REVOLVING DOOR:
Darren Entwistle will retire on June 30 after 26 years as President & CEO of TELUS. Following a succession planning process, the Board of Directors has appointed Victor Dodig to the role, effective July 1. Dodig most recently served as President & CEO of CIBC from 2014-25 and has served on the TELUS Board of Directors as an Independent Director since 2022. He’ll join the leadership team full-time on May 1. In conjunction with his retirement, Entwistle will step down from the TELUS board June 30. He’ll continue to act as an advisor through April 2027.
Chrystia Freeland has joined Bloomberg News as a contributor. The former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance currently serves as Economic Advisor to the President of Ukraine and is the incoming CEO of the Rhodes Trust at the University of Oxford. She’ll regularly appear on Wall Street Week and other Bloomberg Television programming, offering analysis, insight, and reporting on the intersection of economics and geopolitics. She’ll also contribute essays to Bloomberg Weekend. Prior to entering public service, Freeland was a journalist and editor at the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail and Thomson Reuters Digital.
We love you, Devo! Wishing you all the success as you go worldwide exploring new opportunities in the US and Canada.
Devo’s last day with us is March 27 – and we’re soaking up every moment until then!
Share your favourite Devo memory in the comments below! pic.twitter.com/kNgVW6Lkx3
— Breakfast Television (@breakfasttv) February 12, 2026
Devo Brown has announced his departure from Citytv’s Breakfast Television to “chase (& achieve) some more dreams/goals.” His final show will be March 27. Brown has been with Rogers Sports & Media for more than 15 years, starting as an on-air personality on KiSS 92.5 FM (CKIS-FM). He joined BT in 2017.
Sergio Mourato is leaving OMNI TV after nearly nine years as a host and reporter with the channel, based in Toronto. Mourato was a journalist in Portugal, prior to arriving in the GTA in 2012 where he was a host on CIRV Radio 88.9 FM Brampton for five years.
Jace Maki is moving into the role of Supervising Network Producer for Global News. He’ll continue to be based out of the Global Edmonton newsroom with a renewed focus on national and international stories. Maki has been a producer with Global Edmonton since 2023.
Paul Awad, program director for Montreal’s The Beat 92.5 (CKBE-FM) and Rythme 105.7 (CFGL-FM), is departing Cogeco Media after 13 years and seven as PD of The Beat. Bell Media alum Patrice Croteau moves into the role.
Luke Rodriguez and Rae Kelly are now paired up in afternoons on Virgin Radio (CIDR-FM) Windsor from 2 – 7 p.m. Matt Rutherford, who had been heard in afternoons on Virgin for the last five years, moves over to middays on sister station 89X (CIMX-FM).
Mike McGuire, morning show host at 98.1 The Ranch (CKBD-FM) Lethbridge, has been released by Vista Radio. McGuire had been in the role for the last two years and with Vista since 2023, previously hosting mornings on 106.1 The Goat (CKLM-FM) Lloydminster. He’s also the host of the Celebrate Wrestling podcast.
Steve Lambert has announced his retirement from The Canadian Press (CP) at the end of May. Lambert, 60, has been a reporter with CP for 31 years. He started his career at CJCD Yellowknife, with stops at CKLQ Brandon and Sun 102 (CJDJ-FM) Saskatoon, before joining Standard Broadcast News in Edmonton covering the Alberta Legislature, and later Parliament Hill. He joined CP in 1994 as a reporter in the Halifax bureau. Lambert has spent the last 23 years with the wire service in Winnipeg as a political and general assignment reporter.
Mélanie Ratté has joined Sphere Abacus as Head of Sales – Formats, French language Programming & Content Partnerships. She joins the Sphere Media distribution arm from Montreal’s Zone3, where she had been for the past two decades, most recently as Managing Director, Creation and Business Relations.
Lori McCurdy has retired from Telefilm Canada after nearly three decades. McCurdy joined the agency in 1997, holding various roles including Investment Analyst, National industry Development Officer, and Director of Performance and Quality Management. She was appointed Feature Film Executive for the Atlantic Region in 2016.
Rene Choiselat has departed RCS to join the House of Commons Administration as Multimedia Team Lead, responsible for the lifecycle management of broadcast and multimedia technology solutions. Choiselat had been with RCS since 2016, initially as part of the Europe team, before joining the Canadian office in 2019. He’d served as Canadian Support Manager for the last four years.
Peter Tsegaye has joined Diversified as a Senior Account Executive. Tsegaye arrives from Riedel Communications, where he had been Regional Sales Manager for Canada since 2023. He’s also held roles with ES Broadcast and Imagine Communications.
Jasmin Doobay is now Vice President of the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters (BCAB). Doobay, who is helming Programming and Special Projects for Pattison Media out of Kelowna, resumes the VP role she formerly held through 2021 before relocating to Lethbridge. Nathen Sekhon, Manager of News Integration at Global BC, joins the board as a director. Nominations to the board are now open to member stations with BCAB’s Annual General Meeting to be held concurrent to the upcoming FWD conference, June 3-4.
RADIO & PODCAST:
The CRTC has launched a call for applications for FM radio stations to serve Indigenous communities in Toronto and Ottawa. The call follows the demise of First Peoples Radio’s ELMNT FM stations, which went off the air on Sept. 1 of last year. The commission’s call notes that the 95.7 FM Ottawa and 106.5 FM Toronto frequencies that ELMNT FM operated on are currently available, however “applicants may also propose alternative frequencies, where available.” Read more here.
Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released new data suggesting radio continues to reach a strong majority of Canadian listeners. Among English speakers, MTM found that traditional radio still dominates, with 70% of anglophones tuning in on at least one platform. More than half listen exclusively via traditional radio, while roughly one in five use both terrestrial and online radio. Just one per cent of respondents said they solely listen to online radio. Among French speakers, 79% tuned in on at least one platform. Read more here.
SiriusXM Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA), has announced the eight semi-finalists advancing in the 2026 SiriusXM Top of the Country competition. Following a nationwide search, these eight Canadian country artists move into the next phase of competition, heading to studios in Toronto or Vancouver to record original tracks. Canadians will then have the chance to vote to determine three finalists, with one artist ultimately named the 2026 champion and awarded the $25,000 grand prize this fall. The semi-finalists are: Blue Ridge Band – Lévis, QC; Ben Chase – St. Louis, PEI; Morgan Griffiths – Abbotsford, BC; Morgan Klaiber – Medicine Hat, AB; Shawnee Kish – Edmonton, AB; Nicolette & The Nobodies – Hamilton, ON; Catie St.Germain – Winnipeg, MB; and Josh Stumpf – Prince Albert, SK.
SiriusXM Canada has launched Everything Is Broken, a new original series hosted by musician, songwriter, and Broken Social Scene co-founder Kevin Drew. Debuting on The Verge (ch. 173), the series explores the powerful role music plays in shaping the human experience, with Drew inviting a diverse lineup of artists, creatives, and cultural figures to reflect on the music that has soundtracked their lives, helped them endure hardship, celebrate triumph, and act as a companion through life’s most defining moments. His first guest is Irish actor/producer Cillian Murphy.
The Sonar Podcast Network has shared the trailer for new podcast, Behind the Curtain. Hosted by Anastasia Pioro, the show is an insider’s look at the Toronto acting scene. The first episode drops on March 10.
Amanda Cupido, the founder of Lead Podcasting and Executive Podcast Advisor at The Walrus, has launched new podcast, Let’s Talk Thought Leadership. Among her Season 1 guests (who are all Canadian) are TV & radio host Pay Chen, former Daily Planet host Dan Riskin and author Jesse Wente, who discuss how they developed their leadership profile in their given area of expertise.
Harbinger Media Network has added three new shows to its indie podcast roster: Pivot Quebec’s Le bruit des bottes, exploring the rise of the far right; Xtra magazine LGBTQ+ pop culture pod Get Queer; and Polite Conversations, which covers religion, sexuality, culture wars and right-wing extremism from a leftist immigrant perspective.
The Echo Podcast Summit is returning to the Halifax Convention Centre on June 18. This year’s theme is community, exploring why community-driven shows are thriving, and how to build shows that build meaningful communities.
LISTEN: Kristi Lee of Canadian True Crime is on the Sound Off Podcast. Eclipsing 75 million downloads over 200 episodes, Lee discusses how she turned her obsession with true crime shows like Casefile and They Walk Among Us into her own podcast in 2016. She and Matt Cundill get real about monetizing a podcast in Canada, why she chose ACast and dynamic ad insertion, and how she’s built a small but trusted team while staying very hands-on.
OP-ED: “In Canada, we have seen hundreds of local news outlets shut down and thousands of journalists fired. These are the people who hold power to account and there are fewer and fewer every day. It was with this in mind that I watched with dismay the situation in the U.S. where the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) voted to dissolve itself after nearly 60 years last month,” writes National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA) Executive Director Barry Rooke. “My reaction wasn’t shock (although I am saddened as it produced such important shows like Sesame Street and Nova); it was confirmation that we are entering the next phase of media…Canada is not the U.S. But if we assume that difference alone protects us, we are missing the lesson and heading down the same path.” Read more here.
SIGN OFFS:
Lowell Green, 89, suddenly on Feb. 14. Green started his radio career in Brantford, followed by stops in Sudbury and Montreal, before landing at CFRA in 1960 as the station’s farm reporter. By 1966, he was hosting the long-running Greenline, developing a reputation for promoting “common sense” and his “island of sanity” as he guided listeners through the issues of the day. He briefly stepped away from radio in the 1980s – during which he founded the Ottawa Sunday Herald (predecessor to the Ottawa Sun) – returning to CFRA in 1993 with The Lowell Green Show, which he hosted until his official retirement in early 2016. He continued contributing to midday program News and Views with Rob Snow until restructuring at Bell Media in late 2019. He went on to launch podcast “The Island of Sanity” in 2020, which ran through 2022. Green’s accolades are many, including receiving an RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Read more here.
Elly Alboim, 78, on Feb. 8. The child of Polish immigrants, Alboim was raised in Montreal, earning his B.A. in Honours Sociology from McGill University and his M.Sc. in Journalism from Columbia University before joining CBC as a reporter in 1970. He went on to a more than two-decade career with the public broadcaster, the last 16 years as Parliamentary Bureau Chief for CBC-TV and Senior Producer of Live News Specials, in addition to serving as the National Political Editor. He retired from the network in 1993. Concurrently, he taught Journalism at Carleton University, starting in 1980, in addition to teaching stints in Concordia University’s Graduate Studies Program, and Government Communications at the Queen’s University School of Policy Studies. Following his journalism career, he joined Earnscliffe Strategies where he provided strategic counsel on public affairs, advising numerous politicians, including premiers and prime ministers. Alboim was a founding board member of the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and a member of the CJF Executive Committee, as well as the Journalistic Oversight Committee at the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He was recognized with a Gemini Award for his work in Special Events coverage, and nominated for four others during his time at the CBC.
TV & FILM:
Reelworld founder Tonya Williams and filmmaker James Cameron are among the recipients of the 2026 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA), Canada’s highest distinction in the performing arts. Williams and Cameron are both being celebrated for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, which recognizes artists who have made an indelible contribution to cultural life in Canada and beyond.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) has announced Mikey Dubs of Victoria, BC is as the second recipient of Misdirect: The Nick Nemeroff Comedy Grant. Now in its sophomore year, the initiative is aimed at celebrating and supporting emerging Canadian comedians who embody the spirit of late Canadian comedian, Nick Nemeroff, through a $10,000 grant intended to be utilized for their next television special, album, or another comedy-related project.
CBC has greenlit five new Canadian kids series, including at least one co-production – Stevie and the Sacred Animals (CBC original, 2027, 52×11, Eagle Vision and Sinking Ship Entertainment) – being produced in collaboration with APTN, Knowledge Network, and TELUS Independent. Additional series include Cool Indigenous Stuff (CBC original, Fall 2026, 13×6, Kejic Media), 2D animated preschool series Hartford (CBC original, 2027, 26×11, Boat Rocker Studio & Industrial Brothers), 3D animated Little Margo Stories (CBC/Radio-Canada original, Summer 2027, 50×3, Lightcatcher Media), and Olga (CBC/Radio-Canada original, 2028, 52×11, Apartment 11 and Fabrique Fantastique), a 2D animated adaptation of author and illustrator Elise Gravel’s bestselling graphic novel series. Read more here.
Crave has announced the principal cast for its first, half-hour, original drama series, YAGA, led by Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek), Clark Backo (Letterkenny), and Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry). Based on the hit play by Kat Sandler, who also serves as writer and showrunner, the Crave Original series reimagines the Slavic myth of Baba Yaga, as a contemporary mystery thriller set in a small coastal town. Produced by Front Street Pictures and Blink49 Studios in partnership with Crave, YAGA is co-directed by David Frazee and Rachel Talalay, with principal photography currently underway. The series is executive produced by Mackenzie Donaldson, Andrew Miller and Carrie-Anne Moss and produced by Charles Cooper.
Paramount+ has announced that breakout documentary The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who Has Control will premiere in Canada and the U.S. on March 6, ahead of International Women’s Day. The boundary-pushing film examines the cultural, scientific, and political battle behind the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada-approved treatment for women’s sexual desire, dubbed by the media as “female Viagra.” The film is directed by award-winning Canadian filmmaker Aisling Chin-Yee (No Ordinary Man, The Rest of Us, Plan B) and produced by Catalyst and Everywoman Studios. It marks the first project from Docs for Change, a collaboration between Catalyst, the Toronto-based studio for woman-identifying creators, and Knix Fund, the philanthropic arm of intimates brand Knix.
Stingray has launched four new channels on Pluto TV. They include ZenLIFE, Qello Concerts, TikTok Radio, and Stingray DJAZZ – joining Classica,
The Independent Production Fund (IPF) has updated eligibility criteria for the Cogeco TV Production Program, which now accepts applications for scripted television series with a running time of 30 minutes per episode, in addition to the 60‑minute format series and children’s series of any length it currently supports. IPF says the update is in response to an evolving television production landscape to make the program more accessible. In addition to the update, the program will now require all applicants to participate in a self-ID data collection process per new CRTC regulations. The application portal opens March 17.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
The Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPAs) were held Feb. 12 in Toronto, with Winnipeg’s Red River College claiming a leading five gold and one silver, followed by Legion Magazine, which won four gold and two silver. Third place went to CBC/Radio Canada with three gold and one silver. New winners this year included HR News Canada, Carleton University, The Weather Network, Les As de Auto, Canada Media Fund, Legislative Assembly of Ontario, LS Times TV. Sheridan College, U of T Magazine, Wealth Simple, Algonquin Times, Investigative Journalism Bureau, Les Affaires, and Toronto Journal. Find the full list of winners here.
The Digital Publishing Awards are calling for entries for special awards categories, including its Digital Publishing Leadership Award, honouring an individual whose career contributions to Canadian digital publishing deserve recognition and celebration. The award may recognize a writer, visual creator, designer, publisher or any other digital publishing professional who has demonstrated leadership, inspiration, creativity and achievement in one or more areas of Canadian digital publishing. The deadline to submit is Feb. 27.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
The Order of Ontario has announced 30 new appointments for 2025, including Rogers Communications’ Executive Chair Edward Rogers, sportscaster Don Cherry, former CityLine host Tracy Moore, and TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) CEO Cameron Bailey. The Order of Ontario recognizes those whose distinguished service and extraordinary achievements have helped build a stronger Ontario and Canada. Read more here.
TELUS has released unaudited results for Q4 2025. Consolidated operating revenues and other income was $5.3 billion, compared with $5.4 billion in the prior year, as higher consolidated service revenue growth was offset by lower mobile equipment revenue and other income. As compared to the same period a year ago, net income in the quarter of $290 million and Basic earnings per share (EPS) of $0.19 declined by nine per cent and 21%, respectively. These decreases were primarily driven by the after-tax impacts of a decline in Operating income and lower Financing costs. In Q4, TELUS added 377,000 net customer additions, up 49,000 over the same period last year primarily attributable to higher gross additions from customers in the transportation and connectivity industries, offset by decelerating growth in the Canadian population from slowing immigration.
The British Columbia Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) has announced that its 2026 Humanitarian Award will be shared by InspireHealth Supportive Cancer Care, the Lifesaving Society – British Columbia & Yukon Branch and Skills Canada British Columbia. For over 45 years, the BCAB has supported over 40 worthy non-profit and charitable organizations with an advertising campaign valued more than $2 million to help build their brand and awareness. Starting in March 2026 and lasting a full 12 months, the recipients’ messages will be seen and heard across all member stations.
RTDNA Canada has extended the submission deadline for its awards program until Feb. 23, in light of the tragic events in Tumbler Ridge, BC to ensure fairness for all newsrooms. Open to RTDNA members, the RTDNA Canada Awards of Excellence for 2026 will recognize the best in audio, digital, and video journalism first published in 2025. New categories this year include Excellence in Camera Work and Excellence in Writing.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
Validate, the audio attribution software that leverages radio data and a proprietary algorithm to calculate impressions, conversions and CPM, signed more than 50 new stations in January alone. They include Evanov Communications (Toronto), Hubbard Communications (Cincinnati), Connoisseur Media (Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, and San Jose), and Cox Media (Tampa and Miami). Read more here.
SMPTE, the global authority on motion-imaging technology and standards, invites technical paper submissions for the SMPTE 2026 Media Technology Summit, Nov. 16–19, 2026, at the Pasadena Convention Center. SMPTE is inviting original, unpublished submissions for peer review until May 31. Submissions must demonstrate originality, technical rigour, and relevance to emerging media and entertainment technologies. Previous published or commercial papers will not be considered. Student submissions are encouraged. Accepted authors will be invited to present at the summit.
