REVOLVING DOOR:
Hélène Laurendeau will be the new deputy minister at Canadian Heritage, starting Oct. 9. Laurendeau has been deputy minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs since 2016. She succeeds Graham Flack, who is moving over to Employment and Social Development. Isabelle Mondou, currently assistant secretary to the Federal Cabinet, will become associate deputy minister at Canadian Heritage.
Rob Berg, longtime announcer at K-97 (CIRK-FM) Edmonton is retiring after 30 years with the station. Berg started in radio in 1982, working at stations in Westlock and Wetaskiwin, AB before joining K-97 in 1988. Berg was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013. His last show will be Friday, Sept. 28.
Cub Carson has returned to the Rebel 101.7 (CIDG-FM) Ottawa with new show Rebel at Night with Cub Carson, heard Monday through Friday, 7 p.m. to midnight. Carson was the station’s weekend announcer for five months in late 2016/early 2017 before leaving to move on to hosting gigs with Bell Media at 103.7 BOB FM (CJPT-FM) Brockville and 98.9 The Drive (CKLC-FM) Kingston.
Mark Tanner is retiring after 22 years with Newcap Radio Halifax. Tanner joined the sales team in 1996 and for the past five years has been retail sales manager for Q104 (CFRQ-FM) and Mix 96.5 (CKUL-FM). His last day will be Dec. 28.
Ted Bradford in back at MIX 97 (CIGL-FM) Belleville, ON pinch-hitting on the morning show with Orlena Cain and Alana Cameron. “Ted the Temp” is in for Sean Kelly who is on the campaign trail, hoping to win a seat on Belleville City Council this October. Bradford, who is a Loyalist College grad and Brockville native, was most recently on-air at WINK-FM in Fort Myers, FL.
Mike Harford is the new morning man at CHOK-FM Sarnia, co-hosting alongside Sue Storr. Harford joins the station after three years with Blackburn Radio’s stations in Wingham.
Zenga McCurdy has announced he’s joining the morning show at Kiss 100.5 (CHAS-FM) in Sault Ste. Marie. The Loyalist College grad has most recently been with Vista Radio in BC.
Emily Quesnelle has moved into a new role at 95.5 Hits FM (CJOJ-FM) Belleville, hosting afternoon drive. Quesnelle was previously promotions coordinator for the local Starboard Communications stations.
Bailey Nicholson is leaving Global News Radio 980 CKNW Vancouver for Rogers’ News 1130 (CKWX-AM). Nicholson, who has been reporting and anchoring, joined NW in Mar. 2016 as an intern.
Arshy Mann is the incoming host of the Canadaland Commons podcast. Mann, who has been reporting for Toronto LGBT news outlet Xtra for the last three years, will be focusing on corruption in Canada when the new season starts in October.
Michel Therrien is joining fellow former Montreal Canadiens coaches Guy Carbonneau and Mario Tremblay on RDS as a regular panelist. Therrien will be a regular contributor to Hockey 360 and post-game show l’Antichambre. He previously worked for RDS during the 2011-12 hockey season before going back behind the Montreal bench for a second time.
Alan Cross is the new imaging voice of Q107 (CILQ-FM) Toronto. Cross also continues to host on Corus sister station 102.1 the Edge (CFNY-FM), in addition to radio docuseries The Ongoing History of New Music, airing in syndication on several Corus network stations. Cross explains it all on his blog here.
Sue-Ann Levy and Lou Schizas are no longer contributors to Global News Radio 640 (CFMJ-AM) Toronto. Levy, a writer and political columnist with Postmedia, had been working with 640 for 15 years. Schizas had been providing business analysis since the early 2000s.
RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:
Dave Wheeler, the former 92 CITI FM Winnipeg morning man fired by Rogers in July after controversial on-air comments about transgender people, is suing the company for more than $1.4 million. Wheeler claims Rogers violated his employment contract and publicly defamed him following his highly-publicized dismissal. The lawsuit seeks lost wages, plus $80,000 in bonuses and benefits Wheeler would have received had his contract not been cancelled. The suit maintains that Rogers “condoned, encouraged and promoted Wheeler for being controversial, agitating and provocative,” using words like “edgy,” “uncensored,” “uncut” and “imbalanced” to promote Wheeler In The Morning. Wheeler’s lucrative contract with Rogers is detailed in the suit. His 2017 renewal, through 2022, saw his salary bumped to $335,000 per year, in addition to a one-time $100,000 signing bonus. Since his dismissal, Wheeler has been hosting a weekday morning podcast with his wife Candace from a home studio in the couple’s basement. Read the full story here.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) was among the groups testifying before the House of Commons Industry Committee this week in favour of keeping Canada’s existing copyright laws and tariff rules status quo. Right now, the Copyright Act limits royalty payments from radio stations to $100 for the first $1.25 million in ad revenue. Music industry groups argue the exemption is essentially a subsidy for private broadcasters and eliminating it would benefit artists. CAB board chair Nathalie Dorval says removing the exemption would impose an extra $8 million in costs on the Canadian radio sector, with private stations already paying out roughly $91 million a year in copyright tariffs. Annie Francoeur, Stingray Digital’s VP of legal and business affairs, and Freya Zaltz of the National Campus and Community Radio Association, also testified that the current Copyright Act is striking the right balance as is, offering stations financial certainty.
Audience Insights and Ulster Media have published more details from their 2018 Canadian Podcast Listener survey of 1,500 Canadians. In a post this week to Medium, Audience Insights president Jeff Vidler revealed most podcast growth is coming from listeners “inside the club, not those knocking on the door.” In sync with Edison Research in the U.S., the study shows steady, but slow growth: 26 per cent of Canadian adults now listen to podcasts at least once a month, up from 24 per cent last year. Within that group of monthly listeners, nearly three-in-four say they listen weekly, compared to just two-in-three last year. Nearly half of those monthly podcast listeners – 11 per cent – say they just started listening to podcasts in the past year. Vidler chalks up the finding to “churn” or listener turnover. He suggests driving growth by leveraging the rise of Smart Speakers, which are evolving as a conduit for home audio consumption and not discounting the shelf life of past podcast episodes.
The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Radio Show is underway this week in Orlando. Thursday’s schedule is highlighted by several sessions focused on the in-car audio experience, including panel Will the Connected Car Revolutionize Radio? featuring Ford Motor Company’s Scott Burnell; James Byun, Global VP of Auto for Gracenote; and Michele Laven, iHeartMedia’s president of Business Development and Partnerships. FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly will also address the conference, with the NAB Marconi Radio Awards set for Thursday evening. Find the full schedule here.
Richard Coleman, 74, on Sept. 25. Coleman started at CFCN-TV Calgary in Dec. 1965 and retired as VP of Engineering for CTV Alberta, 43 years later in Dec. 2008. Respected for his knowledge, passion and devotion to the broadcast industry, Coleman was honoured with the Western Association of Broadcast Engineers (WABE) Bob Lamp Award for Engineering Excellence in 2007.
Terry Moore, 82, on Sept. 24, following a short battle with cancer. Moore had a 62-year broadcasting career that started in 1956 at CKUA Edmonton. He moved on to CFCN Calgary, and then CKFH and CFRB Toronto. A stint doing mornings and holding down APD duties followed at WTFM-FM New York, while Moore studied opera and acting. He relocated to the West Coast in the 1970s where he hosted talk on CJOR Vancouver, then CKWX Vancouver and CKNW from 1980 to 1992. In 1992 he returned to Calgary and CHQR-AM, also anchoring evening news on CICT-TV (now Global). He eventually returned to Vancouver Island and hosted various programs over the years on CFAX 1070 Victoria, including Wine Talk. While he retired in 2016, he was a regular fill-in host on the station up until recently. Moore’s talents outside radio extended to a role in feature films “My American Cousin” and sequel “My American Boyfriend.” He also authored 1987 Canadian best seller “Toothpaste and Peanut Butter,” a how-to collection of household hints. Upon news of his passing, CFAX broke format on Monday and opened the lines to remember the broadcaster. Watch CTV Vancouver Island’s tribute here.
George Grant, 76, on Sept. 17 of complications from prostate cancer. Grant spent 50 years in the broadcast industry as a host, sales manager, programmer, and operations executive. He started in radio in 1964 at CKAR-AM Huntsville, ON as both morning show host and salesman. A stint at VOCM-AM in St. John’s, NL followed where he assumed program director duties. Upon returning to Toronto, he joined Rogers Broadcasting and CHFI-FM in a sales role, and acted as the station’s helicopter traffic reporter. Grant quickly moved up to VP of Sales and general manager. During those years, he also produced “On the Slopes” – a skiing show that aired on Citytv and a number of Ontario radio stations. In 1979, Grant branched out on his own, acquiring CKQT-FM and CKAR-AM Oshawa. He grew and operated the stations up until 1990 when he sold them to Power Broadcasting. He then took a break from broadcasting and moved into sports ownership, becoming a founding partner of the Ottawa Senators in 1992 and investing in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats a year later, as part of a Limited Partnership formed to rescue the team. He subsequently was co-owner of the Ti-Cats from 1995-2003, with the team winning the Grey Cup Championship in 1999. In 2004, Grant rekindled his relationship with Moses Znaimer becoming the founding president and CEO of MZ Media, ZoomerMedia’s radio division where he helped orchestrate the purchase of The New Classical 96.3 (CFMZ-FM) Toronto. Grant retired in 2013, but continued to work on new projects. Most recently he had been involved in helping launch APTN’s new Indigenous radio stations in Ottawa and Toronto.
Frank Babich, 74, on Sept. 14. Babich started out as one of youngest salesman in the Toronto office for CHCH-TV before relocating to Vancouver and becoming the VP of sales for BCTV Vancouver and CHEK-TV Victoria. He served in the role for 19 years up until his retirement in June 1997. Babich then joined the BC Lions and Vancouver 86ers Soccer Club in the roles of vice-president & director of sales, responsible for all non-league-generated revenue acquired by the club, including corporate sales, ticket sales, merchandising and hospitality suites. Babich was an inductee of the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters’ Quarter Century Club. He was also a past board member of the Television Bureau (TVB), the first collective sales and marketing team for the Canadian television industry.
Edward (Ted) Marshall, 73, on Sept. 8. Marshall worked with the CBC as a recording engineer for 30 years, starting in 1966. He played an integral role in the development of the CBC’s SM5000 recording catalog. Following his work with the public broadcaster, Marshall grew his own company, Marshall Arts Productions. At the forefront of classical music recording for over 50 years, he recorded hundreds of solo artists, orchestras, bands, choral and chamber ensembles, in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Retired CBC host Howard Dyck interviewed Marshall earlier this year for the Toronto section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). Listen here.
Walter Unger, 81, on Aug. 25. Unger was born in 1936 in Saskatchewan to a Mennonite farming family. Following studies at the University of Winnipeg and the University of Edinburgh, he went on to a 37-year career at the CBC. He held roles in Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa from announcer and reporter to executive producer and senior network manager. Following his retirement, Unger and his wife Marina founded the Mennonite Heritage Cruises. From 1995 – 2010, they hosted over 3,000 Mennonites returning to their home villages in Ukraine. He also supported archival research through the Transnational Mennonite Studies program at the University of Winnipeg.
Don Goodwin, 88, on Aug. 21. Goodwin’s broadcasting career started following a short stint in the army with the Black Watch Regiment that brought him to Nova Scotia. Veteran broadcaster Senator Finlay Macdonald recruited him for his radio station CJCH Halifax. He joined CBC Halifax in the 1950s as a television sportscaster. Working on some of the first live sports telecasts originating from the Maritimes, he was eventually asked to assist with CBC’s Olympic, Pan Am, Commonwealth and Canada Games coverage. Goodwin rose to become head of CBC Sports. Among his career highlights was serving as the announcer for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Atlanta Olympics. In addition to his broadcasting career, Goodwin was heavily involved in the promotion of amateur sport. He served as deputy Chef de Mission for the Canadian team, alongside Dick Pound, at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and led the team for the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Together with George Gross, Goodwin also created Sports Media Canada and the annual SMC Awards recognizing excellence in sports media. Their legacy, the Sports Media Canada Achievement Awards Luncheon, launched in 1996.
TV/FILM/VIDEO:
DHX Media has concluded a strategic review, announcing that it’s refocusing its content strategy on growing its WildBrain YouTube network and developing premium originals. As part of the review, the Halifax-based children’s entertainment company has signed a multi-million-dollar agency agreement for the Peanuts brand in China and Asia with CAA Global Brand Management Group LLP. The move follows the previously-announced sale of a minority stake in Peanuts to Sony for $235.6 million CDN. Additionally, DHX Media’s board of directors has suspended the company’s quarterly dividend, freeing up approximately $10 million in annual funds, to invest in the company’s WildBrain business and continue paying down debt. The company plans to invest in more short-form content, leveraging data from WildBrain’s 2.4 billion monthly views and over 50 million subscribers. It will also prioritize new content development on premium, original long-form series to meet rising demand for exclusive programming from major streaming platforms. Read more here.
The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) has announced its full list of nominees for the 2018 DGC Awards. Vic Sarin will be honoured with this year’s DGC Lifetime Achievement Award. The Indian-born Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter is best known for his work as a cinematographer on films including Partition, Margaret’s Museum, Whale Music, Nowhere to Hide, and Riel. Montreal-based Indigenous documentary filmmaker and activist Alanis Obomsawin, who has over 50 films to her credit including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, will receive this year’s DGC Honourary Life Member Award. Norma Bailey will be honoured with the Don Haldane Distinguished Service Award. The Manitoba-born director has most recently directed episodes of Anne With An E, Mary Kills People, Ransom and Outlander, among other series.
CBS Television Studios says it will open a television and film production hub outside Toronto by mid-2019. CBS says the 260,000 square-foot facility, to be located in Mississauga, will include six sound stages, production offices and other support facilities. The company shoots series Star Trek: Discovery and In the Dark in Toronto, and will also produce the reboot of Charmed in Canada.
Quebecor is calling on Québec’s political parties to make a formal pledge to maintain the predictability of the province’s Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit. Quebecor owns the MELS soundstage facilities in Montréal, Saint-Hubert and Québec City, used for both local and foreign film and television productions. Quebecor president Pierre Karl Péladeau says they’re looking for fiscal predictability before making a $40 million investment in new MELS studios. Quebec’s current film production tax credit stands at 20 per cent (compared to Ontario’s 21.5 per cent incentive). Twenty-three foreign films were shot in Québec last year, generating direct expenditures of $383 million, up 28.5 per cent from 2016 and 440 per cent from 2009. Québec currently accounts for just 11 per cent of foreign film productions in Canada, compared with 62 per cent for British Columbia and 23 per cent for Ontario. Read more here.
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) has announced the six new residents joining the 2018 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program, presented in association with ABC Signature Studios. This year’s group includes Sophia Fabiilli, whose co-created comedy-horror web series Fatal Murder is in development with Shaftesbury; writer and community leader Jessica Meya – the 2018 recipient of the Breakthrough Artist Award at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference; Michael Rinaldi, an actor and writer whose play Toothpaste and Cigars, (co-written with TJ Dawe), was adapted as 2013 feature film The F Word; Mackenzie Sinclair, originally from Edmonton, a 2017 Toronto Screenwriting Conference Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Award recipient; Veronika Paz, an actor, playwright, director and TV writer, who was the 2018 recipient of the Al Magee Diverse Screenwriters Award; and Heather Taylor, a writer, director and co-founder of New York creative studio Cereal Made, with writing credits on feature The Last Thakur; sci-fi web series Raptured, and the award-winning short Stitched. The group will work with CFC alumna and writer-producer Alexandra Zarowny, whose work spans Degrassi: The Next Generation to Wynonna Earp, Murdoch Mysteries, Bellevue and Private Eyes.
Ryan Tedder, Sarah McLachlan, and Arkells’ Max Kerman have been confirmed as the first wave of celebrity mentors for Season 2 of CTV’s The Launch. Québec pop icon Marie-Mai (Star Academie, La Voix) also joins as a permanent mentor on the weekly celebrity panel, alongside music industry veteran Scott Borchetta. Liz Trinnear (ETALK) will come on board in a new hosting role. The Launch began production this week in Toronto on its second season.
CBC’s new competition series Canada’s Smartest Person Junior premieres Nov. 14. Like Canada’s Smartest Person, the junior format is inspired by psychologist Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Over six weeks, 12 Canadian kids aged 9–12 will showcase their smarts in challenges across six categories: physical, musical, social, linguistic, logical and visual. The series is hosted by two-time Canadian Screen Award winner Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience).
ONLINE/DIGITAL:
Google has signed a deal with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance to provide in-car infotainment systems that will run on the Android operating system. The Google-powered media display, which will integrate Google Maps and the company’s apps, will be in cars starting in 2021. Google will have access to data generated through the car units, but can only collect it with customer permission.
GENERAL:
The Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel launched its consultation process this week with the release of Responding to the New Environment: A Call for Comments. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30. The panel, led by former TELUS EVP Janet Yale, aims to provide relevant, practical and implementable recommendations to the federal government that will ensure Canada has effective legislative and regulatory tools in place to support increased innovation, competition, diversity and choice in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the digital age. The consultation process will also include participating in a number of industry and academic conferences and meeting with a cross-section of experts, creators, and stakeholders, including those from Indigenous and official-language minority communities. A final report will be presented to government by Jan. 31, 2020. Read more here.
The Jack Webster Foundation has announced that Clive Jackson is the recipient of the 2018 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award, while Donna Logan will be honoured with this year’s Bill Good Award. Jackson is a former BCTV reporter, who transitioned to the assignment desk and helped build what’s now the Global BC brand. Donna Logan is the founding director of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism (1997-2007). She’s also a past president of the Canadian Media Research Consortium (2005-14), former deputy managing editor of the Montreal Star (1976-79) and has held several senior executive positions with the CBC, including Regional Director for BC. The awards will be handed out Oct. 29 at the Jack Webster Awards dinner in Vancouver.
Catherine Tait, CBC/Radio-Canada’s first female president, is on a tour of CBC newsrooms across the country following her appointment in July. Tait sat down this week with CBC Vancouver Early Edition host Stephen Quinn to talk about the future of public broadcasting in the digital age. On the heels of the public broadcaster’s announcement that it’s launching new OTT service Gem, Tait told Quinn consumer behaviour is shifting online and the CBC has to be where Canadians are. Listen to the full interview here.
Jeff Elgie, CEO of Village Media, who is finding success expanding hyper-local Ontario online news sites across smaller cities, and David Skok, CEO and editor-in-chief of media start-up The Logic, a subscription news site focused on Canada’s innovation economy, will talk about the decline of local news and creative use of technology in bridging information gaps at Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) J-Talk Going Local or Going Niche: New News Opportunities on Oct. 4 at the Google offices in Toronto. This event is part of the annual J-Talks series. Ticket info here.
Ronan Farrow, the investigative journalist behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker investigation on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual assault, is set to speak at an upcoming Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) J-Talk in Toronto. Ronan Farrow: Power, Media and Politics will take place Nov. 4 at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. The event, part of the annual J-Talks series exploring pressing media issues, will see Farrow in conversation with The Globe and Mail investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle. Doolittle’s own reporting on the way Canadian police services handle sexual assault cases prompted a national overhaul of policy, training and practices. She’s also the author national bestseller Crazy Town: the Rob Ford Story. Find more info here.
SUPPLY LINES:
CBC/Radio-Canada has chosen the Lawo VSM (Virtual Studio Manager) as the master IP control system for its new Montreal Broadcast Centre. The planned 39,000 m² (418,000 sq. ft.) Montreal broadcast facility will host several production areas dedicated to news, TV and post production activities, fed by dozens of studios, control rooms, editing and infographic workstations and audio mixing suites. Its massive Master Control and Playout Room is designed to host 40 TV channels, 40 Web channels and 160 Radio channels. The control and management of the broadcast infrastructure, and accompanying integrated technical resources, is based on Lawo VSM.
Not A Subscriber? Subscribe Now – Free!
Broadcast Dialogue has been required reading in the Canadian broadcast media for 25 years. When you subscribe, you join a community of connected professionals from media and broadcast related sectors from across the country.
The Weekly Briefing from Broadcast Dialogue is delivered exclusively to subscribers by email every Thursday. It’s your link to critical industry news, timely people moves, and excellent career advancement opportunities.
Let’s get started right now.
