Originally published in the July 20, 2023 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Brad Phillips is set to retire from his role as Senior Vice President, Corus Audio in early August. Phillips has been with Corus Entertainment for a decade, starting in 2012 as General Manager for the Vancouver cluster of radio stations, before moving into the position of VP, Corus Radio West and then Vice-President and Head of FM Radio. He was upped to his current role in March 2022, overseeing all audio platforms for Corus including all FM and AM stations, as well as podcasting. Prior to joining Corus, he served as Vice-President of B.C. Operations for Astral Media, among other executive and management roles with CHUM television and radio, as well as Moffat Communications. Read more here.
Richard Madan has confirmed he was among those caught up in a wave of layoffs at Bell Media in mid-June. Madan, who had been CTV’s Washington, D.C. correspondent for the past six years, had been with the network since 2010. Brett Bailey, Senior Producer of Sports Betting for TSN is also out after 26 years with the network, as is BNN Bloomberg reporter David George-Cosh, who had been with Bell Media since 2018.
Jordan Cunningham, who was also swept up in Bell Media’s June layoffs, has been hired by CHEK TV Victoria. Cunningham had been a reporter and anchor with CTV Vancouver Island for almost 20 years. CHEK has also picked up Digital Producer Adam Chan, who had been with CTV News since 2019.
Amber Schinkel has announced her departure from CTV Vancouver Island. Schinkel had been a reporter, anchor and producer with the station since 2017. She previously worked with Global News for a decade in both Lethbridge and Calgary. Schinkel says she’s starting a new chapter citing recent changes in the industry.
Joel Haslam and Leanne Cusack have signed off from CTV News Ottawa. The couple, who have both been with the network for 35 years, are retiring from broadcasting. Cusack has been the long-serving co-host of News at Noon, alongside Michael O’Byrne, while Haslam is known for his gift for award-winning storytelling.
Brandon Buechler has resigned from CTV National News as he joins independent gaming developer Digital Extremes as a web producer. Buechler had been with Bell Media since 2018 working as a chase producer and assignment editor.
Renée Rodgers is joining CTV News Channel as a weekend anchor. Up until this past June, Rodgers has been the 5 p.m. anchor with CTV Winnipeg and the 11:30 p.m. anchor and producer since 2016. She’s also worked with Global Peterborough as a video journalist and anchor.
Pat McKay has announced he’s moving into communications. A journalist with CTV News for more than a decade, McKay was most recently with CTV Saskatoon. He also served as sports director at CTV Winnipeg and as a video journalist with CTV Yorkton.
Theresa Lalonde has retired from CBC Vancouver after 37 years with the public broadcaster. Lalonde started her career with CBC in Inuvik in 1986, hosting CBC North’s Saturday Night Request show. She’s been with CBC Vancouver since 2000, producing shows for CBC Radio, television and CBC Gem, including Sounds Like Canada, Our Vancouver, and Planet Wonder. Lalonde is also a faculty instructor in the broadcast program at BCIT.
Janice Moeller, CBC Manitoba’s Senior Producer of Audio, has retired. Moeller had been with the public broadcaster for 31 years, marking her last day on July 13.
Rebecca Zandbergen is leaving CBC London to move to Ottawa to be closer to family. Her last day on the morning show is on July 28. Zandbergen has been with the public broadcaster since 2001, the last six as host of London Morning. Prior to that, she hosted the afternoon show at CBC Kelowna.
Wafa El-Rayes has joined CBC Radio Ottawa as an Associate Producer, working on CBC All in a Day and Ottawa Morning. A 2023 Carleton University Journalism graduate, El-Rayes previously was a regional radio intern with Ottawa Morning.
David Fraser is returning to CBC Ottawa after a year-long stint with The Canadian Press (CP) reporting on Parliament Hill. Prior to joining CBC in 2022, Fraser was a reporter for the Regina Leader Post and Ottawa correspondent for Glacier Farm Media.
Global Edmonton weather specialist Phil Darlington is moving from Global News Morning to Global News at 5, Global News Hour at 6 and Global News at 11 p.m. Darlington is also serving as the weather specialist for Global Calgary and Global Lethbridge’s 11 p.m. newscasts, as of July 17.
J’lyn Nye has announced her departure from 630 CHED Edmonton to take a communications position with Edmonton Police Service as Director of Marketing/Digital Content. Nye made the move into radio in 2008 after a decade with Global News. She’s most recently been hosting This Morning on CHED, alongside Daryl McIntyre.
Samantha Stevens has joined Buzz Bishop on Stingray’s XL103 (CFXL-FM) Calgary morning show. Stevens arrives from Winnipeg where she’s been hosting mornings on Corus Radio’s Peggy @ 99.1 (CFPG-FM) since 2017. She’s previously done stints in the Calgary market as the midday host on the former Rock 97 (CHUP-FM) and afternoons on Wild 95.3 (CKWD-FM).
Stirling Faux is joining the lineup at WAVE 98.3 (CIWV-FM) Vancouver, starting July 26. An alum of CKLG, CISL, CFOX, CFMI and CKNW Vancouver, where he’s most recently been hosting weekends and doing fill-in since 2016, Faux will join WAVE 98.3 in afternoons after wrapping up his current relationship with Corus Entertainment.
Jamie Paterson, morning host at 89.9 The Wave (CHNS-FM) Halifax has made the decision to leave Maritime Broadcasting System (MBS). Paterson had been at the helm of The Morning Splash for almost nine years. Prior to that, he was morning co-host at 92.9 LITE-FM (CFLT-FM), SUN-FM and Q104 (CFRQ-FM) Halifax. Edmonton-born Paterson started his radio career at CJCA and K-97 (CIRK-FM) in his hometown before moving to Halifax in 1990.
Tim Black is the new Program Director at Pattison Media’s newly-acquired stations in Brandon, MB, Q Country 91.5 (CKLQ-FM) and 94.7 Star FM (CKLF-FM). A 30-year radio veteran, Black was previously the Program Director for Bell Media’s Brandon stations for 13 years, up until 2019. His voice has also been heard on stations from Owen Sound to Kelowna as a freelance on-air personality. Auke de Jong also joins Pattison Media as a Broadcast Technician. de Jong’s background includes time with Shaw and Radian Communications.
Rob Mahon is the new play-by-play voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings on Pattison Media’s Q Country (CKLQ-FM) Brandon as he joins the Western Hockey League (WHL) franchise as Media Relations & Broadcast Director. Mahon has been the voice of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders for the last two seasons and prior to that did a four-year play-by-play stint with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Estevan Bruins.
Matt Hird is rejoining Signal Hill Insights as Senior Research Director. Hird previously worked with Signal Hill from 2017-22 as an Insights Consultant, before joining CBC as a Senior Analyst, Custom Research for the past year. Hird has also worked with Rogers Sports & Media, Bell Media, thinkTV, RealityMine, and Pacific Content, among other companies.
Jamin Mike is joining The Canadian Press Prairies Bureau as a year-long Indigenous News Fellow. Mike has been a staff reporter with the Toronto Star for the past year as well as a columnist with Saskatchewan-based Eagle Feather News.
Kate Walker has ended an almost three-year run as a multimedia host and producer with the Saltwire Network in Halifax. Walker had been with the network since the fall of 2020, joining the newspaper group from CTV Atlantic where she’d been a video journalist for two and a half years.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has appointed two new directors and announced the expansion of its Growth & Inclusion team in the French market. The new directors are Karen Tohana, who will oversee English Content, and Emmanuelle Petrakis, who will lead Strategic Partnerships. The Growth & Inclusion team welcomes Gaëlle Essoo as French Market Liaison and Philippe Sabourin as Coordinator.
Lynne Skromeda takes the helm of Manitoba Film & Sound Recording Development Corporation (Manitoba Film & Music) as Chief Executive Officer and Manitoba Film Commissioner, effective Aug. 8. Skromeda is currently the Executive Director of the Winnipeg Folk Festival with over a decade of leadership in the role where she’s overseen both the summer festival and its year-round initiatives. In addition to her extensive involvement in the music industry, Skromeda spent 13 years in film and TV, mainly at Frantic Films as a senior executive, producer and ultimately, President of Production. Rod Bruinooge had been serving as interim CEO.
Selina Crammond has joined TELUS as Production Executive, TELUS Originals. Crammond took up the position in May arriving from Creative BC where she’d been a Program Analyst since 2021 and the DOXA Documentary Film Festival where she’d worked for a decade, most recently as Director of Programming.
Bob McCown says his speech and walking are improving as he recovers from two strokes suffered in late June. McCown, who was left unable to walk and talk, is now back home and says he hopes to return to his sports podcast, which he co-hosts with John Shannon, as soon as possible.
