Bob Irving has announced his retirement after 52 years in broadcasting, 48 of those with Winnipeg’s 680 CJOB. The veteran sportscaster will conclude nearly five decades as the voice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the final home game of the season on Dec. 5. Originally from Regina, “Knuckles” as he’s nicknamed, arrived at CJOB in 1973 and became the voice of the Bombers the following year. He’s since broadcast more than 800 games and several Grey Cups. Among the accolades he’s been recognized with are inductions into both the Blue Bomber and Canadian Football Halls of Fame and the Order of Manitoba. Read more here.
Doug Collins has retired after a 55-year broadcasting career, 51 of those years at CFJC Kamloops. Collins, 73, arrived in Kamloops in 1970, establishing himself as a radio staple in the market as the voice of morning news. In addition to serving as the station’s news director, starting in 1971, Collins’ range has spanned play-by-play and editorials with his “One Man’s Opinion” segment airing from 1973-2013. Collins semi-retired from his management roles in Oct. 2018. He was recognized with an RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Randene Neill is joining CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver as morning co-anchor, alongside Terry Schintz. Neill was formerly an anchor with Global Vancouver for 18 years, up until 2016 when she left to pursue communications, initially with Anthem Properties Group and more recently Providence Health Care. She succeeds Amanda Wawryk, who left the station in early September to join Daily Hive Vancouver.
Stephen Bunda is leaving TSN 1200 (CFGO-AM) Ottawa after a decade. Bunda started with the station as an intern in 2011. His last day as a host and producer with the network is Nov. 12.
Stephanie Tsicos is leaving CTV Winnipeg, where she’s been an anchor and video journalist for the past five years, to join CTV Atlantic. She’ll be based in Halifax. Prior to joining CTV in 2016, Tsicos was a host and producer with Rogers TV in Midland, ON.
Gemma Lynne Stroobant has moved on from broadcasting to join Calgary’s Parker PR as Director of Public Relations. Stroobant was formerly with Global News Calgary for the last 12 years as a reporter, producer, writer, and 6 p.m. & 11 p.m. weekend weather anchor.
Daina Goldfinger is leaving Global News Barrie, saying it’s time for a change after two years of covering the pandemic. Goldfinger had been an online journalist with the station since April 2019. She plans to pursue freelance journalism and content creation full-time.
Kelly Boutsalis has a new role with CBC as lead producer of the public broadcaster’s Six Nations bureau. Boutsalis is an experienced freelancer who has previously been a contributor to CBC Life, Refinery29, FASHION, and Report on Business, among other publications.
Sarah Lawrynuik is the new Senior Producer of Canadaland’s Monday edition. Lawrynuik was formerly a climate change reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press and has also worked in various roles with CBC in Lethbridge and Calgary.
Victoria Ahearn is leaving The Canadian Press to join Playback as an editor. Ahearn has been with CP for more than 22 years, the last 15 focused in entertainment, TV and film.
Merita Ilo, The Canadian Press Ontario Bureau Chief, is leaving the wire service after 19 years. Ilo, who joined CP in 2003 after serving as the Balkans correspondent for the The Associated Press for a decade, is joining The Globe and Mail as weekend editor.
Drew Anderson is The Narwhal’s new Prairies reporter. Based in Calgary, Anderson was previously an online reporter for CBC News for the past six years. He’s also a past publisher and editor of Calgary news and entertainment magazine, Fast Forward Weekly.
Poorti Dube has joined Bell Media as National Sales Coordinator. Dube recently completed the Humber College Advertising-Account Management graduate program.
Chris McKee is leaving his reporting position with the Canadian Traffic Network (CTN) to join Postmedia as a journalist with the North Bay Nugget. McKee has been heard on Greator Toronto stations boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM), Flow 93.5 (CFXJ-FM), Jazz.FM.91 (CJRT-FM), The New Classical FM (CFMZ-FM), 1460 CJOY and Magic 106 (CIMJ-FM), among others, over the last three years.
Lilly Nguyen has been appointed CBC/Radio-Canada’s Director, Culture and External Engagement. Nguyen was most recently Global Communications Director with security services company, GardaWorld. She’s also worked as a cabinet minister’s aide, for the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, Place des Arts and SNC-Lavalin. In her new role, she’ll promote inclusion and drive changes to Radio-Canada’s internal culture while also building relationships with communities and industry players.
Cathy Wong has been named Vice-President, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Official Languages at Telefilm Canada. Wong will be based out of the Montréal office when it reopens, overseeing the creation and implementation of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, including policy management regarding the organization’s Official Languages activities. A law graduate, Wong has dedicated the past decade of her professional life to furthering inclusion and representation in the community, media, cultural and institutional realms. Elected as a city councillor in Montréal in 2017, she became the first person of Chinese descent to serve at City Hall. Over the years, she’s also worked as a columnist for Radio-Canada and Le Devoir, and as a host for CIBL radio.
Ashley Lawrence has been recruited by DAZN to serve as the global sports streaming platform’s newest ambassador. The Canadian Olympic women’s soccer gold medalist and Paris Saint-Germain star is teaming up with DAZN, home of the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Canada, through the rest of the 2021-22 season around a shared goal of elevating the women’s game. DAZN says following Lawrence’s gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics with the Canadian women’s national team, women’s soccer interest in Canada, as well as globally, is at an all-time high.
Donna Luke has been promoted to the newly-created role of Senior Vice President, Business Operations, at marblemedia. With the company since 2018, in her new role she’ll lead strategic and business planning by shaping and organizing production activity, overseeing Business Affairs, HR, IT, Operations, Production and Post Production.
Stefanie Haist has also been hired as marblemedia’s Head of Production Unscripted, while Diane Rankin, Senior Vice President, Rights and Executive Producer, moves into an expanded role, as the company works toward scaling its business globally. Haist, as Head of Unscripted Production, will take over managing productions day-to-day. She was previously Supervising Producer at THA and has worked on Undercover Boss Canada (W Network) and Hip-Hop Evolution (Netflix). Rankin duties now include commercial development strategy across marblemedia originals, shaping projects for international financing through pre-sales and co-productions and establishing a strong formats distribution business around the world.
Ehab Samy has been appointed BBTV Holdings’ new VP, Product and Engineering of subsidiary, BroadbandTV Corp. (BBTV Corp). He’ll report to BBTV Corp’s Chairperson & CEO, Shahrzad Rafati. An accomplished technology leader with 20 years of experience in both engineering and product leadership, Samy was previously Head of Product & Development at Vancouver’s Maximizer Software. He’s also held previous roles at Advanced Intelligent Systems, Plurilock, and Yocale. His appointment is effective Jan. 1.
Christine Laskin has been promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) of iNDIEFLIX, a member of the Vancouver-based Liquid Media Group family of companies. With the company for more than a year as Director of Operations and Corporate Partnerships, Laskin’s background includes past roles with Morgan Stanley, Delaware Investments, SEI Investments and InvestorForce.
