Revolving Door

Adrienne Arsenault has been named Chief Correspondent for CBC News and will anchor The National solo, Monday to Thursday, starting this fall as CBC News launches a free ad-supported streaming (FAST) channel built around the flagship program and featuring the best of CBC local, national and current affairs journalism. Andrew Chang will step away from The National in August to begin development on a new daily show for the channel that will also be available on CBC Gem, CBCNews.ca, the CBC News app and YouTube. Ian Hanomansing, who was recently named the new permanent host of Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio and CBC News Network, will continue to host The National on Friday and Sunday. He will also host a new weekly interview series on The National in the fall. Read more here.

 

Susan Ormiston has been appointed to the newly-created role of International Climate Correspondent at CBC News, as the public broadcaster positions itself as a leader in climate journalism. Ormiston’s new role is one of two CBC News is dedicating to the international climate beat with a Climate Producer to also be hired. CBC’s climate coverage will be branded under the “Our Changing Planet” banner and be made available on cbcnews.ca, the CBC News app, CBC News Network, CBC Radio One, CBC TV, and The National, as well as the new Climate and Environment site. Ormiston is concluding three years as CBC News’ Washington Correspondent and will cover the U.S. midterm elections before returning to Canada next year. She’ll continue to cover other major breaking news and conflicts and is already set to return to Ukraine later this summer. Read more here.

 

Nil Köksal is the new host of national CBC Radio current affairs show, As It Happens, starting Sept. 5. She’ll step away from her current role on CBC News: World Report in late July, joining As It Happens co-host and longtime show writer, Chris Howden. A guest host on the show since 2019, Köksal began her career at CBC as an editorial assistant, working her way up to writer, video journalist, and foreign correspondent with time in Istanbul, Tunis, London, Washington, and New York. She succeeds longtime host Carol Off, who stepped away from the show in February. 

 

Robin Smythe has retired from CBC Radio’s As It Happens. Smythe had been the show’s Executive Producer since 2012. Prior to joining the CBC as a television reporter in 1995, she worked with Global News early in her career.

Andree Lau has a new title at CBC News as Senior Director of Digital Publishing and Streaming. Lau has been Managing Editor, Digital News for the past two years following an eight-year stint with Huff Post Canada where she ended her tenure as Editor-In-Chief. Prior to that, she spent 13 years with CBC News in various roles in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Tracy Seeley has been promoted to Senior Director of Newsgathering at CBC News. Seeley has held various roles with the public broadcaster over the last two decades including acting as a Senior Producer on The National and with CBC’s London, UK bureau. For the last four years, she’d been in a Managing Editor role.

Ross Bragg has departed CBC Radio Vancouver after 25 years as a producer and technician. Bragg has worked on numerous local and network programs, including Basic Black, Early Edition, and more recently On The Coast, which put together an on-air tribute to the director and studio operator.

Nathen Sekhon is joining Global News’ flagship newscast Global National as Executive Producer on July 18 and Caroline Gdyczynski as Producer on Aug. 22. Sekhon has been leading editorial teams in B.C. and Ontario as Supervising Producer of newscasts across four languages for OMNI, where he’s worked since 2007. Gdycznski joins Global from TRT World in Istanbul where she has been working as a Program Editor and Acting Executive Producer. Before moving to Turkey, she was a Producer at CBC Toronto.

 

Stacey Horwood, Vic Araujo, Geoff Franklin, and Gerry Persoon are retiring from the Global BC Engineering department. Horwood started with the station in 1986 as a carpenter and assumed the maintenance role in 2013. His last day is July 28. Araujo started in 1976, and after an 11-year detour to Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment, returned to Global in 2006. Persoon retired earlier this month after 46 years with the company. Franklin’s last day is Aug. 31.

Dean Hill has signed off from Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) Vancouver after 27 years with the station and nearly 50 years in radio. Hill’s career started at CKDA Victoria, with stops in Calgary and Toronto, before joining Rock 101. He detoured to CKLG Vancouver to host The Morning Zoo from 1988-95, before returning to afternoons on CFMI. 

Christy Farrell and Fraser Tuff have announced their departure from the morning show on 101.5 Today Radio Calgary (CKCE-FM) to relocate to Vancouver and a new opportunity within Pattison Media. The on-air duo announced their engagement earlier this year.

Ashley Pirhonen aka AJ will join the newly-rebranded 89.5 JR Country (CHWK-FM) Chilliwack in afternoon drive, starting next month, as drive host John Vosper returns to school. Vosper had been heard in the time slot for the past two and a half years. Pirhonen has most recently been hosting weekends on 101.3 The River (CKKN-FM) Prince George after a brief stint at Move 97.1 (CJMJ-FM) Penticton.

Michael Levy has retired after three decades as a contributing financial analyst for 980 CKNW Vancouver and Global BC. Levy, 79, got his start in broadcasting hosting LevyLine on CJOR Vancouver in 1986. He’s also provided commentary to CTV Vancouver and CBC News. 

Allan Gidyk, General Manager at Coast 101.1 FM (CKSJ-FM) St. John’s, NL, is leaving his position in late August after 14 years with the station. Gidyk is returning to Western Canada to join his spouse who moved to Edmonton in February for a social work opportunity. Aiden Hibbs is the station’s new General Manager. Hibbs, who had a long management career with NewCap/Stingray in Newfoundland, returns to broadcasting after leaving the industry to pursue a career in real estate.

 

Brett Adnum has a new role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Golden West Broadcasting. Adnum has been with Golden West since 2011 working his way up from Account Executive. He’d most recently held the position of VP, Sales & Operations. Adnum is also the new President of Western Association of Broadcasters (WAB). Carter Friesen stepped away from the President & COO role earlier this year.

Rob Berridge, a longtime Creative Writer and Voice Talent at Rogers Radio in B.C., has retired after 40 years in broadcasting. Since joining Rogers in 2005, Berridge wrote thousands of commercials for CityNews, Jack FM (CJAX-FM) Vancouver, KiSS Radio (CKKS-FM), Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM), Mountain FM (CISQ-FM) Squamish, Star Country, Jack FM (CHTT-FM) Victoria and Ocean 98.5 (CIOC-FM), and voiced even more spots for Rogers radio and television across the country.  

Mike Sherlock, B.C. Radio Production Manager/Producer for Rogers Radio, has retired after 34 years with Rogers and 36 years in radio. Sherlock’s radio career has taken him to Grande Prairie, Saskatoon, Calgary, Victoria and Vancouver, hiring and mentoring dozens of producers across the country, launching and imaging countless Rogers formats, and producing thousands of commercials. 

 

Philly & Kirby (aka Phil Aubrey and Shalinda Kirby) have made their long-awaited debut in mornings on Winnipeg’s 92 CITI FM, six months after Aubrey’s exit from the Power 97 (CJKR-FM) morning show where Kirby was his former co-host. The Rogers Sports & Media station’s refreshed lineup sees Poncho Parker move into middays; Adam Kane in afternoons; and mainstay Howard Mandshein in evenings.

POWER 97 (CJKR-FM) Winnipeg has launched a new lineup with market veterans Jay, Nic & Vic teaming up in mornings. Jay Richardson was formerly heard in afternoons and Nic Welsh in middays, while Vicki Shae has been filling in on the morning show for the past few months alongside longtime morning man, Joe Aiello, who has decided to move on following the expiration of his contract. Prior to re-joining Power, Shae was one-half of the morning show at the former 94.3 The Drive (CHIQ-FM), alongside Tom McGouran, up until October’s station rebrand to NOW! Radio. Ed Garcia, who has been with CFOX Vancouver since 2015, joins the station in afternoons. Weekend personality Dan Chen moves into middays, while Fearless Fred from Toronto sister station Q107 (CILQ-FM), will continue to be heard evenings from 6 – 10 p.m.

 

Sarah Nick and Ryan Connop are now co-hosting mornings on Pattison Media’s 104.7 The Lizard (CKLZ-FM) Kelowna, as part of a lineup shuffle. Nick moves up from afternoon drive, while Connop comes over from afternoons on 103.1 Beach Radio (CKQQ-FM). Big Ginger (aka Kieran Wilkie) moves from mornings on The Lizard to afternoon drive on Beach Radio, while his former co-host Chris Roach moves into afternoons on The Lizard.

Dominik Diamond has returned to Stingray Halifax and Q104 (CFRQ-FM) as host of regional evening show, Rock of the Atlantic, which also airs on the network’s Q-branded stations in Pictou County, NS, Saint John, NB and Moncton, NB. The Scottish radio host, known for hosting stints on Q107 (CILQ-FM) and 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) in Toronto, as well as 96.9 JACK FM (CJAQ-FM) Calgary, previously spent time in Halifax 11 years ago as host of mornings on the short-lived Radio 96.5 (CKUL-FM). 

Rémi-Pierre Paquin, Cathy Gauthier and Martin Tremblay are taking over hosting duties on Bell Media’s Énergie 94.3 (CKMF-FM) Montreal morning show Le Boost!, starting Aug. 22. The morning team made up of Philo Lirette, Kim Rusk and Olivier Martineau confirmed last month that after five years they won’t be back this fall. The program is the number one music morning show among adults aged 25-54 in Montreal, according to Numeris data supplied by Bell Media.

 

Tarnjit Parmar is leaving her reporter/producer position with CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Parmar has been with the station for the last four years. Prior to joining Rogers Sports & Media, she was a reporter and anchor with Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM).  

Tara Slone has confirmed she is no longer with Sportsnet following the network’s cancellation of Rogers Hometown Hockey. Slone had been co-hosting the show for the last eight years, alongside Ron MacLean, who remains with the network. Prior to joining Sportsnet, the Joydrop frontwoman hosted Breakfast Television in Calgary for five years.

Nadine Yousif has joined BBC North America as a reporter, based in Toronto. Yousif will be covering breaking news in both Canada and the U.S., as well as enterprise features. She’s been serving as the Toronto Star’s first dedicated mental health reporter for the past two years.

John McKenna, Executive Producer at CHCH Hamilton, has parted ways with Channel Zero after nearly 24 years with the station. Prior to joining CHCH, McKenna was a Producer and Director with CBC TV in Edmonton and Calgary, and held various roles with Canwest for more than a decade.

Susan Newhook has retired from the University of King’s College in Halifax. Newhook has been teaching in the School of Journalism for the past 18 years. She previously spent 17 years with CBC as a journalist and producer in St. John’s, Halifax, and Edmonton.

Francesca Accinelli has been named the interim head of Telefilm as Christa Dickensen gets set to vacate the Executive Director and CEO role after four years. Accinelli, who currently holds the title of VP, Promotions, Communications and International Relations, has been with Telefilm since 2006.The interim appointment takes effect Sept. 10.

 

 

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has welcomed five new leaders to its management team. Jessica Lea Fleming joins CMF as Director of Growth & Inclusion. Fleming was most recently with imagineNATIVE, where she was Associate Director. Marcia Douglas joins as Director of English Content, International and Export. She’ll help develop CMF policy and analyze regulatory issues. Prior to joining CMF, she held roles at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), Bell Fund, Cogeco Fund, and the Independent Production Fund. Mireille Darveau joins as Director of French Content. She’ll help develop policy, streamline internal processes, and better position the CMF to adapt to further legislative and industrial changes. Darveau has over 25 years experience in the screen industry, including nearly 15 years at Telefilm Canada as Deputy Director for the CMF’s Program Administrator. Kyle O’Byrne joins as Director of Public Affairs. Prior to joining CMF, he worked at CMPA as Director of Policy and Manager of Media Relations and Communications. Jared Morrow joins the organization as Director of Communications. Previously, he worked at BGC Canada (formerly Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada), where he held the role of Director, Editorial & Content.

 

Justin Erdman has been hired as Disney+ Canada’s Head of Partnerships, based in Toronto. Erdman was most recently Head of Business Development at Vancouver’s BBTV, in addition to previous roles at Bell Media, Rogers Media, Deezer, and Universal Music Canada.

Joshua Jackson has stepped in as the interim CEO of Vancouver-headquartered Liquid Media Group. The move comes one month after the resignation of former CEO Ron Thomson. The company’s co-founder and current Chairman of the Board, Jackson has over 30 years of film and television experience, both in front of and behind the camera. Alongside Jackson’s interim appointment, the board of directors has voted to bring on an additional board member. Joining the Liquid Board is Tom Casey, Chief Investment Officer, director and co-Founder of RLS Partners, and former President of American Apparel and EVP & CFO of Blockbuster. 

 

Michael Murray is stepping down as Director of the ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society (PRS) on Aug. 19 to pursue another opportunity. Murray had been in the role since February of last year. Prior to joining ACTRA National, Murray was Executive Director of the Toronto Musicians’ Association Local 149 (TMA149). 

David Russell has joined Futuri as National Account Manager and Jessica Foster as Director of Partner Support, Sales Intelligence. Russell joins Futuri from Cox Media Group Orlando, where he spent 15 years as a Senior Account Manager in its Radio and Digital Group. Foster joins Futuri from Stephens Media Group, where she was Director of Sales. 

Matrix has announced expansion of its leadership team as it deploys new Sales Gateway, Admiral, and significantly expands its Monarch Suite multi-media revenue management solution. Media industry veterans Rob Kohn and Gabriella DiMaggio have joined the company in new roles as Chief Product Officer and Director of Program Management, respectively, while Evan O’Toole has joined Matrix as VP, Success and Service. Admiral will be developed and released in several phases, starting in Q4 2022.