REVOLVING DOOR:
Tom Clark, Global News chief political correspondent and host of The West Block, will end his journalism career Jan. 1. During his 45-year tenure, Clark has interviewed every prime minister since Lester B. Pearson and covered every federal election campaign since 1974. He has reported from 33 countries, including eight active war zones. Together, Clark and Global News built The West Block into Canada’s most-watched political affairs program. Prior to Global News, Clark held several roles at CTV. Earlier this year, he was recognized by the RTDNA with a Lifetime Achievement Award. A new host for The West Block will be named in the coming weeks.
Maureen Holloway of The Mo Show with John Scholes has resigned from Q107 Toronto. For 17 years, Holloway has been a content contributor to many Corus stations, including being a member of Derringer in the Morning on Q107. Holloway is moving on to another opportunity which will reveal itself shortly.
Candice Ryan is joining indigenous country station CFWE-FM Edmonton as morning show co-host with Wally Desjarlais, starting Dec. 12. The local singer/songwriter is no stranger to listeners as the station already plays her music as a previous winner of Global Country Star Search and the North American Country Music Associations International competition. The CFWE Network, which is operated by the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society, is heard across Alberta.
Paul Brown, longtime morning show co-host at Edmonton’s 100.3 The Bear (CFBR-FM), has announced he’s leaving to try his hand at the entertainment business. Brown has been with The Bear for 13 years, with The Paul Brown Show, one of the city’s top-rated morning shows. Morning co-hosts Yukon Jack and Ryan Maier (Ry My) will host the show in the interim while Gillian Foote remains off on maternity leave.
90.3 AMP Radio (CKMP-FM) Calgary will amp up mornings with Special Ed and producer Melissa Bunting who will join current host Katie Summers who has been with the station since 2010 and doing wake-ups since 2014. Bunting and Ed were most recently with Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) Toronto, he in afternoons and she as morning show producer. Ed previously worked with KDWB Minneapolis, WILD Dallas and 101.3 The Bounce (CJCH-FM) Halifax. Bunting has produced for CMA and ACM award winning morning shows, including country stations KYGO, KFRG, KSON, WFUS and KDRK. AMP Mornings with Katie & Special Ed will launch in early 2017.
Brian Byrne has exited the Live 105 (CKHY-FM) Halifax morning show. He had been with the station since 2015. Byrne is best known as the former vocalist for I Mother Earth. The Newfoundland native has accepted the position of director of communications with Assured Renewables where he says his focus will be on helping First Nations communities with clean drinking water and waste management. Scotty Mars is holding down the station’s 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. time slot, solo.
Robert Ghiz is the new president & CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. The former premier of Prince Edward Island, Ghiz succeeds Bernard Lord, who departed CWTA earlier this year after eight years at the helm.
Q103.1 (CKQQ-FM) Kelowna is shaking up the lineup. Robin Farrell, after recently concluding an 11-year run in mornings on 107.3 Kool FM Victoria, joins Darren Worts, in from My96 (CFMY-FM) Medicine Hat, for the wake-up shift, starting Jan. 5. Susan Knight handles middays and will add program director duties in the spring. Starting Dec. 5, Danny Kid, on the way from afternoons on 101.5 Kool FM (CKCE-FM) Calgary, will anchor afternoon drive and handle APD duties and “Your Girl” Brooklyn will move into evenings and weekends after filling in on afternoon drive for the past six weeks.
Ryan Carroll is heading to 104.3 Fresh Radio (CKWS-FM) in Kingston, ON to do middays. The Nanaimo, BC native was most recently part-time at Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) and CFOX Vancouver. Previously, he worked at B93 (CJBZ-FM) Lethbridge, AB.
Dimitri Gourdin has been appointed as executive vice president, strategy and communications for Groupe V Medi. Gourdin will oversee corporate, public and governmental affairs, marketing and communications as well as act as company spokesperson. Before joining Groupe V Media, Gourdin was senior vice-president and general manager of Hill+Knowlton Montreal.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
Bill Evanov, president and chief executive officer of Evanov Radio Group (ERG), is celebrating 50 years in broadcasting. Evanov, whose stations now number 18 in four provinces, spent his first 10 years in radio working in sales at Johnny Lombardi’s ethnic station, CHIN Toronto. Later, he became sales manager and eventually took on overall administration. He went on to operate CING-FM Burlington where he turned a money-losing operation into a station with over 800,000 weekly listeners. His first acquisition for what would become ERG was CKMW Brampton, now CIAO Toronto. In 2011, Evanov was presented with the Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award.
Submissions for the 52nd Annual Crystals Radio Awards open Dec. 5. The 2017 awards, recognizing agency advertising, copywriting, station imaging and production, will take place April 19 at TIFF Bell LightBox and will be hosted by Alan Cross.
Judy Maddren has been honoured with a Meritorious Service Decoration (Civil Division) by Governor General David Johnston. The former CBC Radio announcer was recognized for the charity readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, she started organizing in 1989, raising funds for food banks, shelters and other community organizations. Maddren joined the CBC in 1972 and from 1993 to 2009 hosted national morning newscast World Report. She’s now retired to Stratford, ON.
CBC Information Morning Moncton kicked off the 16th annual Tree of Hope radiothon on Nov. 25, raising $186,814 for cancer research before passing the baton to ICI Radio-Canada Première hosts Amélie Gosselin and Samuel Chiasson. A total of $1,505,365 was raised by the end of the 10-hour broadcast. The funds will support the work of the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont Hospital Foundation.
The CRTC has given notice it will hold a hearing Feb. 17 to consider three license applications. KCVI Educational Radio Station Inc.’s low power community station CKVI-FM Kingston wishes for a power increase; Radio 1540 Limited has applied to operate a commercial ethnic specialty FM radio station in Toronto; Gimaa Giigidoowin Communications has applied for a change in the ownership and control of CHYF-FM M’Chigeeng, following acquisition of its assets in January. Deadline for interventions and comments is Jan. 16.
Jukasa Radio 93.5 FM (CJKS-FM) Oshweken, ON officially launched Oct. 27 after starting broadcasts from Six Nations on Feb. 22. Jukasa plays a mix of Top 40, Hip Hop and R&B. The station is operated by not-for-profit Arrow Radio Inc. and has about a dozen employees, roughly half from Six Nations.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
Ginella Massa made history last week when she became the first Canadian woman to anchor a mainstream television newscast while wearing a hijab. The 29-year-old was asked to fill in on the anchor desk for CITY Toronto’s CityNews 11 p.m. broadcast last week. Massa started her career as a television reporter in 2015 at CTV News Kitchener, moving to CityNews earlier this year.
Lionsgate has signed a new long-term output deal with China’s largest online video platform iQIYI. The agreement covers subscription (SVOD), transactional (TVOD) and advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) rights for films streaming on iQIYI’s platform in China, which has over half a billion users. iQIYI will have streaming and broadcast rights in China to Lionsgate theatrical titles covered by the agreement and will promote them on its platform.
Netflix has told Canadian Heritage’s public consultation on homegrown content in a digital world, it shouldn’t be regulated due to its substantial investments in Canada. In a submission last week, the streaming company made the argument, saying it’s commissioned millions in original programming to be produced in Canada. CBC-TV is among those partnering with Netflix to simultaneously air upcoming series Anne and mini-series Alias Grace internationally, allowing CBC to boost production budgets. Other Netflix Canadian co-commissions include Travelers, Frontier and Degrassi: Next Class.
CBC/Radio-Canada has shared its contribution to the government’s public consultation on the future of Canadian content in a digital world, recommending removing advertising from its airwaves. The public broadcaster says that would allow it to focus squarely on the cultural impact of its mandate and free up ad revenue to help private media companies transition to a digital environment. In turn, it recommends increasing per person funding to CBC/Radio-Canada to $46, an increase of $12 per Canadian or $400 million annually.
Eastlink is billing its new TV Channel Exchange feature as a first in North America. Subscribers to the Essentials Plus or Maestro bundle can now swap out channels they don’t watch or want in their TV lineup, choosing from over 150 selections. Eastlink’s TV Channel Exchange launched in Halifax, Sudbury and Alberta this week, with other markets across Canada to come online early in 2017.
Based on the popularity of The Bachelorette Canada, Sunwing is offering a Beyond The Rose package, giving fans of the W Network show the chance to follow in Jasmine Lorimer’s footsteps in Varadero, Cuba where the two-part finale was shot.
SIGN-OFFS:
Kelly Boyd, in Edmonton, after health struggles during his final years. A longtime general manager with CJOK/CKYX Fort McMurray, Boyd retired in Dec. 2006 during the ownership transition of the stations from OK Radio Group to Rogers Media. He is remembered as a highly professional and passionate broadcaster who clearly believed in the connection between running a radio station and being truly connected to the community.
Russell Oughtred, 69, suddenly at his home in Vancouver, Nov. 26. Russell got his start in radio news in Medicine Hat, AB, then moved into television at the CTV Lethbridge bureau. He later moved to CTV Calgary, where he spent most of the 1980s, before going to CBC Calgary. Russell loved the art of visual storytelling and was a master in the use of natural sound and moving pictures. He had been living in Vancouver since the mid 1990s.
David Valentine, 52, on Nov. 26 in Edmonton after a lengthy fight with cancer. Born in Swift Current, SK, David started his broadcasting career in 1987 as an announcer and operator at QR77 (CHQR-AM) in Calgary. In 1990, he moved into television, working as a VTR operator at RDTV Red Deer. He went on to A Channel Edmonton (now City) in 1997 where he worked in operations until 2015. Valentine was also involved with Big Valley Jamboree as a member of the production crew from 2010-2015 with Habit Productions. A GoFundMe page set up for Valentine’s family is just shy of its $20K fundraising goal.
GENERAL:
CBC/Radio-Canada’s Board of Directors has selected the Broccolini group to build the
new Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal and Groupe Mach to purchase the western part of the large property currently occupied by the public broadcaster’s facilities. Located at the corner of René-Lévesque Blvd and Papineau Ave., the site revitalization plan calls for green spaces and rooftops, a four-storey atrium, eco-friendly water and energy management and preservation of the Radio-Canada tower, to be converted for new use. The transactions are still subject to Treasury Board approval. Construction is forecast to start next September and be complete by early 2020.
Conservative Party leadership candidates took aim at the country’s public broadcaster last week with Kellie Leitch pitching a plan to scrap the CBC entirely. A day after rival Maxime Bernier called for fundamental reforms including barring CBC/Radio-Canada from selling advertising and capping public funding at $1 billion, Leitch said those won’t go far enough. She says an uneven media landscape has been created by the CBC both consuming ad revenue and having its operations underwritten by the taxpayer.
Julie Tremblay, president & CEO of TVA Group, has commented on the CBC/Radio-Canada submission suggesting the public broadcaster wants to have its cake and eat it too by taking on less financial risk with no limit on its ability to compete with private broadcasters. Tremblay is calling for CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate to be reviewed and clarified. Taking inspiration from the BBC, TVA believes the public broadcaster should be required to carry “distinctive” programming that services geographically and demographically diverse audiences. TVA also wants CBC’s mandate to consider the impact of its actions on other members of Canada’s broadcasting ecosystem and be held accountable to meet certain guidelines.
The late Don Chevrier was inducted into the Football Reporters of Canada Hall of Fame last Sunday. TSN broadcaster Chris Cuthbert presented the induction plaque to Chevrier’s son Jeff at the annual FRC breakfast. Chevrier had a remarkable 52-year career doing play-by-play and covering numerous Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and heavyweight title fights for networks including CBC, CTV, ABC, NBC and ESPN. He called his first Grey Cup game in 1969, doing Canadian Football League radio and TV broadcasts for four decades. Chevrier also called the very first Toronto Blue Jays game and was the longtime host of ABC Radio’s World of Sports show. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 69.
ONLINE CHANNELS:
DHX Media and Ipsos have unveiled results from a survey of 2,700 parents in the US, Canada and UK to illuminate how children age 0-12 consume entertainment content and brands. The survey found kids have embraced mobile on-demand viewing and that tablets are their preferred screen. In the households surveyed, 72 per cent of children’s daily viewing is from streaming services such as YouTube or Netflix, while 40 per cent of kids use smartphones to consume their content. The survey also found that YouTube is the most popular streaming platform among respondents, followed closely by Netflix.
SUPPLY LINES:
Momentum Media Networks and SparkNetworks are merging their syndicated programs, services and tools. The merger is effective Jan. 1 and will see Pat Bohn, president of SparkNetworks, consult Momentum on syndication, content development, and marketing opportunities. Vancouver-based Momentum offers media marketing and content creation services. The company also owns Broadcast Dialogue. Read the release here.
Triton Digital has announced Western Media Group (WMG) will exclusively operate Triton’s programmatic audio advertising exchange, a2x, in Canada. The partnership will enable advertisers and agencies throughout Canada to buy digital audio advertising programmatically and scale their campaigns across any number of Canadian and international publishers through a single exchange.
