Revolving Door

Chris Carter has been named as the new Parliamentary Bureau Chief for CBC News. Carter, a former editor at the Toronto Star, has been with CBC since 2011 as Senior Producer, Politics for CBCNews.ca.

Richard Dettman, longtime business editor at News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver has announced his retirement, effective Nov. 27. Dettman has been with the station for 17 years, also contributing to CityNews Vancouver and Breakfast Television. He started his career with CJVB Vancouver in 1975, and along the way worked for CKO-FM-4 Vancouver, and later as news director at CFVR, CKMA & CKSR-FM Abbotsford. He initially joined CKWX as a beat reporter in the ‘80s and then again as business editor from 1996-2000. He’s also been a business contributor to Global BC over the years.

Hannah Witherbee moves from evenings to middays on Edmonton’s Play 107 (CKPW-FM). She replaces Johnny Infamous, also known as the DJ for the Edmonton Oilers, who departed the station in early October. Filling Witherbee’s evening slot is Jenna Winterburn who was most recently heard evenings and weekends on KiSS 91.7 (CHBN-FM) Edmonton.

Malik Shaheed has joined 95.9 Virgin Radio (CJFM-FM) Montreal’s morning team, alongside Vinny, Shannon & Adam, as a contributor to the show’s new segment New Music Friday. Shaheed is a former MusiquePlus VJ, who has interviewed artists from Beyonce to Kanye West, and is also founder of non-profit Youth Stars, which promotes youth empowerment and entrepreneurship for kids. 

Chris Fernick is leaving Bell Media Kitchener-Waterloo where he’s been in engineering and technical maintenance for more than a decade. Fernick will be joining the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) as a Computer Network Technician.

Louis-Philippe Neveu has been appointed general manager of TVA Sports. Neveau joined TVA Sports in 2014 as Executive Producer of Hockey. Prior to that, he’d been with RDS for a decade as a senior producer. 

Peter Akman, who was released by CTV News in January after an off-colour tweet in the early days of the pandemic, has landed a new job with Hauwei Canada as VP of Public Affairs. Prior to January, Akman had been with CTV since 2013 and a senior correspondent for W5 since 2018. 

Irena Koutcher has been hired by TLN Media Group as a National Account Executive, Media Marketing Solutions. Koutcher has previously worked with the Bell Media sales team in Toronto, Reader’s Digest, and TC Media, among other organizations.

The CMPA (Canadian Media Producers Association) has added six new members to its Board of Directors, following a partial board election as part of a commitment to elevate voices from underrepresented communities. The new board members are: Damon D’Oliveira, Conquering Lion Pictures; Archita Ghosh, e→d films; Jennifer Holness, Hungry Eyes Media; Chantal Jackson, Vendetta Entertainment; Darcy Waite, Turtle Mountain Media; and Haydn Wazelle, Tabula Dada Productions.

Janet Yale has joined the Board of Trustees of WPBS-TV, the PBS station serving Northern New York and Eastern Ontario. Yale, most recently, chaired the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel and previously served as President and Chief Executive of the Arthritis Society (Canada), Executive Vice President at TELUS, and President and CEO of the Canadian Cable Television Association. 

Steve White has been nominated and is expected to join the Board of Directors of Shaw Communications Inc., following the Jan. 13 Annual General Meeting. For the past 11 years, White has served as President, Comcast West Division of Comcast Corporation. He’s currently assuming new responsibilities as President and Special Counsel to the CEO of Comcast Cable. Prior to joining Comcast in 2002, White held senior leadership positions at AT&T Broadband and Telecommunications, Inc. 

Lark Productions has hired former CBC exec Nicole Mendes as VP, Scripted Development, overseeing the Vancouver production company’s development strategy. Mendes was with CBC-TV for 10 years, starting out as an executive assistant in 2010 and moving up to Scripted Prime Time Development Coordinator, and eventually Executive in Charge of Production, overseeing production and development for the Drama department.

Andrew Buck has joined Premiere Digital as EVP, based in Toronto, and responsible for expanding the company’s distribution services and SaaS tools on a global level. Buck will report to Michele Edelman, Head of Growth. Up until earlier this year, Buck was CEO of Toronto & Los Angeles based Juice Worldwide, the company he co-founded in 2004 to focus on OTT film, TV, and music distribution and acquired by Vubiquity in 2015, and again by Amdocs in 2018. 

Todd Ireland is the new EVP of Enderby Entertainment Canada as the Los Angeles-based production and finance company sets up a Canadian arm. Ireland, who is based in Kelowna, is a Métis screenwriter who has worked on ReBoot: The Guardian Code and Continuum, among other series.

Randy Reid, General Manager of VIBE 105 (CHRY-FM) Toronto, is the new board president of the National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC). Newly-elected to the board are Cassidy Villabrun-Buracas, CFUV 101.9 FM, Victoria, to the position of Indigenous Director and Meredith Lister, Station Manager at UBC Okanagan campus station, Heatwave Radio in Kelowna.

Phil Carmichael has joined broadcast graphics provider Bannister Lake as Director, Sales and Marketing. Carmichael started his career at CBC Calgary as a broadcast technician before focusing on broadcast graphics, specializing in sports production. Most recently, he’d been working in various roles with ChyronHego. 

Drew Bennett is PromoSuite’s new Director of Sales. Bennett arrives following a three-year run at RCS where he was Sales Manager of Scheduling Products and the founder of RCS Academy. Prior to RCS, Bennett spent 12 years with MusicMaster as Learning and Development Director.