Bell Media has made its third rounds of layoffs in less than a month, with Unifor confirming as many as 210 staff, 100 of those connected to Toronto television operations, will be pink-slipped this week. Layoffs have also hit radio with CJAD 800 Montreal evening talk shows – The Night Side with Jon Pole and Passion with Dr. Laurie Betito – cancelled, and reporters Richard Deschamps, Elizabeth Zogalis, and Shuyee Lee also casualties. At Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto, news director Kym Geddes, hosts Barb DiGiulio, Ted Woloshyn, anchor/reporters Lucas Meyer, Hayley Cooper, and Claude Feig were among the departures. Other radio hosts caught up in the layoffs include Virgin Radio (CFCA-FM) Kitchener host Cash Conners, 580 CFRA weekend morning host Dahlia Kurtz, 610 CKTB St. Catharines producer Abby Green, and Pure Country 93 (CJBX-FM) London announcer Lynzee Barnett.
On the television side, Robin Johnston, Director, Original Programming, Factual and Reality, who had helped develop Canada’s Drag Race for Crave, and The Amazing Race Canada and MasterChef Canada for CTV, is out, as well as Tom Hastings, Director, Original Programming, Drama. CTV Your Morning Managing Show Writer Steve McCann, CTV Your Morning Ottawa host Jasmin Ibrahim, CTV Toronto Associate Assignment Editor Ivy Mak, CTV Victoria anchor Alanna Kelly, and Ottawa-based TSN host Brent Wallace are also casualties. Sales, Administration and Communications staff are also impacted including Kim Katayama, who held the role of National Sales Coordinator – Radio, based in Vancouver; and Rick Henriques, Communications Coordinator, Specialty Entertainment Channels. Read more here. And check out our feature interview with Dahlia Kurtz here.
Sudha Krishnan is CBC Montreal’s new 11 p.m. TV news anchor. Born and raised in Montreal, Krishnan worked with Videotron, CBC, CTV and Global Montreal before heading west to report and anchor for Global Regina, and Citytv and OMNI TV in Edmonton. She returned to CBC Montreal in 2012. She succeeds Sean Henry in the late night anchor chair. Henry took over CBC local morning radio show, Daybreak in January.
Falice Chin has been named Executive Producer of News at CBC Ottawa. Chin was most recently a Senior Producer with CBC Radio in Edmonton and Calgary, showrunning national business podcast and radio show, Cost of Living.
Emad Agahi has announced he’s leaving CTV Vancouver to join Global BC. Agahi has been a reporter with CTV since 2016, minus the year he spent in marketing with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, before returning to the station in 2018.
Just like that, an unbelievably awesome chapter of my life has closed. Hard to imagine where I’d be without @CTVVancouver & the entire team. Later this month I’ll be starting an exciting opportunity at @GlobalBC. Looking forward to what’s ahead! pic.twitter.com/RLU3QP7WWv
— Emad Agahi (@emadagahi) January 28, 2021
Tara Lopez has joined OMNI TV in Vancouver as a VJ and news anchor. Lopez has been at CTV Winnipeg for the past year, serving as the station’s CTV Morning Live reporter. She’s previously hosted at Pulse FM (CISF-FM) Surrey, Life 100.3 (CJLF-FM) Barrie, and 105.9 Shine FM (CJRY-FM) Edmonton, among other stations.
Stephanie Liu has joined CTV News as a digital journalist. Based in Toronto, Liu is a 2020 Ryerson Journalism graduate.
Katherine Singh, former assistant editor at Flare.com has joined Refinery29 Canada as a staff writer. Singh had been a freelancer with Flare since 2018 before joining the magazine full-time in 2019.
Keren Jackman has joined Gusto TV’s production team as a Senior Producer. She will work alongside executive producer Chris Knight to create new content. Jackman has more than two decades of production experience that started at CHUM Television where she was a segment producer on Fashion Television. She’s since worked as a producer, director and writer on projects for CBC, Discovery, A&E, and National Geographic.
Julie Chang has been upped at Blue Ant Media to EVP, International Co-Productions. Chang has been with Blue Ant since 2016, initially serving as Senior Counsel, International Business Affairs, before moving into the role of Vice-President, International Co-Productions in 2018.
Michael Murray is joining ACTRA National as the new director of the ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society, starting Feb. 16. He’ll report to Marie Kelly, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of ACTRA National. Murray’s background includes experience in collective bargaining, organizing and rights administration, including his most recent role as Executive Director of the Toronto Musicians’ Association Local 149 (TMA149).
