REVOLVING DOOR:
Bell Media layoffs have largely come at the expense of those working at its television properties, as BCE proceeds with a workforce reduction of 4,800 employees, fewer than 10% of those from within the media division as most noon and weekend CTV newscasts are cancelled, among other programming. Those impacted in Bell’s Toronto newsroom include Ramneek Gill, General Manager, CP24 & CTV News Toronto, CTV News Channel anchors Lois Lee and Angie Seth, CTV National News assignment editor Candy Chan, senior producer Allan Black and producers Johanna James and Tim Reed, as well as national editor Joseph Amato. Jill Macyshon, Winnipeg Bureau Chief for CTV National News is also a casualty, as are Montreal-based CTV National News reporter Vanessa Lee and Edmonton-based CTV National News journalist Bill Fortier, Alberta ENG technician Jay Rosove, and Edmonton production assistant Gary Mochoruk. In the Parliament Hill bureau, reporter Kevin Gallagher and producer Pam MacKenzie. At BNN Bloomberg, Western Bureau Chief Tara Weber, News Director Alicia Harvey, Managing Digital Producer Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Close host Jacqueline Hanson, and financial markets reporter Kumutha Ramanathan. At TSN, Sportscentre host Cory Woron. Read more here.
Ben Shulman and Chris Leroux will make up the Toronto Blue Jays radio crew this season on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Shulman follows in the footsteps of his father Dan Shulman (who delivers the play-by-play call on Sportsnet TV and Sportsnet+, with Buck Martinez and Joe Siddall splitting analyst duties), becoming the full-time radio voice after calling 31 Jays games last season and previously serving as the play-by-play voice of the San Diego Padres High-A affiliate team. He’s joined in the booth by analyst and former MLB pitcher Leroux. Shulman will also call select Spring Training games on TV.
Jori Negin-Shecter has re-joined Sportsnet as an associate producer. Negin-Schecter, who also co-hosts baseball podcast Bird’s Eye View, was most recently an editor at Yahoo Canada.
Nicole Di Donato, is joining Global Edmonton as the weeknight anchor for Global News at 11, beginning Feb.19. Di Donato was most recently a multimedia journalist and anchor at CTV Calgary. Starting Feb. 20, Global News Anchor Quinn Ohler makes the move to co-anchor Global News at Noon and act as the Health Matters reporter. Quinn has been with Global News since 2008, including anchoring Global News at 11 for the past five years. February also sees the return of sports as a regular feature on Global News Hour at 6 with Slav Kornik introduced as the new sports anchor on Feb. 5.
Jessica Durling has been laid off by Global News Regina. The digital broadcast journalist is among a handful of layoffs made by Corus Entertainment. Durling had been with the station since last June.
Bethany Lindsay has left CBC Vancouver to join the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) as a reporter focused on covering white collar crime in B.C. Lindsay had been with CBC since 2017 and was previously a reporter with the Vancouver Sun and CTV Vancouver.
Zak Vescera has joined the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) as a Vancouver-based investigative reporter. Vescera arrives from The Tyee where he’s been covering labour for the past year and a half. Prior to that, he was a health reporter with Saskatoon daily The StarPhoenix.
Maria Vinca is the new afternoon drive co-anchor on CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver, alongside John Ackermann. Vinca has been with the station for the last year and a half.
Steve MacArthur has been upped at Acadia Broadcasting from Nova Scotia News Director to Regional News Director for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario, overseeing a team of 12 reporters. MacArthur has been with the company since 2021, based in Halifax.
Regan Tate, who has led the CHAT-TV Medicine Hat news department since 2011, has left Pattison Media. Prior to joining Pattison in 2011, Tate was an assignment editor, reporter and anchor at Global Regina.
Jeremy Hall has joined My Broadcasting Corporation as afternoon reporter/anchor in Norfolk, ON. The 2023 Conestoga College grad has been working with the Evanov Communications’ street team in Brantford for the last year.
Matty Latour has joined My Broadcasting Corporations’s Classic Rock 91.7 Giant FM (CIXL-FM) and Country 89 (CKYY-FM) Welland as morning news anchor. Latour previously anchored for MBC’s stations in Peterborough, before an 18-month detour working with BroadView Software.
Dan Davidson joins Stella Stevens as the new co-host on the 840 CFCW Camrose/Edmonton morning show, starting Feb. 26. The Edmonton-based country artist is known for his work with the band Tupelo Honey, in addition to producing other artists. His 2016 single “Found,” co-written with Clayton Bellamy, hit number 16 on the Billboard Canada Country chart.
Marie-Michele Lapointe has joined the Cogeco Media sales team as Director of Media Creative. Lapointe arrives from Cossette where she was Director of Business Development. Prior to that, she was a marketing strategist with Quebecor for a decade.
Laetitia Dogbe has joined Lead Podcasting to take over the production, client outreach, and marketing for the Toronto-based branded content studio’s francophone clients. Originally from France with Togolese roots, Dogbe studied International Politics in the UK before pursuing a radio and media production certificate from Humber College.
Stephen Smysnuik has parted ways with Overstory Media Group as he steps down as publisher of Vancouver alt weekly The Georgia Straight and regional publisher for B.C.’s Lower Mainland. Smysnuik had held the role since Sept. 2022. Prior to joining Overstory, he had worked as a digital editor with Glacier Media and served as arts and entertainment editor at Whistler’s Pique Magazine.
Ryan Hook is now writing for Daily Hive as the online publication expands to Vancouver Island with a new Victoria website. Hook has most recently been working as a producer and host with TELUS Storyhive and before that was Managing Editor of Overstory Media Group’s Tasting Victoria and a reporter for Capital Daily.
Simon Bodymore is the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Thunderbird Entertainment Group, effective March 4. He succeeds longtime CFO Barb Harwood, who after 19 years with Thunderbird, is transitioning out of the role. Bodymore most recently served as CFO of Vancouver-based software company Tasktop Technologies.
René Légère and Jennifer Moore Rattray have been reappointed to CBC’s Board of Directors, on the recommendation of Canadian Heritage Min. Pascale St-Onge. In addition, Marie-Anne Tawil has been appointed a director. All three will serve five-year terms. Based in Moncton, Légère, a former Radio-Canada Acadie host and reporter, has served on CBC’s board since 2017. Based in Winnipeg, Moore Rattray, also a former anchor and reporter and currently Chief Operating Officer of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, has been on the board since 2018. Tawil is based in Quebec and currently president and CEO of Iron Hill Investments.
RADIO & PODCAST:
LISTEN: Vista Radio President Bryan Edwards joins us on Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about why Bell’s divestiture of 45 of its radio stations is a good news story for radio, why Vista plans to retain and grow the staff count at those stations, his thoughts on the current regulatory landscape, and more. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
OP-ED: “Recent discussions surrounding the sale of a significant number of local radio stations have sparked misconceptions about the viability of radio as a medium. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth,” writes Radio Connects President Caroline Gianias, in an editorial for Broadcast Dialogue. “Canadian Broadcast Radio remains a vibrant and essential platform for communication, entertainment, and advertising, with enduring importance, particularly outside of PPM markets in our local communities…Amidst these discussions, it’s crucial to emphasize the significant role of radio advertising in supporting local businesses. In 2022 alone, local Canadian radio represented a staggering 67% of the $1.5 billion spent in radio advertising in Canada. This statistic underscores the tangible impact that live radio advertising has on local economies.” Read more here.
The CRTC has approved an application by not-for-profit Gospel Music Radio for a licence to operate an English-language commercial speciality (Religious music) FM radio station in Oromocto, NB. The station would operate at 94.7 MHz (channel 234A1) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 250 watts. Gospel Radio plans to broadcast at least 50.5 hours of local programming each week, including local information, news, events, interviews, talk shows, weather and road reports, information from CFB Gagetown, and other spoken word programming. The applicant plans to devote four hours per broadcast week to newscasts with 100% of its music from subcategory 35 (Non-classic religious), proposing a minimum of 35% Canadian content
LISTEN: To mark World Radio Day this year, the National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA) and Farm Radio International hosted a live broadcast from downtown Ottawa on Carleton University’s CKCU, celebrating the essential role the medium is still playing, particularly in areas underserved by other media. That’s especially true for a lot of NCRA member stations as community radio experiences a renaissance. Executive Director Barry Rooke returns to Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about that and more.
LISTEN: Steve Goldstein returns to the Sound Off Podcast after a nearly three-year absence from the show to talk about video and podcasting. He and Matt Cundill discuss consuming podcasts in different ways, making content available in multiple formats to reach wider audiences, and more.
SIGN OFFS:
David Pate, 64, on Feb 9. Pate’s journalism career started in 1978 at the Tullamore Tribune in County Offally, Ireland when a summer job turned into a three-year stint as a reporter. From there, he joined RTE in Dublin as a reporter, program editor and host of “Newsnight.” He landed at CBC Nova Scotia in 1989 and would go on to spend the next 31 years there as a producer and host. He retired from the public broadcaster in late 2020, ending his tenure as senior producer of regional radio call-in show “Maritime Noon.” Over his four decades in journalism, Pate reported from more than two dozen countries. Since 2022, he’d been hosting the National Anthems: The Worst Songs in the World podcast, exploring the history of national anthems.
Wally Kirk, 86, on Feb. 6. After attending Ryerson University in Toronto, Kirk started his broadcasting career at CFRN Edmonton in the late 1950s. Kirk detoured to Vancouver and Toronto to focus on advertising, before returning to Edmonton in 1974, joining new entrant to the television market, ITV (now Global). Kirk served as VP of Programming from the time the station signed on until his retirement in 1999.
Jack Gillespie, 80, on Feb. 6. Gillespie spent the bulk of his broadcast career with CKNX Wingham, ON, rising through the ranks from an account rep to sales manager and eventually General Manager. Among other station initiatives he helped spearhead was the first-ever CKNX “Health Care Heroes’ Radiothon” in 2003, which has gone on to raise more than $14 million for area hospital foundations.
Terry Middleditch, 66, on Dec. 5. After studying Radio Broadcasting at Fanshawe College, Middleditch started his long sales career at CKTB St. Catharines. From there, he joined CHYM and CKGL Kitchener, before heading west to Alberta in 1984 – first as an account manager at CISN Edmonton, followed by a 12-year run at Country 105 (CKRY-FM) Calgary. A five-year stint at Astral’s Classic Country AM 1060 (CKMX-AM) followed, before Middleditch moved into event marketing and sales under the banner of his own company, Rational Media, working with National Finals Rodeo, Canadian Finals Rodeo, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and Calgary Stampede, among other events.
Norman Fetterley, 74, on Nov. 23. A natural public speaker, Fetterley began his broadcast journalism career at CJRN Radio in Niagara Falls in 1967, before moving on to CKTB St. Catharines. He forayed into television in 1972 at CHFD Thunder Bay. From there, he pursued opportunities at CFTO Toronto and then moved with the station to Ottawa to cover Parliament Hill. He joined CJOH-TV Ottawa in the same role in 1983, where he stayed until 1997. Among the regular segments Fetterley was known for was the long-running “Gallery Talk,” featuring a panel of correspondents on the week in politics. He retired from CTV Ottawa in 2013 after more than 45 years on-air.
TV & FILM:
Maria del Mar will be presented with the ACTRA Toronto 2024 Award of Excellence at the 22nd ACTRA Awards this spring. With close to 100 film and television credits, del Mar’s credits include Murdoch Mysteries, 24, Frasier, Street Legal, E.N.G., and Star Trek: Discovery. An ACTRA Member for almost 30 years, del Mar was elected to ACTRA Toronto Council four times, chaired the ACTRA Toronto Awards Committee for five years, and served on ACTRA National Council. The Award of Excellence recognizes an ACTRA Toronto performer whose outstanding career achievements are matched by a significant volunteer contribution to the industry.
Emmanuel Kabongo’s producing debut SWAY has won Best Picture at the 1st Annual Canadian Black Screen Awards to be presented in Toronto on Feb 17. Kabongo has also won Best Actor for his performance in the title role and will receive a Jury Award for Achievement in Acting, along with co-star Mishael Morgan. The thriller tells the story of a community leader whose life spirals out of control after his brother goes missing. SWAY had its World Premiere at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles earlier this month.
the news is true…. WYNONNA EARP IS BACK!! 🤩https://t.co/uCDG8ACIZu pic.twitter.com/gJUDpI3N09
— Tubi (@Tubi) February 8, 2024
Wynonna Earp is returning with a 90-minute special for Tubi after ending its four-season run on Syfy in 2021. Tentatively titled Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, the special was written by series creator and executive producer, Emily Andras, according to a report in Vanity Fair. Series stars Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, Dom Provost-Chalkley, and Katherine Barrell are set to return, alongside frequent series director Paolo Barzman. It will start shooting in and around Calgary shortly, with its premiere set for late this year.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
The Western Association of Broadcasters (WAB) has unveiled former newspaper publisher, businessman, and author Conrad Black as its keynote speaker, ahead of its June 5-6 conference at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Broadcast/podcast coach and author Valerie Geller of Geller Media International, and talent coach and programming consultant Tracy Johnson, founder of the Tracy Johnson Media Group, are also set to present at the conference. Registration is now open, in addition to submissions for WAB’s awards program. Read more here.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
