our own ambitions, to meet Alberta’s ambitions, to meet Canada’s ambitions,” added MacKinnon.

Albertans will be able to watch the premier’s province-wide address Thursday evening at 6:45 p.m. on Global Television.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

As some Ontarians remain without a family doctor, a new study shows not having one can increase your risk of death, but it found the risk is even higher for those with multiple chronic conditions the longer they’re without.

According to the study, those with multiple chronic conditions who went without a family doctor for two or more years had 12-fold higher odds of death, and a nearly 16-fold higher chance of premature death.

“So people with multiple chronic conditions who do have a family doctor compared to similar people in all other ways with multiple chronic conditions and the only real difference being they don’t have a doctor, (of) those two groups, there was double the risk of dying in the next year,” said Dr. Jonathan Fitzsimon, a family physician and lead author of the study.

The study was published in the Health Affairs Scholar journal this month and saw more than 12 million Ontarians’ health records analyzed.

Of that 12 million, approximately 90 per cent or 11.5 million had a family doctor, with 83 per cent having had their physician for five years or more. The remaining 1.2 million did not have a family doctor, with the study finding roughly one-third being without one for five years or more, and 7.4 per cent without a physician for 15 or more years.

That’s a problem because when those who may need that primary care don’t get it, it can mean more burden on the health-care system.

“Maybe there needs to be a focus as well, and some degree of priority and additional work on those unattached patients who have multiple chronic conditions, because they’re the ones who are at the most risk individually, but they also have the highest burden on our hospital system,” said Fitzsimon, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine.

A separate study conducted by Fitzsimon and four other researchers found prolonged periods without primary care were “significantly associated” with increased health-care costs. Those with high comorbidities without a family doctor for a long period of time had a median cost of about $8,100 annually.

He noted the study also showed the risk for those with multiple health issues went up in the years after they lost their family doctor, especially within the first five years.

“People with chronic conditions, well-controlled, well-managed, their medications ordered, their prescriptions refilled on time, and then they lose their family doctor and now they’re having to manage these chronic conditions independently or without professional support,” Fitzsimon said.

“That leads to more emergency department visits, more hospital visits, and what we also found now in this new research, a higher association with mortality.”

Fitzsimon applauded efforts by the provincial government to get Ontarians access, noting their Primary Care Action Plan, but said action should still be taken on ensuring care gets to those who may need it the most.

Dr. Tara Kiran, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said not having a family doctor can pose added issues when a patient has several health issues. Kiran was not involved in the study.

“You end up going for a lot of your care to walk-in clinics or emergency departments, and those settings are actually designed to just deal with an immediate issue,” Kiran said. “They don’t provide ongoing follow-up, and it’s not really their job to manage chronic conditions over time.”

She said while these facilities can refer you to specialists, such as an endocrinologist for diabetes, it would only manage “one part of you.”

“Very different from a family doctor that manages the whole of you and balances all of those chronic conditions and your many needs,” she added.

While Kiran agrees with the need to get those with chronic conditions a family doctor first, it can be difficult to ensure they are reached due to barriers they may face.

She said the focus needs to be getting everyone care.

“In theory, we should be trying to prioritize, but in practice that’s hard and that’s why I also support the efforts to just ensure that everyone has one (a family doctor) because if we get that to everyone, that will include the people who are complex too,” Kiran said.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A rockslide has closed Highway 93, just north of Radium Hot Springs.

The slide was first reported on Wednesday morning.

According to DriveBC, the next update is not until 11 a.m. PT, or noon MST on Thursday.

There is still no estimated time of reopening.

DriveBC says there is no local detour in place. An alternative route is available via Highway 1 east from Golden into Alberta.

 

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

“Going into the fire season, we’re looking for a more normal start,” said Cory Davis, predictive services manager with Alberta wildfire, as he provided the media with a preview of the upcoming wildfire season and a tour of the agency’s provincial operations centre in Edmonton on Wednesday.

But Davis’ optimism comes with a caveat, as the forecast for the latter part of the fire season is drier than normal.

“What we are watching for is above normal temperatures for that early part of the fire season. When we look long-term and what trends could be coming, we are coming out of a La Niña season and into an El Niño trend, and what comes with El Niños is generally warmer, drier temperatures and weather,” said Davis.

Despite this week’s heavy snow and frigid temperatures across much of western Canada, in January, many parts of the Prairies saw record warm temperatures and a fraction of the normal snowfall, prompting fire bans to be put in place in many areas of Alberta, especially in the southern part of the province.

So while the recent snow is providing some badly needed moisture, a lot more is needed.

“Our critical time is when the snow first melts and the dry grass is exposed, and if we don’t have the precipitation and the moisture, those are conditions for wildfire spread,” said Davis. “So we’ll be watching the weather and the melt quite closely at that time of the spring.”

And hopefully avoid a repeat of recent years.

“We’ve had three of the biggest fire years that we’ve seen,” said Ben Jamieson, wildfire operations co-ordinator with Alberta Wildfire. “I’ve been doing this 20-plus years. We’ve had three back-to-back years that have been very difficult to manage. We’ve had resources from all over the world helping in all three of those years.”

According to provincial wildfire officials, there were 1,225 wildfires in Alberta last year — that’s about 10 per cent higher than the five-year average, which includes the record-breaking 2023 season when more than 2.2 million hectares were burned — with about 60 per cent of them started by humans.

And although this year’s wildfire season doesn’t officially begin until March 1, already there have been more than two dozen new wildfires.

“We started the year with 17 carryover wildfires. A carryover wildfire is a fire that started in the previous year and is still burning on January 1st of this year,” said Christy Tucker, information manager with Alberta Wildfire. “And we have had 26 wildfires so far that started up in 2026. And they’ve burned 283 hectares.”

According to the federal government’s Canadian Drought Monitor, the latest map shows much of Alberta is experiencing drought conditions, ranging from “abnormally dry” to “extreme drought.”

Average temperatures across much of Alberta in January were 3 to 5 C above normal and more than 5 C in parts of the Peace Region.

Precipitation in many areas of the southern Prairies was also up to 60 per cent below normal.

“We’ve had a really dry winter, like exceptionally dry in some ways,” said Philip Roemmele, who owns a grain farm and a cattle feedlot near Claresholm, Alta., about 90 minutes south of Calgary.

“We’ve had seven plus years of somewhat off and on drought in southern Alberta. We had a very good July last year, which really was exceptional for us. It brought some really great rains. But yeah, we’re needing some moisture again,” said Roemmele.

“We really rely on those early spring rains, and then of course the most important rains are June and July, which the farmers rely on.”

His  concerns about drought are echoed by John Smith, owner of Plateau Cattle Company, located near Nanton, Alta., about an hour south of Calgary, who said he’s seen about a decade of reduced precipitation, with some years being “flat out disasters.”

“In my memory, a January and February like we just had, I can’t remember one like that,” said Smith.

“You know, that being said, there’s a lot can happen. We’re always optimists in agriculture. I think our highest snowfall month is March, so from an eternally optimistic perspective, you know there’s time that hopefully something can turn around.”

While some parts of the Prairies have seen anywhere from 10 to 40 centimetres of snowfall in recent days, Peter Quinlan, meteorologist with Global News in Saskatoon, said it may not be enough to make up for what has been a very dry winter so far.

“In some parts of Western Canada, March and April can be some of the snowiest months of the year,” said Quinlan. (But) “I don’t think it will be enough to boost precipitation levels to where we need them, especially as we look ahead to the growing season. That’s because that January precipitation value for most areas on the Prairies was just so significantly below normal.”

 

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.