Mark Wigmore is the new host of The Oasis afternoon drive show on the New Classical FM. Wigmore was most recently morning show host and senior arts editor at JAZZ FM91 (CJRT-FM) and has held previous on-air roles at CBC Radio One, 103.9 PROUD FM (CIRR-FM) and 1010 CFRB. He recently launched long-form interview podcast “Art at the End of the World”, which will soon be available at classicalfm.ca. Wigmore’s appointment comes following longtime host Maestro Kerry Stratton’s ALS diagnosis and subsequent decision to step down from The Oasis in November. Alexa Petrenko stepped in during the transition. Listeners can still hear Kerry Stratton every Sunday from 3-8 p.m. ET on Conductor’s Choice. Alexa Petrenko will continue to host Sunday Night at the Opera, Sunday evenings and Breakfast Classics, Saturday and Sunday mornings.
George Orr will represent the Green Party in North Vancouver in the October federal election. The veteran broadcast journalist was a reporter and editor with CKNW-AM, CKVU-TV, CBC-TV, and CHAN-TV through the 1970s and 80s, before a 20-year run teaching Broadcast Journalism at BCIT. Most recently, Orr has been working on several documentaries including The Bridge (2018) exploring the 1958 collapse of Vancouver’s Second Narrows bridge.
Annalise Nielsen is joining the Frequency Podcast Network as a digital editor. Nielsen leaves Entertainment One where she’s been a senior podcast producer since 2017.
Groupe TVA is moving editorial for Canadian Living and Style at Home from Toronto to Montreal. It made significant layoffs Tuesday affecting about 30 staff between both publications, in addition to layoffs at Elle Canada. Digital assistant Murissa Barrington and production specialist Genevieve Pizzale were among those impacted.
Kim Clarke Champniss has gone public with the news that his throat cancer has returned. Champniss posted a photo to Facebook from his hospital bed at Toronto General this week, saying that radical surgery was his only option. “To get to the egg-sized tumour the surgeons had to pull out my voice-box and my swallow tube. I have lost my natural voice forever,” wrote Champniss, who said he’ll be awaiting a voice prosthesis. Champniss is best known for his time with MuchMusic in the 1980s and ‘90s as both a VJ and host of programs like City Limits and The New Music. He later moved into production and programming roles with CHUM Limited, before forming his own music management company.
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