REVOLVING DOOR:
Shaun Majumder will not be returning to This Hour Has 22 Minutes on CBC this fall due to “creative differences”. He made the announcement this past weekend at his Burlington, NL festival The Gathering. Read the full story here.
Gave Lindo has been promoted within CBC to the role of executive director of OTT programming. Lindo will spearhead OTT content strategies and work with internal teams to expand the public broadcaster’s digital presence. He’ll also oversee CBC’s slate of original digital content across platforms. Lindo previously worked for CBC in the business and rights division, before leaving to serve as executive director of the Reelworld Film Festival. He returned in late 2017 as chief of staff and director of programming. With his promotion, Jenna Bourdeau, previously executive director of OTT programming and acquisitions, moves into the role of senior director, acquisitions.
Mark Carcasole has been named the new Global News weekend anchor, effective Sept. 15. Carcasole will anchor the weekend 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts across multiple markets, including Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Peterborough, Kingston and Winnipeg. Carcasole started his broadcast career as an anchor/reporter for NewsTalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) and has been reporting for Global Toronto since 2012.
Camille Ross has been named the new co-anchor of CTV London’s CTV News At Six and CTV News At 11. Starting Sept. 10, Ross will join Julie Atchison behind the desk following the departure of veteran anchor Tara Overholt, who is relocating to Calgary to pursue other interests. Formerly weekend anchor, Ross also spent several years reporting for CTV Montreal, Global Montreal and Global Regina. She got her start as a videographer with CTV Yorkton.
CTV News Vancouver has shuffled its anchor lineup with Mi-Jung Lee and Scott Roberts the new co-anchor team for the weekday edition of CTV News at Six. Other changes see Scott Hurst become lead anchor for CTV News at Noon and CTV News at Five, Monday to Thursday, and report from the field on Fridays. Michele Brunoro will continue in her role as senior reporter Monday through Thursday, and takes over Friday anchoring duties on CTV News at Noon and CTV News at Five. Nafeesa Karim assumes the newly-created role of anchor/co-producer for the weekend editions of CTV News at Six and CTV News at 11:30. She’ll assist with managing editorial decisions for weekend newscasts, and contribute additional reports on local breaking news throughout the week. Norma Reid will host CTV News at 11:30 weeknights. The shuffle comes four months after the station parted ways with former supper-hour anchors Mike Killeen and Tamara Taggart.
Mitchell Bunda will be the incoming Chief Engineer for the Corus Radio Vancouver cluster. Bunda arrives from Harvard Broadcasting where he’s currently Chief Engineer at X92.9 (CFEX-FM) Calgary. His first day with Corus will be Oct. 1.
Big Dog 92.7 (CHBD-FM) Regina has shuffled its on-air lineup. Chase Hussey, former host of middays, joins Lindsay May on Big Dog Mornings. Brandon Hall arrives from Country 100 (CILG-FM) Moose Jaw to take over middays, while station community events coordinator Wes Jean takes on weekend hosting duties.
Melanie Adams has joined Rebel 101.7 (CIDG-FM) Ottawa as the new morning show co-host and news anchor. Joining Darryl Kornicky, the show is now dubbed Kornicky and Mel in the Morning.
Newcap Radio has done some restructuring at its Edmonton stations. The casualties include general sales manager Kelly Walters, Capital FM (CKRA-FM) afternoon drive host Shane Michaels and K-97 (CIRK-FM) midday host Melissa Wright.
Dani Rohs is joining the morning show team at Aboriginal Multi-Media Society country station CFWE-FM Edmonton. For the last four years, up until March of this year, Rohs had been hosting mornings at 92.5 Fresh FM (CKNG-FM).
Natasha Pace has left Global Halifax after nine years. As of Monday, she’s joined CTV Atlantic as a reporter.
Walter Levitt will be the incoming CEO of Ramah Darom Inc., a Jewish overnight summer camp and retreat in the North Georgia mountains. Currently president of marketing consulting company CMOish Inc., based in Toronto, Levitt has held senior marketing roles with Comedy Central, Canwest and Alliance Atlantis. He’ll join Ramah Darom later this year and relocate to Atlanta.
Eric Francis has joined Sportsnet full-time as a senior columnist and TV analyst. He’ll remain Calgary-based, focusing on the Calgary Flames and will be travelling with the team more. Francis left Postmedia in June after 28 years.
ACTRA National has named Lisa Blanchette as its new director of public policy and communications. Blanchette previously worked for ACTRA Toronto as an organizer from 2012 to 2015 and was most recently Government Relations Specialist. She also served as Chief of Staff for Alberta’s Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2015 to this past January. She replaces Elliott Anderson who has taken on a new role in the government sector.
Laura Payton, online producer for CTVNews.ca, is leaving journalism to join the Communications Security Establishment, the agency responsible for protecting government electronic information and communication networks. Payton previously worked for various outlets on Parliament Hill, including four years as an online politics writer with CBC.ca. She’d been with CTV since 2016.
Joana Vicente will be the incoming executive director and co-head of TIFF. Vicente, currently executive director of the New York-based not-for-profit Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), will assume the post Nov. 1. Together with the festival’s artistic director Cameron Bailey, Vicente will share co-head responsibilities, replacing longtime director and CEO Piers Handling who announced last year he was stepping down. Earlier this month, executive director and COO Michele Maheux announced her retirement after 30 years with the festival. Maheux’s COO responsibilities will also be absorbed into the co-head roles. Read more here.
Netflix has hired high-profile Facebook exec Rachel Whetstone to lead the company’s communications globally. Whetstone fills the role of Chief Communications Officer, which has been vacant since June, after the firing of Jonathan Friedland following his use of the N-word in meetings on two separate occasions. Whetstone joined Facebook just last year as vice-president of communications, overseeing the WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger teams, after holding the position of senior VP of Communications and Public Policy at both Uber and Google.
Kyle Duggan is leaving iPolitics after three years to join Hill Times’ publication The Wire Report. Duggan previously interned for the Hill Times back in 2014.
Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed has joined CityNews Montreal as a VJ making history as Quebec’s first hijab-wearing TV journalist. Naqvi-Mohamed is the founder of parenting blog CanadianMomEh.com, as well as a columnist for the Montreal Gazette.
Gina Kennedy, aka Gina K, is the new afternoon drive host on recently-rebranded Evanov FM Rock 105.1 (CKHY-FM) Halifax. Kennedy, who arrives from CHOM 97.7 Montreal, starts her new gig Sept. 10. She joined Bell Media Montreal just last July, where she’s been holding down weekend and swing. Prior to that, she was a host and music programmer with SiriusXM Canada.
Tracy Nagai is joining Joel Senick as co-anchor of Global Calgary’s Weekend Morning News. Nagai, who has been with the station since 2009, steps into the role vacated by Bindu Suri, who is now host of Global News at Noon.
Joe McFarland will be the new host of afternoon talk show Calgary Today on Global News Radio 770 CHQR, starting Sept. 4. McFarland has been with CHQR for the past eight years as a reporter, news anchor, and most recently as news manager. He succeeds veteran host Angela Kokott, who has been in the host’s chair since 2010, and announced she was leaving the station earlier this month.
Carole Vivier has announced she’ll retire as Manitoba Film & Music (MFM) CEO and film commissioner next June. Vivier has been with the corporation since 1985 and at its helm for the last 26 years. MFM’s board of directors, chaired by Daniel Donahue, will lead the search for Vivier’s successor.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
Marie Slaight, daughter of broadcast mogul Allan Slaight, is calling for the board of directors of troubled Toronto non-profit station JAZZ.FM (CJRT-FM) to be dissolved. Slaight, 63, runs Australian arts production company Altaire Productions and Publications. In an Aug. 17 letter to the JAZZ.FM board, leaked to the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, Slaight says the only solution is to “dissolve the board in its entirety” following allegations of bullying and misconduct made in March by a group of 13 current and former employees relating to former station CEO and president Ross Porter. Responding to the Star’s story, Slaight said the sole intention of the letter was to raise the issues and hopefully work to resolve them. “The goal was to ensure that this unique, non-profit radio station continues to serve listeners with the playing of great jazz, promoting up-and-coming talent and serving the community through education and outreach programs,” reads the statement. Slaight donated $250,000 last year to name a studio at JAZZ.FM in her father’s honour.
Garvia Bailey, former host of JAZZ.FM morning show Good Morning Toronto, is suing the station for wrongful dismissal. In her statement of claim, Bailey seeks $420,000 in damages. Bailey hosted the show from 2014, up until this past April.
Country 101.1 (CKBY-FM) Ottawa has launched a “girl-power hour” shining the spotlight on female country artists. The Rogers’ station says the weeknight program will highlight current female country stars, as well as old favourites and interview clips.
CJ104 (CJSB-FM) Swan River, MB staff have begun downtown night patrols after an anonymous threat to burn the station down, preceded by a rash of break-ins and break-in attempts. A Facebook post says staff have been patrolling the area around the station’s vehicles due to “the lack of police presence in Swan River” with at least “one member who is licensed to carry firearms.” Station owner Bill Gade says he has instructed staff to “use lethal force if necessary” to protect themselves. Swan River RCMP became aware of the post on Aug. 24, and say promoting armed vigilante activity is not acceptable.
Fairchild Calgary TV and radio host Kumar Sharma says he was the victim of a swarming attack he believes is related to his coverage of the provincial nomination race in Calgary-Falconridge. Sharma, who hosts Politics 101 on FM 94.7 (CHKF-FM), says the attack happened on Aug. 19 as he was leaving an outdoor concert. Sharma alleges he was confronted by two men who he says are supporters of Hardyal Singh Happy Mann, a United Conservative Party (UCP) nomination candidate. Calgary police are investigating. Mann, who has yet to be formally approved to run for the UCP, says he intends to start legal action against Sharma for defamation.
The Vancouver Canadians have inducted longtime SportsTalk host Dan Russell into the team’s broadcast hall of fame. Russell, 57, was the nightly voice of sports talk radio in Vancouver for nearly 30 years, most of that time on CKNW-AM Vancouver and affiliate stations throughout B.C. The longtime baseball devotee was honoured at a ceremony prior to last weekend’s game against the Boise Hawks.
The Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has delved into the podcast listening habits of anglophone Canadians, finding that 24 per cent have listened to a podcast in the past month – double the medium’s penetration in 2011. Those numbers are up from 20 per cent in the latter part of 2017, while just 12 per cent of French-speaking Canadians could say they’d recently listened to a podcast. Younger generations (18-37), affluent households and those who are university educated are more likely to appreciate the podcast medium. The data from the Podcasting Report comes primarily from the phone portion of MTM’s Spring 2018 survey.
CBC has unveiled its fall 2018 podcast slate of new and returning shows, highlighted by the fifth season of its hit true crime series Someone Knows Something, as well as a new offering featuring an 11-year-old host. Based on data from Sumo Logic, the public broadcaster says its 20 series, in genres ranging from human interest to audio fiction, are now downloaded 16 million times per month. Doubling down on its success in the true crime genre, new additions for fall include Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, an investigation into the controversial alleged cult and its leader Keith Raniere, including one woman’s journey to get out. Also new is Player’s Own Voice from CBC Sports, featuring intimate interviews with Canadian athletes. Returning favourites include The Secret Life of Canada, Other People’s Problems (Season 2), and Love Me (Season 3). Read more here.
LiveWire, Calgary’s newest online community news site, has launched an accompanying monthly radio show LiveWire-d in Calgary on University of Calgary campus station CJSW-FM. LiveWire founder Darren Krause, former editor of Metro Calgary, hosts. LiveWire also has plans to launch a new long-form podcast Sept. 4, hosted by Josh White, former advisor to Mayor Naheed Nenshi, featuring interviews with Calgary newsmakers.
The Vancouver Podcast Festival will make its debut Nov. 8-10 with three days of panels, workshops and live podcast presentations and tapings. Presented by DOXA, Vancouver’s non-profit Documentary Media Society, the theme of the inaugural event is “True Crime, True Justice.” In partnership with CBC Podcasts, the festival will bring some of its most popular offerings to Vancouver for the first time, including acclaimed series Someone Knows Something and Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, a new investigative podcast about the alleged cult. The festival will also collaborate with Kelly&Kelly, producers of hit shows This is That and This Sounds Serious, to present a one-night only improvised true crime podcast with some of the city’s most talented comedians.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
The CRTC has given itself more time to consider licence renewals for independent TV stations including Télé-Québec, CHCH Hamilton, CHEK Victoria, NTV, Yes TV, CHFD Thunder Bay and Pattison stations CKPG Prince George, CFJC Kamloops and CHAT Medicine Hat. The CRTC has granted license renewals to Hollywood Suite; Blue Ant Media channels A.Side, BBC Earth, Cottage Life, HIFI, Love Nature, Makeful, T + E and Smithsonian Channel; Canal Évasion, Knowledge Network, BBC Kids, The Rural Channel, as well as AMI-audio, AMI-tv and AMI-télé licences.
CKWS-TV Kingston is joining CHEX-TV Peterborough in rebranding its newscasts as CKWS News on Global Kingston. Both affiliates are continuing to air three daily newscasts – noon, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. – along with their existing Morning Shows. Global says staff and content at both affiliates remain unaffected by the rebrands.
Global Calgary is celebrating Pride Week with new series Pride Without Prejudice. The five-part series is hosted by Global News Morning anchor Jordan Witzel, who sat down with members of the LGBTQ community to share their stories and promote understanding, touching on subjects like discrimination, youth experience, and social change.
Global has unveiled its fall lineup, anchored by Hollywood heavyweights Dick Wolf, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Poehler, Damon Wayans Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, among others. Featuring 17 hours of simulcast, the fall premiere season kicks off with a two-night Season 2 premiere event of last winter’s break-out series 9-1-1 on Sept. 23-24. On Sept. 25, highly-anticipated, new series FBI – the latest from Emmy Award-winner Dick Wolf (Law & Order) – and New Amsterdam join the schedule. Read the full story here.
HGTV Canada and Mike Holmes are celebrating 15 years of making programming together. Since his first television series on HGTV Canada in 2003, Holmes has led nine Canadian-original series and specials, including Holmes on Homes, which had a seven season run, Best of Holmes on Homes, Holmes Inspection, Holmes Makes It Right, and Holmes + Holmes. He has also appeared in HGTV Canada’s Home To Win and Sarah Off The Grid, along with special events including Holmes In New Orleans, Mike Holmes Ultimate Garage, Lien On Me, and Holmes: Behind the Overalls. Holmes + Holmes, featuring Holmes and his son Mike Holmes Jr., returns for a second season Sunday, Oct. 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. To celebrate the partnership milestone, HGTV Canada social and digital platforms will publish a variety of anniversary-themed content, including videos of Mike and Mike Jr. competing in skill testing 15-second and 15-minute challenges; additional photo galleries and articles.
The Great Canadian Baking Show returns to CBC on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT). Season 2 of the culinary competition show is hosted by actor and writer Daniel Levy and actress Julia Chan, with acclaimed pastry chefs Bruno Feldeisen and Rochelle Adonis also returning as the series judges.
CBC has renewed all-female original sketch comedy series Baroness Von Sketch Show from Frantic Films for a fourth season (10 x 30). Created by and starring Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen, the new season will begin production in Toronto this September for launch on CBC in 2019. The renewal announcement comes just ahead of the premiere of Season 3 on CBC on Sept. 18.
CBC original series In The Making, set to premiere Sept. 21, takes viewers inside the creative process of some of Canada’s leading artists. Sean O’Neill took a sabbatical from his role as Director of Public Programs and Partnerships at the Art Gallery of Ontario to produce the series. The inaugural season follows eight artists working across the mediums of dance, theatre, visual art, and music, featuring performers like Toronto-based musician Lido Pimienta as she records her new album in Colombia. All eight episodes will be available to stream on the CBC TV app and cbc.ca/watch, with individual episodes broadcasting weekly each Friday at 8:30 p.m. (9 pm NT) on CBC.
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has announced that the second season of the award-winning Employable Me will return Friday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. ET on AMI-tv. Based on a UK format, the six-part docuseries follows job seekers with a physical disability or neurological condition as they face the job market. Season 1 of Employable Me captured a 2018 Rockie Award for Best Lifestyle Program at the Banff World Media Festival and Diversify TV’s Excellence Award for Representation of Disability in the Non-Scripted Category at MIPCOM 2017. Digital exclusives are available at AMI.ca updating viewers on where job seekers are now in their careers.
CTV has confirmed its fall premiere dates. Its 2018/2019 television season kicks off with the 70th Emmy Awards on Sept. 17. Other hotly-anticipated new series include the reboot of Magnum P.I. (Sept. 24), Roseanne spinoff The Conners (Oct. 16), new primetime talk series The Alec Baldwin Show (Oct. 14), as well as the 12th and final season of The Big Bang Theory (Sept. 24). ETALK will air 30-minute special CTV’s Big Fall Preview on Monday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO.
DHX Television has released the September schedule for its suite of channels. Family Channel sees the return of reality competition series The X Factor and Top Chef Junior; Family CHRGD offers up new animated series Mega Man: Fully Charged, while Family Jr.’s lineup includes new episodes of Polly Pocket and aspiring martial-arts style superhero Kody Kapow. See the full lineup here.
Jim Carrey’s new Showtime comedy Kidding leads CraveTV’s September streaming lineup. Carrey returns in his first series-regular role in more than two decades when the new, half-hour comedy series debuts Sunday, Sept. 9 at 10 p.m. ET. Also from Showtime – political documentary series The Circus: Inside The Wildest Political Show On Earth, which pulls back the curtain on the Trump era of presidential politics. It returns with nine new episodes starting Sept. 16. Also available starting Sept. 4, are the previous week’s episodes of the most-watched daytime soap globally, The Bold and the Beautiful, now in its 31st Season. Read more here.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has released its annual report for the 2017/18 fiscal year, saying women now hold 40 per cent of leadership positions on CMF-funded TV productions. In 2017/18, CMF funding triggered $1.4B in production activity across the country. Every $1 of CMF funding generated $4.14 in production activity – the highest leverage ratio since the CMF was created in 2010. Its funding programs contributed $342.3M to financing the development, production and promotion of 1,176 television and digital media projects.The last fiscal year also marked the launch of CMF’s YouTube channel Encore+ in November, featuring iconic Canadian films and television programs. CMF says discussions have been undertaken with existing partners Google Canada, Bell Media, Deluxe Toronto, Telefilm Canada, and others to ensure the project’s longevity.
Sadaf Foroughi’s Summer With Hope and Tracey Deer’s Beans are the next two projects that will receive funding from the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and Women in View (WIV) through CFC Features. For the first time in the program’s history, CFC Features partnered with WIV to collect filmmaker and project nominations from culturally and regionally diverse female creators, as opposed to holding an open call for submissions. A special advisory committee made up of well-respected Canadian women in film assisted with the final selections. With the support of CFC Features and program partner The Movie Network (TMN), the two films will go through script polishing and packaging next. Both projects aim to go to camera in spring and summer 2019, respectively.
ONLINE/DIGITAL:
Facebook will start charging sales tax on ads purchased through its physical offices in Canada, becoming the first technology giant to do so. The move has the potential to generate millions in revenue for government and will undoubtedly put pressure on other foreign-based streaming and digital giants like Netflix, Google and Amazon. By mid-2019, both Facebook and Instagram will charge GST as part of a previously-announced move toward a local selling structure in countries where the company has an office to support sales to local advertisers. Thus far, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken a steadfast stance against taxing foreign-based digital media, saying he doesn’t want the tax passed on to consumers. Read the full story here.
Facebook has rolled out its Watch platform globally, a year after the free platform was first launched in the U.S. The social network has been ramping up its investment in original content, with reports its planning on budgeting $1 billion (USD) over the next 12 months. Original series released on Watch include docuseries Bear Grylls: Face the Wild, talk show Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, and Canadian offerings Grade A Kitchen (5 x 10 minutes), Family of Champions (5 x 10) and Pixville Nightly (5 x 10), produced in conjunction with Blue Ant Media.
Amazon Canada says it’s doubled the number of Amazon Prime subscribers in the last 18 months. The service has introduced a monthly membership option of $7.99/mo, an alternative to the existing annual membership of $79. Prime in Canada includes unlimited access to Prime Video, access to over one million songs on Prime Music, unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos and Twitch Prime. Amazon is currently offering a 30-day free trial. Meantime, the company has hired former ESPN vice-president Marie Donoghue as VP of Sports Video as it builds the sports broadcasting side of its streaming offerings.
YouTube is about to revoke the ability to skip ads on the platform. It announced the news in a video to its Creator Insider channel entitled “Want to earn more money from ad revenue?” The move comes on the heels of Spotify’s test in Australia, allowing its users unlimited ability to skip ads, refunding advertisers who get skipped.
GENERAL:
The CRTC has launched an online survey asking Canadians about the sales practices of large telecommunications service providers, like Bell, Rogers and Telus. Canadians have until Sept. 7 to participate in the survey which is part of the CRTC’s consultation leading up to a report to government on whether misleading or aggressive retail sales practices are being used by large telecommunications service providers, their impact on consumers, and potential solutions to strengthen consumer protections. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains ordered the CRTC to investigate in June after media reports and direct complaints about misleading sales tactics. In addition to the survey, Canadians can submit an intervention until Aug. 30. Current or former sales or customer service representatives of the service providers and other stakeholders like public interest organizations or research groups are also invited to comment. Read more here.
CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin says there was no violation of policy following failure to identify a medic killed in the Gaza-Israel border conflict as a member of Hamas. The complainant, Mike Fegelman, executive director of HonestReporting Canada, wanted CBC News to add the information to the May 15 story. Musa Abuhassanin was mentioned in the context of a story about a Canadian physician he helped during a protest. Abuhassanin was shot and killed later that day. Enkin says the medic’s affiliation was not essential to the understanding of the story. As well, at the time of the publication, CBC News staff were not aware of his Hamas affiliation.
WideOrbit is being sued by a former sales executive for age discrimination. Jon P. Crossland, who was with the San Francisco-based software company for 13 years, has filed the suit in Superior Court in Washington state seeking lost pay and benefits, as well as damages for emotional distress. Crossland, who helped develop WideOrbit’s Radio division as director of sales, has retained employment litigator Judith A. Lonnquist. Prior to joining WideOrbit, Crossland worked for 12 years in sales management at CBSI and Wicks Broadcast Solutions, and before that held various radio station management roles including sales manager of the Entercom stations in Seattle.
Newcap Radio and Bell Media are coming together to host the Fredericton Strong Benefit Concert on Oct. 6, following tragic events earlier this month that left four people dead including two police officers. The all-star lineup will feature acts spanning rock, pop and country from coast-to-coast, but also shine a spotlight on East Coast talent, including Matt Mays, Matt Andersen & The Mellotones, Classified, Neon Dreams, and Tristan Horncastle. Singer/songwriter David Myles, who hails from Fredericton, will act as host and MC, in addition to support from in-market talent from Bell and Newcap stations. Proceeds from the concert will be donated to three key support services who helped those impacted immediately following the Aug. 10 shooting deaths – The Canadian Red Cross in New Brunswick, The Chalmers Foundation and The Canadian Mental Health Association of New Brunswick. Read more here.
