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Adventures
in the World of Marketing and Communications Treks
by pack horse, as part of a Canadian Government
Topographical Survey, scaling yet unnamed
mountains, flights by float plane to remote lakes,
plus two consecutive seasons as a crew member on
the SS Keno, (below) set the stage for far-flung
adventures to come. The Steamer
Keno
was the last of a proud fleet of sparkling white
Yukon River paddle-wheelers.Trimmed in gingerbread,
with a tall yellow smokestack and bright orange
paddle wheel, is now a museum in Dawson City.
Cruising along the misty fjords of the Alaska
Panhandle and Inside Passage, from Skagway, Alaska
to Vancouver, BC and back, whet Jerry's appetite
for waterborne adventures. . Klondike
Days: Travel on the narrow-gauge 200 White Pass
& Yukon Railway, along the shoulders of
Alaska's Sawtooth Range and Trail of '98, plus
journeys on Canada's two great transcontinental
routes, fueled his interest in rail travel
(See
Adventure Rails).
Flying with Pat Callison and other bush pilots,
plus service in the Royal Canadian Air Force,
sharpened his interest in aviation. Jerry's
father, Don Bird of Seattle,
was stationed with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police in the Yukon Territory. His mother Violet
was from Vancouver. Dawson city was like a
time-capsule; a living museum from the Mark Twain
era, with relics of Gold Rush Days on every corner.
Monster gold dredges still operated on Bonanza,
Eldorado and other creeks. Arctic grayling and
salmon teemed in the rivers, lakes and tailing
ponds - and every growing boy soon learned to cope
with nature. Many of Jerry's school friends were of
native heritage, which added another dimension - an
attitude of tolerance. The
World of Media:
Jerry W. Bird's media career was launched at The
Edmonton Journal, a major daily newspaper. His
public speaking efforts began in Calgary, with
Toastmasters International, and continued with
association work and broadcast media. The creative
process, using all aspects of communications
technology excites him. Desktop and web publishing
opened up huge avenues as a self publisher and
broadcaster. Jerry has been equally inspired by
many other developments along the way, from color
lithography to award-winning audio visual
productions. This
combination of experiences became the pathway to
his launch of Air Highways Magazine in 1995, with
support from Transport Canada's Regional Director
and 30 airport managers. A dual citizen
(Canada-USA), Jerry partnered with the Africa
Travel Association in 1995 to launch Africa Travel
Magazine, whose reach is world wide thanks to its
distribution via many African host countries and a
4,000 page web site. The ATA site generates over
one million hits monthly and is #1 on Google and
Yahoo for many Africa searches. To promote the
magazines, he has organized a series of travel
industry events in Vancouver, where he is President
of ATA Canada Chapter.
Corporate
and Government Mr.
Bird's client list includes: Alaska Highway 50th
Anniversary, Alberta Treasury Branches, Holiday
Inns, Avis Rent A Car, Best Western International,
Burns Foods Group, Calgary Brewing, Calgary
Exhibition & Stampede, Carma Developers,
Cargill Inc, CGA-Canada, City of Calgary, City of
Edmonton, City of Saskatoon, Dupont Chemicals, Eli
Lily & Co, Family Life Insurance Group,
Government of Alberta, Government of Canada, Gulf
Oil Canada, Imperial Oil (Esso), May & Baker,
P. Lawson Travel, Purity 99 Gasoline, Quadrant
Developers, Sheraton Hotels, Sunny Boy Cereal,
Travel Alberta, Travelodge and University of
Calgary. In addition to the above, he has handled
numerous retail marketing projects. "With
the escalating cost of paper, a valuable forest
resource, publishers should expand their reach and
serve more readers per copy. A good magazine is a
keeper, with an extended life span, like National
Geographic which never seems to go out of date. On
the Internet, the real challenge is to cut through
the clutter and bombardment of asinine sales
pitches and empty promises." Jerry
W. Bird: Editor, Publisher, Award Winning A/V
Producer. Mr. Bird's columns have appeared in
Latitudes Magazine (Montreal), Africa Travel
Magazine, Air Highway Journal of Open Skies,
Canadian Traveller Magazine, Maturity Magazine,
Roads to Canada's Great Drives, Seattle Prime
Times, Wing Span and others |
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Profile
of Jerry W. Bird
Associations