Mirko Bibic will assume leadership of Bell and BCE Inc. in January when President and Chief Executive Officer George Cope retires. Cope, 58, will have helmed the organization for almost 12 years when he steps down, effective Jan. 5. Bibic has been a Bell executive since 2004 and is currently Chief Operating Officer of BCE and the CEO responsible for Bell Mobility, Bell Residential and Small Business, and Bell Business Markets (BBM). Read more here.
Glenn O’Farrell, President and CEO of Groupe Média TFO is stepping down, effective Aug. 16. O’Farrell is leaving to act as CEO of OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI), a national, independent complaint resolution service. O’Farrell had been with Groupe Media TFO since 2010.
Rogers has cancelled The Rick Gibbons Show on its Ottawa newstalk station 1310 News (CIWW-AM). Gibbons, 66, the former publisher and CEO of The Ottawa Sun, had been with the station since 2017. Prior to Rogers, he’d been host of The Lunch Bunch and The Homepage on Bell Media competitor 580 CFRA. Adam Haga, Gibbons’ producer, was also a casualty of the cancellation. Rogers says the station is making stations to its programming schedule, including the expansion of the news wheel format in the afternoons, starting this fall. In the interim, Ottawa Today with Mark Sutcliffe will broadcast from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by Baseball Central Replay from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and Afternoon News with Mark Day and Sara Buchan will air 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Read more here.
John Molinaro is among those caught up in layoffs at Sportsnet. Molinaro had been writing for sportsnet.ca for the last seven and a half years. James Sharman, who had been a columnist with sportsnet.ca and an anchor on Soccer Central since 2013, has also confirmed his departure from the network.
Jay Richardson is returning to Power 97 (CJKR-FM) to host afternoons, starting July 15. Richard started his career with the Corus station in 2001. Most recently, he’s been holding down evenings and weekends at QX104 (CFQX-FM), in addition to serving as the public address announcer for the Winnipeg Jets.
Larry Mellott has wrapped a 50-year radio career, signing off from his afternoon show at 1460 CJOY Guelph last Friday. Mellott’s career began in 1970 at CHLO St. Thomas, ON. He started on-air with CJOY in Dec. 1974. While he headed west for a few years in the early ‘80s, Mellott returned to CJOY in 1988 as AM program director and host.
Kat Angus has been promoted to editor at BuzzFeed. Angus has been a staff writer with the publication since 2015.
Brittany Wentzell is joining CBC Radio in Cape Breton as a reporter. Wentzell has been an anchor and reporter with CKBW and Country 100.7 (CJHK-FM) Bridgewater since late 2017.
Tara Jean Stevens will be doing summer fill-in for Kevin Lim and Sonia Sidhu on the KiSS (CKKS-FM) Vancouver morning show, alongside her former Jack 96.9 (CJAX-FM) morning co-host Kiah Tucker. Stevens, who was formerly a co-host on Breakfast Television Vancouver, stepped away from the show last July to focus on her family.
Mitch Peacock has parted ways with the Manitoba Moose hockey club. Peacock has served as the team’s play-by-play announcer and media director since 2015. Prior to joining the Moose, Peacock was a sports and news anchor with CBC Winnipeg for more than eight years.
Kate Venas has a new gig with Stingray Halifax, moving from weekend/swing announcing to promotions. Chris Lawrence has taken over Venas’ on-air duties.
Paul Cross is doing summer news backfill at Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto. Cross, who has been teaching in the post-grad radio and media production program at Humber College, is best known for his time as a news reader and producer on CHUM 1050 and CHUM-FM. He was last on-air as a reporter and anchor for The Canadian Press in 2009.
Erik Pindera is joining Global Winnipeg as a multi-platform journalist filing stories for TV, radio and online, starting in late July. Pindera has most recently been working for Postmedia at the Kenora Daily Miner and News.
Chris Wilson has been officially named Executive Director, Sports and Olympics, CBC. Wilson has been in the role on an interim basis since January. In addition to leading CBC Sports, Wilson will be responsible for executing CBC’s Olympic rights and partnership with the International Olympic Committee. He’ll also name Chef de Mission appointees going forward.
Stephanie Betts has been promoted to the role of Executive Vice-President, Content, at DHX Media, responsible for development and production of its slate of original animated content. Betts has spearheaded numerous DHX shows, including new Peanuts content, Strawberry Shortcake, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Inspector Gadget, Teletubbies, and Polly Pocket. Todd Brian has also joined DHX in the newly-created role of Director of Development, Animation, reporting to Betts. Brian has previously worked with Corus Entertainment as a Production Executive for Corus Kids and Toronto-based marblemedia. He was most recently director of development at APKids.
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