Originally published in the Feb. 22, 2024 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Bell Media layoffs hitting local CTV News bureaus continued last week with those announcing their departures including Creeson Agecoutay, Atlantic Bureau Chief, CTV National News; Kyle Moore, CTV Atlantic; Jeremy Schrader, CTV Calgary; Alex Brown, CTV Saskatoon; Michael D’Alimonte, CTV Winnipeg; and CTV Northern Ontario News at 6 co-anchor Brendan Connor, and News at 5 co-anchor Tony Ryma, who had been at CTV Sudbury for 36 years. Ryma’s co-anchor Jessica Gosselin has also announced her departure from the station.
Haley Lewis has parted ways with Global BC where she’s been an online Indigenous reporter for the last year. Prior to joining Global News, Lewis had served as Culture & Society Editor at The Conversation Canada, among other bylines for TVO, CBC and HuffPost.
Dylan Willows has made the decision to leave the morning show on Pattison Media’s The Zone (CJZN-FM) Victoria, following a stage 4 uveal melanoma diagnosis he revealed in December – a recurrence of a rare cancer he battled 20 years ago. One half of Dylan and Jason in the Morning, alongside Jason Lamb, Willows had been with The Zone for almost two decades. Willows, 44, signed off from the station on Feb. 15, telling listeners he was “the luckiest man in the world” to have landed at The Zone. Vancouver radio veteran Jeremy Baker has been filling in on the morning show.
Gord St. Denis and Sam McDaid are the new morning show hosts on Ottawa’s Pure Country 94 (CKKL-FM), as of Feb. 20. The Morning Pickup with Gord and Sam is also continuing to be heard in mornings on Pure Country 99 (CKLC-FM) Kingston. Former Pure Country 94 morning co-hosts Sophie Moroz and Jeff Hopper are headed to a yet-to-be revealed opportunity.
Pary Bell has been appointed the new CEO of The Podcast Exchange (TPX). Bell, arguably best known for his eight-year run with Rogers Sports & Media where he ended his tenure in 2017 as Vice President & General Manager of Rogers Media, Sportsnet & NHL, had most recently been working with Torstar digital marketing agency, Eyereturn Marketing. Prior to that, he served as SVP, of Torstar’s Commercial Products & Sales Operations. He’s also held roles with Canwest, Alliance Atlantis and CBC. Bell steps in to the CEO role as Lina Kim departs the Toronto-headquartered podcast monetization company. Read more here.
Jeanette Patell has been upped at Google Canada to Director of Government Affairs and Policy, leading the local government affairs team. Patell previously held the role of Government Affairs & Public Policy for YouTube in Canada for the past three years. Prior to that, she held roles with GE and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Catherine Davies is among those no longer with Mediapro Canada as the OneSoccer parent company makes layoffs amidst an ongoing broadcast rights dispute with Canadian Soccer Business (CSB). Davies, who had most recently held the title of Communications and International Rights Manager, had been working with parent organization Grupo Mediapro since 2018, initially as a consultant ahead of the tender for the CSB media rights.
Randene Neill, a former anchor at Global BC, is seeking the provincial NDP nomination for Powell River-Sunshine Coast. Now residing in Garden Bay, BC, Neill has been working off and on as a communications consultant since leaving Global in 2016 after 18 years with the station. She was most recently on-air during a stint as morning co-anchor on CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver in 2021-22.
