In exclusive clubs, the upstart member is almost always dismissed by the elite as a climber who is overreaching his class, a nuisance, or someone to step on to move even higher up the social register. It’s not until the upstart has the momentum to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them that the club elders really have to rally, sometimes unsuccessfully, to keep the order.

Such is the case of Drew Craig who, as the 44-year-old president and CEO of family-owned and Calgary-based Craig Broadcasting Systems, finally pushed hard enough in 2002 to stake territory in the heart of Canada’s largest media market – much to the chagrin of CHUM, CTV, CanWest Global, and other senior media companies.

For winning the broadcast television licence for the ethnically-flavored toronto|one and securing the long-term viability of a fourth major English-language television broadcaster in Canada, Craig is Playback’s 2002 Person of the Year.

‘It has been a turning point for the company,’ says Craig, reflecting on 2002 as a milestone in his family’s long-standing business.

‘Certainly, the opportunity in Toronto provides a tremendous platform for the company to grow,’ says Craig. ‘It’s Canada’s largest market and is the foundation for a national [broadcast] system.’

For Craig Broadcasting, success in Toronto is the difference between a company that can compete in a world of media convergence and one that fades away in the hinterland of Western Canada.

‘It’s very difficult for a regional player,’ Craig says of programming, advertising and other broadcast operations. ‘We have to rely on others to determine our business strategy. Without the reach [of a national system], it’s very hard to determine your own destiny. In terms of scale, we are a much smaller company that has to fight for our existence, more so than other companies with bigger critical mass.’

John Craig, Drew’s grandfather, started the company with CKX, a radio signal in Brandon, MB in 1948. John then launched CKX-TV in 1955 with Drew’s father Stuart.

As the third generation of broadcast executives, Craig understands legacy and destiny. The children of dynasties may have opportunity handed to them by their families, but convincing others that they deserve the title ‘chief executive’ is a different matter. Perseverance helps.

Aside from the successful launch of A-Channels in Edmonton and Calgary in 1997, Craig has suffered a number of high-profile losses, including the races for over-the-air channels in Vancouver and Victoria and being outbid for CKVU (now CHUM’s Citytv Vancouver) in 2001.

‘A lot of competitors viewed us as [a company] that would have exited the business,’ says Craig, remembering the setbacks. ‘It would have been easier for competitors to have us exit the business. We had to fight tooth and nail.’

As a private company, Craig Broadcasting could take a longer view and not be beholden to shareholders anxious to see quarterly growth, he says. Strategically, the goal was to grow the company over the long term, so with the blessing of the company’s major institutional investor, TD Capital, Craig has continually gone back to the CRTC well for new licences.

‘The company is firmly committed to the business,’ says Craig. ‘We’ve been around a lot longer than everyone else.’

Craig won the licence for toronto|one, considered the last conventional frequency left in southern Ontario, on April 8 – an upset in the face of TorStar’s richer and more Canadian Hometown TV concept. Entry to the Toronto market boosts Craig’s reach from 18% to 42% of English-speaking Canadians.

With the federal cabinet’s blessing June 5, Craig then withstood a spirited and coordinated appeal of the CRTC’s decision by Torstar, CanWest and others on the grounds that Craig’s toronto|one application breached the Broadcast Act.

Still, his $35-million investment in toronto|one has now been delayed one year to September 2003, but the fallout of Craig’s Toronto win is already being felt. For instance, according to his longtime business rival CHUM, the cost of U.S.-acquired programming is rising in the Toronto market. Meanwhile, CHUM, tit-for-tat, is planning to enter the Alberta market, Craig’s centre of power.

Craig’s affiliation with MTV, meanwhile, has caused even more consternation, especially at MuchMusic parent CHUM, which is challenging Craig Broadcasting’s record of compliance to its digital licence in terms of foreign ownership and content.

No word yet on the results of the legal wrangling, but Craig says MTV is one of the most valuable brands among Canada’s 40 diginets and is delivering subscribers to the digital tier. He stresses that he, and not MTV parent Viacom, has control over MTV Canada content, which makes for a successful partnership (which has, for example, allowed for the licensing for MTV’s smash hit The Osbournes to CTV).

Craig insists MTV was not in the cards when he pitched a youth-oriented digital station concept called Connect to the CRTC when the digital licences were handed out. He is working within the letter and spirit of his licence, he adds, but will nonetheless live by the word of the commission.

If it has been a bumpy ride with the competition, Craig is taking the high road: ‘The Canadian broadcast business, as competitive as it is, has always been positive and professional on a business and personal level.’

Had business not gone so well this year, Craig Broadcasting may already have been a different company. A loss in Toronto would have prompted a whole review of the company’s involvement in conventional television, he admits, and a merger with another broadcaster might have been Plan B. Now, Craig can sit in his new Toronto office and build out toronto|one, the first new conventional station in southern Ontario in 29 years, while planning his national strategy.

‘There is a sense of pride,’ admits Craig on his breakthrough year. ‘We derive a lot of satisfaction in taking what my grandfather and father built to a whole other level. It’s hugely exciting.’