REVOLVING DOOR:
Tamara Taggart will seek the federal Liberal nomination in Vancouver Kingsway. Taggart was the co-anchor of CTV News at Six in Vancouver for the last seven years, up until this past April when was she part of layoffs at Bell Media. Prior to that, she was the station’s longtime weather presenter. Vancouver Kingsway is currently held by the NDP’s Don Davies.
Bob Cole has had his final season with Sportsnet extended for another six broadcasts. His final Hockey Night in Canada game will be the Apr. 6 matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. HNIC will celebrate Cole’s 50-year career during the broadcast. Cole, who began calling NHL games in 1969, was originally scheduled to call just 10 games during the first part of the 2018-19 season.
Melissa Kajpust, vice-president of programming for Super Channel, has announced her last day with the company will be Dec. 21 as she moves on to pursue other opportunities. Over her almost five-year tenure, Kajpust contributed to strategic programming for Super Channel’s rebranded channels (Fuse, Heart & Home, Vault and GINX Esports TV Canada). In addition to heading U.S. and international program acquisitions, she also served as production executive for Canadian development projects including PURE, Acceptable Risk, Forgive Me and What Would Sal Do?
Todd Roberts has joined eOne as VP, A&R music publishing. Roberts spent the last decade as an artist manager including a stint at C3 Management, working with artists Bassnectar and Griz. In the early part of his career, Roberts was editor of Urb Magazine, which led to a role as VP, A&R at Virgin Records and Astralwerks, where he worked with acts like Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Phoenix and Air.
Patrick Roy will oversee eOne’s global theatrical distribution business, starting in March when Alex Hamilton steps down as president of international film. In the UK, Kezia Williams has been promoted to managing director of film, reporting to Roy. Alex Hamilton initially joined eOne in 2008 to launch the company’s film business in the UK and oversaw the release of The Twilight Saga, 12 Years a Slave, and I, Daniel Blake, among other films.
Loretta Ramos has joined Halfire Entertainment, the Toronto studio behind Alias Grace, in the newly-created position of SVP of Creative Affairs, overseeing all development and production for the company. Ramos arrives at Halfire from Living Dead Guy Productions, where she oversaw development and production as a producer on Starz’s American Gods and NBC’s Hannibal, among other projects.
Sarah Bartok will be filling in on CHFI-FM Toronto over the holidays. Bartok was the evening host at Stingray’s 93.5 The Move Toronto, up until this past April. Prior to that she had a nearly six-year run at 92.5 The Beat Montreal.
Meg Roberts is leaving CBC Windsor for CBC Newfoundland. Roberts had been with the Windsor bureau since April 2016.
Sarah Mills has been named the first female news director of 980 CJME Regina. Mills has been with the station for the last 15 years as a reporter, host, and most recently assistant news director. Murray Wood, who had been ND since 1992, is staying on as PD of 980 CJME, a role he added to his duties a little over a year ago. Wood also serves as provincial news director for Rawlco’s Saskatchewan stations.
Jaren Kerr is now Canadaland’s deputy editor of news. He’s been with the online outlet since June as a reporter. Kerr was previously a copy editor with theScore and a reporter for the Toronto Star.
Bob Murphy has been named the new host of CBC Radio One noon-hour, call-in show Maritime Noon, which airs in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. He takes over from Norma Lee MacLeod, who retired in September. Murphy has been with CBC for more than 25 years, most recently as the host of Halifax drive home show CBC Mainstreet.
Angela Sterritt will take on a newly-created reporter/editor role at CBC Vancouver dedicated to improving coverage of Indigenous communities. Sterritt has been with CBC since 2009 in various roles from online writer in Toronto to anchoring and producing CBC Vancouver’s supper hour newscast.
Jeff Winskell is leaving his post as regional program director for Bell Media’s stations in the B.C. Interior, to join JACK FM (CJAX-FM) Vancouver as program director. Winskell has been with Bell for more than 10 years with previous stops as music director for Virgin Radio (CFBT-FM) Vancouver, brand director for Kelowna, and program director of 97.7 HTZ-FM (CHTZ-FM) and News/Talk 610 (CKTB-AM) St. Catharines.
Elias Makos is leaving Breakfast Television Montreal. Makos, who has been with the show since 2013, hasn’t revealed what’s next. His last day on air is this Friday.
May Lam, director of Promotions, Marketing & Sales Integration with Bell Media Vancouver, has moved into an expanded role. Lam will retain her current duties, adding Regional Marketing Manager, Western Canada (local radio and tv), to her title. She’s been with Bell Media since 2014.
Nahreman Issa is moving into a new role with CTV Edmonton as the new anchor of CTV News at Noon, weekdays. She’ll also serve as morning reporter.
Annie DeMelt will take over the weekend anchor desk at CTV Montreal, starting in January. DeMelt has been with the station for the past 15 years, most recently as CTV News at Five reporter. She takes over from Tarah Schwartz, who recently announced she’s leaving to spend more time with her family.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
The CRTC has approved an application by the CBC to operate a transmitter in Digby to rebroadcast CBC Radio One. The new transmitter will operate at 107.1 MHz (channel 296A) with an effective radiated power of 420 watts. It will be co-located with CBAF-FM-7 Digby (ICI Radio-Canada Première) to optimize operating costs.
Peter Maher, the radio voice of the Calgary Flames for 33 years, has a new book out: If These Walls Could Talk — Stories from the Calgary Flames’ Ice, Locker Room and Press Box. The memoir was co-written with longtime Calgary Herald sports columnist George Johnson. Maher called games for the team from 1980 until his retirement following the 2013-14 NHL season.
Dean Blundell has made an uncharacteristic move, announcing he’s doing away with the ‘Babes’ section on deanbundell.com. The former 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) and Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM) Toronto shock jock writes that the section, which featured posts of attractive and often scantily clad women, “cheapens the site and doesn’t fit with the brand anymore.” Blundell says he’ll be launching a new blog and app in January and “can’t justify making money on objectifying women.”
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced that broadcast veteran Duff Roman will be awarded the 2019 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for his ongoing contributions to the Canadian music industry. On this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – the Podcast, we cover everything from Roman’s meteoric rise to the head of the CHUM Radio Network, to his discovery of singer/songwriter David Clayton-Thomas, and the story behind DAB radio’s failure in North America.
Read more about Duff Roman here.
Tom Armour, 79, on Dec. 7. Armour began his radio career in 1959 at CJQC Quebec City, then moved to CJSS in Cornwall, ON. He returned to Montreal in the early 1960s to work at CFCF Radio, and later CJAD, remaining a staple in the Montreal market for the next five decades. According to Armour’s obituary “Attempts to lure him to television news were graciously, but consistently declined. Tom loved radio and said that was where he wanted to be.” He retired from CJAD in 2015, as the weekend morning anchor.
Lyman Potts, 102, on Dec. 9. Potts career in radio started while he was still in high school as an announcer with CHWC in 1935, which shared frequency with CKCK Regina. In 1940, he transferred to the company’s Hamilton station, CKOC, as production manager. He moved on to CKSL London in 1956 to manage its launch, then helped CJAD Montreal owner Arthur Dupont apply for a TV licence. He was later appointed general manager of CJAD’s sister station CJFM-FM, which he helped put on the air in Oct. 1962; Lyman eventually worked his way up to become president of Standard subsidiary Standard Broadcast Productions, an umbrella for Standard Broadcast News, program syndication, and music publishing. From 1970-74, he was president of Standard Broadcasting Corp. (UK), a consultancy for applicants for commercial radio licenses. He retired from broadcasting in 1981 and formed J. Lyman Potts and Associates, a consultancy for broadcasting, recording, music services and copyright. In 1962, he convinced the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), which had taken over the regulation of programming from the CBC, that a station’s support of Canadian talent should be assessed by the amount of Canadian content used in its programs, and that money expended by a station to produce Canadian music programming, whether live or recorded, should be credited by the BBG in analyzing a station’s performance. Lyman went on to create the Canadian Talent Library, a non–profit trust supporting Canadian recording, that was eventually merged with FACTOR. By 1985, it had produced 265 albums containing 3,000 performances by Canadian musicians and singers. Lyman was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1978, inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1976 and named to the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1987. He also inspired the formation of the Central Canada Broadcast Engineers Association in 1953 and was a founding member of the Canadian Communications Foundation, serving as its vice-president From 1994 to 2004.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
ACTRA Toronto will present its 2019 Award of Excellence to Canadian character actor Jayne Eastwood. Eastwood has held roles on screen and stage over five decades with credits on films like Chicago, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Hairspray. Her extensive TV work ranges from recurring roles on SCTV, King of Kensington and Bizarre, to more recent series like Little Mosque on the Prairie, Riverdale and Haven. Eastwood will be recognized at the 2019 ACTRA Awards Gala on Feb. 23.
Global News has launched the second season of Living In Colour, a digital series tackling the inequality faced by diverse people in modern society. Utilizing a mid-length, panel discussion format, Living In Colour sees individuals from all walks of life provide personal accounts of how race and ethnicity affects their daily lives. Hosted by Farah Nasser, anchor of Global Toronto’s Global News at 5:30 & 6, each episode in Season 2 features a different set of diverse guests sharing their experience in the context of: Cosplay and Media Representation, the Justice System, Interracial Dating, and Employment. The series expands on Global’s slate of original digital series, with digital productions RISE, Odd Jobs and Just Like Home all debuting earlier this year. The Season 2 premiere is available online at Globalnews.ca and the Global News’ Youtube channel. A new episode will be released each Wednesday through the month of December.
BuzzFeed editor Elamin Abdelmahmoud has a book deal with McClelland & Stewart. Abdelmahmoud’s Son of Elsewhere is a book of personal essays about belonging, blackness, masculinity, & Muslim-ness from the point of view of a man who immigrated from Sudan to Canada as a child, a year before 9/11. The book is set for release in Fall 2020.
Pew Research Center says when looking at online news use combined – the percentage of Americans who get their news from either news websites or social media – the web has closed in on television as a news source (43 per cent, compared with 49 per cent of adults who often watch TV news). For the first time, social media also edged out print newspapers in Pew’s annual survey of news use. One-in-five U.S. adults say they often get news via social media, slightly higher than those who cited print newspapers (16 per cent). Overall, television is still the most popular platform for news – even though its use has declined since 2016. News websites are the next most common source, followed by radio, and finally social media sites and print newspapers.
GENERAL:
Canadian Heritage is contributing $4.5 million in funding to a project in Halifax that will see the city’s former World Trade and Convention Centre transformed into a multidisciplinary cultural hub that will include a film and TV production centre. The Link Performing Arts Society will also receive $5.7 million in provincial funding. The non-profit group is partnered with Culture Link, a community interest company helmed by film producer Marc Almon (Weirdos) and film and TV production veteran Rob Power. Organizations who’ve expressed interest in long-term leases at the centre include DHX Media, Sonic Entertainment, the Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative (AFCOOP), and the Devour Food Film Festival, among others.
The Youth Media Alliance (YMA) Andra Sheffer Scholarship has been awarded to two candidates for the first time in its three-year history. Awarded annually to an outstanding student who intends to pursue a career in the field of youth content for the screen, this year’s winners are Julia Dillon-Davis, a Masters student in the Child and Youth Care program at the University of Victoria, and Nour Mallouh, a student in the Children’s Media program at Centennial College. The two laureates will receive accreditation, valued at $1,995 USD, compliments of Brunico, to attend the Kidscreen Summit in Miami, as well as a $1,500 travel grant. They will also receive accreditation for the 2019 Banff World Media Festival. The award comes with the benefit of personalized mentoring and meetings with YMA representatives, as well as the opportunity to visit the studios of CBC and TVO and meet with industry representatives.
RTDNA Canada has called for nominations for its Lifetime Achievement Award. Nominees should have at least 30 years of outstanding service and continued excellence during the course of their career in journalism or news management. Past recipients include Lynn Burry and Terry Seguin (East), Bernard St-Laurent, James Stewart and Brian Thomas (Central), Sheila Coles and Geoff Stickle (Prairies), Rick Cluff, Hudson Mack and Wayne Williams (West), and Sandie Rinaldo (Network). The nomination deadline is Jan. 11, 2019. Find more information here.
The Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy application process is now open, funding indepth journalism that has the power to influence public policy. The deadline for letters of intent is Feb. 11. While open to research ideas on a wide range of topics, preference will be given to issues at the forefront of public policy debate. Find more info here. The winner will be announced in June at The Canadian Journalism Foundation Gala.
Time has chosen “The Guardians,” a group of journalists who have been targeted for their work, as Person of the Year. The group includes Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October; Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar; and the reporters of Maryland’s Capital Gazette, the newspaper where five employees were murdered by a gunman last June.
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