Glenn Brandt has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Rogers Communications. Brandt brings 35 years of financial management experience to the role, including 30 years of career progression within Rogers across Treasury, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance. Paulina Molnar, who has been serving as interim CFO, will work with Brandt to ensure an effective transition. Molnar will continue in her position as SVP Controller and Risk Management.
Rob Basile, National Content & Affiliate Relations for Orbyt Media, is resigning his position. Bell Media says Basile, who had been in the position the last five years, is going to enjoy some downtime before pursuing other interests. He’s previously held programming roles with Bell in Halifax, Evanov Radio Group in Toronto, and Rogers in Kitchener, in addition to a prior stint with Orbyt under Astral Media as programmer of “The 20” countdown and its online properties.
Took me a few days to process the outpouring of kindness on my last day @newstalk1010. Now that I have, just want to again say thank you. To everyone. Much love!
It’s all here if you missed it.
And now for what’s next.
👊😎#LetsGOFull segment 👇😎https://t.co/dz6KGvsrmX pic.twitter.com/vR2ww9CHNt
— Jay Maddog Michaels👊😷 Sir-Talks-Alot (@JayOnTheRushTO) January 31, 2022
Jay Michaels has announced he’s leaving Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto for another opportunity within Bell Media. Michaels had been with the station the last five years, marking his first turn in talk radio following a run in mornings on 99.9 Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) Toronto, 98.1 CHFI Toronto, and Q104 (CFRQ-FM) Halifax, among other stations. Jim Richards, who has been filling in as co-host on The Rush, is now being heard in afternoon drive with Bell promising to release details of a more permanent lineup shortly.
Ryan Doyle, Michaels’ former co-host on The Rush, has surfaced as host of The Guaranteed Money Podcast, a sports wagering podcast for The Dales Report. Doyle was with Newstalk 1010 for nearly eight years and with Bell Media for 25, up until parting ways with the company in December.
Jamil Jivani, who disappeared from the Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) airwaves late last year without explanation, is breaking his silence on what led up to his departure from Bell Media. Since Sept. 2020, Jivani – a Yale Law graduate, community advocate, and special adviser to the Ontario Premier – had been hosting an evening talk show for Newstalk 1010 that was also carried on 580 CFRA Ottawa, Newstalk 610 CKTB St. Catherine’s, and AM800 CKLW Windsor. In a post on his new substack site on Tuesday, entitled “Even black men can be fired for not being ‘woke’ enough,” Jivani writes while Bell Media hired him for his perspective “What my experience made clear is that the company failed to consider what it would mean to sincerely engage someone from a black community, without expectations that we conform to the pressures of tokenism.” Jivani says he was taken off the air “with a promise that we would discuss all of my concerns in the new year,” however in January he was informed he was being restructured. Read more here.
Kevin Tibbles has retired from NBC. Stateside since 1995, Tibbles had a 15-year career with CBC as a correspondent in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal, before joining NBC. The 1980 Ryerson Journalism grad initially served as a foreign correspondent in the network’s UK bureau, before becoming a network correspondent, based in Chicago.
Wei Chen has retired from CBC’s Ontario Morning, serving listeners in Kingston, Peterborough, Barrie and surrounding communities. Host of the show since 2007, Chen started her career at CFPL London and CHCH Hamilton before moving over to CTV for a decade where she hosted Canada AM Weekend and was a correspondent for W5. She’s also worked for CBC in Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto, in addition to a brief stint with the short-lived Toronto 1.
Leslie Horton has announced she’s stepping back from her duties with Global Calgary following a cancer diagnosis. Horton, who has been with the station since 1995, delivers traffic coverage weekdays on the Morning News and Noon News Hour. Prior to Calgary, Horton worked in Red Deer, Regina and Terrace, BC.
Sergio Vargas has joined Global National as a producer. Vargas was previously a senior writer and lineup producer for CBC’s The National, based in Vancouver. He’s also worked as a chase producer for CBC News Network.
Joey Alfieri is leaving the afternoon drive show on TSN 690 (CKGM-AM) Montreal. Alfieri will join the Montreal Alouettes as a reporter, content creator and social media manager. His first day is Feb. 7. Alfieri has been a reporter with TSN 690 for a decade and has also done play-by-play announcing for CF Montreal.
Eilish Bonang has left CTV Atlantic to return home to Halifax and a new opportunity. Bonang has been a New Brunswick-based video journalist for CTV for the last three and a half years.
Ria Renouf has announced her last day with CityNews Vancouver will be Feb. 11. In a post to Twitter, Renouf says she’ll be taking a break before pursuing new writing projects. Renouf has been with Rogers Sports & Media since 2019 when she joined News 1130 (CKWX-AM) as an afternoon anchor. She moved over to the television side of the operation in May 2021 as a video journalist and host.
H.G. Watson is departing Indiegraf after two years with the independent publishing solutions startup, which has so far supported 58 independent publishers across North America. Watson, who is also a journalism instructor at Ryerson University, is moving on to focus on writing and teaching. She first joined Indiegraf as a Senior Editor in 2020 and for the last 11 months has served as its Marketing Manager.
Marla Boltman has been appointed Executive Director and Spokesperson of public broadcaster watchdog FRIENDS (formerly Friends of Canadian Broadcasting). Boltman was most recently Senior Vice President, Business Affairs & Operations at Halfire Entertainment (where she co-produced Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace). Previously, she served as Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). She succeeds Daniel Bernhard, who departed FRIENDS in September to join the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) as CEO. Read more here.
Ellis Jacob, President and CEO of Cineplex Inc., has been appointed an independent director of Boat Rocker Media. Jacob has been at the helm of Cineplex for nearly 20 years. Prior to that, he was co-founder and CEO of Galaxy and Head of Integration at Alliance Atlantis Communications. In addition to serving on the Cineplex Board, Jacob is a director of the board of ASM Global and was previously a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communications and a director and member of the Audit Committee of the Toronto International Film Festival, on which he served for 17 years.
Jordan B. Peterson has joined “free speech” social media platform Parler. Peterson says he’ll be experimenting with the video platform “to see what opportunities for truthful and uncensored exchange it offers.” Peterson recently resigned as a fully tenured professor at the University of Toronto. Parler recently raised $20 million in funding and claims to have 16 million-plus registered users.
