Joel Senick is officially joining Linda Olsen as co-anchor of Calgary’s Global News Hour at 6. Over the last year, Senick has been anchoring Global News at 11 and made frequent appearances on the supper hour newscast. Olsen, who celebrated 25 years with the station on Sept. 4 and hasn’t had a regular co-anchor since Gord Gillies move to radio in 2017, also continues as the voice of Global News at 5, while Paul Dunphy remains weather specialist. Other changes to the Global Calgary lineup include the addition of Bindu Suri to Global News Morning with Dallas Flexhaug. Suri will also continue to co-host Global News at Noon with Joel Senick. Blake Lough is now anchoring Global News at 11.
Tyrone Edwards is succeeding Ben Mulroney as co-host of CTV entertainment magazine, ETALK. Edwards started his television career at Bell Media a decade ago as host of Much’s RAPCITY. He’s been reporting for ETALK since June 2018, in addition to other hosting roles, including CTV Life Channel cooking series DNA Dinners; Celebrity Style News; and It List: California, among other shows. Ben Mulroney announced in June, shortly after Bell Media cut ties with his wife Jessica in the wake of her public feud with blogger Sasha Exeter, that he would be stepping down from the show after 18 years to “create space for a new perspective or a new voice.” Read more here.
Al Smale has retired from CFCN/CTV Calgary after celebrating his 45th anniversary with the station on Sept. 8. A graduate of the 1973-75 Broadcast Electronics Technology course at SAIT, Smale started as a video operator before quickly moving into the Engineering department in 1975. He spent many years with the CFCN-TV Mobile traveling thousands of miles to cover numerous sporting events, including several Olympic games; working on movie sets and recording TV series; in addition to countless Calgary Stampede parades. His last day was Sept. 11.
John Dowell, longtime ENG cameraman with Global BC, has retired. Dowell’s last day with the network was Sept. 11.
Going to really miss @GlobalBC ENG Photographer John Dowell! One of the best in the business and a really great person!!!! You will be missed John! pic.twitter.com/Qmv0RpD53e
— Negar Mojtahedi (@NegarMojtahedi) September 12, 2020
Rackeb Tesfaye has joined CBC Radio as a Science Columnist for CBC Montreal’s Let’s Go. Tesfaye is a McGill University PhD candidate in the Department of Neuroscience. She’s also the founder and host of the Broadscience podcast.
Alex Carr will be hosting weekend evenings on Edmonton’s Sonic 102.9 (CHDI-FM), heard Saturdays and Sundays from 4 – 8 p.m. Carr was most recently co-hosting mornings with sister Ruby Carr on 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) Toronto, up until this past January.
Zach Snow, a producer and board op with 590 VOCM St. John’s has been laid off by Stingray. Snow had been with the station since Apr. 2019. Snow is also the host of Celtic Wakeup on Memorial University campus station 93.5 CHMR-FM.
Creeson Agecoutay is leaving CTV Saskatchewan to report for CTV National News, based out of Toronto. Agecoutay has been a host, producer and videojournalist for the network for the past 12 years, working out of Regina and more recently, Saskatoon.
Paul Karwatsky, who recently left CTV Montreal after 15 years, has announced his next move as head of marketing and communications for Montreal’s Giant Steps program, a not-for-profit that enables kids with autism.
Jaela Bernstien is leaving CBC Montreal to freelance. Bernstien has been with CBC for the last eight years, filing for TV, radio and the digital desk.
Some bittersweet career news from me — I’m excited for what’s next, but it is heart-wrenching to leave a newsroom of friends & mentors. Against all better judgement, I’m giving up my stable job, leaving daily news & pursuing the subjects I’m most passionate about as a freelancer.
— Jaela Bernstien (@jbernstien) September 14, 2020
Erin Ubels is the new midday/afternoon anchor on CKNW Vancouver. Ubels has been with the station since 2017. She succeeds longtime anchor and news manager Terry Schintz, who was caught up in ongoing layoffs at Corus Entertainment last month.
Kaya Wheeler has been promoted within the National Screen Institute (NSI) to program manager, taking the lead on the CBC New Indigenous Voices accelerator. Wheeler, a member of Manitoba’s Sagkeeng First Nation, started with NSI in 2016 as Indigenous programs & administrative assistant. She also co-manages short documentary program NSI IndigiDocs and TELUS STORYHIVE projects. Her promotion means CBC New Indigenous Voices is now managed by an all-Indigenous team including current Indigenous programs & administrative assistant Sarah Simpson-Yellowquill and NSI Indigenous programs advisor Lisa Meeches.
Trio Orange, a leader in TV and digital content production in Quebec, has announced the implementation of an all-female succession plan, welcoming five key employees to the ranks of shareholder. They include producers Marie-Claude Brunelle, Julia Langlois, Julie Lavallée and Annie Sirois as well as Shaney-Kim Carufel, Director, Business Relations. Trio Orange received support from the Quebecor Fund to move forward with the initiative.
Kim Bondi is taking over Cineflix’s Canadian development slate in a newly-expanded role as Head of Development, Canada. Bondi has been with the company for the last 15 years, most recently as EVP, Programming & Production. Kristin Wendell has also joined the company as VP, Development, and will be responsible for unscripted development for the U.S. market across all content platforms.
WarnerMedia has announced the creation of a new Canadian talent development team that will focus on increasing representation in front of and behind the camera. Deanna Cadette, the former Director of the Writers Guild of Canada/Bell Media Diverse Screenwriters Program, will serve as Executive Director of the new initiative. Melanie Nepinak Hadley will serve as Program Director. Hadley joins WarnerMedia from the CBC where she was the Executive in Charge of Production, overseeing projects like Trickster, Heartland and Frankie Drake Mysteries.
Sylvia Sweeney has joined Humber’s Faculty of Media and Creative Arts as Associate Dean, Film, Acting & Media Production. Sweeney’s background includes working as an investigative journalist and host for CTV’s W5, as well as a director and producer of film, television and live events, as founder and executive producer of Elitha Peterson Productions, including Gemini Award-winning documentary In the Key of Oscar. She’s been Executive Producer of the National Film Board’s Ontario Centre, director of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and served on the boards of both Obsidian Theatre and the Toronto Raptors.
