The KLW Christmas special is here, complete with a visit from Santa Claus and Buddy the Elf, who field video questions from children across B.C. Why is the big guy’s tummy so fat? Can he deliver an army full of nutcrackers? Does Buddy still sing with Josie? How do the reindeers fly? We get all the answers at the 20:59 mark. We’re also joined [at 59:12] in our KLW on the Blazers segment by Kamloopsian Dylan Sydor, who talks Christmas and hockey and takes a video question from superfan Mason. Co-host Christopher Foulds brings us into the spirit with a reading [1:15:15] of Yes, Virgina, there is a Santa Claus. We can’t thank our sponsors — McDonald’s, Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre, Volkswagen of Kamloops, Maca Ranch and the Blazers — enough for their support in 2023. Find the weekly sponsorship improv at 16:45 and our weekly tour of Maca Ranch at 13:18. To advertise on KLW, email [email protected]. We have breached the 540-subscriber mark and are on the way to 600. Join the #LastWeekClique by subscribing on YouTube or following via your favourite podcast provider :) We’ll see you Last Week.

Kamloops Last Week welcomes CFJC and Castanet into the bowels of Lee’s Music in Episode 120 for the debut of a brand new segment — the Last Week Media Clique (26:57). James Peters, news director for CFJC, and Kristen Holliday, regional editor for Castanet Kamloops, join KLW co-hosts Chris Foulds and Marty Hastings to discuss local news. Topics include city council’s decision to decline asking the provincial government to do a third-party review of BC Housing-related shelters/social housing in the city (Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson wants a review), congestion on Landsdowne Street, Build Kamloops and the potential 10.8 per cent tax hike. We also interview Brant Zwicker (48:30), who was recently honoured with the Toronto Blues Society Blues Booster of the Year Award. Zwicker is longtime host, producer and writer of syndicated radio program At the Crossroads. Hastings drops by the Fulton Cup press conference (1:00:25) to speak to high school basketball players ahead of the city championship tournament, which gets underway on Dec. 20 at the TCC. Longtime lead organizer Will Blair is handing the reins to Sean Garvey, who is planning to introduce a half-court-shot competition, with the winner receiving a new car. Chris Throness, lead pastor at Kamloops Alliance Church, hops in (1:09:13) to discuss the extreme weather shelter and a potential church plant in Sun Peaks, where two Christmas Eve services will be held later this month. We head to the Blue Grotto on our sponsorship improv trip (23:15), along with Volkswagen of Kamloops, Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre and McDonald’s. Thanks also to the Kamloops Blazers and Maca Ranch for their support. At 16:59, we order in good, clean food from Maca Ranch. We are heading toward 600 subscribers on YouTube. Follow us there and listen via your favourite podcast provider. We’ll see you Last Week.

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson [52:15] and coun. Dale Bass [26:20] hop in for a spirited edition of Kamloops Last Week. Among topics are the defeated Lansdowne Street multi-use pathway proposal, council staying the course on garbage pickup dates in December, coun. Mike O’Reilly’s assertion that Hamer-Jackson created an unsafe working environment for city employees by mentioning a staffer by name during the Tuesday, Dec. 5, council meeting, Bill 45 and coun. Katie Neustaeter, among others, asking the mayor to provide more advanced notice to council/staff after his request for an update on a motion. Bass, a Thompson-Nicola Regional district director, is asked about the TNRD board voting to give itself a raise and whether the timing was right. Also, she says there is no getting around rising property-tax rates in the city, blaming past councils for the dilemma, and suggests the mayor was attempting to have a gotcha moment and embarrass a staff member during council on Tuesday. We also hear from Bass about some of council’s accomplishments and why she is looking forward to the next three years. In the Tattle of Hastings [1:14:11], co-host Marty Hastings delves into the motor-vehicle accident last week in Kamloops that took the life of one TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball player (Owyn McInnis) and left two others critically injured (Owen Waterhouse and Riley Brinnen). Hastings visited the memorial site set up for those involved in the crash with the South Kamloops Titans’ senior boys’ volleyball team, which won the B.C. championship last weekend and dedicated the victory to McInnis, who helped coach their team. We hear from the Titans. Also discussed on the show: Apocalypse Now, gondolas in Kamloops, the Summit Drive overpass, the hot turkey sandwich at Bailey’s Pub, Takeout Tuesday at Senior Froggy, Tal Bachman agreeing to come on our show and the developing Mike Miltimore Trade Agreement. We tease a new segment that will debut next week, with Kamloops media members — including representatives from Castanet Kamloops and CFJC — set to join KLW for panel discussions on a monthly basis. The KLW sponsorship improv session [21:02] takes the #LastWeekClique on a trip to St. Albert, Alta., with help from Volkswagen of Kamloops, Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre and McDonald’s. We discuss the good, clean food at Maca Ranch [14:27], the Turtle Valley farm that delivers beef, pork, chicken and lamb to Kamloops. Support the independent business by shopping online at macaranch.ca and email questions to [email protected]. Subscribe to KLW on YouTube and listen via your favourite podcast provider. We’ll see you Last Week.

Amid concerns over a potential property tax hike of nearly 11 per cent, City of Kamloops corporate services director David Hallinan hops in [at the 16:12 mark] with Kamloops Last Week to discuss the issue. In our brand new segment — KLW on the Blazers [36:34] — we welcome Missy Cederholm to the show to talk about the club’s upcoming Teddy Bear Toss Night, which is slated for Friday, Dec. 1, at Sandman Centre. Cederholm gets a chance to win McDonald’s GCs by pelting Showmaster Magic Mike Miltimore with stuffed animals [44:20]. The Blazers have secured a monthly slot on our show and we can’t thank them enough for their support. Email [email protected] to book a spot on KLW. Co-host Marty Hastings breaks down the Fraser Minten trade [47:31] and takes issue [56:09] with Damien Cox’s take on mid-season trades in the WHL. Miltimore tries to spearhead [26:34] the Mike Miltimore Trade Agreement, recruiting Hallinan to get on board with a plan to help local businesses on the procurement front in Kamloops. Why the severe tax hike? Will we ever get back to the two-per-cent range? Why does it appear that Kamloops has higher tax rates than other similar-size cities in B.C.? We ask Hallinan those questions. He also talks of challenges this year in the city finance department and goals for the future. Foulds takes aim [1:00:11] at the TRU pedestrian overpass and advocates [1:02:50] for a gondola from the South Shore to the North Shore. We can’t do our show without the good folks at Maca Ranch, which believes in happy animals [7:00] and good, clean food — including beef, pork and lamb. They deliver to Kamloops. Find them online at macaranch.ca. And what would we do without our three longtime sponsors, — Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre, McDonald’s and Volkswagen of Kamloops? What an amazing journey we had with them in our sponsorship improv [12:38], which sees bamboozled Foulds flummoxed and unable to comprehend the unbelievably low rates at Volkswagen. Subscribe to KLW on YouTube and follow along through your favourite podcast provider. We’ll see you Last Week.

Fraser Minten was named captain of the Kamloops Blazers on Nov. 2. He was traded to the Saskatoon Blades on Nov. 24. Minten checked in with Kamloops Last Week from Kennewick, Wash., on Monday, Nov. 27, to recap a whirlwind period of his life, talk about the shock of the timing of the trade and reflect on his time with the Blazers.

Kelson Group multi-building-development City Gardens is changing the complexion of Downtown Kamloops. Brendan Shaw, real estate agent for the development's Trillium Tower, hops in [at 40:25] for an interview in Episode 117 of Kamloops Last Week. We're also joined by Kamloops city councillor Bill Sarai [21:53], who talks winter garbage collection unrest, water-rate-hike consternation and taking issue with Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's ideas on grant funding. Co-host Chris Foulds speaks of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (as one does) and recaps the struggles faced by Kamloops Heritage Railway, which relayed concerns on Wednesday at the city council meeting. Showmaster Magic Mike Miltimore takes issue with rising utility rates and the city's procurement process. We can't do our show without our beloved sponsorship team, which includes Volkswagen of Kamloops, McDonald's, Gord's Appliance and Mattress Centre and Maca Ranch. Find our sponsorship improv session at 18:25 and check out the good, clean affordable food produced by Maca Ranch (they deliver to Kamloops) at 8:52. We're experiencing exciting growth on YouTube, with more than 500 subscribers, and can be found on Instagram and Facebook. You can also follow along through your favourite podcast provider. To advertise on our show (join the #LastWeekClique), email co-host Marty Hastings at [email protected]. We'll see you Last Week.

Episode 116 of Kamloops Last Week features talk [at the 17:11 mark] of the potential release of an investigation into Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and an interview [29:23] with a pair of TRU WolfPack basketball players, Kelsey Cruz and Denys Bachurin. Concern over winter garbage pickup in the city is addressed. Also, co-host Chris Foulds experiences scrutiny — in his segment, Foulderdash, at the 5:58 mark — for turning off the TV during a CFL post-season game that featured his beloved B.C. Lions. We welcome Maca Ranch [14:35] to the #LastWeekCliqueSponsorshipConsortium, which includes our beloved backers Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre, McDonald’s and Volkswagen of Kamloops. Join us on our weekly sponsorship improv adventure at 25:04. Subscribe to KLW on YouTube and follow along with your favourite podcast provider. Email us at [email protected] to advertise on KLW. We’ll see you Last Week.

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospect Fraser Minten join us for Episode 114 of Kamloops Last Week. In Reider’s Digest [at the 13:46 mark], Hamer-Jackson — who was sworn in as mayor on Nov. 1, 2022 — reflects on one year on the job, saying he has no regrets. Hamer-Jackson talks of the political game, his belief that some still don’t respect the result of the mayoral election, leakers, his accomplishments, discord and togetherness on council, rising costs, homelessness, the Northbridge Hotel, the most recent point-in-time count, prime rib and Kraft Dinner. Minten [53:28] discusses his time with the Maple Leafs, living with John Tavares and playing mini-sticks with his kids, dressing up as a cowboy for the Leafs’ rookie dinner and air travel and fancy hotels. He also provides an honest assessment of the Blazers’ season thus far and talks of his hopes to don the Maple Leaf for the World Junior Hockey Championship. Episode 114 marks our first as our own business, outside of the Kamloops This Week umbrella. We are able to continue on, with plans to expand, thanks to our loyal sponsors — Volkswagen of Kamloops, McDonald’s and Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre. They joined us for our sponsorship improv session [10:22], which brought us to the Potestio home on the North Shore to can tomatoes. Subscribe to KLW on YouTube and your favourite podcast provider. We’ll see you Last Week.

Join us in grieving the loss of Kamloops This Week. We’re joined by five guests who are either current or former KTW employees — Kelly Hall, Dale Bass, Jessica Wallace, Michael Potestio and Dave (The Hawk) Eagles — on this emotional offering of Kamloops Last Week. The paper has meant so much to so many people. We share memories, laughter and tears in a salute to KTW. Bass and Hall lead the way at 20:27, Eagles and Wallace hop in at 40:38 and Potestio joins us at 1:09.10. Co-hosts Christopher Foulds and Marty Hastings lead off and bring things home, along with showmaster Magic Mike Miltimore of Lee's Music and Riversong Guitars. We can’t do KLW without our beloved #LastWeekCliqueSponsorshipConsortium of McDonald’s, Gord’s Appliance and Mattress Centre and Volkswagen of Kamloops, each of which are involved in our weekly sponsorship improv session. Thanks Terry Lowe, Brandy Sekhon and Steve Rodgers for your support. We’ll see you Last Week.

Kamloops This Week newspaper will close for good on Oct. 30, 2023. CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton spoke to Marty Hastings of KTW about the end of an era. Kamloops will be without a newspaper for the first time since 1884.