Brent Haynes has been named Amazon Prime Video’s Head of Scripted Series, Canada, the SVOD’s first domestic content executive based here. Haynes is a veteran executive, who was most recently Head of Original Content Development at L.A.’s Shout! Factory. He’s also served as an SVP with Viacom overseeing and producing comedy programming for MTV. Prior to moving stateside, he was with Bell Media for nine years in various roles, including serving as the Executive in Charge of Production for Corner Gas on CTV and a brief stint as VP of Space and The Comedy Network.
Nada Arnot has been appointed SVP of Marketing for BritBox North America. The streamer says Arnot’s appointment is part of the brand’s ongoing commitment to expand its impact in Canada. Arnot, who holds a Masters of Public Administration from Carleton, started her career as a policy analyst with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, before moving into senior marketing roles with NBC Universal, Hearst Digital Studios, and most recently AMC Networks where she was GM of Sundance Now and the company’s SVOD businesses.
Mike De Souza is joining The Narwhal as Managing Editor. De Souza comes to the award-winning independent environmental and climate journalism site from Global News, where he is currently Managing Editor of Enterprise and Investigations. His journalism career has also included stints at Reuters, Postmedia, the Montreal Gazette and the National Observer.
Adrian Harewood has announced he’s joining the Carleton School of Journalism as a full-time faculty member, starting July 1. Last September, Harewood – the co-host of CBC Ottawa News at 6 – developed and began teaching a new graduate-level course on Journalism, Race and Diversity. With CBC Ottawa since 2006, he’ll be continuing to work with the public broadcaster.
Yvonne Colbert is retiring after a nearly 45-year television career. Colbert is best known for her long-running “On Your Side” segment that ran during ATV (now CTV Atlantic) newscast Live at Five. Colbert eventually left to teach journalism at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), before returning to reporting at CBC Halifax in 2011. Colbert, who is married to News 95.7 (CJNI-FM) talk show host Rick Howe, was named to the Atlantic Journalism Awards Hall of Fame in 2019.
Blake Price is the new TV play-by-play announcer for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC on TSN. Prior to TSN 1040 (CKST-AM) shuttering its Vancouver all-sports station in February, Price had been with TSN since 2001. Post-layoff, Price has been co-hosting a podcast version of Sekeres and Price with Matt Sekeres. He replaces longtime Whitecaps’ announcer Peter Schaad on the broadcasts, while Paul Dolan continues his role as analyst.
David Zura is moving within Rogers Sports & Media from CityNews Vancouver to 680 News (CFTR-AM) Toronto. Zura has been a videojournalist with Citytv since 2018. He’s previously worked with Cogeco TV in both Windsor and North Bay, and Station 14 in Kingston, among other stops.
Adam Kovac has announced he’ll be leaving CTV Montreal in August to enrol in the Columbia Journalism MA program to study science journalism. Kovac has been a web reporter and researcher with the station since 2015.
Angela Valiant moves from middays at X92.9 (CFEX-FM) Calgary and X100.7 (CKEX-FM) Red Deer to afternoon drive at 102.7 The Peak (CKPK-FM) Vancouver. Her last day on-air in Calgary is June 24. Ahead of Valiant’s arrival and the introduction of a new morning show in August, Emily Czerwinski has been covering afternoons on The Peak, while Jason Manning is being heard in mornings and Jenny West from Victoria’s The Zone (CJZN-FM) in middays. Manning will shift to middays and Czerwinski to swing later this summer.
Alex Carr is being heard weekends on 102.7 The Peak (CKPK-FM). Carr was formerly midday host at CFOX Vancouver, before heading to Toronto with sister Ruby Carr, where the sibling duo did a year-long stint on the 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) morning show.
Jay Richards is moving away from his midday announcer role with 600 CJWW Saskatoon to join the Saskatoon Media Group advertising team, effective May 31. Richards has been on-air in Saskatoon since 1996, first at HOT 93 (CFQC-FM), before joining CJWW. His last show will be Friday, May 28.
Jill Sperling is leaving CJFC Radio & TV in Kamloops to join her husband in Seattle. Sperling has been a reporter and weekend radio anchor with the station since 2016.
Taya Fast has joined CKPG-TV Prince George as a videojournalist. The 2020 BCIT Broadcast grad previously interned at Global News and News 1130 (CKWX-AM) in Vancouver.
Travis MacKenzie has announced his departure from Sportsnet The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM) and the industry. MacKenzie had been with the station since 2008, starting as an intern while studying Sport Management at Brock University. He went on to hold positions from blogging and audio editing to reporting. Most recently, he’d been producing shows like Writers Bloc, Baseball Central, and The Jeff Blair Show.
