Telecommunications leader to receive honorary degree

Posted: May 31, 2013 5:25 p.m.

Linda Rankin graduated from the U of R with a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology. Photo: U of R Photography

“High-touch” is a once common term that has fallen out of favour, but it aptly describes Linda Rankin’s approach to life, even while she has been involved in landmark events in the high-tech world of broadcasting. Rankin’s perspective on the world has been heavily influenced by two near-death experiences: one in the early 1990s when she received a bone marrow transplant to overcome B-cell lymphoma, and another six-month period in 2012 when she was very ill.

“Those experiences are most significant,” Rankin observes, “because they forced me to live in the moment and appreciate a whole bunch of different things.” Until her first health challenge pushed her to re-order her priorities, serendipity had played a large part in her life. Attending the University of Regina was an easy choice, since all of her immediate family had gone there and her mother also taught English to international students on campus.

After graduating from the U of R with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology, Rankin literally flipped a coin to determine whether she would move east or west from Regina. The toss led her east. After working on contract assignments in Toronto and then with Bell Canada in Ottawa, chance stepped in again in the form of a job offer to join Telesat Canada, which had been established in 1969 as the country’s national satellite service. While there she moved the organization from an engineering-dominated operation to a much larger sales and marketing-oriented business. Rankin received the first Outstanding Achievement Award from the Canadian Satellite Users Association for her role in developing satellite communications, and a Gemini award for her role in bringing to air the first HDTV broadcast in Canada.

After Telesat, Rankin became the founding president of Women’s Television Network (WTN), the world’s first specialty channel for, by and about women.

“I received a phone call from a man who asked me if I’d be interested in preparing a licence application for a channel about mothers,” she recalls. “I realized it needed to be of interest to all women and reflect all areas of their lives.”

While she had an obvious affinity for the project, she had also developed an approach that showed her high-touch side. She held bonding sessions with employees to identify their common beliefs.

“A basic tenet was that we don’t lie, cheat or steal,” Rankin states. “When you see stories of corporate wrongdoing today, you see how fundamental these basic tenets are.”

Since the successful launch of WTN, Rankin has continued to forge ahead in the area of satellite broadcasting, with both successes and setbacks. A broadcast licence for the Green Channel was granted in 2001, but without full financing, for now, the digital channel is limited to over-the-internet transmission at www.ecology.com. Rankin is also vice-president, Corporate Development, for a company that is developing FreeHD, a more flexible alternative to the way providers currently offer HD movies and other programming.

“It used to be a little easier to find the financing,” Rankin explains, “but now most of the broadcasting industry in Canada is dominated by two or three conglomerates.”

The U of R has recognized Rankin in the past as an outstanding alumna, but when she received the phone call informing her that she was to receive an honorary degree, she admits there was “a long, stunned silence as thoughts of ‘Why me?’” danced in her head. Looking back, Rankin affirms that she couldn’t have achieved what she did without her background in psychology and sociology.

“The classes at the U of R were small, and the learning experiences were so good, so intense,” she recalls. “I remember profs treating us like adults and showing that they wanted to learn more, which made you want to know more for the rest of your life.”

Although much of her career has been spent in the business of bouncing digital signals between the Earth and orbiting satellites, Rankin insists she’s still a prairie girl at home in Sharon Butala’s rural Saskatchewan and Gail Bowen’s Regina. And, yes, she remains a proud Rider fan. With plenty of family members still living in the province, and two grade school classmates coming from Calgary, the honorary degree ceremony provides an opportunity for an extended reunion in the days leading up to it. “I am so blessed,” Rankin says.      

Rankin will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa during Spring Convocation.