Web Archive
April 29, 2004
For immediate release
Final Episode of Island Focus to Air May 3, 2004
Provincial Treasury
“Island Focus has been a valuable communications vehicle to promote the activities and programs of the Province of Prince Edward Island for the past eight years,” said Honourable Mitch Murphy, Provincial Treasurer.
The May 3 broadcast will focus on festivals and events in Prince Edward Island. The show will be hosted from the first-ever PEI Garden Show at the South Shore Actiplex in Crapaud. Other stories include a visit to the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts in Summerside, a look at PEI Community Festivals On-Line and an inside business feature with Quality Thermoform of Borden-Carleton.
The grand prize winner of an escape weekend for two provided by the Best Western Charlottetown will also be announced during this final broadcast.
The origins of Island Focus date back to March 1996 when the Department of Agriculture and Forestry began the production known as Focus on Resources. This half hour program was first hosted by Wayne MacKinnon and featured news and information related to agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Since that time, the community outreach television program was expanded to serve all provincial government departments and agencies in PEI. It was renamed Island Focus in 1999 and in-house production was moved to the Multimedia Services section of Provincial Treasury. Gerry Birt hosted Focus on Resources and Island Focus for seven of the nine seasons. During the 1998 season, Whit Carter acted as host.
EastLink Television, and the former Island Cablevision, has been the exclusive broadcaster of both Focus on Resources and Island Focus.
“Our appreciation goes out to EastLink Television for their support as well as to our viewers in Prince Edward Island and across the Maritimes,” added Murphy. “The members of the Island Focus production team are also to be commended for their skill in creating stories about how government programs have impacted the lives of Islanders and communities.”
Beginning May 23 and throughout the summer, EastLink Television will air repeat broadcasts of Island Focus on Monday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 6:00 p.m.. A permanent collection of Island Focus video segments can be viewed on-line at www.gov.pe.ca/focus.
