Claire Anderson has been appointed CRTC commissioner for British Columbia and Yukon, becoming the first Indigenous woman and Yukon resident to sit on the commission and only the second Indigenous appointee since 1968. Her five-year term will begin Aug. 26 Hailing from the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, Anderson is an associate lawyer at Lackowicz & Hoffman in Whitehorse. Read more here.
Ross Davies is leaving Numeris. His last day will be Aug. 31. Davies has been general manager of Numeris’ Radio division since 2012. Davies previously held programming positions with XM satellite radio and Astral Media, in addition to 23 years with the CHUM Radio Group in Toronto.
Danya Dixon has been promoted to CEO of Canadian Music Week (CMW). Dixon has been with CMW for 11 years, most recently as Vice-President of Programming. Dixon also serves as the CEO of the O’Cannabiz Conference & Expo in Toronto, launched in 2016, and shepherded the event’s expansion into Vancouver and Niagara Falls.
Andra Sheffer is set to retire from the Independent Production Fund (IPF) after 28 years as its founding CEO, on Dec. 31. Prior to her long-term sojourn at the IPF, Sheffer was the founding executive director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (1979-89). Jon Taylor will succeed Sheffer as CEO. Taylor has been on the IPF Board of Directors for the past four years and served as chair for the past two years. Taylor was formerly Vice-President of Digital Products and Strategy at Bell Media. The Montreal office of the IPF will continue under Associate Director Claire Dion – who has also been there for 28 years, with manager Joanne Duguay. In Toronto, Taylor will have the ongoing support of manager Carly McGowan and office and communications coordinator Mark Shapland.
Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) executive director Jaqueline Dupuis has announced she’ll be leaving after the 2019 festival to “pursue other professional and personal interests.” Dupuis has been with the festival the past eight years, after helming the Calgary International Film Festival for six years prior to that. She’ll act as an advisor to the VIFF board and senior leadership team as a succession plan is developed going forward.
Andrea Baillie has been promoted to editor-in-chief at The Canadian Press, becoming the first woman to helm the national wire service. Baillie succeeds Stephen Meurice, who stepped down in April. Baillie has been with CP for more than 20 years ago, the last four and a half in the managing editor role. She’s also spent time as Queen’s Park correspondent and oversaw entertainment and lifestyle for eight years.
Rob Roberts is leaving The Canadian Press to return to the National Post as editor-in-chief. Roberts was the paper’s longtime national news editor before leaving to take a senior role with CP, including a stint as Atlantic bureau chief. His first day back is Aug. 6.
Cheryl McKenzie is APTN’s new executive director of News and Current Affairs. McKenzie is Anishinaabe and Cree from the Hollow Water and Peguis First Nations in Manitoba and has been with APTN since 2001. Among her roles with the network, she helped launch APTN’s National News: Daytime, the network’s second live daily newscast as host/producer; has hosted and produced current affairs program Contact, APTN InFocus and APTN Investigates. In 2012, she started hosting the APTN National News, making history as the first Indigenous media outlet to conduct an interview with a sitting prime minister. McKenzie became the executive show producer in 2016. She succeeds Karyn Pugliese, who moves on at the end of the month after seven years at the helm of APTN National News. Pugliese is attending Harvard University in the fall as a recipient of the Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship.
Riaz Meghji has left Breakfast Television Vancouver after a decade in the host’s chair. Meghji says he’s stepping away to spend more time with his family. His last day with the show was July 19.
Joe Perkins has joined CHEK-TV Victoria as host of the station’s 6 p.m. newscast. Perkins had been a member of the CTV Vancouver Island newsroom since 2011 as weekend anchor and weekday reporter. He’d also hosted The Noon Show with Joe Perkins on CFAX 1070. Ben O’Hara-Byrne, who previously anchored the supper hour newscast, has been reassigned.
Nancy Richards, who has been with CTV Kitchener for 32 years, is leaving to join Conestoga College as an instructor full-time. Richards has been teaching part-time for the last three years. Richards has held many roles at CTV Kitchener, most recently as producer and anchor of local news updates for CTV Your Morning and anchoring the local News at Noon.
Lise Lareau has retired from CBC after 36 years as a producer for the network. Lareau also served as national president of the Canadian Media Guild from 2000-10 and more recently has been coordinator of the CMG’s Fairness in Factual TV campaign.
Matt Kwong, who has been CBC’s Washington, D.C. correspondent since 2015 is joining NPR. Kwong will continue to be based in Washington as an editor on NPR news magazine Morning Edition and podcast Up First.
Andrea Dion has joined CTV Morning Calgary. Dion, who recently departed Global Halifax, will be filling in as a traffic host for the next 18 months.
Les Palango is retiring after 43 years in radio, the last 18 as manager of Mohawk College campus station 101.5 The HAWK (CIOI-FM) Hamilton. Palango’s career has included stops at CKJD Sarnia, CJJD Hamilton, CJCL Toronto and CHML/Classic Rock Y95 Hamilton. His last day with The Hawk will be Aug. 30.
Roo Phelps is the new host of evenings across Bell Media’s EZ Rock-branded stations. Based in Kelowna, Phelps was previously co-host of the syndicated Casey Clarke Show with Roo Phelps up until May of last year.
Mark Bergman is joining The Beat 92.5 FM (CKBE-FM) Montreal as a swing announcer. Bergman was previously brand director and program director at Virgin Radio (CJFM-FM) Montreal up until this past April. He’d been with the station for 23 years.
Vanessa Ybarra is the new midday host on Pulse 107.7 FM (CISF-FM) Surrey, hosting 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. weekdays. She’s been with the station since March 2018, managing social media, coordinating remotes and filling in on-air. Prior to joining Pulse, Ybarra was a reporter and weekend anchor with CFJC-TV Kamloops and a VJ and host with Shaw TV.
David Larsen and Tony Peyton have signed off from the K96.3 (CKKO-FM) Kelowna morning show after a decade. Peyton is retiring, while Larsen is taking another on-air gig out of market. The duo previously co-hosted the SILK FM (CILK-FM) morning show with Kelly Abbott from 1994 to 2001. That on-air incarnation broke up when Peyton left to start Think Marketing and Abbott joined CHBC-TV.
Blair & RV (Blair Henatyzen and Ryan Valdron) are the new morning team on Classic Rock 98.1 (CKLO-FM) London. Valdron moves up from afternoon drive.
Matt Dips (Di Paola) has parted ways with Country 101 (CKBY-FM) Ottawa. Wendy Boomer is now hosting the show solo. Dips and Boomer had been co-hosting The Wakeup Call together since July 2017.
Ken Landers is no longer with CKBI Prince Albert after roughly three decades with the station. Most recently, Landers had been serving as program director and afternoon host.
Cora MacDonald is now hosting Saturday evenings on community station K103.7 (CKRK-FM) Kahnawake. MacDonald has previously done fill-in news for the station.
Dave Calvert is leaving Rogers Radio next month to form his own creative consultancy. Calvert has been with Rogers for the past 15 years, the last five years as Creative Manager, Radio Brand Creative, based in Toronto. Calvert has dozens of national and international awards to his credit, including Gold at the 2019 Crystals Awards and Silver at the 2019 New York Festivals Awards.
Amil Niazi has left the BBC to pursue several freelance writing projects. Niazi has been with the public broadcaster for the last year commissioning digital and short-form video content for BBC Factual Entertainment. Niazi was previously an associate editor with VICE Canada and producer with CBC’s The National.
Simon Druker has parted ways with News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Druker had been a reporter and anchor with the station since 2012.
Emily Czerwinski is doing summer fill-in at CFOX Vancouver. Czerwinski was formerly weekend host at 102.7 The Peak (CKPK-FM) Vancouver until a recent round of layoffs in June.
Tanya Vee (Lawrence), longtime traffic manager at Stingray Edmonton, is now the voice of weekday afternoon traffic on The Breeze. Vee, who has a background in theatre, has been with the station group since the early 2000s, but this is her first stint on-air.
Lindsay Macadam has joined Thunderbird Entertainment’s factual division, Great Pacific Media, as Head of Scripted Development. In the newly-created role, Macadam will focus on developing scripted television and feature film projects based on current and historical events. Macadam has more than a decade of experience on dozens of scripted projects, including developing and serving as an executive producer on Motive for CTV/NBCUI.
Philipp Schmid, has been named Chief Technology Officer for the Nautel group. In his new role, Schmid will lead research teams in the development of new technologies for broadcast, navigation, sonar and high-power RF applications. He’ll also remain active in select engineering projects. Schmid has been with Nautel for 14 years, most recently as Digital Systems Team Lead.
Robin Brudner, former EVP and General Counsel for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Wade Oosterman, vice-chair and group president at BCE, have joined the board of directors of Toronto-based global esports company OverActive Media (OAM). Bell recently acquired a minority interest in OAM and signed on as a founding marketing partner.
The Athletic and Sportsnet have suspended Montreal-based sportswriter Jonah Keri, following an alleged assault on his wife. The 44-year-old was granted bail July 19 following a court appearance. Keri is facing two counts of assault, one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of uttering death threats.
Mike De Souza is leaving the National Observer to join Global News as an investigative producer. De Souza has been managing editor of the publication since 2016.
Michael Fulmes has announced his retirement from Global News Regina effective Aug. 30. Fulmes caps a 41-year career in broadcasting that started at CKCK-TV Regina. He worked as executive producer and news director with CTV Saskatchewan before joining Global Regina in 1998. In 1999, he moved to Halifax to head up Global Maritimes before returning to the prairies as managing editor and later news director at Global Edmonton. Most recently, Fulmes had been serving as station manager and news director for Global Regina.
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