Revolving Door

Originally published in the Aug. 31, 2023 edition of The Weekly Briefing

Mike Bendixen has been appointed National Director of Talk Radio at Corus Entertainment and Director of Talk and Talent for 640 (CFIQ-FM) Toronto. Bendixen, formerly the Program Director at Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto for more than a decade and Bell Media’s National Format Director, News & Talk Programming, parted ways with Bell in Nov. 2021. Bendixen will take up his new role on Sept. 5, succeeding Larry Gifford as National Director of Talk, who will depart Corus Radio in October. Gifford is among those caught up in recent restructuring in the Corus Audio division. The company has also parted ways with Amanda Cupido, who had held the Director of Talk and Talent title at 640 Toronto since Dec. 2021. Read more here.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has announced Carmela Laurignano as the newly-appointed Chair of the CAB Board of Directors for a two-year term. Laurignano, Vice-President and Radio Group Manager at Evanov Communications, previously served as Vice-Chair over the past two years. She succeeds Matt Thompson, VP, Associate General Counsel, Regulatory and Public Policy, Corus Entertainment, in the role, who will remain a director. In addition to Laurignano and Thompson, the Board of Directors includes Vice-Chair Peggy Tabet, VP, Regulatory and Environmental Affairs, Québecor Media; Secretary Jonathan Daniels, VP, Regulatory Law, Bell Media; Treasurer Robin Hildebrand, VP, Human Resources and Regulatory Affairs, Golden West Broadcasting; and Director Susan Wheeler, VP, B2B Distribution and Regulatory, Rogers Sports & Media. Read more here.

Richard Cormier has been appointed Director General, Programming, Creation, Distribution and Marketing, and Head of Programming for the National Film Board (NFB). Cormier, who will take up the new role on Sept. 11, succeeds Julie Roy in the position, who was appointed Executive Director of Telefilm Canada in March. A 30-year veteran of the audiovisual industry, Cormier was most recently Vice-President, Digital Creative Services and Executive Producer of Virtual Production at Montreal’s MELS studios. His track record in content creation in both Canada and the U.S., includes founding Buzz Image Group, the first post-production studio in Canada to offer digital visual effects solutions. Read more here.

Tinnie Chow, Senior Manager for News and Programs at CBC Vancouver, has parted ways with the public broadcaster. Chow joined CBC in October of last year from BBTV where she’d been a Digital Strategist and Senior Producer. She had previously worked at CBC Vancouver as a host and associate producer early in her career, going on to roles with CNN in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post, and Meta, where she served as Strategic Platform Partnerships Manager (Broadcast), Middle East North Africa region.

Adrienne South is joining CityNews Edmonton as a videojournalist. South arrives from CTV Edmonton where she’s been a reporter for the past year. Prior to that, she did a three-year stint as a press secretary with the Alberta Government. She’s also worked with CTV London and Global Maritimes.

Kelli Rickard has joined Acadia Broadcasting as a multimedia reporter, based in Halifax and also covering Port Hawkesbury in Cape Breton. She’ll also fill in for vacationing anchors. Rickard has been heard supplying news and traffic to MBS stations in the Maritimes for the last two years and prior to that was one-half of Hot Country Mornings with Ian & Kelli on Hot Country 103.5 (CKHZ-FM) Halifax.

Kenny Jones is no longer with the STAR 98.3 (CKSR-FM) Chilliwack morning show, Lisa & Kenny in the Morning. Jones, who joined the morning show in early 2020, previously worked as a weekend announcer at Star FM, in addition to turns at JACK 96.9 (CJAX-FM) Vancouver, KiSS Radio (CKKS-FM) Vancouver, and Country 101.1 (CKBY-FM) Ottawa, among other stations. 

Ria Renouf has been named Managing Editor of Overstory Media Group’s Burnaby Beacon. A former anchor and reporter at CKNW and CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver, Renouf has been helming Overstory sister publication, New West Anchor for the past year, which she’ll also continue to manage.

Relish Studios has enlisted Kramer Hoehn as Head of Production and Allan Joli-Coeur as VP Production & Business Affairs. Having doubled in size since 2020, Relish now has over 160 designers, illustrators, writers, animators, and engineers working from offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Costa Rica. Hoehn brings more than 12 years of animation production experience, most recently serving as Head of Production for Titmouse Canada, Yeti Farm, and Atomic Cartoons. Joli-Coeur has over 30 years of experience working in film and television, including Apartment 11 Productions and the Shaw Rocket Fund. He’s also served as an executive producer on more than 20 seasons of television, 12 interactive productions, six documentaries, and two feature films, earning Gemini, YMA, Numix, Canada Screen, and Peabody Award nominations and wins along the way.

Paul Bronfman is stepping down as Senior Advisor and Co-Chairman of William F. White International at the end of the month. Bronfman, who led the movie rental company for 34 years, sold in 2019 to Sunbelt Rentals’ UK-parent company Ashtead Group. As of Aug. 31, he’ll hold the title of Chairman Emeritus. He’ll remain CEO of Comweb Corporation and will serve as a senior advisor to Pinewood Toronto Studios, which he was a founding shareholder of. 

Rudy Buttingol has been appointed President of CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons). Buttingol arrives at the Zoomer Media-affiliated organization after serving as President & CEO of B.C.’s Knowledge Network for 15 years, up until last summer. Prior to that, he spent time as President of BBC Kids and Creative Head, Network Programming at TVO.