REVOLVING DOOR

Stephanie Friedman is being restructured out of her position as VP Radio, Nielsen Entertainment, effective at year end. Friedman began working with BDSradio during its infancy 20 years ago, first with Bohn & Associates as GM, BDSradio Canada. She transitioned to The Nielsen Company as GM, Nielsen BDSradio North America in 2009, and had been in her current position in 2014. The moves comes as a result of internal restructuring with an announcement forthcoming.

Monique Lafontaine is the CRTC’s new Commissioner for Ontario. A Toronto-based lawyer, Lafontaine brings over 17 years’ experience in entertainment and communications law. Her five-year term is effective Jan. 2. The position was previously held by Raj Shoan, who continues his court battle appealing his second dismissal.

Tommy Schnurmacher has announced his retirement after 40 years in broadcasting, more than half of that with CJAD 800 Montreal as host of Gang of Four. His last broadcast will be on Dec. 13 in front of live audience. To fill Schnurmacher’s hour, CJAD will move Natasha Hall up to noon and add a second hour of the national Evan Solomon Show from 2 – 4 p.m.

Alex Pierson has a new show on the newly-rebranded Global News Radio network in Ontario. She’ll being heard weeknights from 7 – 10 p.m. on AM 640 (CFMJ-AM) Toronto, AM980 News (CFPL-AM) London and AM 900 CHML Hamilton. Pierson launched her career at CHML and CHCH-TV news, going on to the New VR, CityTV/CP24, Global TV, Sun News and NewsTalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto. As of late she was also a media advisor to the Ontario PC Party.

Charles Adler will be heard nationally across the Corus Radio/Global News Radio network, starting in January. Charles Adler Tonight will air on AM 640 (CFMJ-AM) Toronto and AM 980 News (CFPL-AM) London following Alex Pierson’s time slot. Adler is already heard on 680 CJOB Winnipeg, 630 CHED Edmonton, NewsTalk 770 Calgary (CHQR-AM) and CKNW NewsTalk 980 Vancouver.

Andrew Yates is the new managing editor of news at Huff Post Canada. Yates was formerly a senior producer with the CBC Digital Team and most recently Content Director at Cineplex Entertainment. Toronto-based freelance journalist Davide Mastracci takes on the role of associate editor of blogs/opinion.

Ara Andonian will be joining the recently-launched 103.1 Beach Radio (CKQQ-FM) Kelowna as morning show host in the New Year. Andonian is currently holding down afternoons on KiSS RADiO (CKSS-FM) Vancouver. He was previously in the Kelowna market as afternoon host on SUN FM (CHSU-FM) circa 2009.

Brad Legere has left Evanov Halifax, where he was promotions coordinator, host of 90s at Noon on Live 105 (CKHY-FM) and swing announcer on Hot Country 103.5 (CKHZ-FM). He’s now covering swing for Bell Media’s C100 (CIOO-FM) and Virgin Radio (CJCH-FM) Halifax.

Boat Rocker Media has appointed Shannon Valliant to the newly-created position of Chief Financial Officer. Valliant comes to Boat Rocker from Rogers Communications where she held executive operations and strategy roles in the Consumer and Enterprise Business Units, and led the Media Business Unit finance organization for five years.

Amanda Misner has been shuffled again within the MBS Radio network. Misner has returned as morning show host on Magic 94.9 (CKWM-FM) Kentville, NS after brief stints at FX 101.9 (CHFX-FM) Halifax as morning co-host and host of afternoon drive.

Mehernaz Lentin has been appointed senior director of the CBC Breaking Barriers Film Fund. Reporting to Sally Catto, general manager of programming, Lentin will build on the foundation laid by interim director Helen du Toit, who was brought on board last fall while a permanent head was recruited. Lentin will also handle all film pre-licensing while Jenna Bourdeau, senior director, acquisitions at CBC, will continue to manage all film acquisitions.

Keith Chinnery has emerged as another longtime Bell Media employee caught up in November’s layoffs. With the Windsor stations for nearly 30 years, Chinnery spent the last 20 as program director of AM 800 (CKLW-AM).  For the last two years, he was also PD of AM 580 (CKWW-AM).

RADIO | AUDIO | PODCAST

Hector Broadcasting, the New Glasgow, NS-based company that’s announced its intention to sell CKEC-FM and CKEZ-FM to Newcap Radio, owes roughly $600,000 to the federal government, according to court records. Hector has been ordered to pay the money under the Income Tax and Excise Tax Act for 2016 and 2017. The sale of the stations is subject to approval by the CRTC.

The Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta (ACFA) in the Peace River region has shuttered its Francophone community radio station CKRP-FM, which ceased broadcasting on Nov. 21. The station was launched in 1996, but experienced difficulties, including transmission problems and a lack of volunteers. The majority of programming had originated from Montreal in recent years.

The CRTC has approved the Radio Communautaire Francophone et Francophile de l’Outaouais (Radio Franco) application for a broadcasting licence to operate a French-language community AM radio station in Gatineau. The new station would operate at 1350 kHz with a daytime transmitter power of 1,000 watts and a nighttime transmitter power of 180 watts. It would broadcast 126 hours of local programming each broadcast week, including local and regional news, sports coverage and spoken word programming focusing on provincial and national news.

CBC Information Morning Moncton raised $190,294 in just three hours, with the baton then passed to Radio-Canada to carry on the fundraiser. The annual campaign raises funds for the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont Hospital and its oncology centre.

The 17th annual Tree of Hope/l’Arbe de l’espoir radio-thon raised $1,619,743 on Nov. 24.

Ernie Calcutt and Jeff Avery were inducted into the Football Reporters of Canada Hall of Fame prior to the 105th Grey Cup game in Ottawa. Avery, a former Ottawa Rough Riders wide receiver, has been a radio analyst now for 30 years, while Calcutt was the voice of the team from the early 1960s until his death in 1984. Calcutt was represented by family members at Sunday’s induction.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) says comments broadcast during Énergie le matin on Énergie 94.3 (CKMF-FM) Montreal violated the CAB Code of Ethics because the host clearly advocated vigilante justice in response to a news story about a controversial Twitter post. The complaint stemmed from the Oct. 19, 2016 morning show as the hosts discussed a controversial tweet which made reference to feminists and the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting. One host expressed the view that the man should be beaten up, a view he repeated several times. The panel found the disagreement of his co-host did not suffice to mitigate the comments.

Kim Komando, talk radio’s “digital goddess,” is coming back to Canada in a syndication partnership with Vancouver-based Momentum Media Networks. Heard on more than 450 U.S. stations, Komando has evolved her Q&A technology program into a multi-media brand that includes a three-hour weekend show, daily audio feature, digital content, and a daily one to two minute television feature designed for local newscasts. Click for more info on Komando’s brand of advice for living in digital times. This week’s Broadcast Dialogue podcast features an interview with Komando below.

SIGN-OFFS

Carlton Munroe, 48, on Nov. 22 of glioblastoma. Munroe spent 15 years at East Coast FM (CKEC-FM) New Glasgow, NS as an anchor, reporter, assignment editor and news director before becoming the program and events manager for the Town of New Glasgow and executive director of the Riverfront Jubilee. He was instrumental in helping grow the region’s music scene and develop Pictou County as a music destination. In 2004, Munroe created the East Coast Road Trip, a one-hour radio music magazine program spotlighting the East Coast music scene, which was nominated for the East Coast Music Association’s Broadcast of the Year Award in both 2007 and 2009. It also earned a Nova Scotia Music Award nomination in 2008, with Munroe himself nominated for Media Person of the Year. Last November, Munroe was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same brain cancer that claimed one of his musical heroes Gord Downie.

Lloyd Colthorp, 87, Nov. 19, in North Vancouver. Colthorp started his career in radio in Medicine Hat and worked his way east, eventually landing at CHCH-TV Hamilton. In 1960, J.R. (Ray) Peters, CHCH’s commercial manager was appointed sales manager at CHAN-TV Vancouver, the city’s first independent television station. Peters brought Colthorp with him from Hamilton as the station’s new traffic manager. Colthorp went on to become BCTV’s VP of programming, until his retirement in 1987.

Gerry Doucet, 80, on Nov. 23. Doucet established CIGO-AM Port Hawkesbury, NS which went to air in Oct. 1975 and owned the owned the station until 1985. In addition to being a broadcaster and entrepreneur, Doucet was the first Acadian cabinet minister in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as the MLA for RIchmond County from 1963 to 1974. He ran for leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia at the party’s 1971 leadership convention, finishing second to John Buchanan. In the 1980s and 90s, Doucet went to work as a corporate lobbyist with Ottawa consulting firm Government Consultants International (GCI). In 2004, he published his biography “Acadian Footprints.”

Chuck Chandler, 73, on Nov. 28. Chandler started his broadcasting career as a cameraman at CJDC-TV Dawson Creek, BC in 1964, moving over to radio as an evening host at CJDC-AM. From there he criss crossed the country as a DJ and program director, sometimes under the on-air name Todd Young, making stops at CJCA Edmonton, CJCH Halifax, CFOX Pointe Claire/Montreal, CFRW Winnipeg, and CKGM Montreal. One of the highlights of his career was spending two days broadcasting from the Montreal hotel room where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their Give Peace a Chance bed-in in May 1969. Chandler went on to become well-known as host of the Homemakers Hitline program on CHED Edmonton in the 1970s and as host of television program Disco Daze (later known as Any Way You Want It), which was syndicated to six markets from CITV-TV Edmonton. He was the announcer on the syndicated version of Let’s Make a Deal with Monty Hall from 1980-82. Over the years he also spent time at CFRN Edmonton, CKXM-FM Edmonton, CKNG-FM Edmonton, CKST Langley, CKDA Victoria, CHQT Edmonton, and CKRA-FM Edmonton. Chandler retired in 2008.

TV | FILM | VIDEO

The Canadian film and TV industry is collaborating on an industry-wide response to sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, and violence. First steps include enacting an industry-wide code of conduct; more effective reporting mechanisms and supports; and the launch of a multi-level education and training program, and industry-wide awareness campaign. Among the initiative’s collaborators are the Association of Canadian Advertisers; Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television; The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA); Canadian Actors Equity Association; Canadian Media Guild (CMG); Casting Directors Society of Canada (CDC); Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA); Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC); Entertainment Industry Coalition (EIC); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA); NABET 700-M Unifor; Talent Agents and Managers Association of Canada (TAMAC); Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF); Writers Guild of Canada (WGC); Women in View.

The CRTC has denied an application by Rogers Media to amend the broadcasting licence for OMNI Regional. Rogers had requested that the condition of licence requiring the Quebec feed of the service to include 14 hours of original, local independently-produced programming each week be amended to 14 hours each month. Rogers argued there was a typo in its original OMNI Regional application when it proposed providing 14 hours of weekly original programming.

A Globe and Mail report says Rogers Media has informed its partner Vice Media Canada Inc. that it no longer plans to financially support the Viceland television channel. Aimed at attracting younger viewers, the channel launched early last year in conjunction with a sister station of the same name in the U.S.

Telefilm Canada is accelerating its five-year-old Talent Fund-supported Micro-Budget program. Renamed the Talent to Watch Program, the number of projects supported each year has been doubled to 50. Short film directors who have won a prize at select international festivals will now have access to automatic funding for the production of their first feature. Automatic second feature financing will also be established for filmmakers who produce an internationally-recognized first feature.

The Global TV Group, an initiative involving broadcasters and trade bodies from around the world, has compiled global figures demonstrating television’s strength as an advertising medium. The Global TV deck includes data from 19 countries, including Canada.

Comcast has lost its patent battle against TiVo, meaning it can’t import or sell X1 set-tops or export to other North American cable providers like Rogers, Shaw or Videotron that license and distribute set-tops with the same patents. The International Trade Commission’s final ruling upholds Rovi Corp.’s claim that Comcast violated patents on technologies that let users schedule set-top DVR recordings remotely via mobile device. Comcast says it will simply remove features related to the patents. The ruling, rendered Nov. 21, has a 60-day presidential review period before it takes a effect.

Animal Planet is debuting new, original Canadian series Dr. Keri: Prairie Vet during its free preview, Dec.1 – Jan. 11. Airing Sunday nights, the series follows Ashern, MB-based travelling vet Dr. Keri Hudson Reykdal. Animal Planet’s free preview is available to subscribers of Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, BellMTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Telus, Videotron, and several CCSA partners including Access Communications, Westman Communications, Northwestel Inc., Tbaytel, Novus Entertainment, Wightman Telecom Ltd., and Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV.

Showcase’s two-hour premiere of coming-of-age series Marvel’s Runaways on Nov. 22 claimed top spot as the #1 entertainment specialty program of the night among key demos, including A25-54 and the millennial-skewing A18-49 and A18-34. Looking at all specialty programs, the show also drew more viewers than the NBA Toronto Raptors game amongst M25-54, A25-54, A18-49, and A18-34 audiences. The action series ranks as Showcase’s #1 premiere this fall.

Paul Graham, vice-president and executive producer of Live Events at TSN was honoured with the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award during the Shaw CFL Awards Nov. 23 in Ottawa. The award is presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated strong leadership and made significant contributions to the Canadian Football League. With a resume spanning more than 30 years and upwards of 5,000 major sporting events, including the past nine Grey Cups, Graham pioneered the use of live mics, as well as the expanded use of Cablecams, on-field cameras, and behind-the-scenes access. His working relationship with the CFL dates back to 1980, when he was hired as a spotter by the CBC.

Gusto has unveiled its holiday programming including original special Michael Bonacini’s Christmas At The Farm (Dec. 2); the Canadian premiere of the Eat Well For Less Christmas Special (Dec. 9); and Jamie Oliver’s Italian Christmas (Dec. 19). Starting Dec. 22, Gusto goes into marathon mode starting with its Christmas Specials Marathon, while Jamie Oliver and Martha & Snoop will dominate New Year’s Day. Additionally, special holiday episodes of Gusto’s Dinner And A Movie, hosted by Masterchef Canada Season 3 winner Mary Berg will pair themed recipes with Under The Tuscan Sun (Dec. 1), Elf (Dec. 8) and Deck The Halls (Dec. 15).

Shania Twain will helm the inaugural episode of CTV’s new six-part reality music competition series The Launch on Jan. 10. Twain will be a celebrity mentor alongside award-winning producer busbee, the songwriter behind Pink’s hit single Try, and show co-creator and music mogul Scott Borchetta. The premiere episode is slated to simulcast on CTV Two and Much and will also air in French on VRAK.

Daily Planet takes a look at the latest gadgets during High-Tech Toys Week on Discovery, Dec. 4-8. The annual television event looks at this year’s buzzworthy toys including a levitating Star Wars-inspired aerial vehicle called the Jedivator; JABii, a new game that allows users to punch each other without leaving a bruise; and 3D Selfie, a 72-camera system that captures a person’s body from all angles in less than a second, creating a 3D-printed selfie action figure.

Zone TV is once again offering its Santa Tracker, an interactive experience dedicated to all things Santa, including Christmas-themed videos, Rudolph Radio, and holiday karaoke. Santa Tracker can be enjoyed through the Telus kids’ section of the guide, and on Bell Fibe TV (Central) channel 149/ 540/ 1149/ 1540/ 1212; Bell Fibe TV (Aliant) channel 456/ 513/ 559.

The 105th Grey Cup was the most-watched since 2013, with 10 per cent audience growth over 2016, according to Numeris. An average audience of 4.3 million Canadians tuned in to TSN (4.1 million) and RDS (220,000) to watch the Toronto Argonauts come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Stampeders. Overall, nearly 10 million unique viewers, or almost 30 per cent of Canadians, watched some or all of the game. Livestreaming audiences for the championship game on TSN Digital platforms marked an increase of 22 per cent compared to last year.

Vintage TV Canada has announced a new partnership with Prism Prize, which will see a one-hour Prism Presents segment produced, featuring music video playlists curated by the Prism Prize team and its network of creators. The national, juried award annually compiles a shortlist of the 10 best videos of the year with the winner receiving a $15,000 cash prize.

Hamilton Police have arrested a 24-year-old man after a CHCH-TV news reporter was sexually harassed on the job while conducting an interview outside the police station.. Reporter Britt Dixon was interviewing an officer when a truck drove by with its windows down and a person yelled, “f– k her right in the p—y.” It was the third time Dixon had been yelled at that week after two similar incidents outside Mohawk College before a live hit.

CTV Atlantic airs the 54th Annual Christmas Daddies Telethon on Dec. 2 from 11a.m. to 6 p.m. AT. The holiday event is also available for live streaming online throughout the day.

Cardinal returns to CTV for Season 2 on Jan. 4. Strategically scheduled on Thursday nights following the network’s top-rated shows The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, the original Canadian drama is also set to premiere on Super Écran.

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) will premiere original documentary The Halifax Explosion on Dec. 3. The documentary recounts the event with archival material and an animated recreation of the explosion, which was a catalyst for the creation of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). The full documentary will be available online at AMI.ca after the initial broadcast.

ONLINE CHANNELS

The Globe and Mail is experimenting with an e-newsletter that will highlight the voices, opinions and insights of women. Amplify, which will be guest-edited each week, will land in subscribers’ inboxes every Saturday morning, starting Dec. 2. Topics will vary from education, harassment, and politics to highlighting Canadian women who are inspiring others.

The Canadian Media Guild says despite a report in the National Post that contains claims attributed to a CMG staffer suggesting the union is “dealing with multiple sexual harassment claims” at VICE Canada, that is not the case. CMG issued a statement in response to the story, which has since been removed from NP’s website, saying it’s ready to support any members who come forward to report sexual harassment.

CTV News, Indie88 (CIND-FM) Toronto, CBC Radio and 680 News (CFTR-AM) Toronto are among the media outlets to win a 2017 Canadian Online Publishing Award. Selected by a panel of judges, including Rogers Media VP Brandon Kirk, you can find the complete list of winners here.

Rogers has been granted leave to appeal a lower court ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that prevented it from charging copyright holders who ask the ISP to help track down suspected movie pirates. The SCOC is expected to hear the appeal mid-2018. Rogers argues it shouldn’t have to do the work for free and that copyright owners should cough up $100/hour. Voltage Pictures, best known for 2008’s The Hurt Locker, filed the original suit against Rogers, which the ISP won. In May however, the Federal Court of Appeal sided with Voltage.

The Facebook Journalism Project has announced a partnership with tech incubator DMZ and the Ryerson School of Journalism. The Digital News Innovation Challenge will provide five startups with five months of incubation at Sandbox, the DMZ’s skills development space, $100,000 in non-dilutive seed capital and a $50,000 Facebook marketing budget. The program will culminate in a demo day where each startup will present their company to a panel of judges and industry leaders. Applications open on Jan. 25 and close Mar. 9. Find more info at www.digitalnewsinnovation.ca

GENERAL

The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) 2016-17 annual report shows an 11 per cent increase in the number of complaints received from Canadian telecom customers, reversing a three-year trend of declining complaint numbers. Canadians continue to complain most often about their wireless services, namely unilateral changes made to contracts, the application of data overage caps, and failure to provide notice before disconnection. The CCTS reports that 91 per cent of complaints were successfully resolved to the satisfaction of the customer and the service provider. The full report is available for download here.

The College of Sports Media (CSM) celebrated its 10th anniversary on Nov. 19. The Toronto private career college welcomed back alumni including Faizal Khamisa, Shawn McKenzie and Jesse Rubinoff from Sportsnet, Pat Mayo from Draftkings, Phil Perkins from CHCH-TV Hamilton, and Nick Alberga from SiriusXM’s NHL Hockey Network to mark the milestone. Faculty include Sportsnet anchor Evanka Osmak, Hockey Central host John Shannon, and Fan 590 (CJCL-FM) Toronto personality Hugh Burrill.

The Canadian Media Guild has reached a tentative three-year agreement with ZoomerMedia. Once ratified, the renewed collective agreement would be effective from Sept. 1, 2017 to Aug. 31, 2020. Highlights of the deal include 1.8 per cent salary increases retroactive to Sept. 1; Sept. 1, 2018; and another on Sept. 1, 2019. The deal also provides for proper meal breaks; improved compassionate care leave for family members, as well as parental leave benefits; transparent parameters for internships, including agreement interns not be used to replace existing staff or avoid filling a vacancy; longer lay-off notice period, and some ability to borrow vacation time.

The International Federation of Journalists has published a survey that finds almost one in two women journalists have suffered sexual harassment, psychological abuse, online trolling and others forms of gender-based violence while working. The survey of almost 400 women journalists in 50 countries, including Canada, also revealed 38 per cent of abusers were a boss or supervisor with a massive 85 per saying no or inadequate action was taken against the perpetrator. Unifor is calling on Canadian media outlets to take the findings seriously.

CBC/Radio-Canada has released its Q2 financial report for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue for the quarter decreased by 32.6 per cent, primarily because last year’s amount includes revenue from broadcast of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Expenses were down year-over-year 9.5 per cent, offset by increase costs for airing more original Arts and Entertainment programming, covering Canada 150 events, and continued investment in digital and local services. The quarter also reflects the disposal of the Maison de Radio-Canada premises in Montreal. Read more here.

CBC/Radio-Canada has shared its latest corporate Environmental Performance Report, which highlights the public broadcaster’s environmental performance from April 2016 to March 2017. Footprint decreases were recorded in most categories, most notably fleet vehicle CO2 emissions, which dropped 10.7 per cent and water consumption, down 8.6 per cent versus 2015-2016.

The CRTC Prize for Excellence in Policy Research submission deadline is approaching on Jan. 26. Co-sponsored with the Canadian Communication Association (CCA), Canadian graduate students and post-doctoral researchers are encouraged to submit papers on cross-cutting themes in Canadian information and communication studies, such as Canadian content on TV and online; media concentration and democracy; telecommunications and the digital divide; technological changes and their impact on society, or other relevant topics. The 2018 CRTC Prize will be presented at the 2018 CCA Annual Meeting in May. Find more details here.

CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin has concluded that Marketplace journalists did not unfairly portray one of the subjects of its “Fake Degrees” episode, which aired on Sept. 15, 2017. The complainant, Dubravko Zgrablić, felt his side of the story was not presented and he was portrayed in an unnecessary negative light. Zgrablić holds a Master’s Degree from Almeda University, one of the so-called “degree mills” Marketplace was investigating. Enkin’s review concluded CBC journalistic policy and procedure was followed.

CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee has announced a multi-Games partnership renewal that will see the public broadcaster remain Canada’s Paralympic Network through the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The extended partnership begins with the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, March 9-18.

SUPPLY LINES

Dejero has announced $32 million CAD in new financing to accelerate product development and its global expansion into the broadcast and media market. The investment comes from Kayne Partners, the growth private equity arm of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP, an investment firm managing approximately $25 billion in assets and satellite leader Intelsat. Intelsat is already a collaborating partner in the Dejero CellSat solution, which combines cellular connectivity from multiple mobile network providers with Ku-band IP satellite connectivity.