The ECOreport was launched, as an international news website, in December 2013. The website was given a more local focus and registered the domain name ‘Cortes Currents’ on February 27, 2019.
Cortes Currents website
Cortes Currents initially used a variety of tracking devices until settling on Google Analytics in Feb 28, 2019.
When Google Analytics organizes user data according to cities, a number of rural areas are ‘not set.’ Much of CKTZ’s rural listening area appears to fall within the largest ‘not set’ area, which I am calling Rural Area #1. While Cortes Island appears to be in it, the numbers suggest so does a much wider swath of our listening area. I suspect it includes rural areas outside the city limits of Campbell River, Comox and the northern coastal area of qathet.
Early Years (2014 – 2018)
Most of my leading posts were reposts on larger websites. Top 3 articles:
- 143,641 views – The US can nearly quadruple its renewable electricity by 2023 (only 661 views on the ECOreport, the remainder were on Clean Technica.)
- 138,020 views – Germany Leads the world in Energy Efficiency (only 679 views on the ECOreport, the remainder were on Clean Technica)
- 12,352 views – What Happened to Energiewende? (only 124 views on the ECOreport, there rest were PVSolar report and Clean Technica)
Top 3 articles exclusive to the ECOreport:
- 9,734 views – Germany’s Bears, Wolves and Eagles (2016)
- 4,047 views – Clearcutting 1,00 year old trees in the Walbran (2016)
- 3,953 views – We are eating ‘drilling and fracking waste’ (2015)
- 2,492 views – Potential for a four way race (2015)
- 1,947 views – Visiting Phillips Arm Salmon Farm (2016)
2019
This version of Google Analytics goes back to Feb 28, 2019. In the following 10 months 11,251 people visited the website once and 1,532 returned. I do not have the statistics to calculate how many were regular users, only that they came 5,228 times. Top 3 locations: (1) CKTZ’s Listening Area – 19.83%. This breaks down into ‘not set’ area #1 (a much broader area that includes Cortes Island) – (12.12%) 80 return and 1,378 new users; Campbell River – (6,75%) 52 return and 761 new users; Powell River (0.74%) 2 return and 87 new users; Comox – (0.22%) 3 return and 24 new users. (2) Vancouver – (9.97%) 138 return and 1,061 new visitors. (3) Richmond, BC – (3.74%) 66 return and 384 new visitors
Top posts during the 10 months from 2019:
- 1,613 views – Germany’s Bears, Wolves and Eagles (2016)
- 526 views – Poll finds 92% of British Columbians want Old Growth Forests Protected
- 345 views – Mark de Bruijn, Green candidate for Powell River- North Island
2020
In 2020, I switched back to the calculator that comes with Jetpack on Feb 10. My only records from this period are an aggregate count ending on Dec 31, 2020:
- (2016-20) 48,675 views – Germany’s Bears, Wolves and Eagles
- (2019-20) 32,291 views – Canada’s National Debt
- (2020) 15,874 views – Local COVID data from the BC Centre for Disease Control
- (2020) 10,555 views – Will there be a Federal Election in 2021?
- (2020) 8,258 views – Cortes going into slowdown
- (2020) 7,184 views – Controversy over lack of summer rentals
- (2019-2020) 6,946 views – Marine Weather Stations Offline
- (2020) 5,451 views – COVID cases in our area
- (2015-2020) 4,978 views – Vancouver’s new permits discourage rooftop solar
- (2020) 4,949 views – Ways to reduce COVID’s impact
- (2020) 4,900 views – Two Wheels Good, e-bikes on Cortes Island
2021
I switched back to Google Analytics on May 21, 2021. In the little more than 7 months that followed, 32, 888 people visited Cortes Currents and 4,028 returned to see more. 2,014 came more than 26 times and 327 came more than 200 times.
This graph was compiled using data from two tally systems
Some top posts in 2021, in terms of views:
- 3,277 views – Campbell River RCMP may have gunned down an innocent man
- 2,441 views – Germany’s Bears, Wolves and Eagles(2016)
- 1,467 Views – Canada’s National Debt (2019)
- 1,182 views – Telus wants to put up 5 communication towers
- 1,036 views – (Campbell River Mirror repost) Fairy Creek Protesters release video
- 1,030 views – 75% cut to Cortes Ambulance Service
- 758 – Two year old grizzly on Quadra Island
- 531 views – Agarikon : an old-growth mushroom, possibly the key to fighting future pandemics
- 520 views – (National Observer repost) Tide to Table, a Quadra company’s response to COVID (2020)
- 513 views – BC Ferries don’t take cash (2020)
2022
43,998 people visited Cortes Currents and 6,531 were returning users. 4,440 came at least 26 times and 1,042 came more than 200 times.
The top 3 locations were: (1) CKTZ’s listening area- 6,154 (23.86%) This breaks down into: ‘Rural Areas’ – 4,253 (16.49%), Campbell River – 1,594 (6.18%), Powell River – 254 (0.98), Comox 53 (0.21%) (2) Vancouver – 2,941 (11.40%), (3) Gibsons – 1,235 (4.79%)
Top posts in 2022, in terms of views
- 1,596 views – Germany’s Bears Wolves & Eagles (2016)
- 611 views – Federal Budget: the forgotten seniors aged 65-74
- 519 views – (Public Letter) the Dark side of VIHA, Vancouver Island Health Authority
- 501 views – Cortes Island fibre project underway
- 475 views – Vessels of Concern, signs of the Times (2020)
- 466 views – The Passion behind Wild Water Adventures
- 424 views – What can Cortes Island do with its abandoned boats?
- 424 views – Farewell to Trudes Cafe
- 339 views – Paul Stamet’s anti-dote for colony collapse disorder (2019)
- 320 views – Connecting Cortes to Lund and Beyond
2023
20,820 people have visited Cortes Currents during the first six months of 2023 and 3,101 of these have been ‘returning visitors.’ 2,825 have visited the website at least 15 times, 2,078 at least 26 times and 465 came more than 200 times.
The top 4 locations were (1) CKTZ’s listening area- 5,206 (23.73%) This breaks down into: ‘Rural Areas’ – 3,544 (16.06%), Campbell River – 1,443 (6.54%), Powell River – 201 (0.91%), Comox 53 (0.21%) (2) Vancouver – 2,364 (11.93%), (3) Surrey – 768 (3.48%) (4) Gibsons – 752 (3.41%)
Top posts during the first 6 months of 2023:
- 684 views – Germanys Bears Wolves & Eagles (2016)
- 683 views – Changes coming to local BC Ferries
- 584 views – (National Observer repost) BC Islanders bid adieu to their Queen who has reigned for nearly 60 years
- 496 views – Canada’s National Debt (2019)
- 407 views – (CKTZ News repost) RCMP investigating after woman was found dead on Quadra Island, say it was ‘targeted,’ but ‘isolated’
- 396 views – Cortes Island Fire Department: Two opposing risk assessments
- 392 views – Seafest returning to Squirrel Cove Saturday, May 20
- 388 views – Mudslide Behind Campbell River Beach Condos
- 348 views – Vessels of Concern, Sign of the times (2020)
- 277 views – Telus started construction on Cortes Island
Under Google G4A
A new version of Google Analytics (G4A) took effect on July 1, 2023. One of the immediate effects is the biggest ‘Not Set’ area under the old system has been broken up. Instead of a huge undefined area which seemed to be within our broadcast area, the biggest ‘Not Set’ now appears to consist of Cortes Island (and possibly some of the surrounding area). (This identification is supported by the analytics from our podcast system, which identified the #1 location of its users as Mansons Landing – see following). G4A will only process data as far back as October 2022:
The obvious gain is being able to track what appear to be Cortes Island residents (and possibly some people from the surrounding area). The loss is that I may no longer be able to identify 500-600 of our monthly viewers from within the CKTZ broadcast area.
Cortes Currents on CKTZ 89.5 FM radio
Cortes Currents (originally called The ECOreport) was a weekly radio program on CKTZ 89.5 FM from July 8, 2014 until Aug 19, 2020. We switched to daily broadcasts, Mon to Fri, on Monday, Aug 24, 2020.
SoundCloud Podcasts
Our primary podcast system is Soundcloud, where the number of plays have been:
- In 2016 (weekly broadcasts) 937 plays including:
- Vancouver – 75
- Campbell River – 61,
- Heriot Bay – 36,
- Victoria – 28
- (another location from our broadcast area to note) Mansons Landing – 10
- In 2017 (weekly broadcasts) 898 Plays, including :
- Mountain VIew, California – 94
- Vancouver – 68
- Victoria – 50
- (and within CKTZ’s broadcast area) Campbell River – 41
- Mansons Landing – 20
- Powell River – 3
- In 2018 (weekly broadcasts) – 1420 plays including:
- Kamloops – 170
- Vancouver – 99
- Mansons Landing – 79
- Campbell River – 62
- Powell River – 22
- Heriot Bay – 9
- Comox – 6
- Quathiaski Cove – 6
- in 2019 (weekly broadcasts) – 3,416 plays – The top 3 locations were
- (1) Campbell River (348 plays),
- (2) Mansons Landing (263 plays) and
- (3)Vancouver (257 plays).
- Other locations area in the CKTZ FM radio listening area:
- Heriot Bay (97 plays),
- Quathiaski Cove (36 plays),
- Powell River (30 plays),
- Comox (16 plays)
- in 2020 (switch to local daily stories mid-year) – 7,423 plays (averaging 619 plays mo)– the top 3 locations were
- (1) Mansons Landing (1,025 plays),
- (2) Columbus, Ohio (525 plays),
- (3) Campbell River (365 plays)
- Other locations in the CKTZ FM radio listening area: Powell River (116 plays),
- Heriot Bay (32 plays),
- Quathiaski Cove (21 plays),
- Lund (19 plays),
- Whaletown (17 plays),
- Comox (15 plays)
- in 2021 (Daily) – 13,899 (1,158 plays a mo). – the top 3 locations were
- (1) Mansons Landing (1,556 plays),
- (2) Columbus, Ohio (1.382 plays),
- (3) Clifton (New Jersey?) (1,039 pays).
- Other locations in the CKTZ FM radio listening area: Campbell River (559 plays),
- Quathiaski Cove (90 plays),
- Lund (62 plays),
- Powell River (51 plays),
- Heriot Bay (49 plays),
- Comox (35 plays)
- in 2022 (Daily) – 12,559 (averaging 1,047 plays mo.) – the 3 top locations were
- Mansons Landing (2,012 plays),
- Columbus, Ohio (1,815 plays),
- Vancouver (1,583 plays).
- Other locations in the CKTZ FM radio listening area: Campbell River (539 plays),
- Heriot Bay (122 plays),
- Quathiaski Cove (94 plays),
- Powell River (82 plays).
- Comox (29 plays).
- First half of 2023 (Jan to Jun): 11,769 plays (averaging 1,961 plays mo). The top 3 locations were:
- (1) Mansons Landing (2,658),
- (2) Columbus, Ohio (1,347 plays),
- (3) Vancouver (769 plays).
- Other locations in the CKTZ FM listening area:
- Campbell River (152 plays),
- Whaletown (35 plays),
- Powell River (30 plays),
- Heriot Bay (24 plays)
Top image: Feature image for German Forest by Bartosz Makara via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)