Kent Guy, on Dec. 8. A longtime marketing and communications professional, Guy spent 15 years with Corus Entertainment’s Radio division as Director of Promotions and New Media for Corus Radio London and Woodstock, starting in 2006. During his time there, he also took on duties with the local JUNO Awards host committee, serving as the local Director of Sponsorship for the 2019 event. After parting ways with Corus in early 2021, Guy went on to work with Ronald McDonald House in Southwestern Ontario, most recently holding the title of Senior Manager of Communications and Associate Director of Community Relations. He also taught part-time in the media program at Fanshawe College.
Jim MacLeod, 78, unexpectedly on Dec. 4. MacLeod started his broadcasting career in 1967 as an announcer at CKDH Amherst, NS. That same year, he joined CHUM Limited’s CJCH Halifax, before detouring to take on program director responsibilities at CFBC Saint John. He returned to CJCH in 1972 before taking a four-year break from broadcasting to serve as National Executive Director of the Canada Jaycees, the Junior Chamber youth leadership organization. MacLeod went back into broadcasting in 1977 with Jack Schoone’s Eastern Broadcasting, serving as General Manager of CFOR Orillia and later CKGB/CFTI FM Timmins. In 1981, MacLeod returned to CHUM to helm three-station Alberta group – CKDQ Drumheller, CKSQ Stettler, and CIBQ Brooks. He moved back east in 1987, where he was named President of NewCap, a role he served in until 1993 when he rejoined Schoone as a minority partner and president of Radiocorp Inc., which purchased CKLH FM/CKOC Hamilton and CJBX FM/CJBK London. Telemedia acquired the stations in late 1999, with MacLeod remaining on as Executive Vice-President. In February 2001, he was appointed President & CEO of BBM Canada, staying with the measurement bureau through its rebrand as Numeris in 2014. He held the role until early 2016. MacLeod was also active as a board member and chairman of the Radio Marketing Bureau and the radio advisory board of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). Read more here.
Heather Thompson-Lavallee, 69, on Dec. 5. A graduate of the Canadore College Radio and Television program, Thompson’s broadcasting career took her to Huntsville, Timmins, North Bay, and eventually Orillia, where she served as news director and morning show host for CICX-FM for more than a decade from 1997 – 2008, through its ownership transition from Telemedia to Rogers, and then Larche Communications when it rebranded from EZ Rock to KICX 106. Outside of her work in radio, she helped establish Gilda’s Club Barrie (now Gilda’s Club Simcoe Muskoka), supporting cancer patients and their families; served as Regional Director of the RTDNA (Radio Television News Directors Association) from 2000-04; and handled publicity and media relations for the Orillia Terry Fox Run, Orillia Jazz and Blues Festival, and Barrie’s Theatre By the Bay, among other organizations and events she lent her time to.
Dave Alendal, 84 on Oct. 23. Alendal was a longtime employee of S.W. Davis Broadcast Technical Services. Based in Prince George, he was instrumental in the technical development of CKPG radio and television. In the 1970s, he left CKPG to divide his time between CJCI, CIRX and Central Interior Cablevision. The radio company grew to become Cariboo Central Interior Radio in the 1980s and ‘90s, with AM and FM radio stations throughout the Central Interior, Cariboo and Bulkley Valley regions of British Columbia. Alendal rose to the position of Chief Engineer, leading the company’s technical department, while also serving on its Board of Directors until his retirement in 2006.
