Vince Gallant is retiring after 65 years in radio and television, including the last 35 at VOCM St. John’s. Gallant started his career at CJRW Summerside, PEI in 1954. He moved on to Charlottetown, and then ATV in Halifax. In the 1960s, he made the move to Montreal and CKGM, where he worked for station owner Geoff Stirling, who convinced him to move to Newfoundland, hiring Gallant as NTV’s news director in 1976. He went on to join VOCM in the early 1980s. Gallant received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the RTDNA in 2005.
Mark Rogers has retired after 44 years in radio sales, most recently as VP of Sales for the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group (JPBG), based in Vancouver. Rogers started his career at CFTR-AM Toronto in 1975 and then held a series of General Sales Manager roles through the 1980s and 90s at CKSL London, CHAM Hamilton, CHED and Power 92 (CKNG-FM) Edmonton, CISS-FM Toronto, and 102.7 The Peak (CKPK-FM) and JR Country (CJJR-FM) Vancouver. His last day with JPBG was Jan. 16, his 65th Birthday.
Daniel Boudreau is joining the CBC as executive vice-president, Media Technology and Infrastructure Services. Most recently, Boudreau was Chief Information Officer and VP of Technology for TVA. He has also held several other senior leadership positions at a variety of media companies in Canada. Boudreau will be based in Toronto and join the public broadcaster effective Feb. 4.
Denis Rozon is stepping into the role of VP, Productions, Operations & Technology of TVA, in addition to maintaining his role as Chief Operating Officer of MELS Studios. He’d been VP and CFO of Groupe Media and Groupe TVA since 2014. Anick Dubois becomes Vice-President, Finance of TVA Group. Dubois has been with TVA in various finance roles since 2007.
Randy Lennox, president of Bell Media, has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF). He succeeds John Morayniss, president, JDM Media Inc., who served as board chair for the last three years. The 40th edition of the festival will take place June 9-12 at the Fairmont Banff Springs.
Adriana Steele has been appointed General Sales Manager of Evanov Radio Group’s Halifax operation. Steele will be responsible for building a sales team for the newly-launched Jewel 105 (CKHY-FM) and Hot Country 103.5 (CKHZ-FM). Steele previously worked for Evanov in Toronto and Ottawa.
Adriana Zhang has joined the CTV Calgary news team as the weekend weather specialist. Zhang was previously the morning weather anchor with Global Winnipeg.
Mathieu Theriault is CBC’s newest parliamentary cameraman in Ottawa. Theriault has been with CBC/Radio-Canada since 2004.
Lara Illie has been promoted to the newly-created position of VP of Rights Strategy for DHX Media, while Rachel Taylor has been appointed commercial director for its Wildbrain subsidiary. Ilie will develop and help implement integrated strategies to monetize DHX’s portfolio of intellectual property rights, stay ahead of market trends and grow revenue. She’ll also manage sales of DHX Media’s content library in Canada, Italy, Spain and Australia. Based in the UK, Taylor will be responsible for expanding WildBrain’s commercial partnership business with third-party brands, lead WildBrain’s sales and operations teams, as well as client management. Taylor has previously held business and commercial roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, and was International Sales Director for Australian toy company Funtastic.
Ron Nurwisah is leaving his Toronto-based position as senior editor, Audience Growth, with HuffPost Canada. He’ll join the audience team at HuffPost New York in March. Nurwisah has been with the Huffington Post in various roles since 2011. He was previously an online producer for the National Post.
Jochen Richter has been appointed Head of Sales, Radio for Lawo, the German manufacturer of IP audio, video and control infrastructure solutions. Richter’s previous positions include Key Accounts Sales Director at DAVID Systems; head of International Business at SCISYS, driving large systems integration projects; and sales director for Aprile Consulting, introducing cloud-based programmatic radio advertising systems to radio stations and advertisers.
Rod Pedersen is hanging up the headphones after 20 seasons as the radio voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on CKRM-AM Regina. In a post to Facebook, Pederson said he was pursuing “another professional opportunity” to be revealed in the near future. Pedersen had been sports director with Harvard Broadcasting Regina since 1995.
Patrick Lagacé will become the drive home host on Cogeco station 98,5 FM (CHMP-FM), starting this fall. He’ll also continue to write regularly for La Presse. Paul Houde, who has been in the host’s chair for 12 years, will move to weekend mornings.
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