The high-tech boom that crowned Ottawa ‘Silicon Valley North’ has come and gone, but media options in the nation’s capital persist.

‘We had an iffy period between two and two-and-a-half years ago when the high-tech industry took a dip,’ says Regan Seymour, media director at Ottawa’s Mediaplus Advertising. ‘A lot of media revenue came from that sector – from career ads to just promoting new software or brands – but the media hasn’t really taken a big hit. The retail market has really taken over.’

‘The technology sector was spending an awful lot of ad dollars in radio,’ agrees Veronica Engelberts, VP and managing partner at Ottawa’s Vector Media. ‘Two or three years ago you had a lot of start-ups sponsoring special radio shows and drive times, promoting themselves to prospective employees. You don’t have that anymore.

‘Radio reps talk about retail coming back, and the auto sector,’ she says. ‘There’s certainly some backfill, but I don’t think we’ll see that kind of spending for a long time.’

But even without the high-tech sector, Ottawa has lots of reasons to be optimistic. For one thing, the city grew its population by about 500,000 people in 2001, when the new City of Ottawa was created from the amalgamation of Ottawa-Carleton and 10 surrounding regions. The new city contains 800,000 people and is expected to hit one million in the next few years, fueling growth.

Radio

An influx of new radio stations is set to spice up a market that already provides multiple options for most listeners.

Radio Nord launched Classique FM 97.1 last Sept. 23. The French-language station targets a broad audience, including younger listeners, with its mix of 85% popular classical music and 15% jazz. Local programming and regional news should help the station to win fans, as will a CRTC condition requiring the station to establish a scholarship program to support the local and regional classical music scene.

Newcap launched The Planet 89.9 on Feb. 7, a mix of dance, pop, urban and world music. The launch gimmick saw 10,000 songs played in a row. Media buyers are skeptical about the ability of the station to carve out a niche for itself in an already fragmented market.

Still to come are Radio 1540, an ethnic station from CHIN that will target 37 cultural groups in 20 different languages, and Aboriginal Voices Radio, a non-profit Toronto-based station that will carry native music and spoken word programming.

Television

CJOH is the main local station, followed by The New RO, a CHUM station. The latter station has steadily increased its viewership by focusing on local programming.

‘They’re very much about local news and that certainly draws local viewership,’ says Seymour. ‘They focus on Ottawa and the [Ottawa] Valley and also the rural areas which don’t get a lot of coverage on the other stations.’

The New RO recently relaunched a noon news hour, bringing in former mayor Jim Watson to anchor an informal, news/magazine style show.

Newspapers

The Ottawa Citizen is the paper of choice for most Ottawa residents, while national papers maintain a fairly small circulation.

Advertisers who want to reach political representatives and other government members use The Hill Times, a weekly black and white political tabloid with a circulation of about 11,000.

As an alternative to Le Droit, Transcontinental’s Le Régional is a community paper delivered to 70,000 homes weekly.

Outdoor

Municipal regulations make for a very small billboard market but transit and transit shelter options are available from Pattison.