REVOLVING DOOR:
Red Robinson is hanging up his headphones, after 64 years. The legendary Vancouver disc jockey has his last shift at CISL-AM on Aug. 27, as the station prepares for the Rogers’ ownership change that will see it rebranded to Sportsnet 650. Red, who celebrated his 80th birthday on Mar. 30, started spinning 45s at age 16 on CJOR-AM Vancouver in 1954. He was one of the first Canadian DJs to play Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and other Rock n’ Roll artists on a regular basis. He went on to DJ and host at CKWX-AM Vancouver, KGW/KGW-TV Portland, CFUN-AM Vancouver, CBC-TV Vancouver, and hosted multiple programs on KVOS-TV Bellingham, including Red’s Classic Theater. Robinson was the longtime morning show host at CISL 650 from 1993-2000, returning to host a Sunday oldies show. Among Robinson’s many awards and inductions, he was named BCAB Broadcast Performer of the Year in 1969; a Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Pioneer DJ (1994); CAB Hall of Fame (1977); Rockabilly Hall of Fame (2000); and has a star on the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Starwalk. He was appointed to the Order of British Columbia in 2016.
Steve Darling, James Cybulski and Mira Laurence will co-host the new Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM) Vancouver morning show, starting Sept. 4. Sportsnet’s Starting Lineup with Cybulski, Darling and Laurence will air Monday to Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. PT. Cybulski is a former bureau chief for The Score, and most recently worked with News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Steve Darling is the former longtime anchor of the Global BC Morning News, while veteran sportscaster Mira Laurence’s resume includes 10 years as head of the sports department for CTV Vancouver Island.
Carol Darling has been named director of the Tbaytel Municipal Service Board in Thunder Bay, ON. Darling is the former VP of engineering and broadcast systems at Shaw Media and SVP engineering & technical services at Canwest Broadcasting. She also served as executive director of the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA).
Robert Wagenaar aka Tootall will sign off on Sept. 29 after 40 years with CHOM 97.7 FM Montreal. Tootall was the host of Made In Canada for many years, one of the only commercial radio shows dedicated to profiling and exposing homegrown artists. He currently hosts middays, including his signature noon-hour show Made To Order. He is the last active announcer to start in CHOM’s original brownstone home at 1355 Greene Avenue.
Teresa Laynes is out as PD of Star FM (CKSR-FM) Chilliwack. Laynes had been with Rogers since 2001 and program director since 2012. Rogers also tells Broadcast Dialogue that Star FM will be relocating into a temporary studio in Abbotsford, starting Monday, while new studios are built in Chilliwack. Rob Michaels, PD at sister station Ocean 98.5 (CIOC-FM) Victoria is assuming PD responsibilities for Star FM in the interim.
Denyse Sibley is leaving radio, after more than 35 years on the Nova Scotia airwaves, for an opportunity with the federal government. Sibley started her career at CHNS-FM Halifax in 1981, moving on to host at CKCL-AM and CKTO-FM Truro. For most of the last three decades, she’s been with MBS Radio, hosting mornings on FX 101.9 (CHFX-FM), and most recently The Wave 88.9 (CHNS-FM). Sibley will be continuing her work as an emcee and tour escort.
Golden West Broadcasting has made several internal appointments. Laverne Siemens is now vice-president, Engineering. Wendy Friesen is appointed VP of Finance, while Carter Friesen is now vice-president, Corporate Development. In addition to his role overseeing Northwestern Ontario, Friesen will be responsible for developing new growth opportunities for Golden West.
Pat Kerr, PD at 103.7 BOB-FM (CJPT-FM) and 104.9 JRfm (CFJR-FM) Brockville, ON, is leaving radio for a communications position with the Canadian Forces. Kerr had been with Bell Media Brockville since 2009 and in the role of program director since 2014.
Isabelle Racicot and Martine St-Victor are co-hosting new weekly, CBC Radio One show Seat at the Table, promising “honest conversations with guests shaping pop culture.” St-Victor is the communication strategist behind Montreal-based Milagro PR agency Public Relations Atelier, while Racicot is a popular French-language TV and radio host in Quebec.
Stewart Bell has joined Global News as a national online journalist. Bell is best known for his award-winning investigative work at the National Post, where he was a senior reporter since its inception in 1998. Stewart is no stranger to Global News, having been a regular contributor to Global National while Global News was under CanWest.
Andy Stewart has signed off for the last time from CFAR-AM/FM Flin Flon, where the final episode of his weekly show Meet the Legion aired on June 17. Stewart, 86, began his radio career introducing guests on CKUA Edmonton, then made the move to Grande Prairie in 1955. Stewart took a short break from broadcasting to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, later making stops at stations in Wingham, ON, Weyburn, SK, and Lloydminster, AB before landing at CFAR in 1970. He spent 27 years there, both on-air and in sales, before retiring in 1997. Stewart is relocating to Toronto to be closer to his daughter.
SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles retired July 1, a position he had held since 2010. Styles will continue as a consultant for the Saskatchewan government, after nearly four decades in provincial government roles, including president of Crown Investments Corporation and deputy minister of Finance.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
Castanet Media, which operates Kelowna news website castanet.net, has struck a deal with Vista Radio to buy Juice FM 103.9 (CJUI-FM) Kelowna. Pending CRTC approval, Castanet FM will start broadcasting from the company’s Lawrence Avenue studios in late fall. Castanet says it plans to share and combine content across its online and broadcast platforms. Castanet president Nick Frost is no stranger to broadcasting. He established Silk FM (CILK-FM) Kelowna in 1986, which was subsequently purchased by Standard Radio in 2007 for $9.25M and is now owned by Bell Media.
Bell Media Radio launched the first HD radio signals broadcast from the CN Tower on June 30, providing all four of its Toronto radio stations in digital audio alongside their regular analog broadcasts. The new digital HD signal of 99.9 Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) carries Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) on its second HD channel, while 104.5 CHUM FM carries TSN 1050 (CHUM-AM) on its secondary HD channel. The Toronto stations join Bell Media stations Rouge FM (CITE-FM), TSN Radio 690 (CKGM-AM), CJAD 800 Montreal; Majic 100 (CJMJ-FM), 580 CFRA and TSN Radio 1200 (CFGO-AM) Ottawa; and 103.5 QMFM (CHQM-FM) and TSN Radio 1040/1410 (CKST-AM/CFTE-AM) Vancouver, which are already broadcasting in HD.
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has applied to the CRTC for new broadcasting licences to operate discretionary services devoted to music video and related programming focusing on pre-teens (Stingray Juicebox), rock and related genres (Stingray Loud), the 1980s to the early 2000s (Stingray Retro), and urban music (Stingray Vibe).
CFQR 600 AM Montreal, the new TTP Media-owned English-language station, made it to air last Friday evening, just ahead of a CRTC deadline. The 10,000 watt station is still in testing phase and is broadcasting an automated music playlist with recorded messages voiced by former 940 News (CINW-AM) host Jim Connell. Connell was part of TTP’s original license application in 2011.
The CRTC has found that Ottawa-Gatineau cannot support another commercial radio station. Antoine Karam had applied for a license to operate a commercial ethnic AM station to serve the market. The commission concluded that despite positive economic factors and a growing ethnic community, radio revenues continue to decrease with many stations operating at a loss in recent years.
The CRTC has denied an application to operate a new English-language commercial FM Christian music station in Saint John, NB. The station would have been the third Christian music entry into the small market.
The CRTC has renewed the broadcasting licences for a number of Bell Media Radio stations through 2024. They include Windsor stations CKWW-AM, CKLW-AM, CIDR-FM; CKST-AM Vancouver; CKCR-FM Revelstoke, BC; CHTK-FM Prince Rupert; CKQM-FM Peterborough; CKLY-FM Lindsay, ON; CFCA-FM Kitchener.
SIGN-OFFS:
Mike Reid, 57, on June 28 after battling cancer. Reid was an imaging and commercial producer at 680 CFTR-AM Toronto during the 1980s, followed by 23 years as an audio/video producer at Toronto’s Echo Advertising. From there, he formed independent production house Mr. Flyer Productions, working on radio and television commercials for clients including President’s Choice Financial, Hitachi, and the Toronto Raptors, among others.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
After 50 years with CBC and 29 years behind the desk at The National, Peter Mansbridge signed off for the last time on Canada Day. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned the mic on Mansbridge at the Canada 150 party in Ottawa. You can watch the veteran anchor’s final sign off from The National and his send-off speech to colleagues at the renaming of the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre atrium to “Mansbridge Hall.”
TSN is reviving The Reporters, which will relaunch with a new half-hour format beginning Sept. 10 on TSN2. The series will broadcast live from the TSN 1050 (CHUM-AM) studio in Toronto, and will be available on TSN Radio stations across the country. Dave Hodge will host the roundtable debate with panelists Steve Simmons and Bruce Arthur. The previous iteration of the show, premiered on TSN in Oct. 2002 on Sunday mornings, before moving to a Monday timeslot in January 2016.
A second petition has been launched challenging the CRTC’s reduction to the PNI (programs of national interest) funding requirement for Bell Media and Corus Entertainment. The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), ACTRA and the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) filed their appeal to cabinet last Thursday, while the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) filed its own petition earlier last week. The CRTC ruling streamlines all broadcaster contributions to five per cent, which creative groups say will result in a decrease of as much as $141-million in spending on independently-produced programming over a five-year period.
ONLINE/DIGITAL:
Videotron will shut down its Unlimited Music service on Aug. 4, meeting a CRTC deadline. The company has sent a letter to subscribers informing them that to make up for the loss of the feature, it will up customer data caps to those subscribed to the streaming service. The data add-on will be calculated according to the month in which the customer’s usage of Unlimited Music was at its highest.
GENERAL:
Among the appointments to the Order of Canada on June 30, were several arts, entertainment and broadcast media veterans. Actors Mike Myers and Catherine O’Hara and filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee were named Officers of the Order of Canada, while former TVO chairman Peter A. Herrndorf was promoted to Companion. Also named members were actors Rod Beattie, Rick Green, writer and actress Susan Coyne, producer and musician Daniel Lanois, CAB Hall of Famer and French-language radio pioneer François Labbé, musicologist and broadcaster Sylvia L’Écuyer, radio and television host Pierre Maisonneuve, producer, engineer and performer Paul Mills, and recording industry veteran André Perry.
Freedom Mobile has gained ground in the wireless market, with Shaw Communications’ Q3 financial results revealing that Freedom now has 1,106,159 subscribers – an increase of 20,085 for the quarter ending May 31. Shaw reported Q3 revenue of $1.31 billion, with wireless revenue accounting for $154 million, up $22 million or 16.7 per cent year over year.
