CityNews Edmonton has unveiled its talent lineup with the launch of nightly 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. MT newscasts, starting Sept. 4. Rogers says CityNews will focus on viewer-driven, original stories and feature Randi-Marie Adams (CHET-TV/Peace FM Chetwynd), Rachelle Elsiufi (CTV Prince Albert), Haweya Fadal (NBC15 Madison, Wisconsin), Carly Robinson (Global News Saskatoon), Hayley Stelmack (recent NAIT grad) and Courtney Theriault (current host of Dinner Television on City).
CityNews Winnipeg’s new broadcast team includes Lisa Charleyboy (CBC Winnipeg, Urban Native Magazine), Stefanie Lasuik (recent University of Winnipeg grad), Erica Natividad (Wheeler in the Morning, 92 CITI-FM), Mark Neufeld (Wheeler in the Morning, 92 CITI-FM), Courtney Rutherford (CBC Manitoba), and Sarolta Saskiw (CTV News Winnipeg). The simulcast portion of 92 CITI FM morning show Wheeler in the Morning, which aired in place of Breakfast Television on City Winnipeg, will end mid-month. What will air in the early morning time slot is TBA.
Karl Johnston will be the new GM of the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group’s Kelowna/Vernon division effective Sept. 15, in addition to remaining GM of Pattison’s Saskatchewan stations. He’ll take over management of the Okanagan cluster from Stu Crouse who retires at the end of September. The move means sales managers Mike Aimoe (North Battleford/Meadow Lake) and Tyler Kinash (Prince Albert) will be taking on a more active role in day-to-day operations in Saskatchewan. Meantime, Kurt Leavins has been promoted to Group Programming & News Specialist effective Oct. 1. Currently station manager/PD at up! 99.3 (CIUP-FM) Edmonton, Leavins will be based out of Pattison’s Victoria cell.
Mitch Bozak is retiring from Global Regina after 30 years, but will stay on in a consulting role. Station manager and Saskatchewan GSM since 2004, Bozak started his career in sales at Harvard Broadcasting and Rawlco Radio, before joining STV (now Global Regina) in 1987, right before its launch. From there, he helped build the station as a sales rep before becoming sales manager in 1994. News director Michael Fulmes will take on the additional role of station manager. Dave Rigby, Regional Manager-Prairies for the Client Marketing/Tempo division of Corus, will now also lead sales for Saskatchewan.
Mark Burley has been appointed to the pre-launch consulting team for CKUR 106.3 FM Vancouver, joining Tewanee Joseph, Brian Schecter and Gary Milne. For the past 12 years, Burley provided leadership for 22 stations and six clusters in the BC Interior as group program director for Bell Media Kelowna. Northern Native Broadcasting-Terrace (NNB-T) is continuing planning and development for CKUR Vancouver with talks underway on the location of on-reserve studio facilities in the Lower Mainland.
Wilf Rice, owner of Airwaves Technical Services in London, ON, is retiring after 57 years in broadcast engineering. Starting at CHCH-TV Hamilton in 1960, Rice has been instrumental in starting, updating and maintaining over 400 radio and TV stations from BC to Nunavut to the Maritimes.
Lionsgate has appointed Gene George to executive vice president of Worldwide Distribution with responsibility for international television distribution, A nine-year veteran of Starz, George previously served as EVP of Starz Worldwide Distribution. Prior to joining Starz, he served as president at Regent Worldwide where he formed production deals with networks including Lifetime, ABC Family and SyFy.
Kayla Hounsell has left CTV Atlantic and announced she’ll be joining CBC Nova Scotia, while she finishes a true crime book for Nimbus Publishing. She had been with CTV Atlantic since 2009 as a reporter, anchor and producer.
Amanda Stein is leaving TSN 690 (CKGM-AM) Montreal and will be joining the New Jersey Devils as the team’s All Access host. Since 2009, Stein had been a SportsCentre anchor, NHL reporter and host on TSN 690 and also did sportscasts for CJAD 800. Since 2016, she’d been the host of the Montreal Canadiens post-game show.
Ryan Hicks, CBC’s political correspondent for the National Assembly of Quebec is leaving to study law at McGill University. Hicks had been with CBC since 2009 as a producer and writer at Power & Politics and a reporter in both Winnipeg and Charlottetown. He’s also done work with the group Journalists4Transparency.
Catherine Lafrance is the new executive director of La Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ). Lafrance began her career in the early 1990s as a journalist with CKAC-AM, then Television Quatre-Saisons, before joining the TVA-LCN team where she served as an anchor. Since 2012, she’s been head of Radio-Canada Toronto. Lafrance succeeds Caroline Locher, who takes the office of the secretary general of the Quebec Press Council in September.
Kirk LaPointe is leaving his evening talk show on Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM) Vancouver. LaPointe is taking on an expanded role with Business in Vancouver newspaper and its parent firm Glacier Media. He will continue to co-host the daily Business In Vancouver (BIV) program on Roundhouse with Tyler Orton and Hayley Woodin. His final evening show will be Aug. 25.
Matt Di Paola, aka Matt Dips, and Wendy Boomer form the new morning show team at Rogers’ Country 101.1 FM (CKBY-FM) Ottawa. Tuesday was their first show. Boomer has been the voice of middays on Rogers’ country network including Country 101.1, Country 93.5 (CKXC-FM) Kingston, Country 106.7 (CIKZ-FM) Kitchener, Country 104.3 (CJQM-FM) Sault Ste. Marie, Country 600 (CKAT-AM) North Bay, Country 93.3 (CJOK-FM) Fort McMurray, and Country 107 (CKQC-FM) Abbotsford. Dips was most recently part of the morning show at Ottawa’s New Country 94 (CKKL-FM).
Sarah Penton is the new host for CBC’s Radio West, the BC Interior’s afternoon radio show. Penton has been with CBC Winnipeg for the past 15 years, but was born in Nelson, BC and raised in Williams Lake and Metro Vancouver.
Victor Lucas is joining the Vancouver Film School’s Game Design program advisory board for 2017 and 2018. Lucas is an Emmy and Telly Award-winning videogame television pioneer as creator, executive producer and host of daily, videogame and entertainment newsmagazine series The Electric Playground, which spun off video game review series Reviews on the Run. Lucas is currently developing several creative projects with the Vancouver Film School, including a show on top indie video game titles and the design talent behind them. VFS Pitch & Play will be released this fall.
Chuck McCoy’s consultancy stint with Jim Pattison Broadcast Group will come to an end in September. For the past 14 months, McCoy has been working with new and developing talent, specifically the Pattison station morning shows. McCoy tells Broadcast Dialogue, he’ll be continuing to consult and can be reached at chuckmccoy98@gmail.com.
Neil Morrison is returning to Pulse 107.7 (CISF-FM) Surrey, just months after parting ways with South Fraser Broadcasting. Morrison announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he’ll be filling in for Leah Holiove on the morning show next week with Dave Sheldon, and then will take over the evening time slot. The CFOX-FM Vancouver and 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) Toronto veteran had been with the station since its launch in 2016, up until this past June.
