REVOLVING DOOR:
Kevin Smith has been appointed Creative Ambassador by his alma mater Vancouver Film School (VFS) for 2020. Smith, who famously began crafting his indie feature film ‘Clerks’ while attending VFS, will make a number of appearances on campus including a Storyteller’s Studio AMA event. He’ll also spearhead a new scholarship initiative for aspiring creatives.
Sijia Lu has ended her tenure as Global Regina’s Morning Live reporter. She’d been with the station since June of last year. She’ll be joining CTV Windsor as a reporter and weekend anchor.
Liquid Media Group, the Vancouver-based entertainment company spanning gaming, film, TV, and VR, has announced the formation of an advisory board led by digital entertainment visionary Wilson J. Tang. Tang is a founding member of Kabam Vancouver where his team developed Marvel Contest of Champions, among other gaming titles. Prior to Kabam, Tang was Senior Art Director/Creative Director at Electronic Arts/Blackbox. He’s currently CEO and Lead Designer of augmented reality platform, YumeGo.app. Liquid Media’s leadership team includes Chairman Joshua Jackson (actor/producer), Chief Financial Officer Daniel Cruz (previously of Canaccord Financial), Managing Director Charlie Brezer, Director Stephen Jackson (Northland Properties) and Board Member Nancy Basi (Vancouver Media & Entertainment Centre).
Ross Video has promoted Mark Cooke to the role of Director of Sales for Asia, based in Singapore. Cooke has been with Ross since 2014, initially joining the company as a technical sales specialist, before taking on regional sales roles for Northern Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa. Most recently, Cooke was regional sales director for EMEA North, based in the Netherlands.
Dave Caulwell has been promoted within Riedel Communications from Business Development Manager for the Eastern U.S. to North American Channel Manager. He’ll report to Rich Zabel, Vice-President of Sales for Riedel Communications North America. Prior to joining Riedel in 2016, Caulwell worked for several live event companies, including Alchemedia and NEP’s New Century Productions, overseeing mobile production units serving major sports and entertainment broadcasters, in addition to negotiating contract extensions and new business.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
LISTEN: Terry O’Reilly joins Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about the new family business, Apostrophe Podcast Company. The longtime ad man and Under The Influence host talks great audio storytelling, why he hopes podcasting will shake up terrestrial radio, and tells us how his vintage airstream studio came together.
World Radio Day was celebrated last Thursday and to mark the occasion, we talked to Radio Connects President Caroline Gianias about the medium’s staying power. According to Fall 2019 Numeris data, supplied by Radio Connects, radio’s weekly reach in Canada actually went up 1% year-over-year to 27,641,015 with listeners 12+, reaching 13,104,125 listeners a week in the coveted A25-54 demo. Read Gianias’ thoughts on why radio has weathered the digital disruption better than some other media segments, here.
The CRTC has approved an application from Dufferin Communications to swap formats on CFWC-FM and CKPC-AM Brantford, ON. The commission’s decision will allow English-language Christian music station, CFWC-FM Brantford, to delete certain conditions of licence to allow the station to operate as a mainstream music radio station. It will move forward under a Country and Folk music format, while CKPC-AM will adopt a Christian music format. Dufferin submitted that both it, as the operator of the two stations, and the Brantford radio market would be best served by exchanging the stations’ formats to increase tuning to its Country music offering, which in turn would help it recover some of the advertising revenue that currently flows to out-of-market Country music stations. The commission did not receive any interventions in response to the applications.
Roger Ashby is returning to the airwaves as host of the syndicated The Roger Ashby Oldies Show. The show has already been picked up by 16 Bell Media, My Broadcasting, Durham Radio, and Evanov Radio Group affiliate stations. It’s also available to stream at iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio app. The three-hour weekly show will focus on hits from the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, curated by the longtime CHUM 104.5 Toronto morning man, who’ll also play archived segments like “Behind the Hits”, “The Roots of Rock”, “The Top 5 of the Week”, and “Double Play”.
Buffy Sainte-Marie has been named the 2020 recipient of the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award. Each year, Slaight Communications and Canadian Music Week (CMW) recognize an outstanding Canadian artist for their contribution to social activism and support of humanitarian causes. Sainte-Marie will be honoured for her work over the last six decades as a trailblazing musician, activist and educator. She’ll be recognized at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards on May 21 at the Bluma Appel Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts. Read more here.
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) will induct rock legend, songwriter, and broadcaster Kim Mitchell to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame during Canadian Music Week. Mitchell will be honoured during a special presentation and joined by friend and musician Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies to perform on stage. The induction will take place during the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards, May 21. In addition to Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award winner Buffy Sainte-Marie, the first slate of inductees includes Debra Rathwell to the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, and Erin Davis and Nevin Grant into the Broadcast Hall of Fame.
107.5 Dave Rocks (CJDV-FM) Cambridge, ON hosted an in-studio wedding on Valentine’s Day as part of the station’s Nail ‘Em Down contest. Kyle Gutscher, 30, and Lauren Hunter, 27, were wed Friday morning with the nuptials officiated by Dave Rocks Morning Buzz announcer Darryl Law.
FEATURE: In Andy Sannemann’s latest blog post, the Benztown CEO talks plug-ins, workflow, audio inspiration and more with award-winning Stingray Toronto imaging producer Derek Welsman. Read more here.
SIGN-OFFS:
David Humiski, 65, on Feb. 5. Humiski grew up in Manitoba, moving to Toronto in 1982 where he was hired as a director at multicultural station, Channel 47. In 1988, he joined CFTO (CTV Toronto) and would go on to a three decade career with the network. Humiski is seen here displaying his trademark Che Guevara-adorned camera battery as he waited to go live with reporter Natalie Johnson at the Ford family home for the late Rob Ford’s 2014 re-election campaign launch.
Ray Wittrock, 64, on Feb. 7. Wittrock joined CBC Vancouver as a Senior Broadcast Technologist in May 1981, the start of a 34-year career with the public broadcaster. He retired from CBC in 2015.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) has announced that director, producer and writer Brad Peyton is the recipient of its seventh annual CFC Award for Creative Excellence. The award celebrates the accomplishments of CFC alumni who have made significant creative and entrepreneurial contributions to the international screen industry. Born in Gander, Newfoundland, Peyton first garnered critical acclaim in 2002 for his CFC short Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl. He eventually became known for ambitious action adventure blockbusters, including San Andreas and Rampage, both collaborations with Dwayne Johnson. Peyton’s prodco with partner Jeff Fierson, ASAP Entertainment, recently completed the third season of Netflix/Discovery series Frontier and the first season of Netflix series, Daybreak. CFC founder Norman Jewison will present the award to Peyton at an invitation-only reception in Los Angeles on Mar. 18.
HGTV Canada’s new Corus Studios original series Family Home Overhaul (8×60), premieres Apr. 26. Hosted by ET Canada’s Cheryl Hickey, the debut season will see 14 of the network’s top contractors and designers pair up in each episode to transform the homes of eight inspirational families nominated by their communities. They include Kate Campbell, Sebastian Clovis, Dave Coleman, Joey Fletcher, Sarah Keenleyside, Dave Kenney, Brian McCourt, Scott McGillivray, Mia Parres, Tiffany Pratt, Samantha Pynn, Tommy Smythe, Kortney Wilson and Dave Wilson.
American Standard has been named the official supplier of kitchen and bath plumbing fixtures for multiple television series on Corus Entertainment’s HGTV Canada. The partnership includes popular series $ave My Reno, which premieres Feb. 18, and Family Home Overhaul. Products will be featured throughout the series, in addition to social and digital integrations. The new partnership builds on American Standard’s current collaboration with longtime HGTV guest star and contractor Kate Campbell.
Open Screenplay, the free, online platform for screenwriters struggling to break into the business, has successfully patented its collaborative authoring system. The patent facilitates the collaboration of multiple authors on a single work, and provides a process for the selection of the best contributions. Although Open Screenplay currently uses the system for screenplays, it can be used on other collaborative works ranging from essays, novels, and textbooks to music and architectural designs. Open Screenplay’s founder and CEO is Canadian entrepreneur Khaled Sabawi.
GENERAL:
Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Erin O’Toole is campaigning on a policy promise to end funding for CBC’s digital news service and privatize its English-language TV operations. O’Toole’s public broadcasting reforms would leave CBC Radio and Radio-Canada as is, but budgets for CBC Television and CBC News Network would be slashed and eventually sold off. The Durham MP says the CBC is in need of modernization and streamlining, comparable to the private sector. His plan would see TV advertising eliminated with a goal to see English TV privatized by the end of a prospective CPC government’s first term.
TELUS has released unaudited results for Q4 2019. For the quarter, consolidated operating revenue of $3.9 billion increased by 2.5% year-over-year, driven by growth in wireless network revenue and wireline data services revenue. Earnings before EBITDA increased by 10.8% to $1.4 billion, with adjusted EBITDA was up 7.9%. External wireless operating revenue decreased by $11 million or 0.5%, as network revenue growth of 1.5% was offset by a 4.0% decrease to equipment and other service revenues, an atypical decline in wholesale roaming revenue, as well as lower gains on sales of assets. Mobile phone ARPU was $59.29, reflecting a decrease of 1.7%, as the declines in chargeable usage, competitive pressures on base rate plan prices, and impact to wholesale roaming revenue was only partly offset by the aforementioned increased number of customers selecting plans with endless or larger data buckets. Total subscriber net additions were 130,000, compared to 142,000 in the prior year. Mobile phone net additions decreased by 7,000, as higher mobile phone gross additions were offset by higher mobile phone churn. Internet net additions of 28,000 were unchanged over the prior year. TV net additions were 15,000, a decrease of 9,000, mainly due to heightened competitive intensity and the changing landscape of increased streaming services.
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