Revolving Door

Lisa LaFlamme has joined CityNews as a special correspondent anchoring the network’s coverage of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. LaFlamme joins Rogers Sports & Media just four weeks after the announcement of her departure from CTV National News where she’d been Chief Anchor and Senior Editor since 2011 and with CTV for 35 years. LaFlamme is leading the network’s coverage from London, providing daily reporting for newscasts across television and radio as well as making regular appearances on Breakfast Television. A Rogers Sports & Media spokesperson says how the relationship might proceed beyond the commemoration coverage is yet to be determined. Read more here. 

Lauren Pullen has replaced Mary Cranston as CTV Vancouver’s weekend anchor, as Cranston moves into the late news anchor position. Pullen arrives from Global Calgary where she’s been a reporter for the past five years. Prior to that, she was an anchor/reporter with Global News Kelowna.

Amanda Parris has officially stepped away from CBC Music’s Marvin’s Room after six years in the host’s chair. Parris is also the creator, executive producer and showrunner of critically-acclaimed digital series Revenge of the Black Best Friend, which launched on CBC Gem this year, in addition to other creative ventures. Music journalist A. Harmony, who had previously served as the R&B program’s interim host, steps in to host Marvin’s Room

Steve Pratt, who left Pacific Content earlier this year, has announced his next venture, The Creativity Business, a strategy firm designed to help creatives build better businesses and help businesses infuse creativity into their marketing, communications and internal cultures. Pratt has launched a newsletter for those also interested in exploring the space.

Stephen Brunt has left Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM) Toronto. Brunt, 63, had been with the station consecutively for the last 11 years after initially leaving to join Team 1050 (CHUM-AM) as a host in 2001. Brunt is also a contributor to the Globe and Mail and has authored numerous books including 2006 Canadian best seller, Searching for Bobby Orr. He also co-founded and serves as Artistic Director of The Writers at Woody Point literary festival in Woody Point, Bonne Bay, NL. 

Caroline Hunter has joined Kris Jay on Bounce 99.9 (CFWM-FM) Winnipeg’s new Bounce Afternoons with Kris and Caroline. Jay and Hunter have both had successful solo shows on Bounce over the past seven years with Hunter moving over from middays. The new show launched Sept. 12 in the 2 – 7 p.m. weekday time slot. 

Pete Walker has joined Stingray as host of The Early Show on New Country 92.3 (CFRK-FM) Fredericton. Moving closer to family ties in New Brunswick, Walker arrives from KX96 (CJKX-FM) Oshawa where he had worked since 1995. Most recently, he was midday host, while serving as Music Director for KX96 and KX94.7 (CHKX-FM) Hamilton. He replaces John Riordon on The Early Show, who is taking up the role of Director of Programming, NB at Stingray. Riordon will continue to host Weekend Country Heat every Saturday on Stingray’s New Country and Real Country stations nationwide. 

Paul Herriot has joined the Grand@101 (CICW-FM) Centre Wellington, ON as part of the Billie & Friends morning show, in addition to taking on the role of Operations Manager. Herriot was laid off from Rogers Sports & Media earlier this year after almost 18 years with CityNews 570 (CKGL-AM) Kitchener where he was a technical producer and backfill programming assistant.

Vanessa Murphy is now being heard afternoons on Move 99.7 (CKPT-FM) Peterborough, in addition to her morning show on Bounce 91.9 (CKLY-FM) Lindsay. Murphy was the winner of Best On Air Solo Host (Small Market) in Broadcast Dialogue’s 2021 Canadian Radio Awards and first runner-up in worldwide radio talent competition, Radio Star.

Greg Beharrell has added Rock 102 (CJDJ-FM) Saskatoon to the list of stations picking up his syndicated show. Beharrell is heard in various markets and dayparts, including 100.3 The Bear (CFBR-FM) Edmonton, Indie88 (CIND-FM) Toronto, and 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles, among other stations.

Penny Schreiner has retired from Golden West Broadcasting’s CJSN 1490 after 43 years. Schreiner began working at the Shaunavon, SK station under Frontier City Broadcasting in 1975, holding roles over the years from reception to commercial writing and log producing. After the station was acquired by Golden West in 1994, she went on to spend time as a morning show host and in sales. For the last decade, she’d been working in a news role with Swift Current Online, heard on CJSN 1490, and CKSW 570, Eagle 94.1 (CIMG-FM) and Magic 97 (CKSW-FM) Swift Current.

Sarah Miller, Program Director at Golden West Broadcasting’s 107.5 BOLT FM (CHBO-FM), is now also hosting the breakfast show from 6 a.m. – noon weekdays. Miller has been with the station since 2016 and in the PD role since 2018. Former morning host Calum McAnally moves to mornings on Golden West’s Mix 103.9 (CJAW-FM) Moose Jaw. 

Eddie Gregory has been named the new voice of the Western Hockey League (WHL) Vancouver Giants. Gregory will serve as the team’s play-by-play broadcaster for 2022-23. He spent the past 18 seasons doing play-by-play in the BCHL for the Coquitlam Express. He’s also a producer for Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM) Vancouver, which holds the Giants’ broadcast rights. He previously worked on various shows for TSN 1040 (CKST-AM).

Cole Schisler is joining CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver as an anchor. Schisler has been working as a provincial reporter for Black Press Media for the last year and prior to that spent two years as the editor of the Ladysmith Chronicle. 

Angela Mullins has been named Editorial Director at Pink Triangle Press (PTP). Mullins arrives from the Toronto Star where she’s held various senior roles since 2018 and is currently Senior Editor of Digital Audience Development, a unit she created to engage new “readers” in multimedia content. Mullins joins a content team led by Jennifer McGuire, former Editor-in-Chief of CBC News, who came to PTP in January. Mullins will be working with the Xtra Magazine team, and others, to create editorial content across audio, visual and text. Her career as a reporter began at The Herald Dispatch in West Virginia. She came to Canada in 2011, first working as a reporter for Metro News in London and rising through the ranks to become Managing Editor and eventually Deputy Editor of StarMetro, a brand she was instrumental in creating.

Jeff Norton is joining Corus Entertainment in an overall deal with his UK-based creative content company, Dominion of Drama, to head new IP and production venture, Waterside Studios. The new studio will be focused on producing scripted Canadian content for youth and primetime audiences. Originally from Canada, Norton previously worked at The Jim Henson Company in Los Angeles before moving to the UK to join Chorion Ltd. (Noddy, The Octonauts) as senior vice-president in 2007, He founded Dominion of Drama in 2020. Norton has previously worked as a consultant for Corus as executive producer of Trucktown for Nelvana, which Waterside will also work with to produce live-action programming for kids. Read more here.

Christine Diakos joins eOne as Vice President, Development, Unscripted – Canada, Television. In her new role, Diakos will be responsible for development, creation and pitching of non-scripted content, with a focus on lifestyle, reality and competition series. Prior to eOne, she was Senior Vice President of Production and Development at Big Coat Media where she served as a Supervising Producer on  Love It or List It (HGTV), Love It or List It Vancouver (HGTV) and Jillian and Justin (W Network). She’s also served in senior production and development roles at Shaw Media and Peacock Alley Entertainment, working on content as varied as A Users Guide to Cheating Death (VisionTV) and Hockey Wives (W Network), among others.

Scott Boyd has been elevated to VP, Development, Unscripted and will oversee factual, true crime, and docuseries content. Boyd joined eOne in 2017 as a Development Producer, following eOne’s acquisition of Paperny Entertainment, and quickly progressed to Director of Development, steering such projects as Make it to the Moon (Discovery) and Arctic Vets (CBC). Both Diakos and Boyd report to Jocelyn Hamilton, President – Canada, Television.

Blue Ant Studios has added two newly-created leadership roles within its production and development divisions. Aileen Gardner has been appointed Head of Production, Canada, charged with leading operations for the studio’s slate of productions in Canada. She’ll report to Laura Michalchyshyn, CCO + co-president, Global Production, Blue Ant Media and Sam Sniderman, co-president, Global Production. Gardner arrives at Blue Ant with over 20 years experience in production across the UK, U.S., and Canada with companies like Mentorn, Endemol, Cineflix and Scott Brother’s Entertainment. Since arriving in Canada she has overseen shows such as Nazi Hunters (Discovery), the launch of American Pickers (A&E) and the reboot of Brother vs Brother (HGTV).

Zachary Frank is VP, Development, Blue Ant Studios. He’ll work with the studio’s team in Los Angeles to further expand its development slate of limited and returnable series with an emphasis on the Canadian, UK and American markets. He’ll report to Jennifer Harkness, SVP, Unscripted, while working closely with Aileen Gardner in Toronto. Prior to joining Blue Ant, Frank was Senior Director at Cream Productions, where he developed projects for CNN (History of the Sitcom), Discovery ID (If I Should Die), Bell Networks (Fear thy Roommate), and Corus (The World Without).

Robyn Stewart is the new Executive Director of Women in Music Canada, a registered non-profit dedicated to fostering gender equality in the music industry. Based in Winnipeg, Stewart is a 20-year music industry veteran, currently serving as Executive Director and CEO of the Western Canadian Music Alliance and BreakOut West. Prior to that, she held roles as a talent buyer and event manager. 

Nia Addison has been promoted into the newly-created position of Customer Success & Renewal Contract Manager at Promosuite. Addison will manage the contract renewal process in collaboration with PromoSuite’s sales and customer success teams. She’ll also continue to work directly with PromoSuite customers to ensure their success utilizing PromoSuite Next, PromoSuite Mail and the new PromoSuitePlus workflow platform which includes PromoSuite Digital and PromoSuite Production.