The Weekly Briefing

REVOLVING DOOR:

Julie Adam has joined Universal Music Canada (UMC) as its new Executive Vice President & General Manager. The former Rogers Sports & Media executive has been tapped by UMC Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Remedios to lead front line operations, overseeing marketing, digital strategy, commercial affairs, and brand partnership portfolios. Adam exited Rogers in September of last year as part of structural changes, leaving as Head of News & Entertainment, overseeing broadcast operations across radio, TV and podcasting. She had been with Rogers for almost 24 years, working her way up from programming roles at KiSS 92.5 (CKIS-FM) and 98.1 CHFI Toronto. Adam has most recently been serving as the Chair of CARAS (The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), which encompasses the JUNO Awards, MusiCounts and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Read more here.   

Rachel Gilmore, Irelyne Lavery, Heidi Lee and Teresa Wright are among the national online reporters caught up in a round of layoffs at Global News last week as Corus Entertainment undertakes “an enterprise-wide cost review.” Unifor confirms 10 of its members were impacted outside restructuring and attrition, with that number not including non-union or management. Ontario Online Manager Brian McKechnie was also caught up in the layoffs, as were members of the Edmonton sports department, along with staff in other bureaus.

Shelby Thom (Alexander) has announced her departure from Global Okanagan. Thom says she’s leaving journalism after a decade “in pursuit of a new career path” as she dedicates more time to raising her child. She had been with Global for the last six years and prior to that was a reporter and producer with 980 CKNW Vancouver and CHNL Kamloops.

Meghan Groff, Editor at Halifax Today; Blair Adams, Editor at CityNews Kitchener; and Anil Jhalli, Editor at CityNews Ottawa, have parted ways with Village Media, following Rogers Sports & Media’s cancellation of its contract with the digital publisher. Three part-time positions were also eliminated. Groff had been with CityNews Halifax since 2010 and in her current position with Halifax Today since 2017. Adams had been with Rogers since 1999 and in his current role for the last five years, while Jhalli had been in his position for the last year.

Michael Johnston has left Corus Entertainment to join Village Media’s Cambridge Today as an account executive. Johnston had been with Corus for the last six and a half years. Prior to that, he was a senior account executive with The Guelph Mercury.

Phil Perkins has announced his departure from CHCH-TV Hamilton to join CP24. Perkins has been with CHCH since 2012 and an anchor for the last six as co-host of the Evening News at 6 & 11. Prior to joining CHCH, he pursued sports broadcasting, dabbling in play-by-play with Tennis Canada and Rogerstv in Toronto.

Scott Fee has departed CHEK News Victoria as News Director. Fee, who was previously an anchor at CHEK from 2005–11, had been with the station since 2019 following a seven-year stint with Global Calgary.

Christy Somos has left CTV National News where she’s been a journalist and producer for the last four years. Prior to joining Bell Media’s short-lived Quibi project as a producer in 2020, Somos was a freelancer for VICE Media.

Josh Grant is leaving CBC Vancouver to join the provincial health authority in a communications position. Grant has been a multi-platform reporter for the public broadcaster for the last four years with stops in Montreal and Quebec City, in addition to the West Coast.

Madeline Smith is joining CBC Edmonton as a reporter. She arrives from the Edmonton Journal where she’d been a health reporter for the past year. She’s also reported for the Calgary Herald and Star Metro Calgary, among other publications.

Adel Ahmed has joined the CFJC Kamloops newsroom as a multimedia journalist. He joins the station from Lloydminster where he got his feet wet in play-by-play as a commentator for the Lloydminster U18 AAA Steelers.

Stephanie Villella, the CTV Kitchener reporter struck by a vehicle while covering a crash near Guelph, remained in hospital as of earlier this week. The newsroom has posted a statement saying to allow Villella and her family to focus on her recovery, they’ll only be providing updates when new details are available from her doctors. Villella has been with CTV Kitchener since 2019 and with the network since 2017, previously working with CTV as a video journalist in both Prince Albert and Saskatoon.

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has announced the appointments of Marcia Douglas as Vice President, Growth & Inclusion and Janine Steele as Director, Interactive Digital Media. Most recently the CMF’s Director of English Content, International and Export, Douglas will take up her new role in April, reporting to Mathieu Chantelois, EVP of Marketing & Public Affairs. She’ll lead the organization’s growth and inclusion strategy, building on Tamara Dawit’s work as she returns to filmmaking. Steele joins the CMF as its first Director of Interactive Digital Media (IDM). Based in Vancouver, over the past 20 years she has held senior roles provincially with Creative BC and federally with the National Film Board (NFB). Most recently, she was a programs manager at Creative BC, responsible for the Domestic Motion Picture Fund and the Interactive Fund. 

RADIO & PODCAST:

David Bray has a breakdown of the new PPM release from Numeris, completing the 13-week period covering Nov. 28 to Feb. 26, noting that this round of results has renewed questions about sample sizes. In Toronto, notable gains were made by CHFI-FM, with its share with women, 25-54, improving to 15.5% (up from 11.3%). In Vancouver, taking the top spot for F25-54 is 94.5 Virgin Radio with a 17.6% share (up from 14.3%). MOVE 103.5, meanwhile, is way out in front for M18-34 with an 18.4% share of hours tuned (up from 11.1%). In Calgary, 101.5 Today Radio is in the top spot for M18-34, delivering a 20.9% share (up from 15.6%). Country 105 posted a 19.0% with F18-34, up from 14.7%. Read more here.

Edison Research’s Infinite Dial suggests online audio hit has new highs with more people listening to more forms of digital audio in new ways and on new devices. An estimated 200 million (70%) Americans are now streaming AM/FM radio and audio content weekly, up from 67% last year. When it comes to online audio used in the last week, Spotify moves into first place at 29%, followed by YouTube Music (19%), and Pandora (12%). In-car, AM/FM tuning was flat in this year’s survey at 73%, followed by owned digital music (53%), also consistent with 2022. Online audio usage in-car rose to 37% of Americans, up from 32% last year, with the percentage of those listening to podcasts during their commute increasing to 38% from 32% in 2022. After taking a slight dip in 2022, podcasting rebounded in this year’s survey with 31% or 89 million Americans listening weekly, up from 26% in 2022. Read more here.

Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig will give a keynote address at the inaugural Radiodays North America, taking place June 8-9 in Toronto, as part of Canadian Music Week. Based in Cleveland, with offices in Chicago and D.C., Futuri’s AI-driven audience engagement and sales intelligence software is used by thousands of broadcasters and digital publishers worldwide. A tech futurist, Anstandig has advised The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Clear Channel R&D, among other media companies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe on digital audience and revenue growth strategies. Futuri has been making headlines with its launch of AI-driven radio content solution, RadioGPT, which combines GPT-3 technology with AI voice tech and Futuri’s story discovery and social content system, TopicPulse, creating a revolutionary tool capable of programming an entire station. Read more here.

Journey FM (CJNY-FM), Vancouver’s first local Indigenous radio station, officially launched March 3 with an event at the PNE Forum. Part of the Northern Native Broadcasting network – which also owns CFNR-FM Terrace – the station had been signal testing since early December. Journey FM is playing a mix of Canadian-centric Indigenous, Rock, Classic Hits, and Blues.

 

My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has refreshed Country 89 (CKYY-FM) Niagara, rebranding as New Country 89.1. Under the direction of VP, Content Rob Mise, Program Director Dave Devine and consultant Phil Kallsen, MBC says the station will move toward playing more hot, dynamic country music delivering “the biggest hits heard more often.”

VIBE105 (CHRY-FM) is rolling out a year-long programming celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Working collaboratively with pioneers, contributors, and influencers from across North America, the community station is planning to produce interactive content throughout the year exploring the impact of the genre from defining artists to the reach of Hip Hop culture and its influence on sports, food, business and the arts. Headlining the content rollout is a series of “on-location” conversations led by Hip Hop culturalist and veteran radio personality Ricky ‘Ricochet’ Bains, who will interview notable contributors to the culture in “the places and spaces they first fell in love with Hip Hop.” One of the founding members of Ill Kidz Soundcrew, Bains helped expand the reach of Hip Hop across Canada as a national and international touring DJ and emcee. He’s currently the host of afternoon drive on VIBE105, weekdays from 2 – 5 p.m., in addition to hosting the revival of the Made in Toronto Takeover, airing at 6 p.m., Sunday thru Friday. Read more here.

SiriusXM‘s Women’s History Month programming highlights include Top of the Country Radio takeovers with Canadian country star Jess Moskaluke, Top of the Country finalist Shantaia, and five-time Grammy winner Shania Twain. JUNO nominee Adria Kain is also taking over Mixtape North as a Guest DJ, playing songs from notable Canadian female artists who have influenced her career, along with discussing the inspiration behind some of her original songs.

The Podcast Academy has announced winners across 26 categories at its third annual Ambies Awards, recognizing excellence in audio. Among the Canadian winners was CBC Podcasts’ Tai Asks Why which picked up the award for Best Podcast for Kids. The Podcast of the Year honour went to Chameleon: Wild Boys from Campside Media, hosted by Toronto-based comedian and journalist Sam Mullins, which revisits the bizarre true story of two young brothers who turned up in his hometown of Vernon, BC in 2003, claiming to have been raised in the B.C wilderness.

Kelly&Kelly, the boutique Vancouver content studio, and United Talent Agency (UTA) podcast division, Clamor, have unveiled what’s billed as podcasting’s first-ever sitcom. Popcorn for Dinner, created by Vancouver comedian Maddy Kelly (Let’s Make a Sci-fi, Let’s Make a Rom Com) has all of the recognizable elements of a classic sitcom (laugh track included), following four young friends navigating their twenties with running commentary from Gen-Z narrator, Ciara Bravo. Popcorn for Dinner was produced for digital ad exchange, DAX, the exclusive sales partner which will provide advertisers in the U.S. and UK with sponsorship, host-read and spot ad opportunities. Popcorn for Dinner launched March 7 with new episodes to be released every Tuesday for nine weeks.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced that the JUNO Awards are returning to Atlantic Canada, making their second visit to Halifax in March 2024. Halifax will host a lineup of JUNO Week events, March 20-24, 2024, culminating with the 53rd Annual JUNO Awards at Scotiabank Centre on Sunday, March 24. The JUNO Awards return to the Nova Scotia capital for the first time since 2006 when Pamela Anderson hosted the ceremony. The 52nd Annual JUNO Awards and 2023 JUNO Week is being hosted in Edmonton, March 9-13.

LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Matt Cundill takes on Futuri’s Radio GPT, the launch of stunt format 102.7 The Pole in Kingston, and more. “Progressing towards AI while regressing back 30 years with old, dated launch strategies that only work today because the people in charge have not evolved the medium…in short – both these things are happening for the same reason,” expounds Cundill. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

SIGN OFFS:

Dan LeFurgey Plouffe, 70, on Feb. 27. Plouffe began his career in the mid-1960s as an on-air production operator at CKWS Radio in Kingston. He moved on to stints with VOCM St. John’s, NL and CKGM Montreal before joining CHUM Toronto. He went on to create radio syndication company, Footprint Productions, later joining Morgan Earl Sounds in Yorkville as a studio producer in 1975 where he set up a state-of-the-art production facility and team of sound engineers that collectively earned the studio more than 150 awards for its radio commercials and programs. A studio collaboration with CFTR Toronto led to Plouffe doing a stint as Promotions Manager for the station, but by 1985, he had left radio to co-found Firstcom Marketing, producing marketing, promotions, and special events for a roster of national clients. Firstcom eventually was acquired by the Young & Rubicam network of agencies. After relocating to Collingwood, ON permanently, Plouffe and his wife Julie launched online news and information site, mycollingwood.ca in 2005.

Robert “Bob-O” Ochoski, 76, on Feb. 4. Born in Sudbury, Ochoski’s broadcast career began at age 19 as an overnight operator at CKSO Radio. Two years later, he ascended to the position of CKSO AM and FM Production Manager. Ochoski left CKSO in 1980 to launch a small business with his wife Judy selling and installing mobile audio systems, including car stereos, alarm systems, and other forms of mobile communication. They eventually sold the business, with Bob working in sales for Sanyo, before returning to radio with a sales position at CHUR-AM North Bay throughout the 1980s and early ‘90s.

TV & FILM:

Ferne Downey is this year’s ACTRA National Woman of the Year. Downey is the Past President of ACTRA National, finishing an unprecedented eight-year term in May 2017. From 2012-21, she served as President of the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the first North American to lead the federation. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of AFBS and as ACTRA’s representative since 2004. She has spent the past 40 years working as an actor in television, film, radio and theatre. In June 2017, Downey received an honorary Doctor of Laws for her “exceptional service to the community” granted by her alma mater Dalhousie University. ACTRA has bestowed its Woman of the Year honour each year since 2010, recognizing an ACTRA member who uses her passion to support ACTRA members and women within the broader audiovisual industry. 

The 2023 CAFTCAD Awards took place at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto on March 5. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds picked up a leading three awards, including Excellence in Crafts – Textiles, Excellence in Crafts – Building, and Costume Design in TV – Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Station Eleven and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities also picked up multiple awards. Find the full list of winners and nominees here.

The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has announced this year’s nominees for WGC Screenwriting Awards including scripts from Sort Of (Jenn Engels, Kyah Green, Léa Geronimo Rondot), Fakes (Tabia Lau, David Turko), Transplant (Laura Good), The Porter (Marsha Greene), Subjects of Desire (Jennifer Holness), Brother (Clement Virgo), and Astrid & Lilly Save the World (Alix Markman, Veronika Paz, Betsy Van Stone, Noelle Stehman), among others. The 2023 WGC Screenwriting Awards will be handed out at a ceremony on April 24 at Koerner Hall in Toronto, the first in-person awards since 2019.

CTV’s ETALK has announced its coverage plans for the 95th Oscars, broadcasting live Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. Oscars Sunday begins with the return of live red carpet special, ETALK Live At The Oscars at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT, leading into Countdown to the Oscars at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The only Canadian outlet broadcasting live from the OSCARS red carpet, Tyrone Edwards will make his red carpet debut, anchoring ETALK’s newly expanded interview position – second only to host broadcaster ABC. From ETALK’s balcony position at the Dolby Theatre, Lainey Lui and Traci Melchor will have a bird’s-eye view of the red carpet action. The Oscars airs live from coast-to-coast at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Blue Ant International has released new findings that point to the significant growth in the UK’s emerging FAST arena over the next four years. Conducted by technology research firm Omdia as a follow-up to its recent global study on FAST, the UK-focused findings reveal that FAST will account for nearly 20% of the UK’s $3B premium online ad-supported video market by 2027 (of which $500M will be attributed to FAST), set to quadruple over the next four years. New FAST trends highlighted in the report include that FAST viewing is a weekly habit for 15% of UK online viewers. In terms of content, news is the top FAST channel genre is the U.S., according to Amagi, with 33% of hours of viewing, 8% for movies and crime, 7% for entertainment and 3% for sports.

Spin Master has announced the debut of new, fantasy-adventure children’s franchise, Unicorn Academy. A Netflix-original animated series, produced by Spin Master Entertainment, it will begin with a 72-minute movie premiere and episodic content slated for release this fall, followed by a toy line, digital game and expansive licensed consumer product rollout in 2024. The series is adapted from Julie Sykes’ bestselling books.

CTV Life Channel and Crave delve into North America’s vegan food scene with the launch of new Bell Media Studios original series, Evolving Vegan, starting March 30. Hosted and executive produced by Mena Massoud (Aladdin), Evolving Vegan is inspired by his online project of the same name, which has evolved into a cookbook, and now, inspiring travel series. Throughout the six, one-hour episodes, Massoud takes viewers on a plant-based exploration of the food scene in Los Angeles, Austin, Mexico City, Vancouver, Portland, and Toronto. 

Paramount+, CBC and Piazza Entertainment have announced that production has begun on the sophomore season of medical drama series SKYMED. Filming in Ontario and Manitoba, the  original series will be available in Canada on CBC TV and CBC Gem, and stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and internationally in the UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, and Germany. Produced by Piazza Entertainment in association with CBC and CBS Studios, the series is created by Julie Puckrin and inspired by her sister and brother-in-law who met flying air ambulances. Cast joining the second season include Sydney Kuhne (Ginny & Georgia), Ryan Ali (The Hummingbird Project), and Nadine Whiteman-Roden (Faith Heist).

Fae Pictures is launching their first original premium drama short-form series, Streams Flow From A River, coming to Super Channel Fuse in Canada and launching On Demand beginning April 1. Directed by Chinese Canadian writer-director Christopher Yip (Fishboy), the six-episode short-form series is a character-driven drama about the invisible struggles immigrant families face while trying to make a home in the west. The Canadian Film Fest has announced Streams Flow From A River as an official selection, their first series in the festival, reflecting a need for more Canadian-made premium drama series. It will screen during the festival’s opening night, March 28 at 9 p.m. ET, exclusively on Super Channel. 

Lost Car Rescue (6×60) returns for a second season this spring, venturing deeper than ever into Canada’s remote wilderness in search of abandoned and valuable vehicles. Beginning April 19 on HISTORY Channel and STACKTV, the second season of the Corus Studios distributed original series follows Matt Sager and the Lost Car Rescue team as they journey 3,000 kilometres from their home base in British Columbia into Northern Alberta and Northwestern Ontario. Lost Car Rescue is produced by Boat Rocker’s Proper Television for The HISTORY Channel. 

Canada’s Got Talent returns to Citytv for a second season, premiering Tuesday, March 21. Reaching more than 7.6M Canadians during its inaugural season, the talent competition series spotlights 82 acts as they grace the Canadian stage, face the #CGT judges – Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, Trish Stratus, and Kardinal Offishall – and compete to win the $150,000 grand prize. Hosted by Lindsay Ell, Canada’s Got Talent culminates in a live two-hour finale on Tuesday, May 16 from the new OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls.

Paxolotl Media of Saskatoon and Winnipeg’s Zoot Pictures are in production on CG-animated series, CHUMS, which will premiere on APTN and APTN lumi in early 2024. Revolving around a young Indigenous girl and her animal friends, the nine x 30-minute series was created by Dennis Jackson (Wapos Bay), who is directing and co-writing the scripts with his son, Eric, who is producing via Paxloti. Zoot Pictures’ Leslea Mair (Nikola Tesla and the End of the World) is on board as executive producer. CHUMS is being produced in English, Cree and Ojibwe, with all of the attached talent on the project Indigenous. 

APTN Investigates, is taking viewers inside corrections facilities to see what’s really behind the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s justice system. While Indigenous Peoples make up just under five per cent of the Canadian population, they now account for more than 32% of all incarcerated inmates. In the special four-part series, airing March 10 – 31, the APTN Investigates team brings viewers with them behind the walls of some of Canada’s most notorious prisons, including the Special Handling Unit (SHU) located within the Archambault Institution in Quebec, Canada’s only “supermax” prison. 

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

BC Business, Vancouver Magazine, Western Living and TV Week are getting a new owner. Richmond-based Alive Publishing Group has purchased Canada Wide Media (CWM). Peter Legge, founder and CEO of CWM, has made the decision to sell the company and retire after nearly 50 years in business. Ryan Benn, CEO and group publisher of Alive Publishing Group, will take over the same roles at CWM. 

Narcity has launched Narcity Chat, powered by AI engine ChatGPT. Aimed at helping readers find restaurant recommendations and make travel plans, a disclaimer notes that the AI chat is in beta, and only accesses content from Narcity.com for context with limited knowledge prior to 2019. 

St. Joseph’s Communications (SJC) is expanding its business with Porter Airlines. SJC’s Strategic Content Labs is on board as official media sales partner and publisher of re:porter magazine, promoting unique advertising opportunities including onboard sampling, wi-fi sponsorships, pre-roll & video entertainment sponsorship, onboard video and banners, email, and custom content. SCL will also helm content and photography for the bi-monthly in-flight magazine targeted at an “urban, affluent and well-traveled Porter reader.” SCL has been working with Porter on custom content and ad sales since 2018, but this is its first year as official media sales partner and publisher of re:porter.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

Canadian Heritage Min. Pablo Rodriquez has sent notice to the Senate, highlighting several changes the government would like made before Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, is granted royal assent. The changes requested include the Senate’s definition of “community element” with Rodriguez concerned that the Senate’s tweak “does not refer to broadcasting undertakings that comprise components of the broadcasting system which may cause interpretative issues in the application of the act.” He also disagreed with the Senate amendment that states “online undertakings shall implement methods such as age-verification methods to prevent children from accessing programs on the internet that are devoted to depicting, for a sexual purpose, explicit sexual activity.” The notice says that amendment seeks to legislate beyond the policy intent of the bill, among other requested changes. 

The CRTC is launching a consultation on the internet services market to increase competition, create more choice and lower prices. The commission says it recognizes its current approach is not meeting its objective of encouraging more competition in the market. The consultation will re-examine the rates competitors pay large telephone and cable companies for access to their networks. While it carries out the review, the CRTC is imposing an immediate 10% reduction on some wholesale rates. The commission says it will also examine whether large telephone and cable companies should provide competitors with access to their fibre-to-the-home networks to enable faster internet speeds. The CRTC is encouraging comments until April 24 on the question of mandating access to fibre-to-the-home networks. Comments on all other issues are being accepted until June 22.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) will honour veteran journalist Lisa LaFlamme with its annual CJF Tribute. The annual award recognizes significant contributions to journalism. LaFlamme joins past recipients including André Picard, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Anna Maria Tremonti, Malcolm Gladwell and David Suzuki, among others. LaFlamme, who began her broadcasting career in 1989 at CKCO Kitchener, parted ways with CTV News last summer in a highly-publicized departure that sparked a national conversation about ageism, sexism and double standards. Since leaving CTV, she’s covered the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as a special correspondent for CityNews and travelled to Kenya, Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Journalists for Human Rights to promote the work of reporters telling stories of gender-based violence. LaFlamme will be presented with the CJF Tribute at the CJF Awards on June 13 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. Read more here.

Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) has announced the winners of their annual Leadership Excellence Awards, recognizing people and organizations committed to equity and diversity in Canada’s digital economy. This year’s recipients include Woman of the Year honouree, Sundeep Sandhu, Vice President of Cyber Security, Rogers Communications; Rising Star winner Alicia Jarvis, Senior Product Manager, Accessibility Portfolio, Bell; and Trailblazer Elizabeth Alves, Vice President, Enterprise Strategy and Sustainability, Cogeco. The awards will be presented at WCT’s Annual Awards Gala on May 1 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. 

Connie Walker has received a First Amendment Award from RTDNA in the U.S., recognizing journalists who stand for the values of the First Amendment and responsible journalism. Walker is currently an investigative journalist and host of Gimlet Media podcast Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s, uncovering the systemic abuse that permeated the St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, SK. Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s was awarded Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series at the IDA Documentary Awards and was a finalist for the Dupont-Columbia Awards. It was also named one of the best podcasts of the year by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire and Vulture. Prior to joining Gimlet Media, Walker spent nearly two decades as a reporter and host with CBC.

The Trauma Assistance Fund for Canadian Freelancers was launched this week by the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, aiming to fill a gap in resources for freelance media workers experiencing work-related mental health issues. The new fund will pay for confidential counselling for freelancers within Canada, in addition to those working abroad in conflict zones like Ukraine. Led by Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a psychiatrist specializing in the mental health of journalists and a founding director of the Forum, the fund will match successful applicants with appropriate counsellors, working in either French or English. Read more here.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING NEWS:

William F. White (WFW) has launched the WFW TechLab, a space open to both aspiring and seasoned filmmakers, offering hands-on, real-time learning in all things virtual production. The WFW TechLab, located at the WFW Toronto office, boasts 4,000 sq. ft. of studio space, a 33’ x 13’ LED wall and 12’ x 12’ LED ceiling. The space will also be outfitted with ARRI cinema lights, integrated Technodolly 15’ tracking in Unreal Engine and a testing space for new lighting and film equipment. As part of the lab’s launch, the company has partnered with Humber College, opening the space up to students in the Humber Film and Television Production (FMTV) program, who’ll spend part of their semester gaining experience shooting on an LED volume. This semester, students from the Film & Television Production and 3D Animation programs will produce three student-led projects at the WFW TechLab. Read more here.

Virtual Production House (VPHouse) has established a new location in Vancouver, billed as the first virtual production studio in the region designed to service commercials, episodic series, movies of the week (MOWs), lower–budget feature films, and social shorts. Aimed at filling a gap due to the increasing cost of location shoots and other logistical challenges, the new studio is led by Vancouver-based filmmaker Daniel Hsia. VPHouse’s second location, its flagship studio in Toronto was launched in 2021, as a subsidiary of local production company, The Other End.

The Great Canadian Suite, an NAB Show tradition for most of the last 60 years, returns to Las Vegas on Monday, April 17.

Presented poolside at The Flamingo Hotel by Broadcast Dialogue and Cartt.ca, in concert with Gold Sponsors Vizrt Group and Applied Electronics, the event brings together Canadians from the film, TV, radio, production, and digital sectors, in addition to the vendors that service them.

“The Great Canadian Suite has been around since the ’60s. It’s one of those iconic feel good happenings with which I am proud to be associated,” said Broadcast Dialogue and Cartt.ca publisher Shawn Smith. 

Founded by Applied Electronics, the Great Canadian Suite started in a single hotel suite. The event has a rich history, which at its peak involved securing between 400 and 500 rooms at the infamous Dunes Hotel where all of the Canadians stayed and did business together. It’s since evolved into a three-hour poolside event from 6 – 9 p.m. on the Monday of NAB Show.

This year’s event will be the first Great Canadian Suite to be held since 2019. Broadcast Dialogue and Cartt.ca are now calling for sponsors.

“The Great Canadian Suite does not happen without our sponsors who greatly underwrite this event and minimize the cost for our attendees,” expressed Smith. “We’re finalizing those Silver and Bronze partnerships now and will be announcing ticketing info in the next few weeks.”

Find more info on sponsorship opportunities or express your interest for tickets here.

See you at the Great Canadian Suite!