WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a major Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, near Calgary International Airport. It is the second-largest airline based in Canada, behind Air Canada, operating an average of 777 flights and carrying more than 66,130 passengers per day. In 2018, WestJet carried 25.49 million passengers, making it the ninth-largest airline in North America by passengers carried.

WestJet was founded in 1994 and began operations in 1996. It began as a low-cost alternative to the country's competing major airlines. WestJet provides scheduled and charter air service to more than 100 destinations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

WestJet is owned by Kestrel Bidco Inc., a subsidiary of Onex Corporation,. Although not a formal member of any airline alliance, WestJet has codeshare agreements with many other airlines. It operates two variants of the Boeing 737 Next Generation family, the Boeing 737 MAX, as well as a Boeing 787 aircraft, on select long-haul routes.

WestJet has two direct subsidiaries: WestJet Encore, which operates the Bombardier Q400; and WestJet Link, which operates the Saab 340B through a seat capacity purchase agreement with Pacific Coastal Airlines.

In 2018, WestJet had passenger revenues of CAN$4.733 billion.

History

1994–1999: First flights

Westjet was founded on June 27, 1994, by Clive Beddoe, David Neeleman, Mark Hill, Tim Morgan, and Donald Bell. WestJet was based on the low-cost carrier business model pioneered by Southwest Airlines and Morris Air in the United States. Its original routes were all located in Western Canada, which gave the airline its name.

On February 29, 1996, the first WestJet flight (a Boeing 737-200) departed. Initially, the airline served Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver and Winnipeg with a fleet of three used Boeing 737-200 aircraft and 225 employees. By the end of that same year, the company had added Regina, Saskatoon and Victoria to its network.

In mid-September 1996, WestJet's fleet was grounded due to a disagreement with Transport Canada over maintenance schedule requirements. The airline suspended all service for two weeks before resuming flights.

In early 1999, Clive Beddoe stepped down as WestJet's CEO and was replaced by former Air Ontario executive Steve Smith.  In July 1999, WestJet made its initial public offering of stock at 2.5 million shares, opening at $10 per share. The same year, the cities of Thunder Bay, Grande Prairie, and Prince George were added to WestJet's route map.

In 2000, WestJet CEO Steve Smith was released from WestJet after 18 months in the position, apparently due to differences about management style;  Smith went on to head rival Air Canada's low-cost subsidiary Zip.  After Smith's departure, Clive Beddoe again became CEO of the company, a position he held until July 2007.

2000–2003: Domestic expansion

Due to restructuring in the Canadian airline industry resulting from Air Canada's takeover of Canadian Airlines in 2000, WestJet expanded into Eastern Canada, beginning service to the cities of Hamilton and Ottawa, Ontario, and Moncton, New Brunswick. The airline selected John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport to be the focus of its Eastern Canadian operations and its main connection point in Eastern Canada.

In 2001, WestJet's expansion continued with routes to Fort McMurray and Comox. It also added Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Ontario, Thompson and Brandon, Manitoba; however, service to each of these four cities has since been withdrawn. Service to Brandon, Manitoba and Sudbury, Ontario, was subsequently resumed by WestJet's wholly owned subsidiary, WestJet Encore.

In 2002, the airline also added another two new Eastern Canadian destinations: the Ontario cities of London and Toronto. In April 2003, WestJet added Windsor, Montreal, Halifax, St. John's and Gander.

WestJet entered into a two-year agreement with Air Transat in August 2003 whereby WestJet aircraft would be filled by Transat's two main tour operators, World of Vacations and Transat Holidays. These chartered flights operated largely to destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean and the planes were operated by WestJet crews. This agreement between WestJet and Air Transat was amicably terminated in February 2009.

In 2004, rival airline Air Canada accused WestJet of industrial espionage and filed a civil suit against WestJet in Ontario Superior Court. Air Canada accused WestJet of accessing Air Canada confidential information via a private website in order to gain a business advantage. On May 29, 2006, WestJet admitted to the charges leveled by Air Canada and agreed to pay C$5.5 million in legal and investigation fees to Air Canada and donate C$10 million to various children's charities in the names of Air Canada and WestJet.

2004–2006: International expansion
In January 2004, WestJet announced that it was moving the focus of its Eastern operations from Hamilton to Toronto the following April, fully moving into the lucrative Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle and tripling the total number of its flights out of Toronto Pearson International Airport.

In 2004, a number of U.S. destinations were added or announced. These included San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and LaGuardia Airport in New York City. In early 2005, Palm Springs and San Diego were added to the company's list of destinations, while New York-LaGuardia was dropped. In April 2005, it announced new seasonal service to Charlottetown and ceased service to Gander. In fall 2005, Ft. Myers and Las Vegas were added to the growing list of destinations.

In late August 2005, WestJet flew to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, transporting members of a Vancouver-based urban search and rescue team to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

After rumours and speculation surrounding the implementation of extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS), WestJet announced new service to the Hawaiian Islands from Vancouver on September 20, 2005. In December 2005, the airline began flying from Vancouver to Honolulu and Maui.

WestJet's first scheduled service outside Canada and the United States began in 2006, to Nassau, Bahamas. This was considered a huge milestone within the company's long-term destination strategy and was a vital goal for future international market presence.

In September 2006, Sean Durfy took over as President of WestJet from founder Clive Beddoe.

On October 26, 2006, WestJet announced that it had its best quarterly profit to date, of C$52.8 million.

2007–2009: Continued growth

In 2007, WestJet announced that it would begin flights from Deer Lake in Newfoundland, Saint John in New Brunswick and Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. In June 2007, WestJet added seven new international seasonal flights to Saint Lucia, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico as well as a third Hawaiian destination, Kona.

The same year, WestJet commissioned the construction of a new six-story head office building, next to their existing hangar facility at the Calgary International Airport. The building was constructed following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, featuring a rainwater retention system and geothermal heating. The first employees moved in during the first quarter of 2009, and the building officially opened the following May.  The WestJet Campus building was certified as LEED Gold standard in October 2011.

In May 2008, WestJet launched daily non-stop service to Quebec City. The next month, WestJet commenced seasonal service between Calgary and New York City via Newark Liberty International Airport. In May 2009, the airline launched new seasonal service to the cities of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Sydney, Nova Scotia; service to Yellowknife was later extended through the winter of 2009–10.

During the 2000s (decade), WestJet made significant gains in domestic market share against Air Canada. In 2000 it held only 7% to Air Canada's 77%, though by the end of 2009 WestJet had risen to 38%, against Air Canada's 55%.

In late April 2009, WestJet temporarily suspended service to several of its destinations in Mexico due to the outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) in the country. The suspension of service to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta lasted from early May until mid-June, with seasonal service to Cancún being restored the following fall.

In July 2009, WestJet announced 11 new international destinations for its winter schedule. These included expanded service to the United States, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lihue (Kauai), Hawaii and Miami, Florida. New Caribbean destinations included Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands; St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles; Freeport, Bahamas; as well as the cities of Varadero, Holguín and Cayo Coco in Cuba. Ixtapa and Cozumel were also added to the list of destinations served in Mexico.

In November 2009, WestJet announced service to the British island territory of Bermuda, which commenced in May 2010.  WestJet also resumed seasonal service to Windsor, Ontario that same month.

2010–2016: Overseas expansion
In March 2010, Sean Durfy resigned from his position as WestJet's CEO, citing personal reasons. He was replaced by Gregg Saretsky, a former executive at Canadian Airlines and Alaska Airlines and previously Vice-President of WestJet Vacations and Executive Vice-President of Operations.

In July 2010 WestJet announced service to Santa Clara, Cuba, New Orleans and Grand Cayman bringing the total number of destinations to 71. Service to New Orleans lasted only one season and did not return the next year.

In late 2010 WestJet announced it was wet-leasing a Boeing 757 aircraft to expand service between Calgary to Honolulu and Maui and Edmonton to Maui, on a seasonal basis.

Also that year, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), an independent administrative tribunal of the Government of Canada that regulates airlines, found WestJet's baggage policies to be unreasonable and/or contrary to the requirements of the Canada Transportation Act and/or the Air Transport Regulations on several different occasions.

On January 26, 2011, after Air Canada terminated California service, WestJet announced plans to enter service to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California ,from Vancouver and Calgary starting May of that year.

In November 2011 WestJet won an auction for time slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport ushering in a return to service to New York. Details of WestJet's scheduled service to LaGuardia were officially announced in January 2012.  From 2012 to 2014, WestJet further expanded into the United States by adding Chicago via O'Hare International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Myrtle Beach International Airport, and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

On November 15, 2013, WestJet announced their first destination in Europe. Seasonal service from St. John's, Newfoundland to Dublin, Ireland, would operate from June to October 2014.

In January 2014, WestJet chartered an Atlas Air Boeing 747-400 to transport stranded passengers and luggage during the 2013 Central and Eastern Canada ice storm. The charter flew from Lester B. Pearson International Airport to Calgary International Airport.

On July 7, 2014, WestJet announced that it was in the "advanced stages of sourcing" four wide-body aircraft that would begin flying by the fall of 2015. These would initially serve on the seasonal Alberta-Hawaii routes when WestJet's service agreement with Thomas Cook Airlines—who currently fly these routes on behalf of WestJet—expires in the spring of 2015. WestJet would take delivery of four Boeing 767-300ERs in summer 2015. WestJet took delivery of the first of these aircraft on August 27, 2015.

On June 16, 2015, WestJet announced the launch service to London's Gatwick Airport which began on May 6, 2016. It is the carrier's third transatlantic destination after Dublin and Glasgow. The majority of flights to London uses the wide-body Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. On September 15, 2015, WestJet flights to London direct from Edmonton, St. John's, Vancouver, Winnipeg (seasonal) Calgary and Toronto (year-round) went on sale to the public. During winter months, WestJet continues to serve the seasonal Edmonton - Maui, Calgary - Honolulu, and Calgary - Maui flights with the 767-300ER aircraft.

2017–2019: Transition to full-service carrier

In April 2017, WestJet announced plans to launch an ultra-low-cost carrier in late 2017. The new airline would operate using Boeing 737-800 aircraft, and compete with new entrants to the market, such as Flair Airlines. The launch of the new airline, named Swoop, was delayed until June 2018.

While announcing an expansion of the senior leadership team on January 11, 2018, Gregg Saretsky reconfirmed the airline's strategic goal to become a global, full-service carrier.

On March 8, 2018, the CEO of WestJet, Gregg Saretsky retired. He was replaced by company vice-president, Ed Sims.

On May 8, 2018, WestJet announced that it would be adding the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to its fleet. The first aircraft was delivered to the airline in January 2019.

On May 10, 2018, WestJet's unionized pilots voted 91 percent in favour of strike action. The key issue in negotiations is outsourcing work to operate the new Swoop carriers. On May 25, 2018, WestJet and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) agreed to a settlement process through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

On May 14, 2018, WestJet announced new Premium Economy seats to replace the Plus seats, its current premium economy offering. The new seats features a wider 2-2 configuration on the Boeing 737 aircraft. Entry into service on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft was planned for fall 2018, and the rest of the Boeing 737s would follow in 2019. However, entry into service has been delayed until winter 2018.

On May 31, 2018, WestJet operated its first flight to mainland Europe with the inaugural flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced its application to the Canadian Government for certification of WestJet's approximately 3,200 flight attendants on July 9, 2018. On July 31, 2018, the Government of Canada via the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) issued an interim order certifying CUPE as the accredited union for WestJet mainline flight attendants.

On October 12, 2018, WestJet announced its new branding, along with details on the arrival on the Boeing 787-9. WestJet changed its slogan from "Owners Care" to "Love where you're going", announced a new logo (however, such logo was seen in May with the announcement of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner along with its livery), announced the Boeing 787 routes and launch dates, and an overall new brand image. Boeing 787 flights were announced to commence on April 28, 2019, with service from Calgary International Airport to London Gatwick Airport, with service to Paris and Dublin following.

On May 13, 2019, WestJet announced it had reached an agreement to be purchased by Onex Corporation for $5 billion Canadian dollars. At the time, it had 13 Boeing 737 Max jets in suspended operation, with another 57 of the type ordered from the manufacturer. The purchase price of WestJet was slashed heavily due to the grounding of the MAX aircraft.

2020–2022: COVID-19 pandemic
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic response required by world governments including Canada, WestJet faced an unprecedented decline in demand for flights along with the rest of the aviation industry. In addition, there were numerous cases of COVID-19 reported on board WestJet flights. On March 17, 2020, WestJet shut down all international flights, and on March 24 WestJet laid off 6,900 employees, about half of all staff. However, on April 9 WestJet rehired 6,400 employees temporarily due to the federal wage subsidy program. On April 17, 2020, WestJet announced it was laying off 1,700 pilots. On April 22, 2020, WestJet laid off 3,000 more employees. On June 24, 2020, WestJet laid off a further 3,300 employees as part of a restructuring plan, leaving only 4,500 employees still on payroll at the company. WestJet employed over 14,000 people prior to the start of the pandemic. On February 6, 2021, WestJet laid off 250 more staff, citing recent travel restrictions.

2022–present: Focus on Western Canada and strategic low-cost plan

On June 16, 2022, WestJet announced that it will be reaffirming the airline's commitment to "embracing its cost-conscious roots in service of affordable air travel for Canadians". With this in mind, the current CEO has announced that the airline will be returning to its low-cost roots, shifting its focus to western Canada, and investing in leisure routes. This change resulted in numerous routes and destinations in eastern Canada to be dropped.

On September 29, 2022, WestJet announced it had placed an order for an additional 42 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft to strengthen its presence in Western Canada. On October 6, 2022, WestJet's CEO, Alexis von Hoensbroech, and Alberta Premier, Jason Kenney, announced a major partnership between the Government of Alberta and the WestJet Group. Calgary International Airport will become WestJet's sole global hub and the company will designate the airport as its "only connecting hub in its network." Additionally, WestJet will base its entire Boeing 787 fleet in Calgary, opening up the potential for new routes to Europe and Asia. WestJet will also base over 100 aircraft in Calgary and double its capacity at the airport before the end of the decade. On December 5, 2022, WestJet announced its first destination in Asia, with service from Calgary International Airport to Narita International Airport beginning with three times weekly service on April 30, 2023. WestJet also announced new routes from Calgary to Barcelona–El Prat Airport and Edinburgh Airport, both being served three times a week beginning in May 2023, as well as frequency increases on existing European routes as a part of their plan to increase capacity in Calgary by more than 25% in 2023.

Acquisition of Sunwing

On March 2, 2022, the WestJet Group announced its intent to acquire Canadian sun-focused airline Sunwing. Both WestJet and Sunwing reported that they had reached a mutual, definitive agreement for the merger. Following the close of the transaction, the two airlines would create a new "tour business operating unit" which would be led by current Sunwing CEO Stephen Hunter, which would bind the two airlines' vacation units - Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations - together. The "tour business operating unit" would be based out of Sunwing's head office in Toronto, while the operations of Sunwing Airlines would be transitioned and managed at WestJet's head office in Calgary. The acquisition announcement was made shortly after WestJet's new CEO Alexis Von Hoensbroech assumed the role. Shortly after, the Canadian Competition Bureau was asked to review this intent.

On October 26, 2022, the Canadian Competition Bureau sent a letter to the Ministry of Transportation under the Government of Canada, raising "significant concerns" and "uncertainty" on the acquisition. The letter raised concerns about the elimination of competition between the two airlines, which would result in "substantial lessening" or "prevention" of competition in the sale of airline vacation packages to Canadians, specifically to ones which are for sun destinations, such as to Mexico or the Caribbean. The report stated that "the proposed transaction will result in one of Canada's largest integrated tour operations being acquired by one of its primary rivals in the provision of vacation packages." The report also stated that "overall, WestJet and Sunwing account for 37 percent of non-stop capacity between Canada and sun destinations, and 72 percent of non-stop capacity between Western Canada and sun destinations." The report also outlined warnings in which for the acquisition would take place, it would likely result in "higher ticket prices and lower services offered."

In the report, the Competition Bureau also raised concerns about the "monopoly" that the merger would create on 16 routes between Canada and Mexico or the Caribbean. However, in an emailed statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which was sent on October 26, 2022 from Sunwing spokesperson Melanie Anne Filipp said that the routes which were identified by the Competition Bureau were "predominately" in Western Canada and accounted for a "very small portion of Sunwing's operations" - just over 10 percent - and were "primarily seasonal routes". As well, Filipp says that 6 out of 16 routes that the Competition Bureau had identified as a concern were no longer being operated by Sunwing. "We remain confident that this transaction is good news for Canadians."

News outlets have also been quoting Air Canada and Air Transat's failed merger. The acquisition, which was set to merge Canada's largest airline with Canada's third largest and top leisure airline, fell through, even after the Canadian government gave Air Canada and Transat the green light to go through with the merger, which saw Air Canada buyout Air Transat for just over US $150 million. It fell through after European Union regulators refused to grant Air Canada and Transat A.T. the go-ahead for the buyout, which is where Air Transat and Air Canada gain lots of revenue - on trans-Atlantic flights from Canada to Europe. In April 2021, Air Canada and Air Transat mutually agreed to terminate the buyout.

On March 10, 2023, the Canadian federal government formally gave the approval to the WestJet Sunwing merger. "Today's decision was not taken lightly, especially in light of everything that happened over the holidays for those who flew with Sunwing," Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement, as he referred to the chaos during the December 2022 North American winter snowstorm that disrupted millions who had travel plans over the winter holidays. Sunwing's handling over the situation was heavily criticized as it left thousands stranded in Cancun, Mexico. "After considering the pros and cons, we have made the decision that will allow Sunwing to continue to provide affordable vacation packages to Canadians, create more good jobs and protect current jobs as well as Canadians who have already purchased tickets." he continued. However, with the green light, are several conditions in which the merger must follow. It goes as follows:

 Extending Sunwing vacation packages to five new Canadian cities
 Maintaining a vacations business head office in Toronto and a regional head office in Montreal for at least five years
 Improve regional connectivity and baggage handling
 Boost net employement at Sunwing's aforementioned Toronto head office
 Gradually ending its seasonal plane-leasing practice to protect jobs in Canada (refers to Sunwing's seasonal practices of leasing its Boeing 737 aircraft to airlines in Europe, such as TUI, whom it has leased its aircraft to during the summer season for several years now.)

On May 1, 2023, The WestJet Group completed its acquisition of Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines. Stephen Hunter, formerly the CEO of Sunwing Vacations, has been appointed CEO of the WestJet Group's Vacations Business, responsible for all tour operating and vacation package businesses of both the Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations brands. The WestJet Group's newly combined tour operator businesses, comprising WestJet Vacations and Sunwing Vacations, will be headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and will continue to operate a Montreal office.

On June 17, 2023, WestJet confirmed it will wind down Sunwing Airlines, integrating the low-cost carrier into its mainline business within two years as part of a plan to streamline operations on an unknown date.

On September 29, 2023, WestJet stated via an announcement that they aim to merge Sunwing's entirety into WestJet by October of 2024. They plan to convert all of Sunwing's 18 Boeing 737 aircraft into WestJet's mainline and transition more than 2,000 current Sunwing employees into WestJet's existing structure by that date. This merger is on top of WestJet's decision to shut down Swoop Airlines, its former ultra-low-cost carrier which it brought into the market in 2017. The airline has stated that Swoop is to be transitioned into WestJet by October of 2023.

Corporate affairs

Ownership and structure

WestJet Airlines Ltd. is operated by WestJet Group, a private company, incorporated and domiciled in Canada, which since December 2019 has been owned by Toronto-based private equity firm Onex Corporation.

On May 13, 2019, Westjet had announced that it had accepted an offer from Onex Corporation to purchase the company, a $5-billion deal that would require shareholder approval (in July) and regulatory approval. The offer was for $31 a share, substantially higher than the closing price of approximately $18 at the close of trading on the previous business day.  Completion of the acquisition was announced on December 11, 2019, after the regulator had determined that WestJet will continue to meet Canadian ownership and control requirements if Onex amends its bylaws to ensure any matters voted on by the board of directors are done with a majority of Canadian directors present.

Westjet's shares were withdrawn from the market, having previously been publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol WJA.

WestJet Encore

WestJet Encore is WestJet's affiliated regional airline, which commenced operations on June 24, 2013, with a fleet of Bombardier Q400 twin-turboprop aircraft. WestJet Encore was granted its separate Air Operator Certificate from Transport Canada, on June 12, 2013. It was set up to serve smaller communities in Canada.

WestJet Link

WestJet Link is a subsidiary of WestJet launched in June 2018. Operated by Pacific Coastal Airlines, WestJet Link service from the parent airline's hubs at Calgary and Vancouver to smaller communities, using Saab 340B aircraft which are smaller than the Q400 aircraft operated by Encore.

Swoop

Swoop was an ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) owned by WestJet that commenced operations on June 20, 2018. Swoop operated a fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Swoop fully integrated with WestJet's mainline operations on October 28, 2023.

Business trends
The key trends for the WestJet group (including WestJet Encore) are (years ending December 31):

, Annual Accounts do not appear to have been published for the years 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022. This is likely due to WestJet becoming a private company in 2019.

Destinations

WestJet and WestJet Encore currently fly to 108 destinations in 25 countries throughout North and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe including 36 cities in Canada and 23 in the United States. WestJet's largest hubs in terms of daily departures are Toronto Pearson International Airport, the airline's main connection point in Eastern Canada and Calgary International Airport, the airline's main connection point in Western Canada.

WestJet provides the most Canadian flights to Las Vegas and Orlando, offering non-stop routes (some of them seasonal) from nine Canadian cities to Las Vegas and eleven to Orlando. Since 2008, WestJet is the largest international carrier, by volume of passengers, flying into Las Vegas. WestJet also serves 20 destinations in the Caribbean and seven in Mexico, some on a seasonal basis.

In July 2015, WestJet announced flights to London Gatwick Airport operated by Boeing 767 aircraft, which had not previously been part of the airline's fleet, starting spring 2016.

In January 2018, WestJet announced its first flight to mainland Europe. WestJet started flying between Halifax and Paris in May 2018. The airline in this route is being operated with its new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

In October 2018, new international destinations and routes were announced. Starting in 2019, WestJet began direct flights from Calgary to Dublin and Paris. WestJet is using its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to fly these new routes. In addition, the current Calgary to London Gatwick Airport route, which was formerly served by WestJet's Boeing 767 aircraft, has been replaced by new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. At the end of October, WestJet also announced two new destinations. It began flights between Calgary and Atlanta, WestJet's expected joint-venture carrier Delta Air Lines largest hub, in March 2019. WestJet is the only carrier operating a direct route between Calgary and Atlanta. The airline also announced flights between Toronto and Barcelona, its second destination in mainland Europe which began in May 2019. In June 2021, WestJet announced the opening of a new route from Calgary to Amsterdam.

Alliances and codeshare agreements

History

In 1999, WestJet was in talks regarding a possible 'feeder' arrangement for Air Canada's network.  These talks were apparently discontinued when Air Canada went forward with acquisition of Canadian Airlines the following year.

In 2005, WestJet began a limited interline agreement with Taiwan-based China Airlines, in part to test the company's capability to partner with other carriers.

In 2006, WestJet announced it has been in talks with 70 airlines around the world interested in an interline or codeshare agreement. In August 2006, in a Globe and Mail interview, then-WestJet CEO Sean Durfy stated that WestJet was in talks with Oneworld. Durfy said that, if a deal with Oneworld were reached, it would allow WestJet to maintain its scheduling flexibility;  Durfy was later quoted in 2007 saying that a deal for WestJet to join the Oneworld alliance was unlikely.  Despite this, WestJet did formalize a deal with Oneworld in November 2008, to partner on sales of travel to corporate and business travelers.

In July 2008, WestJet announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding to build a distribution and codeshare agreement with U.S.-based Southwest Airlines. However, in April 2010 WestJet announced that the airline partnership with Southwest Airlines was terminated and in October 2010, WestJet partnered with American Airlines instead and later added Delta Air Lines. In light of a possible joint venture between WestJet and Delta, American and WestJet ceased their codeshare agreement on July 31, 2018.

In 2017, WestJet, easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle teamed up to provide direct connections at London Gatwick Airport. The scheme, dubbed by easyJet as "Worldwide by easyJet" allows passengers to connect from easyJet flights to American and Canadian destinations with WestJet and Norwegian.

Codeshare agreements
WestJet has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

 Aeroméxico
 Air France
 Air Transat
 Azores Airlines
 Cathay Pacific
 China Airlines
 China Eastern Airlines
 China Southern Airlines
 Delta Air Lines
 Emirates
 Hainan Airlines
 Hong Kong Airlines
 Japan Airlines
 KLM
 Korean Air
 LATAM Brasil
 LATAM Perú
 Philippine Airlines
 Qantas
 Virgin Atlantic
 XiamenAir

Interline agreements
WestJet has interlining agreements with the following airlines:

 Aer Lingus
 Aeroflot
 Air China
 Air New Zealand
 Air Tahiti Nui
 Alaska Airlines
 American Airlines
 British Airways
 Canadian North
 Central Mountain Air
 Condor
 El Al
 Etihad Airways
 EVA Air
 Fiji Airways
 Finnair
 Icelandair
 LOT Polish Airlines
 Pakistan International Airlines
 PAL Airlines
 Royal Air Maroc
 TAP Air Portugal
 Tunisair
 Ukraine International Airlines
 United Airlines

Joint venture with Delta Air Lines
On December 6, 2017, WestJet and Delta Air Lines signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding to extend their current codeshare agreement into a joint venture, pending regulatory and board approval.

On July 19, 2018, WestJet and Delta Air Lines signed a definitive ten-year agreement into a joint venture between the two airlines. This joint venture would have served more than 95% of the Canada-U.S. demand. The airlines' current frequent flier programs would also be updated to be more closely aligned, and the airlines will be co-located at key hub airports. However, in November 2020, Delta Air Lines and WestJet agreed to scrap their plans for a joint venture, as the demands of the United States Department of Transportation were seen "unreasonable and unacceptable" by both airlines. Delta and WestJet have, however, agreed to reciprocal elite member benefits for their respective frequent flyer programs.

Fleet

Current fleet

, WestJet operates an all-Boeing mainline fleet, consisting of the following aircraft:

Fleet strategy
The mainline fleet currently consists exclusively of Boeing aircraft, while wholly owned subsidiary Encore flies Bombardier Q400s. 20 units were originally ordered with options for up to 25 more.  The first two units were delivered in mid-June 2013.  Scheduled passenger service on these aircraft began on June 24, 2013. The first Boeing 737-700 delivery took place in 2001, and the first deliveries of Boeing 737-600 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft began in 2005, with the final 737-600 aircraft delivered in September 2006.

Boeing confirmed on August 2, 2007 that WestJet had placed an order for 23 Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft. The order was primarily for Boeing 737-700 but with conversion rights to Boeing 737-800s.

In the winter season, WestJet has temporarily wet leased some Boeing 757-200s to expand service between Alberta and Hawaii. From February through April 2011, a single aircraft was leased for this purpose; in the winter of 2011–12, a single aircraft was again leased. For the winter seasons from 2012 to 2015, this was expanded to two aircraft. In April 2013, it was announced that WestJet would sell ten of its oldest 737-700s and purchase ten 737-800s to modernize and increase capacity of its fleet.

In May 2014, CEO Gregg Saretsky announced that WestJet was considering acquiring wide-body aircraft to operate long-haul international routes. By July of the same year, Saretsky confirmed that wide-body service would begin in 2015. In late June 2014, WestJet announced that the wide-body aircraft were to be second-hand Boeing 767-300ERs sourced from Qantas. The four Boeing 767s were an average of 25 years old, which meant that they needed frequent repairs and downtime for sourcing parts. This resulted in a poor on-time performance of 38 percent in 2016, costing the airline approximately $5 million in the second quarter of 2016. In 2017, Westjet reduced the number of flights from Winnipeg and Edmonton to reduce utilization of the planes for the summer 2017, to cope with any unforeseen delays or cancellations.

In late December 2016, 77% of WestJet pilots approved a new deal that will increase pay for pilots flying wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 767, Boeing 787 and Airbus A330. In a statement, the airline said that it was seeking more large aircraft with the intention of adding new destinations. Saretsky also stated that he hoped for wide-body growth to be responsible, but quick. As of May 2, 2017, WestJet announced the purchase of up to 20 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft; 10 were firm orders with deliveries from 2019 through 2021, and 10 were options for delivery between 2020 and 2024. WestJet ended up only purchasing seven Boeing 787-9 and cancelled the remaining orders. It is believed that the cancelled Boeing 787 orders may have been converted to Boeing 737 MAX orders instead.

Historical fleet

In early 2005, it was announced that the Boeing 737-200 fleet would be retired and replaced by newer, more fuel-efficient 737 Next Generation series aircraft. On July 12, 2005, WestJet announced that it had completed the sale of its remaining Boeing 737-200 to Miami-based Apollo Aviation Group.

On January 9, 2006, the last Boeing 737-200 was flown during a fly-by ceremony at the WestJet hangar in Calgary, piloted by WestJet founder Don Bell and was a charter flight from Las Vegas to Calgary.

In 2003 and 2004, WestJet donated two of its 737-200s to post-secondary schools in western Canada, one to the British Columbia Institute of Technology and a second to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's Art Smith Aero Centre.

In July 2020, WestJet retired their fleet of 4 Boeing 767-300ERs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, it was announced that the four 767-300 aircraft from WestJet were to be among a total of 11 to be purchased by Amazon and converted to freight use.

WestJet operated in the past the following aircraft:

Livery

WestJet's aircraft are painted white except for the lettering on the fuselage, wings and vertical stabilizer, except for special examples as noted below.

The tail is divided roughly into slanted thirds, coloured (from front to back) navy blue, white and teal. This pattern is used on the outside of the blended winglets at the end of the wings while, on the inside, the winglets are painted white with "WestJet.com" in dark blue lettering.

In February 2010 WestJet introduced a special livery on one Boeing 737-800 aircraft promoting its customer-service promise, or "Care-antee", in both English and French. This aircraft also featured a new tail design. In 2013, the Care-antee aircraft underwent a second livery change in partnership with Disney, featuring Mickey Mouse from the movie Fantasia and adopting the name "Magic Plane". A second Disney aircraft was completed in 2015, named "Frozen Plane", with characters Elsa and Anna on the vertical stabilizer and a similar theme in the cabin.

In May 2018, WestJet unveiled a new livery, the first significant change since the inception of the company. It includes a new font for the word "WestJet"; written across the middle of the aircraft fuselage is "The Spirit of Canada" on the port side and "L'esprit du Canada" on the starboard side.  An updated, stylized maple leaf on the aircraft tail is also included.

On January 17, 2019, WestJet's first Dreamliner was delivered with the name 'Clive Beddoe', a tribute to one of its founder and former chairman of the board of directors. The aircraft is painted in its new livery.

Services

In-flight services

In-flight entertainment

WestJet's 737 aircraft feature WestJet Connect, an in-flight entertainment system where passengers use their own mobile devices and laptops. The service includes free access to hundreds of TV shows and movies, paid access to the internet, and access to USB and 110 V power at every seat.

WestJet's 787 aircraft features WestJet Connect and large touchscreen seatback monitors at every seat. The monitors include access to hundreds of TV shows and movies, music, magazines, and games like Angry Birds World Tour, and many more. Complimentary headphones are also included at every seat, with business and premium class offering noise-cancelling headphones and economy with standard earbuds. USB and 120V power are also included at every seat.

WestJet Encore aircraft are not equipped with any in-flight entertainment.

In-flight food and beverage
On flights less than four hours, WestJet offers complimentary beverages and snacks. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase.

On flights four hours and more, WestJet offers complimentary beverages and snacks, and a buy-on-board meal service in economy on all aircraft. In premium and business class, a complimentary meal and alcoholic beverages are included. When flying to Europe, a complimentary meal, as well as alcoholic beverages are included in all classes.

Cabins

Business Class
Business Class is offered only on Boeing 787 and offers private pods, with direct aisle access. The seats feature electronic flat beds in a 1-2-1 configuration. Complimentary on demand dining, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included. On international flights, an amenity kit is provided. WestJet's business class is the only airline in Canada with fully extendable privacy screens.

Premium Class
Premium Class is offered on all mainline aircraft. It varies depending on aircraft type.

On WestJet's 787, Premium Class is in a separate, dedicated cabin. Larger seats with greater recline are offered in a 2-3-2 configuration. Complimentary hot meals, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included. A self-serve social area is also available. On international flights, an amenity kit is provided.

On WestJet's 737, Premium Class is separated from economy with sky dividers and curtain. Larger seats with greater recline are offered in a 2-2 configuration. Complimentary plated hot meals (select flights), alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Economy Class
Economy Class varies depending on aircraft type.

On WestJet's 787, economy seats have a pitch of 31" and are offered in a 3-3-3 configuration. Complimentary hot meals, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included when flying internationally.

On WestJet's 737s, economy seats have a pitch of 31"–34" and are offered in a 3-3 configuration. Complimentary non-alcoholic beverages and snacks are included.

Airport lounges
WestJet opened its flagship business lounge, Elevation Lounge, in 2020, at Calgary International Airport. Westjet has plans for future Elevation lounges at its other main hubs YVR Vancouver International Airport and YYZ Toronto Pearson International Airport. Westjet also has agreements with third-party service providers to provide pay-per-use access for customers, and free access to Gold and Platinum members. These agreements include lounges in the following airports:

 Calgary (1) - Aspire Lounge (Transborder)
 Edmonton (2) - Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic/Intl), Plaza Premium Lounge (Transborder)
 Kingston, Jamaica - Club Kingston
 London (2) - My Lounge, No1 Lounge
 Montego Bay, Jamaica - Club MoBay
 Montreal - National Bank World MasterCard Lounge (Intl)
 Quebec City - V.I.P. Lounge
 Toronto (3) - Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic), Plaza Premium Lounge (Intl), Plaza Premium Lounge (Transborder)
 Vancouver (4) - Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic, Pier B), Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic, Pier C), Plaza Premium Lounge (Transborder), Plaza Premium (Intl)
 Winnipeg - Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic)

Accidents and incidents

 June 5, 2015 - WestJet Flight 588, a Boeing 737-600 (registration C-GWCT) flying from Toronto Pearson International Airport, overran the runway into grass at Montreal Trudeau International Airport during heavy rain. The aircraft was not damaged.
 January 5, 2018 - WestJet Flight 2425, a Boeing 737-800 (registration C-FDMB) flight from Cancun to Toronto, was struck while parked and on approach to the gate by a Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737-800 (Registration C-FPRP) being towed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. A fire on the Sunwing aircraft's tail was put out by fire crews at the airport. 168 passengers and 6 crew were on board the WestJet aircraft and were evacuated but none were injured; the Sunwing aircraft had no passengers as it was being re-positioned.
January 5, 2020 - WestJet Flight 248, a Boeing 737-800 (registration C-FUJR) flight from Toronto to Halifax, overran the runway into grass while landing in Halifax during heavy snow. The aircraft was not damaged.
August 9, 2023 - WestJet Flight 346, a Boeing 737-700 (registration C-FWSI) flying from Comox Valley Airport, collided with a Royal Canadian Air Force Hercules (CC-130H Hercules) while taxiing on the ground. None of the passengers or crew members were injured; The RCAF Aircraft was deemed unoccupied during the collision.

References

External links

 WestJet Magazine, WestJet's inflight magazine

Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Air Transport Association of Canada
Low-cost carriers
Companies based in Calgary
Airlines established in 1994
Canadian companies established in 1994
1994 establishments in Alberta
Canadian brands
2019 mergers and acquisitions
Onex Corporation

WestJet


USS Amphion (AR-13) was the lead ship of her class of repair ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. The second U.S. Navy vessel to be named , she was not commissioned until January 1946, five months after the end of the war. She was decommissioned in September 1971 and transferred to the Imperial Iranian Navy as IIS Chahbahan. She was purchased outright by Iran in March 1977. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution she remained in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy through at least 1985. Her fate beyond that date is not reported in secondary sources.

Career
Amphion was laid down on 20 September 1944 at Tampa, Florida, by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company and launched on 15 May 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Howard D. Orem, the wife of Captain Howard D. Orem, the aide and flag secretary to Admiral Ernest J. King; and commissioned at her builder's yard on 30 January 1946.

Designed and built to carry out a primary mission of making emergency and routine repairs to ships of the fleet during periods of technical availability, Amphion was equipped with a wide variety of repair shops: shipfitter, carpentry, pipe and copper, sheet metal, welding, canvas, watch, optical, foundry—in short, facilities that employed skilled artificers capable of repairing hardware from precision watches to heavy machinery and hulls. "These shops are limited in what they can do," boasts an early history of Amphion, "only by the size of their equipment." Her modern engineering plant could generate enough electricity for not only herself but ships moored alongside undergoing repairs. Her distilling plant could produce water for herself and for other vessels.

Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay area and availability at her builder's yard, Amphion joined the Atlantic Fleet's service force and was homeported at Norfolk, Virginia Operating at and out of Norfolk and Newport, Rhode Island, for the first decade of her service, she provided her repair services principally on the east coast of the United States. She also deployed to Bermuda on occasion, as well as to bases in Newfoundland and the Caribbean, carrying out port visits to such places as Ciudad Trujillo, the Dominican Republic; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

During the summers of 1957 and 1958 Amphion deployed to the Mediterranean, servicing ships of the 6th Fleet and visiting ports in France, Greece, Crete, Sicily, and the Balearic Islands. Through the 1960s she operated along the Atlantic coast of the United States. In 1965, she supported naval contingency operations off the Dominican Republic; and, in 1968, she visited ports in Scotland and England.

Amphion departed Norfolk for the last time under the stars and stripes on 18 August 1971. After visiting Recife, Brazil 29 to 31 August, and Mombasa, Kenya 18 to 22 September, the repair ship reached her destination, Bandar Abbas, Iran, on 28 September. Decommissioned on 2 October 1971, Amphion was turned over to the Imperial Iranian Navy on that day. Renamed IIS Chah Bahar to honor the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, the ship was first commanded in Iranian service by Lieutenant Commander Arabshahi and based at Bandar Abbas. Purchased outright by Iran on 1 March 1977, Amphions name was stricken from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on the same date. Chah Bahar remained in service with the Iranian Navy into 1985.

As the lead ship of its class of repair ships only Amphion (AR-13) and sister ship Cadmus (AR-14) were completed. Deucalion (AR-15) and Mars (AR-16) were cancelled on August 12, 1945, while still under construction also being built at Tampa.

Sources

Amphion-class repair ships
Ships built in Tampa, Florida
1945 ships
World War II auxiliary ships of the United States
Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States
Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Imperial Iranian Navy
Auxiliary ships of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy
Iran–Iraq War naval ships of Iran

USS Amphion (AR-13)


General José Ignacio de Gorriti (1770 – 9 November 1835) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and lawyer. He was a representative to the Congress of Tucumán which on 9 July 1816 declared the Independence of Argentina.

Gorriti was born in Jujuy to Feliciana Coeto and Ignacio de Gorriti Navarro, members of the local gentry. He and his brother, Juan Ignacio de Gorriti (later a prominent priest and lawmaker), studied at the Montserrat School in Córdoba. In 1788 he entered the University of Chuquisaca, graduating in canonical and civil law. He was forced to return to Jujuy on the death of his father to look after the family and their interests. In 1802 he married Facunda Zuviría.

In 1810, following the May Revolution, Gorriti became an active and vocal supporter of the revolutionary cause. He campaigned with the Army of the North and alongside General Martín Güemes, and was subsequently elected by a grateful Salta to the Tucumán Congress, serving in 1816 for the declaration. When the Congress moved to Buenos Aires in 1817, he resigned to continue to work in Salta with Güemes. He had a distinguished role in the campaign, organising the gaucho cavalry and in 1820 won a key battle against the royalists.

Gorriti was made governor of Salta Province in 1822 and served with distinction, having a second term between 1827 and 1829. He had several further military successes both against Spanish forces and against the Federals under Juan Facundo Quiroga. Quiroga's later success, however, obliged him to go in exile to Bolivia, where he died penniless with many children.

Gorriti's daughter was Juana Manuela Gorriti, the writer, who married future Bolivian President, Manuel Isidro Belzu.

1770 births
1835 deaths
People from Jujuy Province
Argentine people of Basque descent
Argentine people of Italian descent
19th-century Argentine lawyers
Members of the Congress of Tucumán
Argentine military personnel
Governors of Salta Province
People of the Argentine War of Independence
University of Charcas alumni
18th-century Argentine lawyers

José Ignacio de Gorriti


A programming block is the arrangement of television and radio programs so that similar types of programs will air in succession. TV channels and radio stations tend to do this with the hope that it will keep viewers interested and stay tuned to the station for a longer period of time rather than leave after just one show. This is quite popular in cable TV, where they can arrange reruns into blocks to fill daytime slots where there aren't so many viewers watching. Some blocks have become so popular that they ended up getting their own channel.

Broadcasting

Programming block


Pierre Roullier (born 16 February 1954 in Rabat), is a French flautist and conductor.

Biography
Roullier first studied mathematics and philosophy. He obtained the first prize for flute unanimously at the Conservatoire de Paris, in Jean-Pierre Rampal's class. He was also first prize in chamber music, and took advanced courses in this discipline.

He was laureate of the International competition of Munich, Gaudeamus competition (Amsterdam) for contemporary classical music, and that of Martigny.

He was soloist flautist of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris from 1979 to 1988.

Since 1988, he has been leading a conductor's activity where he covers a very broad repertoire ranging from operetta to contemporary creation in places as diverse as the Opéra-Comique, the Wiener Festwochen (Austria), Radio France, the Festival d'Avignon, the Kunsthalle Bremen.

Invited by the Opéra de Nice, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, he performed in the most important venues. He conducted the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire, the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France and premiered Jean-Pierre Drouet's opera Vertiges at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. He has performed at the Angers-Nantes Opéra and the . He premiered and recorded Paul Méfano's opera Micromégas at the Festival de Radio France and Montpellier, Régis Campo's opera Hatim le Généreux at the Opéra de Besançon and Bruno Mantovani's Cantata n° 1 based on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke at the Musica Festival of Strasbourg.

His recordings cover a vast repertoire ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Tôru Takemitsu, from Beethoven to Dusapin and Strasnoy. They have received critical acclaim and prestigious awards: Académie du disque français, Académie Charles-Cros, .

External links
 Pierre Roullier on France Musique
 Pierre Roullier (la Terrasse)
 Pierre Roulier
 Biography
 Pierre Roullier (Ensemble 2e2m)
 Pierre Roullier (Festival des Arcs)
 Pierre Roulllier (Human Music)

1954 births
Living people
Musicians from Rabat
French classical flautists
French male conductors (music)
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
20th-century French conductors (music)
21st-century French conductors (music)
20th-century French male musicians
21st-century French male musicians
20th-century flautists
21st-century flautists

Pierre Roullier


José "Pepe" Sánchez (Santiago de Cuba, 19 March 1856 – 3 January 1918), was a Cuban musician, singer and composer. He is known as the father of the trova style and the creator of the Cuban bolero.

Sánchez was originally a tailor, and later the co-owner of a copper mine, and the representative in Santiago de Cuba of a cloth manufacturer in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved in upper and middle class circles in Santiago despite being a mulatto; his work as a businessman and musician brought him recognition and acceptance.

Pepe had some experience in bufo theatre, but had no formal training in music. With remarkable natural talent, he composed numbers in his head and never wrote them down. As a result, most of these numbers are now lost for ever, though some two dozen or so survive because friends and disciples wrote them down. His first bolero, Tristezas, is still remembered today. He also created advertisement jingles before radio was born. He was the model and teacher for the great trovadores who followed him: Sindo Garay, Rosendo Ruiz, Manuel Corona and Alberto Villalón.

Other works of note are Pobre artista, Rosa I, II and III, Cuando oí la expressión de tu canto, Cuba, mi patria querida, Caridad, Esperanza, Naturaleza and Himno a Maceo.

There is one modern recording of his music:
La música de Pepe Sánchez. Siboney LD–315

References

1856 births
1918 deaths
Cuban male singer-songwriters
Cuban singer-songwriters
Cuban male guitarists
19th-century Cuban male singers
20th-century Cuban male singers
19th-century guitarists
People from Spanish Cuba

Pepe Sánchez (trova)


Frederick Charles "Freddie" Herko (February 23, 1936 – October 27, 1964) was an American artist, musician, actor, dancer, choreographer and teacher.

Early life
Born in New York City, Herko's father was a diner manager and his mother was a homemaker. The family first lived on the Lower East Side, then moved to Brooklyn. When Herko was age 2, the family settled in Ossining, New York. As a child, Herko exhibited a talent for music and became a proficient pianist and flautist. Upon graduating from high school, Herko attended the Juilliard School and planned to be a concert pianist. In 1954, Herko attended a staging of Giselle and became fascinated with the Russian lead Igor Youskevitch. Herko soon decided to pursue a career as a ballet dancer. When Herko told his parents of his decision, his "macho, working-class" father became enraged and beat him.

Career
Herko soon earned a four-year scholarship to the American Ballet Theatre School (now known as the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School). He studied classical ballet under Valentina Pereyaslavec and took additional dance classes with Merce Cunningham and James Waring. In the late 1950s, he was a regular member of James Waring's dance company and danced with Katherine Litz and Aileen Passloff. He was a member of the Judson Dance Theater, contributing two pieces to the group's inaugural concert on July 6, 1962. He performed in Frank O'Hara's Love's Labor and several of Andy Warhol's early films, including Haircut (No. 1), Kiss, The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys, and Rollerskate (also known as Dance Movie).

Herko was associated with a group of habitués to Warhol's Silver Factory on 47th Street including Ondine, Rotten Rita, and Billy Name. Nicknamed "mole people" on account of their intensive speed usage and subterranean habits — "mole because they were known to be tunneling towards some greater insanity that no one but this inner circle was aware of" — members of this group performed their manias and drug routines in a life/art blurring spectacle in crash pads and stages throughout the city. They are best remembered for their roles in many of Warhol's experimental films.

Herko was a close friend of Diane di Prima, who writes of him in her biography Recollections of my Life as a Woman. She met him in 1954 as he sat on a bench in the rain in Washington Square Park. He was "crying because autumn always made him sad." Later he told di Prima that "He needed speed to push his body so he could dance the way he wanted to. He felt otherwise he didn't have a chance; he had come to dancing too late in life to make it work for him."

Di Prima describes Herko's elegiac performance For Sergio: "He arrived in black tights and a leotard, with a fierce archaic face mask painted on his face, and whispered to us to kill all the lights: house lights, stage lights, everything. I noticed he was in toe shoes. Then I stood silent, in awe of what was about to happen — something sacred and diabolical all at once. Freddie had an antique wall sconce with a mirror, the kind that used to hold a candle, and he lit the taper he had placed in it. And in that dark and suddenly silent theatre with his back to the audience, he began laboriously and slowly to go down one side aisle of the theatre, across the front below the proscenium, and up the other side. En pointe. The only music was the sound of his deliberately exaggerated and labored breathing. And the slow scraping of his toe shoes on the rough floor. The light, the flickering light of the candle reflected his painted face in the mirror in his hand...He was gone again before any of us could move."

Death
By late 1964, Herko had begun behaving erratically due to an addiction to amphetamines and was homeless.
He also suffered from pain in his ankles, impairing his ability to dance. Photographer and Factory regular Billy Name later said that he felt Herko became despondent over his inability to dance as well as he had before. He said "Freddie was a very demanding person about life. It had to be great."

On October 27, 1964, Johnny Dodd saw Herko wildly dancing on the counter at Joe's Dinette in Greenwich Village. Dodd invited Herko to his apartment a few blocks away on Cornelia Street. Dodd later said Herko told him he hadn't taken any drugs for three days. According to Dodd, after arriving at his apartment, Herko went straight into his bathroom where he drew a bath, poured a bottle of Dodd's perfume into it and began to bathe. Meanwhile, Dodd had put on a record of Mozart's Coronation Mass. Herko emerged from the bath and went into the living room where he toweled off. He then began dancing naked, and according to Dodd, "occasionally making a run toward the windows." At the time, Dodd wondered whether this was going to be the "suicide performance" that Herko had been promising his friends during the weeks prior: "It was obvious that Freddy had to do it now: The time and the place were right, the decor was right, the music was right." As the music climaxed, Herko leapt through the open window landing five flights down below.

After Herko's death, Di Prima went to Deborah Lee's apartment where some of Herko's things were stored. "She and I went through it together. Black velvet was everywhere. Many shards of mirrors. Magick wands made out of old bedposts. Feathers. Lace. Broken statuary. Scraps of fabric, or carpet. Everything thick with some dark energy. There was one whole attaché case of male pornography carefully cut out of magazines as if for use in collage. On the floor in his room, there was a book by Mary Renault, open at the page where the king leaps into the sea, where the ritual to renew the world is described. It was the closest we found to a suicide note."

Choreography

Original dances (incomplete list)
 Edge, Maidman Playhouse (March 5, 1962)
 Once or Twice a Week I Put on Sneakers To Go Uptown (July 6, 1962) at the first Judson Dance Theater Concert of Dance
 Cleanliness Event with Poo-Poo Cushion Music (June 10, 1963)
 Binghamton Birdie (June 23–24, 1963)
  Performance at 28 Bond Street (December 13–14, 1963)
  Dervish, Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery, New York (January 18, 1964)
 For Sergio [Sergio Gajardo] (March 5, 1964)
 The Palace of the Dragon Prince (May 1–2, 1964)

Performances (incomplete list)
 Love's Labor by Frank O'Hara
 All Day Dance by Deborah Hay, A Concert of Dance #7, Judson Church (June 24, 1963)
 Another Letter to the Sun (for Charles Ives) by Arlene Rothlein, A Concert of Dance #8, Judson Church (June 25, 1963)
 Fantastic Gardens by Elaine Summers (February 17–19, 1964)

Filmography
 Jill and Freddy Dancing (1963)
 Dance Movie, also known as Rollerskate (1963)
 Haircut #1 (1963)
 Haircut #2 (1963)
 Kiss (1963)
 The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys (1964)

References

External links

 Fred Herko at warholstars.org
 freddieherko.com

1936 births
1964 suicides
20th-century American male actors
American choreographers
American male ballet dancers
American male film actors
Ballet choreographers
Dancers from New York (state)
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School alumni
Juilliard School alumni
People associated with The Factory
Entertainers from Brooklyn
People from Ossining, New York
Suicides by jumping in New York City
1964 deaths
20th-century American ballet dancers

Fred Herko


Chris Grundy () co-hosts the Travel Channel's show 50/50, in which random strangers are offered the chance to join the hosts on a 50-hour trip that is worth $50,000. In order to do so, they must drop everything and that day. Grundy was previously host of the American television show Cool Tools, which ran on the DIY Network. The program introduced new tools and centered on Grundy's humorous presentation style. Grundy also hosted DIY Networks "Blog Cabin". The features and materials, inside & outside, are chosen by viewers via online voting. Grundy and other DIY hosts then renovate a cabin with the most popular features. Once the cabin is finished a lucky viewer wins it in a sweepstakes.

While he currently works as a television host, Grundy has also made notable appearances as a character actor on shows such as Andy Barker, P.I. and Help Me Help You. Grundy started his career as a performer in improv comedy groups in the Denver, Colorado, area such as Chicken Lips, Impulse Theater and Rattlebrain Theater. He moved on to perform with The Second City, and performed the lead police officer role in Throttle. In 2015, Grundy began co-hosting the Travel Channel series 50/50 with Samantha Brown.

Notable quotes
"Chris Grundy want pants too!"

References

External links
Chris Grundy at IMDB
Chris Grundy biography at DIY Network website

1967 births
Living people
American television personalities

Chris Grundy


is a 2010 Japanese film directed by Hiroaki Matsuyama. The film is a continuation of the popular Fuji Television drama series, Liar Game.

It was released in Japan on March 6, 2010 and was subsequently released in Singapore (August 12, 2010) and Hong Kong (October 7, 2010).
 Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the film will be shown in Macau, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Synopsis

Kanzaki originally withdrew from the Liar Game Tournament after the semi-finals, but receives a spot in the final due to Yokoya's withdrawal. At the location of the final stage, she reunites with fellow players from previous stages: Akiyama, Etou, and Fukunaga.

The final stage is based on the Garden of Eden. During each round, players will pick either a gold, silver or red apple to brand their name on. If only gold or silver are picked, those in the majority earn 100 million, while those in the minority lose 100 million; but if all players only choose one colour between silver and gold, they all lose 100 million. Players earn 100 million if all choose red. However, if any players choose gold or silver, those with red apples lose 100 million, while those with gold or silver earn 100 million. If only one player chooses gold or silver, that player gets 200 million. If only one player chooses red, that player loses 1 billion; any player with a debt of over 500 million is eliminated. To prevent cooperation, players cannot share the prize money with each other.

The altruistic Kanzaki urges everyone to choose red so that all will profit. The others agree, but many betray her and vote otherwise, as choosing red is risking a loss. To secure a voting majority, Fukunaga forms an alliance with Akiyama, Kanzaki, Kuji, Sendou and Takeda. However, Fukunaga promptly betrays them to join the group of the rest of the players: Etou, Igarashi, Momose, Nishida and group leader Sakamaki. Many players incur losses as the groups battle. The players again try to all choose red, but two players betray. Akiyama identifies the first as Nishida, and labels the unknown second as "X".

Due to X's machinations, Akiyama loses 1 billion and is eliminated. Takeda claims responsibility as X. Akiyama was trying to save Kanzaki from elimination, who was herself trying to save Takeda. Akiyama is brought to meet his former rival Yokoya, who declares he will pay Akiyama's debt in exchange for the final prize worth of 5 billion, whether Akiyama wins or not.

The next round, Takeda loses 1 billion due to X, but survives. She lied about being X due to the pressure of being in first place throughout the game. X takes over in first place. Akiyama returns and exposes Sendou as X. Akiyama disguises a red apple as silver, causing Sendou to lose 1 billion.

With one round to go, only Sendou is in debt, owing 200 million. Kanzaki urges Sendou to choose silver and others to choose red so that Sendou can pay his debt. Although their profits would decrease, everyone else agrees. Sendou instead chooses red because he would not listen to instruction. As a result, all players chose red. The players celebrate. Akiyama wins the game; he passes all his winnings to Yokoya, and has Yokoya pay off Sendou's debt. Yokoya returns the rest of the money to Akiyama.

Liar Game organizer Eri reveals to Kanzaki and Akiyama that the entire tournament was based on bets by wealthy investors on whether an unprecedented all-red vote would occur. With it finally happening, most investors lost their enormous bets, and Liar Game may not be held again. Kanzaki and Akiyama were specially brought in by investors betting on an all-red result. Eri congratulates the duo for defeating human greed. The duo use the prize money to repay the debts of earlier losers of the Liar Game.

Kanzaki asks Akiyama not to leave her. He asks if she can live with his lies, she says she can.

Cast
 Toda Erika as Kanzaki Nao
 Shota Matsuda as Akiyama Shinichi
 Tanabe Seiichi as Sendou Arata
 Suzuki Kosuke as Fukunaga Yuuji
 Arakawa Yoshiyoshi as Nishida Jirou
 Hamada Mari as Sakamaki Mai
 Wada Soukou as Etou Kouichi
 Akimoto Yuuki as Momose Norika
 Nagayama Kento as Kuji Satoshi
 Suzuki Kazuma as Yokoya Norihiko
 Megumi Seki as Takeda Yukina
 Kichise Michiko as Eri
 Watanabe Ikkei as Tanimura Mitsuo
 Matsumura Yuuki as Igarashi Mamoru

Release

Theatrical run
Two weeks after the launching of the film, more than one million people had gone to the theatres to watch the film. Moreover, in its opening week the film entered the Japanese box office as number two and consequently stayed in the top ten for another five weeks.

DVD release
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Japan on September 9, 2010. Blu-ray releases include a standard edition and premium edition. The premium edition contains a bonus disc with an all-cast interview, a making of (starring Toda Erika), a real Liar Game featuring twenty-eight female TV-hosts, trailers, stage event, a leaflet and three postcards.

See also
 Shi Islet

References

External links

2010 films
Japanese thriller films
2010s Japanese-language films
Live-action films based on manga
Liar Game
Films directed by Hiroaki Matsuyama
Films about fraud

Liar Game: The Final Stage


Hylda Baker (4 February 1905 – 1 May 1986) was an English comedian, actress and music hall performer. Born and brought up in Farnworth, Lancashire, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Nellie Pledge in the Granada ITV sitcom Nearest and Dearest (1968–1973) and for her role in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Early life and career
Baker was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian. At ten, Baker made her debut at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells, and continued to tour as a single variety act — singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By 14, she had started writing, producing and performing her own shows. Her stage act included a gossip from the North of England, with a silent, sullen companion named "Big Cynthia", almost always played by a man in drag (such as Victor Graham, and lastly by Matthew Kelly). Her act was full of malapropisms and catchphrases that had become part of her public persona, the most familiar being "She knows, y'know!" and, when asked the time "It's quarter past ... I must get a little hand put on this watch."

Film and television career
Baker came to national attention in BBC television's The Good Old Days in 1955. This led to her television series, Be Soon (named after another of her catchphrases), in 1957 and a supporting part in the sitcom Our House in 1960, followed by her own sitcom, The Best of Friends, in 1963.

She also appeared in films, including Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Up the Junction (1968) and the musical Oliver! (1968) based on the Lionel Bart stage original. Reisz had seen her performing her sketches at the Chiswick Empire theatre. She had a starring role in the low-budget black-and-white British comedy film She Knows Y'Know (1962). Taking its title from her catch-phrase, it is described by the BFI as a "low life comedy, unfolded against an industrial town backdrop".

Baker's highest profile role was as Nellie Pledge in the Granada Television comedy series Nearest and Dearest (1968–73). Playing her brother Eli was the comedian Jimmy Jewel and the series was centred on their characters' love-hate relationship as they tried to run their small family business, Pledge's Purer Pickles. As they bickered onscreen and traded insults such as "knocked-kneed knackered old nosebag" and "big girl's blouse", the insults continued off-screen as the two performers disliked each other intensely. A film version of the series was made by Hammer Films in 1972 (the same year she was a subject of This Is Your Life when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews). Later in the series, Baker began having trouble remembering her lines and had to rely on cue cards and prompts from her co star Madge Hindle, who would whisper her next line to her.

Baker played a virtually identical role in the LWT comedy series Not On Your Nellie (1974–75). In this series she played Nellie Pickersgill, who moves to London from the North to run her ailing father's pub. However the series was short-lived and, along with her difficulty in remembering her lines, she was also refusing to attend rehearsals. After suing the production company for an on-set injury in which she broke her leg (after slipping on beer on the set), the series ended, as did her television acting career.

Baker recreated her variety act in an episode of the BBC series The Good Old Days in 1976.

In a coda to her musical career, she teamed with Arthur Mullard in 1978 to record a comedy version of "You're the One That I Want" from the film Grease. Baker and Mullard, then aged 73 and 68, dressed in wigs and costumes similar to the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John characters from Grease and appeared on the BBC show Top of the Pops and the Granada Television music show for children Get It Together. Their version reached #22 in the UK's BBC singles chart. The two entertainers recorded an album of pop covers entitled Band on the Trot.

Her final television appearance came the same year in an episode of the BBC arts documentary show Omnibus about comedians, broadcast on 28 December 1978.

Personal life and death
Baker suffered two ectopic pregnancies which led in part to the breakdown of her marriage.

On Christmas Eve 1961, Baker was hit by a passing car that mounted the pavement in London's Charing Cross Road, not far from her home at Ridgmount Gardens in Bloomsbury. Left with a broken toe and bruising, Baker claimed she was unable to work for 34 weeks and that the accident had left her with "a waddle". She sued the driver of the vehicle for damages and loss of earnings. Baker refused a settlement offer of £4,000 and took the matter to the High Court where she was initially awarded £2,921 in 1964, but this was increased to £4,073 (plus costs) at an appeal hearing in 1965.

In 1971, Baker's chauffeur Noel Moncaster absconded with £2,500 of her cash. Moncaster was arrested three months later, by which time only £45 of the money remained, after he had used it to travel to France, Spain and Africa. At his trial, Blackpool Magistrates ordered Moncaster to pay Baker £400 (the maximum the magistrates could award) and committed him for later sentencing by Blackpool's quarter session court.

Baker lived the life of a star, dressing in furs and keeping monkeys as pets. She annoyed her neighbours with loud parties at her Blackpool home. In her 70s she developed Alzheimer's disease and in 1981 she moved to Brinsworth House, the retirement home for performers, in Twickenham, London. In 1984, she moved to a psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey, where she died two years later, aged 81, from bronchial pneumonia.

Legacy
Actress Jean Fergusson, known for appearances in Last of the Summer Wine, wrote a biography and devised and starred in a tribute show, She Knows Y' Know!, at London's Vaudeville Theatre in 1997. The show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 1998.

Fellow comedian Victoria Wood described Baker's comedic talent as "peculiarly Northern".

Alison Steadman played Baker in the play Our Hylda by Martyn Hesford, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 15 June 2017.

Filmography

Archives
The papers of Hylda Baker relating to her life and career are housed in Lancashire Archives, reference DDX 1683.

References

Further reading
Band, B. (1999) Blackpool's Comedy Greats: Local Careers of Dave Morris, Hylda Baker, Jimmy Clitheroe Bk. 2, Barry Band Publishing,
Fergusson, Jean (1997) She Knows You Know. The remarkable story of Hylda Baker. Breedon Books

External links

  from The Russell Harty Show

1905 births
1986 deaths
English stage actresses
English television actresses
English women comedians
Music hall performers
People from Farnworth
Actresses from Lancashire
20th-century British actresses
20th-century English comedians
British novelty song performers
20th-century English women
20th-century English people
Deaths from pneumonia in England
Comedians from Lancashire

Hylda Baker


The stamen is a male reproductive organ of a flower. It produces the pollen. The stamen has two parts: anther and stalk. The stalk is also called a filament.

The anther contains microsporangia. Each microsporangium contains pollen mother cells. These undergo meiosis, and produce pollen grains, which contain the male gametes (sperm).

The pollen grains are actually haploid male gametophytes.

The pollen is released by the opening of the anther. The pollen is carried by some agent (wind, or some animal) to the receptive surface of the stigma of the same or another flower. This process is known as pollination. After successful pollination, the pollen grain (immature microgametophyte) completes its development by growing a pollen tube and the two male gametes move through the pollen tube to the ovule.

References

Flowers
Plant anatomy

Stamen


The Cinematheque (legal name: Pacific Cinémathèque Pacifique), founded in 1972, is a Canadian charity and non-profit film institute, media education centre, and film exhibitor based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The organization's mission is to foster the appreciation of the art and legacy of cinema, and to advance critical thinking and thoughtful education about the impact of moving-images and screen-based media in society.

Programs and collections

The Cinematheque offers a year-round program of curated film exhibitions (more than 500 screenings annually) devoted to important classic and contemporary Canadian and world cinema, and encompassing film and moving images in their various narrative/dramatic, documentary, animated, and experimental forms. These presentations include retrospectives of important directors, significant national cinemas, and historical film movements; new Canadian and international films; revivals and restorations of masterpieces of world cinema; major international touring exhibitions; showcases of avant-garde and other artist-driven moving-image work; and guest appearances by filmmakers, film historians, and cultural critics.

The Cinematheque's public activities also include an array of educational outreach programs aimed at students, educators, and others in the community, including instruction in film history and film aesthetics and in media literacy; professional development for teachers of media arts; and film- and video-production training for children and teenagers, including in-school programs and summer movie-making camps. In addition, the organization has published a series of print and digital study guides intended for classroom use and devoted to more than thirty different topics in film history, film aesthetics, and media education, including subjects such as "Visual Storytelling and the Grammar of Filmmaking"; "Indigenous Voices in Canadian Cinema"; "Women in Film"; "The French New Wave"; and "Filmmaking by Youths with Disabilities."

The Cinematheque's collections include a Film Reference Library housing several thousand film-related books, periodicals, and other materials; and a West Coast Film Archive made up of some 2,000 motion pictures, held in 16mm and 35mm prints. The majority of titles in the archive are Canadian films. A core collection of several hundred significant British Columbian works dating from 1968 to 1978, the period of the first major wave of independent and avant-garde filmmaking in Vancouver, includes films by key West Coast film artists such as David Rimmer, Al Razutis, Byron Black, Ellie Epp, Phillip Borsoso, Sandy Wilson, Sturla Gunnarsson, Al Sens, Tom Braidwood, Peter Lipskis, and Kirk Tougas. The Cinematheque's own roots as an organization lie in the emergence of this independent film community in Vancouver.

The Cinematheque's operations, including its 153-seat cinema, administrative offices, library, and archive, are located at 1131 Howe Street in downtown Vancouver. In addition to hosting the organization's own screening activities, The Cinematheque's theatre is a host venue for several of Vancouver's largest annual film festivals, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

History

The Cinematheque was one of several Vancouver cultural organizations to emerge from the vibrant avant-garde and alternative arts scene that developed on Canada's West Coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s. An important hub of this activity was Vancouver's Intermedia Society, a multidisciplinary collective, founded in 1967, of visual, performance, and media artists, including those interested in experimental, poetic, and "personal" cinema. In 1969, the Intermedia Film Co-op, a distributor and presenter of Vancouver-made independent film, emerged as an offshoot.

In 1971, Kirk Tougas, a young Vancouver filmmaker and film programmer and member of Intermedia, was asked by Werner Aellen, the director of Intermedia, and Tony Emery, the director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, to organize regular film screenings at the Art Gallery. With further institutional support from the National Film Board of Canada and its regional director Bruce Pilgrim, this led to the founding of the Pacific Cinémathèque as "as a film museum, archive, and showcase." The organization was incorporated as a non-profit society in the Province of British Columbia in August 1972, with Tougas as its first director, a capacity in which he served until 1980.

Tony Reif, a Vancouver critic and curator of avant garde cinema, and now the owner of the Vancouver-based avant jazz record label Songlines, served as The Cinematheque's film programmer through much of the 1970s. Jeff Wall, the Vancouver artist now internationally renowned for his large-scale photo-based work, served as a film programmer in 1975–76. Tom Braidwood, the filmmaker and actor who later played Melvin Fohike, one of the three "Lone Gunmen" on the television series The X-Files and its spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, was The Cinematheque's manager in the early 1980s.

The Cinematheque was without a permanent home in its early years and used several local auditoriums for its public film screenings, including the old National Film Board of Canada theatre on West Georgia Street; the provincial government's Robson Square facility in downtown Vancouver; and the Vancouver Museum in Vanier Park on Vancouver's West Side.

In March 1986, The Cinematheque moved to its current home in the new, purpose-built Pacific Cine Centre at 1131 Howe Street, a facility developed to also house two other local film organizations, the Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society (still a co-occupant) and Canadian Filmmakers Distribution West (since relocated, and now known as Moving Images Distribution). The Cine Centre was heralded as "Canada's first cultural centre dedicated to the cinematic arts to house under one roof production and distribution facilities for independent filmmakers and exhibition facilities for the community at large."

In a notorious incident of anti-institutional artistic vandalism, on March 28, 1986, during one of the Cine Centre's official opening-week events, the filmmaker Al Razutis, while participating in a panel on experimental film practice, defaced the front wall of Cinematheque's brand-new theatre by spray painting, below the movie screen, "Avant-garde spits in the face of institutional art." This "direct action" performance was documented in the 1986 short film On the Problems of the Autonomy of Art in Bourgeois Society or... Splice, co-directed by Doug Chomyn, Scott Haynes, and Razutis.

From 1991 to 2022, The Cinematheque was led by Jim Sinclair, who held the title of Executive and artistic director. Sinclair joined the organization in 1987, was appointed its program (now artistic) director in 1988, and named its executive director in 1991. The Cinematheque is now led by Kate Ladyshewsky, executive director, and Shaun Inouye, artistic director.

The Cinematheque conducted its public activities under the name "Pacific Cinémathèque" until 2012, when it began operating publicly as, simply (and without accents), "The Cinematheque."

References

External links
 The Cinematheque - Official Website

Film organizations in Canada
Organizations based in Vancouver
Cinemas and movie theatres in Vancouver
Repertory cinemas in Canada

The Cinematheque


The Liberty Broadcasting System was a U.S. radio network of the late 1940s and early 1950s founded by Gordon McLendon, which mainly broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games, by following the action via Western Union ticker reports.  The sound effects were very realistic, and many listeners were not aware the broadcasters were not announcing the action live.  At that time some major league teams and almost all minor league baseball clubs used recreations of their road games as an economy measure.

Availability
Founded in 1948, the network was mainly in Texas and the southwest but did have nine affiliates in Oregon, an outlet in Los Angeles, Seattle, and as of September 29, 1950, WHAV in Haverhill, Massachusetts. At one time, it had about 500 radio stations on the line, being second in size only to the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Major League Baseball
It carried various types of programs (for instance, late night band remotes were another feature carried by Liberty) but McLendon, known as the "Old Scotchman", and his daily ball game recreations off the Western Union ticker provided the big money maker. The recreations used himself and future sportscasting stars such as Lindsey Nelson and Jerry Doggett.

It was a live, not recreated, game that provided McLendon and Liberty with their greatest career moment. The Scotchman himself was behind the Liberty mic at the Polo Grounds in New York on October 3, 1951, for the finale of the three-game National League play-off series between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers).

Radio was still the more popular nationwide medium then. With Russ Hodges' famous radio call limited to the Giants' network, McLendon's call is how most Americans heard the NL clincher, including Giant Bobby Thomson's ninth-inning three-run homer into the left-field stands to win it for New York. Excerpts of the McLendon broadcast were highlighted in the 2001 HBO documentary Shot Heard 'Round the World.

Rights fees
According to Time magazine articles of the era, McLendon only paid Major League Baseball $1,000.00 per year for the rights to broadcast the games, but in 1951, the leagues raised the price to $250,000.00 per year, and prohibited broadcasts in any city which had a minor league franchise and in the northeastern and midwestern United States.

Liberty baseball commentators
Bud Blattner (1950–1951)
Jerry Doggett (1950–1951)
Gordon McLendon (1949–1952)
Lindsey Nelson (1950–1951)
Don Wells
Wes Wise

Demise
Sports were the lifeblood of the Liberty Broadcasting System. Restrictions on Major League Baseball broadcasts in minor league franchise areas, as well as bans on National Football League broadcasts within a 75-mile range of league cities, were the one-two blow which ended the network. Since the baseball games were a major draw for both listeners and affiliates, the blackout was a disaster for the fledgling company, which had only posted modest profits during its first few years of operation. More than 100 stations left the network, and, faced with mounting debts, on May 16, 1952, the network ceased broadcasting.

National Basketball Association
Liberty also broadcast NBA games from roughly, the 1950-51 through 1951-52 seasons.

Commentators
Hilliard Gates
Marty Glickman
Johnny Most

Liberty Broadcasting System today
In the mid-2000s, a Spokane, Washington-based broadcaster, the Mutual Broadcasting System (not related to the former network), began using the Mutual and Liberty names on its two stations, KTRW AM 970 Spokane; and KTAC FM 93.9 Ephrata, Washington. These stations have no connections with the original network, but present adult standards, nostalgia, and some Christian programming, using these names as part of the nostalgia-style branding.

References

External links
Gordon McLendon Papers, 1917-1978, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University

Defunct radio networks in the United States
Defunct radio stations in the United States
Mass media companies established in 1948
Major League Baseball on the radio
National Basketball Association on the radio
Mass media companies disestablished in 1952
Radio_stations_disestablished_in_1952
Radio stations established in 1948

Liberty Broadcasting System