Nirmala Naidoo, former CBC and Global Calgary anchor, and New Brunswick lawyer Ellen C. Desmond have been named to the two vacant commissioner seats on the CRTC. Naidoo succeeds former commissioner Linda Vennard as regional member for Alberta and Northwest Territories, while Desmond fills the vacancy left by Atlantic Canada and Nunavut commissioner Christopher MacDonald, whose term ended in mid-June. Read more here.
Jim Pattison Broadcast Group (JPBG) has reorged its Alberta programming team. Mark Hunter steps away from day-to-day programming duties for 102.3 NOW! Radio (CKNO-FM) Edmonton to focus on his role as Senior Programmer for Calgary and Edmonton, in addition to the JPBG Senior Programming team. He’ll work closely with the PDs for NOW!, Up! 99.3 (CIUP-FM) Edmonton, Wild 95.3 (CKWD-FM) Calgary and 101.5 Today Radio (CKCE-FM) Calgary, among other JPBG stations. Jay Stone turns his focus solely to the Edmonton cluster as the new Program Director for 102.3 NOW!, in addition to Up! 99.3. Jonathan Best assumes the PD role for 101.5 Today radio and Wild 95.3. Currently on-air as “Jonny B” as Wild 95.3’s afternoon drive host, he’ll be relinquishing his on-air slot. JPBG has posted for the afternoon drive show position.
Harvard Broadcasting has made on-air cuts following the elimination of General Manager positions across the operation. Among the talent impacted are Jamie Lewis, longtime morning host at CKRM Regina; morning show co-host Courtney Rae at Kraze (CKIK-FM) Red Deer; Konnor Brown and Nate Bryant at X100.7 (CKEX-FM) Red Deer; Graham Mossimann, evening host at X92.9 (CFEX-FM) Calgary; and as previously reported Leah Ramsay and Seth Armstrong, the morning show team at My 92.1 (CHMX-FM) Regina.
Want to convince you guys I’m not sad, but I ALSO want to share this video. pic.twitter.com/sjehHgDk3J
— 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐊™ (@ItsKonnerWithAk) June 26, 2020
Michel Trudel is extending his association with MELS through Dec. 2021 as France Lauzière, President and CEO of TVA Group, has announced the acceleration of MELS’ business plan. Trudel, who was to step down from his role as president at the end of the year, will continue to serve as a strategic consultant. Martin Carrier succeeds him as president, effective immediately.
Lucie Quenneville has been appointed General Manager, Programming and Strategies Acquisition for Bell Media in Québec, effective July 20. Reporting to Suzane Landry, VP, French-Language Content Development and Programming, Quenneville will be responsible for programming and acquisition strategies for V, the company’s French-language specialty channels, and for Crave’s French-language programming. Quenneville was most recently Senior Manager, Youth Acquisitions and Content Monitoring at CBC/Radio-Canada, and previously served as Programming and Acquisitions at V, and Director, Strategic Watch and Content Research at Québecor Media.
Laura Battiston is TLN’s new VP of Business Affairs. Battiston leaves the same role at Blue Ant Media after four and a half years. She’s held similar roles at Sinking Ship Entertainment, Buck Productions, and SFA Productions.
Ismaila Alfa is the new host of Metro Morning on CBC Radio One in Toronto. Alfa is currently on-air at CBC Winnipeg where he’s been host of afternoon drive show Up To Speed since 2013. He’ll take up his new role on Aug. 24.
Roger Petersen’s co-hosting run with Breakfast Television in Toronto has come to an end. Petersen had been with Citytv for most of the last 21 years and co-host of Breakfast Television for the past two years, alongside Dina Pugliese. Petersen has held a variety of roles with the network, starting as a reporter, anchor and host of Autoshop in 1999. He also anchored at Citytv Vancouver for two years before returning to Toronto. Read more here.
Hale Speedy has joined the Corus Kingston team, as Program Manager for 96.3 BIG FM (CFMK-FM) and 104.3 Fresh Radio (CKWS-FM). Speedy moved to Canada this past March from Wellington, NZ, where he was most recently with MediaWorks as Operations Manager, overseeing programming and promotional strategy for nine stations. He was previously the network’s music manager, scheduling music for 20 stations within the More FM Network.
Wil Dunlop has joined Max FM 89.1 (CIOS-FM) Orillia under his former club DJ handle “The Wilverine” as host of Saturday 10 p.m. – midnight alt, old school show Beyond The 89. Dunlop is the freelance video editor currently working on a forthcoming documentary about late CFNY-FM Toronto host Martin Streek.
Conrad Black’s weekly appearances on Toronto’s AM 640 (CFMJ-AM) have been permanently cancelled. Black outlined his unceremonious release as a contributor to The John Oakley Show in a June 27 opinion piece in the National Post.
Kelly Linehan has left CP24 to freelance. She’d been a reporter/anchor with the station since Dec. 2018 following stints with CTV Morning Live in both Winnipeg and Halifax.
Mark Iype is joining Global Edmonton as managing editor. Iype is the former editor-in-chief of the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun and up until this past February was leading special projects for the Postmedia Network.
Marc Cossette has joined Global News in the newly-created role of investigative producer in the Ottawa bureau. He departs CPAC where he’s been a reporter and producer for the past two years.
Morgan Campbell has joined CBC Sports as a Senior Contributor. Campbell is a longtime Toronto Star reporter with a focus on sports and the business of sport.
Megan Shaw, who is celebrating five years as a reporter, anchor and producer with CTV Ottawa, is taking on a new role as the 11:30 p.m. news anchor. Prior to joining CTV in 2015, Shaw was an anchor with 580 CFRA Ottawa and a VJ with CityNews in Edmonton.
Tara Lopez, morning co-host at Pulse 107.7 (CISF-FM) Surrey, is joining CTV Morning Live in Winnipeg as the morning reporter. Lopez had been with Pulse since 2016 as both a host and promotions coordinator.
Philippe Leblanc will be Radio-Canada’s next correspondent in China. Leblanc will file multi-platform coverage of China and South Asia from Beijing. Leblanc has been the network’s national correspondent in Toronto since 2008.
Teresinha Medeiros has left AM 800 (CKLW-AM) Windsor after 22 years. She started with the station in 1998 as weekday reporter. Medeiros has joined Windsor Regional Hospital as Communications Coordinator.
Caden Fanshaw has joined 101.3 The River (CKKN-FM) in Prince George as a weekend and fill-in host. Fanshaw is a 2020 graduate of BCIT’s Broadcast and Online Journalism program.
Riley Phillips is the new evening traffic anchor at News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Phillips is a former producer and traffic reporter at Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM).
Gord Martineau, former longtime CityNews anchor/reporter, has joined Toronto’s ARHT Media in the capacity of Media Advisor and Consultant. ARHT is a developer of holopresence tech whose Virtual Global Stage platform allows speakers in multiple locations to appear as if they’re onstage together.
Jacob Glick has joined TELUS as Vice President, Public Policy. Glick was formerly General Counsel and Head of Public Policy, Government Relations, Intellectual Property, Regulatory and Corporate Governance at Kitchener-based North, the maker of Focals by North smartglasses, which has been acquired by Google.
Steve de Eyre, who has been head of Public Policy for Amazon in Canada for the last four years, has announced he’s joining TikTok as Director of Government Affairs for Canada. His appointment comes amid increased security concerns about the Beijing-based mobile video sharing app.
Julie Scott has joined The Athletic as Managing Editor, News. Scott was formerly with the Canadian Press for 18 years as a sports editor and reporter, among other roles.
Brent Jolly is the new president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Board of Directors. Jolly is an independent journalist and director of communications, research, and community management with the National NewsMedia Council of Canada (NNC). Fatima Syed, reporter at The Logic, is the organization’s new vice-president.
Ilker Akin is Nautel’s new Regional Sales Manager for Europe, Israel and Russia. Akin, who is based in Germany, was most recently Chief Marketing Officer at Cestron International GmbH Potsdam, Germany and Elsyscom GmbH Teltow, Germany.
Kyle Dibbin is Nautel’s new Regional Sales Manager, Africa and the Middle East. He has been with Nautel since 2012, starting in a test and repair capacity and later moving to Customer Service. His most recent position was Business Development Manager, VS Sales.
Phil Kallsen, who retired from Corus Calgary stations Country 105 (CKRY-FM) and Q107 (CFGQ-FM) in February, has opened PH1L K. Consulting. Kallsen says he plans to focus his consulting efforts on helping stations navigate growing competition, while facing the new economic reality of radio in 2020.
