Alicia Barin and Adam Scott have been appointed Vice-Chairpersons of the CRTC for five-year terms, effective Feb. 8 and Jan. 16, respectively. Barin has served as Interim Vice-Chairperson since August. She was first appointed to the CRTC in 2019 as the Regional Commissioner for Quebec and previously spent over 20 years in the broadcast industry as Vice-President of Strategic Planning for Astral Media, prior to its acquisition by Bell Media in 2013. Scott currently serves as Director General of the Spectrum Policy Branch at ISED, where he is responsible for spectrum auctions, spectrum economics and regulatory best practices in the spectrum program. He has worked at ISED since 2001 and was previously Senior Director of the Telecommunications Policy Branch, advising government on telecom regulatory and competition issues.
Michael Goldbloom has been appointed to a second five-year term as Chairperson of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Board of Directors, effective March 29. First appointed in 2018, Goldbloom was formerly the publisher of The Gazette in Montréal from 1994 to 2001 and the Toronto Star from 2004-06.
Michael Melling won’t be returning to the helm of CTV News following an independent investigation sparked by Lisa LaFlamme’s unceremonious exit from the network over the summer. More than three months after Richard Gray replaced him as Interim Head of CTV News, Bell Media has confirmed Melling has been reassigned within the company as VP, Shared Services. Gray has been with CTV for more than 15 years, most recently as Regional General Manager, Radio/TV, Eastern Region. Read more here.
David Phillips is joining Environics Analytics (EA) as Chief Product Officer (CPO). Phillips had held the role of President and COO at NLogic (formerly BBM Analytics) for the last nine years and been with the company for more than 16. Prior to NLogic, he worked with BBM Canada as an Account Executive. Environics, a division of Bell Canada, says Phillips will provide strategic leadership to the marketing and analytics provider’s product-focused teams, including product management, data development, software development and client services. He’ll remain based in Toronto. Read more here.
Kim Trynacity has left the CBC after 32 years and 40 as a journalist. Based in Edmonton, Trynacity has been the public broadcaster’s Alberta Legislative Reporter for the last two decades. She also steps down from her role as Canadian Media Guild (CMG) CBC/Radio-Canada National Branch President which she served in for the last three years.
Rob Montanaro has joined Channel Zero as Vice President of Sales. Montanaro previously held multiple roles with Bell Media over a 15-year period, ending his tenure as Director of National Sales in early 2019.
Stephanie Smyth has left Toronto’s CP24 to pursue other opportunities. Smyth had been with the station for more than 14 years, including stints on the assignment desk and serving as anchor of the 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts.
Chris Epp has signed off from CTV Calgary after 16 years. Epp had been an anchor and reporter with the station since 2007 when he arrived from CBC News where he’d worked as a reporter, writer and producer in Calgary, Saskatoon and Toronto.
Simon Ostler has a new role with Global Toronto, moving from Managing Editor to Executive Producer overseeing Global News Morning and Global News at 5:30. Ostler had been in the Managing Editor role for the last six years.
Olivia O’Malley has joined CTV Montreal as a video journalist. O’Malley arrives from Global Montreal where she’s been a freelance reporter, producer and photojournalist since 2018.
Drew Stremick has accepted the role of permanent Morning Weather Anchor for Global News Morning in Winnipeg. A 2022 SAIT Radio Television Broadcast News grad, Stremick has been working as a Digital Broadcast Journalist with Global Winnipeg since October.
Ken O’Neil has signed off from Q104 (CKQV-FM) Kenora, Dryden, Vermilion Bay, Sioux Lookout after 18 years as the station transfers ownership from Golden West Broadcasting to Acadia Broadcasting. O’Neil will continue to work with Golden West, based in Kenora, lending his voice to imaging and voicetracking across the network.
Dahlia Kurtz has announced she’s stepping away from Good Mornings with Dahlia Kurtz on SiriusXM Canada to focus on her podcast, DAHLIA, in addition to producing daily video content and doing speaking engagements. The talk radio veteran had been hosting the show for the last two years after getting caught up in layoffs at Bell Media and CFRA Ottawa in early 2021.
Eric Chapman has announced his departure from 980 CKNW Vancouver. He had been with the station since 2018 as a fill-in host and Community Contributor. Chapman has joined Toronto-based branded podcast producer, Obie & Ax as a senior producer.
Jane Jankovic has retired from TVO after nearly 30 years in current affairs and documentaries at Ontario’s public broadcaster. As Executive Producer, Documentaries at TVO Today Docs, Jankovic has commissioned more than 100 films over the years including the award-winning Broke, Sugar Coated and Ghosts of Afghanistan.
Miranda Cipolla (Branded Content Editor), Kianni Reynolds-Lewis (Staff Writer), Julie Prendergast (Account & Project Manager), Olivia Bortolazzo (Creative Strategist), Josie Kozlowski (Campaign Manager), Zeeta Maharaj (Learning & Development Coordinator), and Erin Chappell (Client Partner) are among those caught up in the most recent round of layoffs at Narcity Media, amounting to 20% of the digital publisher’s workforce. Cipolla had been with the company the last eight years, while many of the others impacted had been with Narcity for a year or less.
