In an alternate universe – one without community television – Fiona Forbes is probably a lawyer.
The Vancouver broadcaster was once a student well on her way to a career in law when her father encouraged her to volunteer at a local community TV station (then Rogers, now Shaw) as a way to overcome her fear of public speaking.
That volunteer gig led to an on-air career at Shaw that’s spanned nearly two decades, the bulk of it as co-host (with Michael Eckford) of Urban Rush and The Rush, and more recently at the helm of Fiona Forbes and Where You Live. She’s conducted a staggering 30,000 interviews over the course of her award-winning broadcasting career (her favourites: John Cleese and Martin Short), and is nominated for a 2017 Leo Award for Best Host in an Information, Lifestyle or Reality Program or Series for a Burnaby-focused episode of Where You Live.
The nomination comes at a sad moment for community television in Canada. In April, Shaw announced that it would be ceasing community television operations in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton this summer, and bolstering local news coverage at Global News stations in those cities.
“I think everybody in the TV industry saw this kind of thing coming because the writing has been on the wall with the changing landscape of how people consume television,” says Forbes, who also serves as editor of Living Magazine and is developing multiple screen projects through LadyPants Productions, the burgeoning production company she founded with Mary Zilba in 2015. “We’ve kind of known something like this would happen in the past year because we’ve been paring down and haven’t been doing as much programming, so it wasn’t a shock, but it’s huge, because when did we not have a community channel?”
Still, Forbes is profoundly nostalgic as she prepares for a life without Shaw (“I imagine myself sweeping the floor like Carol Burnett,” she says) – and profoundly grateful, too, because of the people she’s met along the way. Chief among them: longtime co-host Eckford (“He and I auditioned together 20 years ago and got paired up, and he’s still one of my best buddies. I always call him the brother I never wanted.”) and Zilba, who long before she was Forbes’ BFF and business partner sang one of her pop hits on Forbes’ show.
The Leo nomination is “icing on the cake,” says Forbes. She found out about the nomination the same week Shaw announced that it would be going off the air, and so her time at Shaw is “ending on a high note,” she says. “For us to get nominated for something at the end? That’s a good way to go out.”
The Leo Awards take place June 3 and 4 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver and recognize achievements in the BC film and television industry. The Leos aren’t broadcast, but Reel People will be live-tweeting the festivities (@sabrinarmf). Check Westender.com for recaps and red carpet exclusives. Follow Fiona Forbes @FionaForbes.
