Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

The end of an an era: Betty Speed retires after 27 years

Jun 29, 2018 | 12:00 PM

A familiar face at the radio station and battlefordsNOW will soon be saying goodbye.

Betty Speed, who worked at CJNB for 27 years, is retiring today after her long career in the sales department. Betty has been the lifeblood of CJNB since she walked through the doors all those years ago, and is excited to start the next chapter in her life.

“I’m very excited,” Betty said. “My husband and I have plans to do some traveling, enjoy our home at the lake and sit back and relax for a while.”

Although she is excited, Betty said there is a lot she will miss.

“I think I’ll miss my radio family the most,” she said. “We’ve been really close, and in the sales department we’ve been together for a long time. Of course, also my clients. I’ve developed some really close relationships with my clients. It’s not that I’m not going to see them, it’s just not going to be that every day contact.”

And when asked what she was most proud of in her long career, Betty was very adamant on the community aspect of the business.

“Knowing that the company I worked for was very invested in the community,” she said. “Community has always been important and whether it was through the Dekker family that hired me, or Gordon Rawlinson and Rawlco, and of course now with Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group, their core focus is community and local and I’m pretty proud of the fact that we’ve helped many non-profit organizations, sporting events and business get their messages into the forefront.”

David Dekker, former owner and general manager of CJNB explains how he got Betty to come on board with the company.

“At the time Betty was the leading sales person over at the News Optimist,” David said. “I needed to add to my sales department, and I thought she’d be a perfect fit. I started a process in talking to her, and it took a while, but eventually she decided to join us, and the rest is history.”

Betty’s community service over the years was what David enjoyed the most about working with her..

“Betty has spent 21 years in broadcasting, and that’s quite an accomplishment,” he said. “She was extremely loyal, very supportive, excellent at building relationships — not only with clients in the community but with community groups, and did a lot of work to benefit our community.”

There are a lot of things that make Betty the great sales person that she is, but David knows why she was so integral to the success of the station, and now battlefordsNOW.com.

“She really cares, not only about doing business, and helping clients improve their business,” he said. “But also, she cares about the community and has an excellent record in community service.”

Betty wanted to send thanks to the company, the community for supporting the company and for all the friendships that she made along the way.

From all of us at the radio station, battlefordsNOW, the community, and Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group, thank you Betty for all that you’ve done, all the lives you’ve touched, and we wish you the best in your next chapter.

 

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB