Revolving Door

Originally published in the March 28, 2024 edition of The Weekly Briefing

Glen Clark, the former NDP premier of British Columbia and former president and COO of The Jim Pattison Group, has temporarily taken over leadership at Victoria-based Overstory Media Group. As first reported by The Logic, CEO and co-founder Farhan Mohamed has reportedly been moved out of the top job. Overstory, which was launched in 2021 by Mohamed, the former editor-in-chief and co-owner of Daily Hive, and Victoria-based tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson, initially had designs on expanding to 50 community publications by 2023. As it stands, growth has been much more moderate with 13 outlets, including its flagship Capital Daily in Victoria, Vancouver Tech Journal, Vancouver alt-weekly The Georgia Straight (acquired in 2022), The Coast in Halifax (also acquired in 2022), New West Anchor and Burnaby Beacon, among others. Overstory has made several rounds of layoffs since 2022, with a majority of employees signing union cards in early 2023. 

Rick Campanelli will join Brooksy in a new 4 – 7 p.m. show on 98.1 CHFI Toronto, starting April 1 as part of a lineup shuffle. She’ll then continue to be heard from 7 – 9 p.m. solo, followed by the syndicated John Tesh Radio Show. Darren Osborne, who is now heard from 2 – 6 p.m., moves into the 1 – 4 p.m. time slot. Campanelli, who is best known for a decade-long run with MuchMusic as “Rick the Temp” and his 12 years reporting for ET Canada, has previously done stints in morning radio with Z103.5 (CIDC-FM) and 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM). Read more here.

Chris Scheetz is bidding farewell to Edmonton’s CISN Country 103.9 after more than three decades. The five-time Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Personality of the Year, started working with the station on May 10, 1989 at the tender age of 18 in promotions. He’ll leave the station exactly 35 years to the day he began his radio career. Scheetz, 53, has held roles from relief receptionist and mascot to traffic reporter, music director and program director. He’s been co-hosting the morning show for the last 15 years. Read more here.

Ted Bird has parted ways with Evanov Communications. Bird had been the morning man since Lite 106.7 FM (CHSV-FM) Hudson/St. Lazare, Que. signed on in 2015. His show had been networked to Lite 88.5 (CJWL-FM) Ottawa since January. Bird and Terry DiMonte had also been helming a Saturday morning show on Lite 106.7 for the past year and a half. Their Standing By: The Terry and Ted Podcast is about to enter its seventh season.

Mose Persico is moving into the afternoon drive time slot on Mike FM 105.1 (CKDG-FM) Montreal, starting April 1. Previously with CTV Montreal where he hosted his “Mose at the Movies” segment for more than 38 years, Persico was among the casualties of Bell Media’s February round of layoffs. He’d been an on-air contributor at Mike FM since 2013.

Shauna Cunningham is leaving Global Kingston after a decade to pursue an opportunity outside of journalism. Her last day on the anchor desk will be March 28. Prior to joining Global in 2013, Cunningham was the morning show co-host and News Director at 98.3 Fly FM (CFLY-FM) Kingston for 11 years.

Joanne Vrakas is returning to CJAD 800 Montreal as weekend morning show host in April as Ken Connors retires. Vrakas, who served as a fill-in host on the station during the pandemic, has a background that includes time as a host on MusiquePlus, CHOM, CBC, and Breakfast Television in the market. Connors, who announced his retirement last August, will continue as a fill-in host.

Layla Khdir is leaving 980 CKNW Vancouver to join 630 CHED Edmonton in a full-time producer position. The 2022 BCIT Broadcast Journalism grad had been a producer with CKNW for the past two years.

Matt Di Paola, former afternoon drive co-host and Music Director at Wild 95.3 (CKWD-FM) Calgary, who was caught up in a round of layoffs at Pattison Media in early March, has been picked up by Harvard Media. Di Paola joins X92.9 (CFEX-FM) Calgary, which also recently saw several high profile layoffs.

Sarah Scott has been laid off from the morning show at Stingray’s New Country 95.9 (CKSA-FM) Lloydminster. In addition to her work in radio, Scott is the host of the Studio B podcast, focused on the country music industry.

Jeff Brown has returned to the airwaves after suffering a stroke on a flight to San Diego in January 2023, filling-in on Rebel Rock 101.7 (CIDG-FM) Ottawa. Brown was most recently heard in mornings on Surge 105 (CKHY-FM) Halifax.

Connie Bailey has rejoined Golden West Broadcasting’s Country 88 (CKMW-FM) Winkler, MB. Bailey has held previous roles with the company, on-air and as a Program Director and Producer, off and on from 1999 to 2015.

Steve Scherer is no longer Reuters’ chief correspondent in Canada as the wire service eliminates his position. Scherer had been Reuters’ Ottawa-based reporter for the last five years. Prior to that, he was based in Rome, with Reuters for eight years and Bloomberg News for another decade.

John Tory is set to rejoin the Rogers Communications’ Board of Directors. Tory is one of three people who will stand for election at a shareholder meeting April 24, following the departure of several board members, including Melinda Rogers-Hixon and Martha Rogers who retired from the board earlier this year as part of a private settlement between members of the Rogers family. Tory previously served on the board from 2010 to 2014, when he left to serve as Mayor of Toronto, a job he resigned from in 2022. However, he remained a member of the advisory committee to the Rogers Control Trust. Musqueam Indian Band Chief Wayne Sparrow and Diane A. Kazarian of PwC are the other board nominees.

Hussain Currimbhoy has stepped down from his role as Artistic Director at Hot Docs, due to personal reasons, according to the festival. Currimbhoy, whose resume included programming stints at Sundance Film Festival and Sheffield DocFest, had been in the position just five months. Festival Director Heather Haynes will lead the programming department in preparation for its 31st editionl, April 25–May 5. Currimbhoy’s departure comes as 10 programmers resign en masse including long-serving international programmers Myrocia Watamaniuk and Angie Driscoll, in addition to Samah Ali, Vivian Belik, Jesse Cumming, Gabor Pertic, Margaret Pereira, Kaitlynn Tomaselli, Mariam Zaidi and Yiqian Zhang. 

Peter Hayman has been named the new film commissioner for Victoria and Southern Vancouver Island, beginning May 1. A former producer and production executive, with previous experience at Jodko Media Group, Torch Television and ICE Inc., he also served as Executive Firector and Business Agent for the International Cinematographers Guild of Western Canada. Hayman succeeds Kathleen Gilbert, who was in the role for 14 years, and announced her retirement in December.

Anton Parfenyuk has joined Scott McGillivray’s unscripted, reality and lifestyle production company, MEM, as Director, Finance, and Susanne Ritzau as Director, Business Affairs. Parfenyuk is responsible for MEM’s financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, arriving from Banger Films where he served as Financial Controller. Ritzau is responsible for business affairs for the company’s corporate and production files as well as guidance to internal production teams. She most recently served as Head of Business Affairs at Yap Films.