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Adventures
in the World of Media and
Communications Jerry
W. Bird Treks by
saddle and pack horse, as part of a Canadian
Government Topographical Survey team, scaling yet
unnamed Yukon mountains, flights by float plane to
remote lakes, and two exciting seasons as a crew
member on the riverboat SS Keno, (below) set the
stage for far-flung adventures to come. The
Steamer
Keno
, last of a proud fleet
of sparkling white Yukon River Paddle wheelers,
trimmed in gingerbread, with its tall yellow
smokestack and bright orange paddle wheel, is now a
permanent museum in Dawson City. Sailing along the
misty fjords of the Alaska Panhandle and Inside
Passage, from Skagway, Alaska to Vancouver, BC,
whet Jerry's appetite for waterborne
adventures. Jerry's father, Don Bird of
Seattle,
served with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in
the Yukon Territory. His mother, Violet, was from
Vancouver, British Columbia. Dawson city was like a
time-capsule; a living museum reminiscent of the
Mark Twain era, with relics of Gold Rush Days on
every corner. Monster gold dredges still operated
on Bonanza, Eldorado and other Klondike creeks.
Arctic grayling and salmon teemed in the rivers,
lakes and tailing ponds - and every growing boy
soon learned to cope with nature. Many of Jerry's
school friends were of native heritage, which added
another dimension, an attitude of
tolerance. Alberta
Bound:
Jerry
W. Bird's media career was launched at The Edmonton
Journal, a major daily newspaper, owned by Southam.
His public speaking efforts began in Calgary, with
Toastmasters International, and continued with
association work and broadcast media appearances.
The creative process, using all aspects of
communications technology excites him. Desktop and
web publishing, opened up huge avenues as a self
publisher and broadcaster. Jerry has been equally
inspired by many other developments along the way,
from color lithography to award-winning audio
visual productions. This
combination of experiences became the pathway to
his launch of Air Highways Magazine in 1995 with
support from Transport Canada's Regional Director
and over 30 airport managers. A
dual citizen (Canada-USA),
Jerry joined the Africa
Travel Association (ATA) in 1995 to launch Africa
Travel Magazine, whose reach is world wide thanks
to its distribution via 23 ATA African host
countries and a 2,000 page web site. The ATA site
generates over 8,200 page views daily and 14.5
million hits annually. To promote the magazines, he
has organized a series of travel industry events in
Vancouver, where he is President of ATA Canada
Chapter. Corporate and
Government "With the
escalating cost of paper, a valuable forest
resource, publishers should expand their reach and
serve more readers per copy. A good magazine is a
keeper, with an extended life span, like National
Geographic which never seems to go out of date. On
the Internet, the real challenge is to cut through
the clutter and bombardment of asinine sales
pitches and empty promises." |
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