Those private broadcasters, I didn’t know they had it in them.

Such a party! It’s not as if anyone really drank too much. It’s not as if anyone wore the centrepiece at a jaunty but daring angle. And it’s not as if even one strapless gown gave it up to gravity.

In fact, except for the inspirational bits (when JR Shaw accepted the Gold Ribbon Award for Broadcasting Excellence with a gracious nod to Ted Rogers), a few sad psas and one truly bewildering speech, it was all the foot-tappin’ fit for primetime.

‘It’ was the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Gold Ribbon Awards Gala recognizing excellence in private broadcast programming and promotions.

Although the staging evoked the ‘early new media’ period, the show was quick-paced, well-written and the entertainment was through the roof.

Jann Arden was such a hit, if anyone thought they could, they’d have cheered for an encore. Lily Frost, a young singer with soul and poetry at her centre, made the programmers listen up. Colin James, in electric guitar mode and special f/x leather, brought out the woo-cheers big time. But it was Ian Tyson, country legend, who brought the house down before being inducted into the Broadcast Hall of Fame. A couple of newer tunes and Four Strong Winds and we were all his. You just had to wonder what in God’s country we’d have missed if the gov hadn’t made radio stations play lots more Canadian music.

Think I’ll go down to Miami, votin’s good there in the fall…

You also had to wonder what an equivalent push might achieve for Canadian tv. Especially just now when, as the convention demonstrated repeatedly, Canadian broadcasters are buffeted by strong winds of change.

As the crtc’s broadcast monitoring report shows, rising or at least steady ad spending on tv has helped casters meet their Cancon programming quotas. Increases in the Canadian Television Fund have also helped.

But if the southward dips on financial markets become the road most traveled, how will ad-dependent industries fare? The commission’s report says the Web is making big gains at tv’s expense. tv ad revenues grew marginally from 1998 to ’99, from $2.32 billion to $2.36 billion, while ad $$$ going to Internet leaped from $24.5 million to $55.5 million. Analysts like Ken Goldstein note that the ongoing dot-com shakedown is normal in a new industry, and surviving players will emerge stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, English specialty and pay channels continue to slice into over-air revenues especially outside Quebec. Pay and specs have gained 11.2% in share of viewers from 1992 to 1999, compared with a 7.2% share loss for private over-air broadcasters and a 5.1% loss for the cbc over that time.

The cab convention reflected this year’s dominant trends: the desperate drive by existing licensees to secure digital specialty licences; the surge to gather all casters into one advocacy association; and the move to extend-the-brand online.

All these things will strengthen a fracturing industry. Certainly, as that well-promoted Canadian Ian Tyson sang in Four Strong Winds, it’s time for movin’ on.