John A. MacDonald has assumed the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI) as Edward Rogers claims authority over his own reconstituted Board of Directors. MacDonald has been with RCI since 2012 and holds the role of Lead Director and Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee. In the meantime, Edward Rogers has initiated proceedings in B.C. Supreme Court to confirm his new board of directors with arguments to be heard, starting Nov. 1.
Pablo Rodriguez has been returned to the role of Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Montreal MP previously held the position from July 2018 to Nov. 2019 when he was succeeded by Steven Guilbeault and became Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. A longtime environmental activist, Guilbeault assumes the role of Minister of Evironment and Climate Change. François-Philippe Champagne retains the Innovation, Science and Industry portfolio.
Phil Kallsen has accepted the role of Regional Program Director, Southwestern Ontario, with Bell Media, overseeing seven of the company’s radio stations in London, Windsor and Kitchener. Kallsen, who also runs radio consultancy, PH1L K, will be mothballing his consulting business while under contract with Bell.
Tish Iceton is leaving 98.1 CHFI Toronto to pursue her voice acting career full-time. Currently the narrator of two popular Investigation Discovery series in the U.S., Fear Thy Neighbour and A Time To Kill, Iceton has spent the last 16 and a half years with Rogers, including creating, writing, and hosting CHFI weekend shows The Now & Then Countdown and Sunday Morning Rewind.
Jim Toth has been named the new afternoon host on Corus Entertainment’s 680 CJOB Winnipeg. Starting Nov. 1, The Jim Toth Show will air weekdays from 1 to 3 p.m. The program will explore both news and sports stories, including station broadcast partners, the Winnipeg Jets and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Toth will also join Cameron Poitras as co-host of Jets at Noon, which will be extended to a full hour. Toth most recently hosted the TSN 1290 (CFRW-AM) morning show for the last four years, up until this past February when Bell Media abandoned the radio brand in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Vancouver. Prior to joining TSN, Toth held various roles at CJOB, including hosting the 680 CJOB Sports Show, the Jim Toth Upperdeck Sports Show, and acting as the station’s lead Jets reporter. Read more here.
Marcella Bernardo is leaving News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver to join CBC in her hometown of Kamloops as a reporter/editor. Bernardo joined News 1130 in 2017 after spending a year and a half as News Director for Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM). Prior to that, she was a reporter and anchor with 980 CKNW for more than a decade.
Jennifer Basa is leaving CTV Atlantic to join CTV News London as a multimedia journalist/fill-in anchor. Basa has been a videojournalist with CTV Atlantic, based in New Brunswick, since January. Prior to that, she held a similar role with Global News in Kingston.
Nick Westoll has left Global News Toronto to join CityNews as a multimedia journalist. Westoll had been with Global for the last five years, starting as a Humber College intern with the station in 2016 and going to hold roles as a web writer and digital broadcast journalist.
Emerald Bensadoun is leaving Global News Toronto, where she’s been a Multiplatform National Reporter for the last two years, to join The Globe and Mail as a Content Editor. Prior to joining Global, Bensadoun was a digital writer and chase producer for CBC News in Toronto.
Sarah Rieger has moved on from CBC Calgary. A reporter there since 2017, prior to joining the public broadcaster, she worked as an associate editor at HuffPost Canada.
Raynaldo Suarez is leaving CityNews 660 (CFFR-AM) Calgary to join CityNews 1130 Vancouver (CKWX-AM) as a Network News Anchor on CityNews Everywhere, the new overnight newscast airing across Rogers Sports & Media radio stations. Saurez is a 2020 graduate of the SAIT Broadcast Journalism program.
Dave Tomlinson has joined KJR AM 950 Seattle where he’ll host Seattle Kraken broadcasts, alongside Everett Fitzhugh. The retired NHL’er was previously a hockey analyst and colour commentator with TSN and a former morning show co-host on the now defunct TSN 1040 (CKST-AM).
Shea-Lynn Noyes is joining Sportsnet The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM) Toronto as host of a segment entitled “Best of 590.” Noyes is a freelance host, NBA analyst, and model, operating under the banner of her content creation company, She’s Got Game.
Katie Stanners is on the move from 104.9 Virgin Radio (CFMG-FM) Edmonton to KiSS 91.7 (CHBN-FM) Edmonton where she’ll serve as Assistant Content Director, Music Director and Midday Host. Stanners had been with Virgin Radio since Nov. 2019 as morning show co-host and later morning show producer when the station started airing the syndicated Brooke & Jeffrey in the Morning in the a.m. time slot.
Michael Pedersen is the new Station Manager/General Sales Manager for The Raven 100.7 (CKCC-FM) Campbell River, the Type B community radio station serving the Comox Valley and local Homalco First Nation. Pedersen was previously with Red FM, starting as a Technical Director with the Vancouver station and then Station Manager in Calgary. He’d also served as Red FM’s Director of Digital Media since 2019.
Steve MacArthur has been promoted to Regional News Director for Nova Scotia with Acadia Broadcasting. MacArthur re-joined the company six months ago as News Director for newly-acquired Halifax stations Surge 105 (CKY-FM) and Hot Country 103.5 (CKHZ-FM). He was among those caught up in layoffs at Rogers Sports & Media last November that extended to News 95.7 (CJNI-FM) Halifax where he was Morning News Editor.
Carley Fortune has resigned as Executive Editor of Refinery29 Canada. Fortune’s debut novel, Every Summer After, is being published by Penguin in May and she’s already working on a second. Fortune had been with Refinery 29 for the past three years. She’s previously held editorial roles with Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, The Grid TO, and Toronto Life.
Jenny Jones has joined radio software solutions provider, microtherapy. Jones has previously held Client Service roles at Nielsen IMS, Ipsos, RealityMine and Vividata and most recently was Revenue Director at Telmar for the last four and a half years.
Ben Groot has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Vancouver’s BBTV Holdings. Groot has been with BBTV for almost eight years, previously serving as Acting CFO for the company for the last few months and prior to that was Vice-President of Finance for six years, serving as BBTV’s highest ranking finance executive.
Barbara Lange is stepping down as the Executive Director of SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers) at the end of the year. Lange has served in the role for 12 years, guiding SMPTE through a period of growth, extending the society’s leadership as a global standards organization, and working to make the organization more inclusive across the media and entertainment industry. Lange will be engaged in the leadership transition with the search for her successor underway.
Garry Shepherd has joined Pippin Technical as a Technologist. Shepherd was formerly an instructor in the Broadcast Systems Technology program at SAIT for the last two decades. He started his career as a Broadcast Technologist with CJFB-TV Swift Current where he spent 23 years.
