Originally published in the May 2, 2024 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Angela Valiant is no longer being heard in mornings on SONiC (CKKS-FM) Vancouver as Rogers Sports & Media continues making changes in Vancouver. Following the end of the Drex on JACK morning show on JACK FM (CJAX-FM) last week, Carly and Jay have announced their move from afternoons on SONiC to the afternoon drive slot on JACK.
Kevin Brown, Managing Director / Director of Sales with Bayshore Broadcasting, will be “semi-retiring” at the end of August. Brown’s broadcasting career spans 44 years, beginning at CKCO-TV Kitchener in operations. He then moved over to CKNX-TV Wingham as a creative writer, producer and salesperson, before crossing over to CKNX Radio as General Sales Manager. Brown was then recruited by Bayshore to help expand their footprint throughout Ontario, working closely with Ross Kentner to win six new FM Licences. He’ll be continuing to consult for the foreseeable future. He’s also the current treasurer of the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB).
Vanessa Wright is joining Global News in Durham as a videographer. For the last year, Wright has been working at Global Halifax as a Digital Broadcast Journalist. Raised in Toronto, she is a 2022 Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in criminology. Her first day with Global Durham is May 27.
Tegan Versolatto has wrapped up her time at CTV Kitchener where she’d been multimedia journalist and videographer since 2019. She’ll be joining the City of Kitchener as a Digital Media Strategist.
Prabhjot Kahlon is leaving OMNI Punjabi after more than 15 years as a reporter with the network. Based in Vancouver, Kahlon is leaving journalism to pursue a career in government communications.
Shannon Waters has joined The Narwhal as its B.C. Politics and Environment reporter. Waters arrives from Politics Today where she served as Editor-in-Chief for the past year. She’s also covered municipal politics for Victoria’s Capital Daily and served as News Director for Vista Radio’s Prince George stations in 2016-17.
Kenton Boston, the former Vice President of National and Network News at Global, has joined the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation as its President & CEO. Boston took a career break at the end of 2022 after a battle with cancer. He was with Global/Corus Entertainment for 17 years, following a decade as a writer and producer with CTV News.
John Shorthouse is making the television call for the first time during the Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators first round playoff series as he teams up with Dave Tomlinson in the booth. Shorthouse had previously called more than 100 playoff games, but never on a TV broadcast. Check out Sportsnet’s playoff play-by-play and analyst pairings here.
Aaron Sousa is departing CBC Edmonton after less than a year for a new opportunity. His last day with the public broadcaster is April 28. Sousa joined CBC last June as an associate producer and reporter, arriving from Acadia Broadcasting’s stations in Saint John, NB.
Ryan Cowley has left CBC/Radio-Canada after seven years and roles ranging from Communications Officer to Admin Specialist. Cowley is also an author, public speaker and podcaster as the host of All the Right Words: A Podcast for the Stuttering Community, which is in its second season.
Bryan Press is retiring after 40 years in Canadian media sales and management, the last nine as National Media Fundraising Director at NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Society). Press graduated from Ryerson’s Radio & TV (RTA) program in 1984 and began op’ing at 99.9 Toronto (CKFM-FM), before moving into sales at Radio TV Representatives (RTVR). He then worked in senior sales and management roles at Paul Mulvihill, Western Broadcast Sales, Alexander Pearson & Dawson (AP&D) and CHUM. During his tenure at CanWest Global, he played a pivotal role in the launch of Canwest Global Interactive (Globaltv.com). He also served as VP of Sales at Alliance Atlantis Communications. His last day at NABS is June 28.
Nick Bernard has joined the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) as Marketing & Communications Coordinator. Bernard has previously served as a creative writer for Durham Radio in Hamilton and Stingray in Edmonton.
Shannon Bennett has been appointed Legal/Privacy Counsel at Evanov Communications. Bennett, who has been with the company as in-house counsel since September 2022, assumes the new role effective immediately.
Mark Trachuk has been appointed to the role of General Counsel at WildBrain and Corporate Secretary to its Board of Directors. Based in Toronto, Trachuk succeeds James Bishop in the role, who has joined High Liner Foods. Prior to WildBrain, Trachuk served as counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright where he practiced corporate and securities law. From 2018 to 2020, he was Worldwide Group General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for Entertainment One and part of the executive team that conducted the sale of eOne to Hasbro.
