Dave Budge, VP News & Information at Rogers Sports & Media, is retiring after five decades in broadcast news. Budge spent 19 years as a reporter and senior producer with Citytv Vancouver, followed by stints as News Director at Global and CBC Calgary. He returned to Citytv in 2013 as GM of CityNews Toronto and had been in his current since 2020. Budge will stay on until the end of March to aid in the transition.
Bram Abramson has been appointed Regional Commissioner for Ontario at the CRTC for a five-year term, effective Feb. 15. Abramson, who served as a financial analyst at the CRTC early in his career, has two decades of regulatory experience, most recently serving as Principal in Toronto-based boutique legal, regulatory and policy firm, 32M. He’s also previously worked with Teksavvy as Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer and at McCarthy Tetrault, practicing Technology & Communications Law.
Kelly Latremouille is retiring after 42 years in radio. Currently heard in afternoon drive on WAVE 98.3 (CIWV-FM) Vancouver, Latremouille’s career began at CKKC Nelson in 1980. Stops followed at CHEC Lethbridge, CHAB Moose Jaw, CKDA Victoria, CISS Calgary, and CFUN Vancouver, in addition to a 15-year run hosting the Breakfast Club on C100 (CIOO-FM) Halifax. He returned to Vancouver in 2007 with stints at CKLG-FM, CKCL-FM and CFUN-FM. From 2014 to early 2021, Latremouille helmed mornings on LG 104.3, which was subsequently rebranded as 104.3 The Breeze (CHLG-FM) Vancouver.
Randall Moore has joined Ottawa’s Rebel Rock 101.7 (CIDG-FM), reviving his infamous “Randall’s Rant,” which will air three times a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – during Kornicky in the Morning and The Ride Home with Cub Carson. Moore retired from CHEZ 106, alongside 20-year morning show team Doc and Woody, in June 2019.
Kevin Forget has returned to Citytv Toronto’s Breakfast Television as Supervising Producer. Forget had been working with Destination Ontario as Media Relations Coordinator for the last nine years. Prior to leaving BT in late 2013, he was the Executive Producer of the show for a decade.
Saif Kaisar has joined Global Edmonton as a provincial affairs reporter. Kaisar arrives from a brief stint at CTV where he held the same position. Prior to that, he served as Alberta Legislative Bureau Chief at CityNews Edmonton for three years.
Dan Grummett is leaving Global Edmonton and journalism to pursue a career in communications. Grummett had been a digital journalist with the station for the past year, preceded by a stint as a video journalist with CTV Edmonton, and reporting, producing and anchoring positions with Global Winnipeg, Global Saskatoon, and Rawlco’s CKOM Saskatoon over the last 14 years.
Brendan Ellis is leaving CTV Regina to return to his hometown of Calgary for a new opportunity. Ellis started his journalism career at CTV Regina as a University of Regina Journalism intern in 2018. He’d most recently been in the role of Senior Digital Content Producer.
Claire Palmer is CBC’s new dedicated video journalist in Nanaimo, BC. Prior to joining CBC in October, Palmer was a multimedia editor at Black Press community newspaper The Golden Star in Golden, BC for the last three years.
Emily Haws is joining CBC North in Iqaluit as a reporter. Haws has been with CBC since 2019 as an associate producer assigned to CBC News Network’s Power & Politics. Prior to that, she was a reporter and columnist with The Hill Times.
Lori Ewing is leaving The Canadian Press (CP) after nearly 22 years as an award-winning sports writer. Ewing will be joining Reuters Sports, based in the UK.
Alex Seixeiro has returned to the sports desk on CityNews 680 (CFTR-AM) Toronto, CityNews 570 (CKGL-AM) Kitchener, and CityNews 1310 (CIWW-AM) Ottawa, after undergoing three rounds of treatment for testicular cancer. Seixeiro was first diagnosed last August.
Gillian “Gill” Deacon, host of Here and Now, the CBC Radio One afternoon show heard in Toronto, has revealed she’s been struggling with health issues that have kept her off the air for the past several weeks. Deacon, 56, previously took time off in 2019 to undergo cancer treatment.
Gabriela Perdomo is the new Editor-in-Chief of J-Source. An assistant professor of journalism at Mount Royal University in Calgary where her research focuses on anti-media discourse. Perdomo is also the host of Spanish-language podcast Periodémica and an editorial board member of Facts and Frictions. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, her work has appeared in Maclean’s and The Tyee. J-Source’s previous Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Metropolitan University assistant journalism professor Sonya Fatah, continues to support J-Source as a board chair.
Jessica Johnson has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of The Walrus. Johnson had been in the editor’s position for the last five and a half years. A longtime freelance writer, she’s contributed to The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Reader’s Digest, and Elle, among other publications, over the last 25 years.
Kristi Boulton is departing JAR Audio to join Spark Recruiting as Chief Storyteller. Boulton had been with the Vancouver-headquartered branded content studio since late 2021, most recently serving as Audience Growth Manager.
Steph Wiens has been appointed Vice President, Sales for Golden West. Over the last number of months, Wiens has stepped into a larger leadership role overseeing sales and leadership training for the company. She’ll also continue to oversee Homefield People + Strategy (HPS) as well as lead the company’s Employee Experience initiatives. Wiens joined Golden West in 2021 when the broadcaster acquired her company, Summit Organizational Development (now known Homefield People + Strategy).
Aren Prupas has been appointed President & CEO of Muse Entertainment, taking the reins from his father, Michael Prupas, who now assumes the position of Executive Chairman of the Board. Aren has served as SVP, Business & Legal affairs at Muse for the past decade and more recently as its COO.
Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, has promoted Paul Kilback to Creative Director of Factual Programming and Matt Faulknor to Senior Development Producer. As Creative Director, Factual Series, Kilback will take on an expanded leadership role and oversee the creative and editorial direction on Saloon’s factual series, upped from an Executive Producer role at Saloon. Faulknor has been elevated to Senior Development Producer. Prior to joining Saloon, he held production roles at Proof & Concept, CBC and Pixcom Productions.
Jane Tattersall has been appointed Managing Director of Picture Shop and Senior Vice-President of Formosa Group, Streamland Media’s picture and sound divisions. An award-winning supervising sound editor, Tattersall previously founded post businesses, Tattersall Sound and Tattersall Sound & Picture, the latter of which she sold to Sim Post Toronto where she served as SVP from 2016 to 2021 when it was acquired by Formosa.
Jasmine Gard has joined Brain Power Studio as VP, Finance & Operations. Gard previously served as Manager, Production Finance – Animated Series, at Netflix. Prior to that, she spent more than six years with 9 Story Media Group.
Mary DelGrande has been promoted to CEO of vCreative. DelGrande has been with the company since 2019, upped from her previous position of SVP of Sales. Prior to vCreative, DelGrande held sales and affiliate relations positions with Premiere Radio Networks, Westwood One, and CBS Radio. She succeeds Susie Hedrick in the role, who has joined WideOrbit as President and Managing Director, Local Broadcast.
Brad Rumler is joining virtual and augmented reality technology provider Zero Density as Vice-President of Sales & Business Development for the U.S. & Canada. Rumler’s background includes time with Apple and AT&T, in addition to leading sales and business development efforts for Brainstorm, Tools On Air, and Sequin AR. More recently, he’s been consulting under the banner of his virtual production and broadcast technology advisory service, Broadcast Revolution LLC.
Mark Playdon has been appointed Western Regional Sales Manager for Utah Scientific, overseeing sales and customer management in the Western U.S. and Canada. After serving in the British Royal Air Force, Playdon started his career in 1993 as a systems design and installation engineer for FOR-A. Before joining Utah Scientific, he worked for the JVCKenwood Corporation as Director of Broadcast Sales for the Western U.S. region.
