REVOLVING DOOR:
Natacha Mercure has been officially named Executive Director, Audio and Radio, for Radio-Canada. Mercure, who has held the position on an interim basis since January, has been with Radio-Canada since 2000. Initially joining the public broadcaster as a web developer, she went on to hold leadership roles within the Digital Services and Radio teams, including Head of Production and Digital Content for ICI PREMIÈRE; Director of Radio-Canada.ca; Senior Director, Digital Strategy and Creative Services; and most recently, Senior Director, Digital Audio Strategy and Content, overseeing podcast and audiobook production. She succeeds Caroline Jamet in the role, who joined Cogeco Media as president in February. Read more here.
Matt McGowan, Snapchat Canada’s Managing Director and General Manager, is joining Bell Media in the newly-created role of Senior Vice-President, Business Solutions. McGowan has been with Snap Inc. since 2019. His new position with Bell will see him lead the go-to-market team and oversee strategy and execution of ad sales and partnerships at Bell Media. Read more here.
Anita Bathe has announced she won’t be returning to the CBC Vancouver News at Six anchor desk, following 18 months of maternity leave. Bathe, who was named Best Local News Anchor at both the 2022 and 2023 Canadian Screen Awards, had anchored the News at Six since 2018, initially alongside Mike Killeen, and then solo from May 2021 onward. Bathe revealed in a post to Instagram that she’s made the difficult decision to leave journalism to pursue other opportunities. Read more here.
Matt Skube has announced his departure from CTV Ottawa after 11 years. Skube first joined the station in 2013 as a weekend weather anchor. He’s been the anchor of CTV News at Five since 2017. While not revealing his next move, he has divulged that he and his family will be leaving the city.
Abigail Turner, who announced her departure from CTV Vancouver last month, has announced she’s returning to Manitoba to join social impact digital media organization, Future of Good, as an online reporter. Turner had been with CTV since 2022.
Mike Richards will be heard on Sportsnet 960 The Fan (CFAC-FM) Calgary, starting Sunday, April 13. The hour-long show is being sponsored by CIBC. Richards, who was most recently heard in mornings on Sauga 960 (CKNT-AM) Mississauga, has two previous stints on Sportsnet Radio under his belt, including a more than six-year run in mornings at Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM) from 2004-10.
Grant Smadella has left Golden West Broadcasting after more than 15 years to join youth mental health charity, The Robb Nash Project, as Director, Corporate & Philanthropic Partnerships. Smadella was most recently General Manager and Sales Manager for Golden West’s Winnipeg stations CHVN 95.1 FM and Classic 107 FM (CKCL-FM).
Pam Fedak has joined the Winnipeg Sun as an Assistant Editor. Fedak was a reporter and anchor with Golden West Broadcasting’s Radio Southern Manitoba network for 27 years, based in Winkler, up until last fall.
Jimmy Thomson is the new Editor-in-Chief of Canada’s National Observer. Thomson had been in the position of Managing Editor for the past 11 months. Prior to that, he served in a similar role at Overstory Media Group’s Capital Daily in Victoria.
Tim Shore, the founder of blogTO has parted ways with ZoomerMedia. Shore, who founded the publication in 2004, sold the website to ZoomerMedia in 2022. He wrote in a post to LinkedIn that the company had decided to terminate his employment. “It was a great 20-year run and I’m proud of what we built together and especially appreciate the resilience of my former colleagues who continue to navigate what remains an extremely challenging environment for media companies in Canada,” wrote Shore.
Rachel Gilmore’s “fact-checking” federal election misinformation segment on CTV Your Morning has been cancelled. Gilmore, who was set to join the show every Friday during the election, says the segment was dropped due to online pressure from Conservative detractors. In a phone call recorded by Gilmore, CTV Your Morning’s executive producer Jennifer MacLean calls the online trolling “a distraction” and that the show doesn’t have the “bandwidth to keep focus where we need to,” noting that the journalist will be compensated for the appearances she didn’t make.
RADIO + PODCAST:
Humber College has told faculty and students that 2026 will mark the final graduating class from its Broadcasting – Radio program as it suspends the diploma program after more than 50 years. There will be no fall 2025 intake of new students, with current first year students to be the last offered a second year. Founded in 1972 by CHUM broadcaster Phil Stone, the program boasts well over 3,000 graduates with the Radio Humber Hall of Fame including inductees like Apple Music Hits personality George Stroumboulopoulos, former Breakfast Television and Sportsnet host Sid Seixeiro, KiSS 92.5 (CKIS-FM) morning co-host Roz Weston, retired Rogers Media VP John Hinnen, and former Rogers and Bell Media exec Rob Farina. The college says the program is being “reviewed” with an eye to updating the curriculum. Read more here.
Fanshawe College has also announced it’s suspending numerous programs amid a sharp decline in enrolment, including Broadcasting – Radio & Media Production, Journalism – Television and Digital News, and Advanced Live Digital Media Production. Read more here.
My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has taken over operation of the four commercial radio stations it acquired from Bell Media, including CFJR-FM and CJPT-FM Brockville and CFLY-FM and CKLC-FM in Kingston. CFJR-FM transitions from the MOVE Radio format to myFM branding. CFLY-FM also drops the MOVE format, returning to its 98.3 FLY FM heritage branding. CKLC-FM, formerly Pure Country, becomes New Country 98.9, while CJPT-FM goes from the Bounce Radio Adult Hits format to Classic Rock brand, 103.7 Giant FM.
ZoomerMedia has closed on its acquisition of CJOS-FM Owen Sound. It’s rebranded the station from Bell Media’s former Bounce Radio format to Zoomer Radio 92.3, carrying an Oldies playlist, similar to its CFZM Toronto. The station’s morning show remains intact through the transition, renamed “The Morning Zoom with Ted & Diana.”
Vista Radio has announced a new partnership with iHeartRadio Canada, making all 51 Vista radio stations now available for streaming on the platform. Vista stations continue to be accessible through Radioplayer Canada and TuneIn. Each station also streams locally on its respective My Town Now portal.
Corus Radio’s 680 CJOB has announced the renewal of its partnership with the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s (CEBL) Winnipeg Seabears for the 2025 season, beginning in May. Following a successful collaboration in 2024, the station will carry 10 of the team’s 12 home games and two away broadcasts, in addition to Championship Weekend – set to be hosted in Winnipeg. In 2024, CJOB broadcast six Seabears games featuring broadcaster Christian Aumell covering play-by-play, while Sports Director Kelly Moore provided colour commentary and analysis on select games.
Departure Festival + Conference – Loft Entertainment and Oak View Group’s “reimagined” Canadian Music Week (CMW) – has announced that CMW founder Neill Dixon will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Dixon, who was at the helm of CMW for 42 years – up until his retirement and sale of the business to Loft and Oak View last June – is set to be recognized at Departure Honours on May 7. Dallas Green of City and Colour will accept the Independent Achievement Award, while SOCAN will receive an Industry Achievement Award, marking the organization’s 100th anniversary. The Trailblazer Award, going to a woman in broadcasting who has had a great impact on the industry, will also be handed out at the evening event at Hotel X Toronto. It’s unclear whether Dixon will accept the award in person, following filing of a lawsuit earlier this month that alleges Loft and Oak View Group have yet to remit the full purchase price of $2 million for CMW. Read more here.
Radiodays North America, happening May 6–8 in Toronto, concurrent to Departure Festival, has shared its conference schedule online. Topics range from AI and audience measurement to the political power of podcasts and the essence of brand building. Additional session announcements are promised in the coming weeks.
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and sportscaster Brian Williams are the latest Canadians to lend their voices to the Pro Bono Group’s “Pro Canada Project” PSA campaign. The new spots continue the campaign’s “Buy Canadian” message, with Kreviazuk’s PSA making special reference to her protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “51st state” narrative at the 4 Nations Face-Off final in Boston in February, when she changed the lyrics of O Canada to “that only us command.” Read more here.
The Pro Bono Group has also rolled out a new Feed Ontario PSA for the Ontario market. The first new PSA for 2025 is titled “Locked,” voiced by Paul Miller, best known for playing Connor Doyle on the TV series Psi Factor, and for his work on Due South, Good Witch and Suits.
CBC Podcasts’ Broomgate: A Curling Scandal has won Best Sports Podcast at the 5th annual Ambies Awards, while its co-production with NPR, Tested, claimed Best Documentary Podcast. Find the full list of winners here. Broomgate: A Curling Scandal is also among The Webby Awards nominees, recognizing the best of the internet. In the Podcasting categories, Broomgate is up for Best Limited Series, while CBC’s Personal Best got a nod in Advice & How-to.
CBC News’ new weekly podcast House Party, is among the public broadcaster’s “Canada Votes” coverage offerings leading up to the federal election. Veteran CBC political journalists Catherine Cullen, Jason Markusoff, and Daniel Thibeault invite listeners to join their election “watch party” as they tackle the burning election question of the week. From the team behind The House, new episodes drop every Wednesday.
LISTEN: Bob Willette is on the latest Sound Off Podcast. A radio veteran of 25+ years, Willette recently joined Indie88 (CIND-FM) Toronto after being let go from his program director role with Corus Radio Kingston. He and Matt Cundill discuss the challenges facing the radio industry, including corporate consolidation, content repurposing, and Canadian content regulations, as well the changing media landscape, the role of the CRTC, and the need for radio stations to adapt to new technologies and audience preferences.
SIGN OFFS:
Rick Wiertz, 68, on March 27, after a short battle with cancer. Wiertz started his broadcasting career in 1979 as a news producer at CFRN Radio & Television in Edmonton. Originally from Surrey, BC, Wiertz returned to the West Coast in 1986, joining CKVU (now Citytv) as a parliamentary reporter. From there, he went on to serve as News Director at CHEK-TV from 1990-95, and around that time served one term as president of RTDNA Canada. Wiertz later briefly surfaced on Victoria’s CFAX as a talk host, before moving into the tech sector, working in sales roles, including VP of Sales at ParetoLogic, and General Manager of Tesseract Technologies, which he eventually took ownership of and served as President & CEO. He went on to lead ASAP ELearning Solutions and Qumark Global Business Solutions.
TV + FILM:
Skywild Pictures is the new Toronto-based scripted television and film prodco, founded by writer and executive producer Travis Farncombe and TV executive/producer Angela Jennings. Jennings, who’ll serve as president, will oversee the company’s stakeholder relations and corporate development, in addition to managing creative, financial and legal strategies, and daily operations. Farncombe (A Translator, 13 Minutes) will hold the title of CEO. Rounding out the senior leadership team is broadcast executive Tom Hastings (Cardinal, Transplant) in the role of Vice-President, Development. Read more here.
Rodeo FX, the Montreal studio known for its visual effects work on productions like HBO’s Game of Thrones, Netflix’s Stranger Things, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, has acquired Mikros Animation. Mikros, previously owned by Technicolor Group, has been behind PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Orion and the Dark, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The acquisition includes all of Mikros Animation’s operations, as well as Technicolor Canada’s equipment, as the studio’s activities are continuing uninterrupted following the recent shutdown of other entities of the Technicolor group.
John Brunton, CEO and Chair of Insight Productions, and Michel St-Cyr, Executive Producer and Founding Shareholder of Groupe Fair-Play, have announced a partnership to develop and produce original unscripted programming in both official languages. Additionally, Insight and Groupe Fair-Play will mine their development slates and catalogues for synergies on projects that can cross borders, potentially shooting English and French versions concurrently.
CBC says the 54th Annual JUNO Awards broadcast earned its highest-ever streaming audience. Hosted by Michael Bublé, the awards show was streamed more than 762,000 times on CBC’s digital and streaming platforms, including CBC Gem and YouTube, an increase of nearly 400% over the 2024 JUNO Awards. The most-watched moment of the night was Bublé’s opening performance and monologue, with 838,000 viewers watching on television at 8:06 pm ET. Over 2.5 million viewers tuned in to CBC TV for the awards broadcast with an average overnight audience of 691,000, up three per cent compared to 2024. 478,000 listened on CBC Radio, with an average audience of 95,000, up six per cent. Audiences spent over 1.6 million hours with the JUNO Awards across all platforms, an increase of six per cent, compared to last year.
Crave Original drama series EMPATHIE captured the Audience Award at the Series Mania festival in France earlier this week. The new series explores the depths of mental illness, telling the story of Suzanne (Florence Longpré), a criminologist-turned-psychiatrist who goes to work at the Institut psychiatrique Mont-Royal. Produced by Trio Orange in collaboration with Crave, EMPATHIE debuts Thursday, April 10, in French with English subtitles.
ACTRA Toronto has announced the nominees for the Members’ Choice Series Ensemble Award and the ACTRA Toronto Stunt Ensemble Award. Prime Video superhero series The Boys leads the Stunt Ensemble nominees, while Bell Media, CBC and Citytv are equally reflected in the Series Ensemble category with nods for Shoresy, Murdoch Mysteries and Law & Order Toronto, among those nominated. The 23rd annual ACTRA Awards will take place May 8 in Toronto. Read more here.
BBDO Canada, one of Canada’s larger advertising agencies, has agreed to work exclusively with ACTRA performers for all commercial projects. This month marks the third anniversary of the lockout of ACTRA performers by the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA).
Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) has named Korea as the festival’s inaugural Country of Honour. The festival says the recognition highlights Korea’s global influence on the entertainment industry and its trailblazing producers, media companies, and content creators. In partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a delegation of Korea’s top producers, industry leaders, and talent, will attend the festival to forge international partnerships and strengthen global collaboration. K-Content will be a focal point throughout the festival, culminating in a tribute at the Rockie Awards on June 9.
The Banff World Media Festival has announced that multiple Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer will be presented with the Career Achievement Award at the upcoming Rockie Awards. In addition to receiving the award, Zimmer will take part in an exclusive “In Conversation” panel alongside notable composers from Bleeding Fingers Music, a multiple Emmy Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer collective co-founded by Zimmer in 2013, including Anže Rozman, Ho-Ling Tang, Jacob Shea, Kara Talve and Sami Goldberg, for a discussion on how Bleeding Fingers is reshaping the future of film and television scoring.
CBC, OYA Media Group and Noble Television have announced that production is underway on the second season of CBC original point-of-view documentary series For the Culture with Amanda Parris (6×60), set to premiere on CBC Gem later this year. Parris returns to create space for more provocative conversations on Blackness and Black folks around the world, speaking with cultural leaders, activists, scholars and everyday people in Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, London, and Toronto. Season 1 is nominated for four 2025 Canadian Screen Awards.
AMPLIFY, produced by Shane Belcourt and Jason Ryle of Wolfwalker Productions, premieres on APTN and APTN lumi on Tuesday, May 13. Showcasing an Indigenous singer/songwriter in each episode, the third season features Shane Ghostkeeper, Evan Redsky, Quttau, Darcy Turning Robe, Sebastian Gaskin, Bebe Buckskin, Lido Pimienta, Tia Wood, and Crystal Shawanda.
Pluto TV and Just For Entertainment Distribution have struck a deal to bring the Just For Laughs GAGS FAST Channel to Canada, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, and the Nordic countries. The channel is now live in all markets.
REGULATORY, TELECOM + MEDIA:
Rogers Communications and the National Hockey League (NHL) have released details of a new 12-year multi-platform media rights agreement through the 2037-38 seasons. The $11 billion CDN agreement starts in 2026-27, following the conclusion of the current 12-year deal. The deal encompasses national rights across all platforms, including TV, digital, and streaming, for all national regular season games, in all languages, national rights to all playoff games, the Stanley Cup Final, all special events, and tentpole events, in all languages, and out-of-market rights for all regional games. Read more here.
The CRTC has announced new dates for two of the three public hearings it postponed last week, following the federal election call. The public hearing focused on defining “Canadian” programming will now get underway May 14, with the hearing on sustainability in the Canadian broadcasting system set to begin June 18. The third hearing on supporting Canadian and indigenous audio content has yet to be rescheduled.
TELUS says it’s considering a potential plan to sell a minority stake in its portfolio of wireless towers. President & CEO Darren Entwistle says exploring monetization of its tower infrastructure reflects the company’s “broader commitment to long-term sustainable growth, as the company looks to strengthen its balance sheet as 100% of the proceeds would be used to pay down debt.”
Public Policy Forum, the Rideau Hall Foundation and the Michener Awards Foundation are offering grants of up to $35,000 to help small and medium-sized newsrooms and independent journalists cover election stories that would otherwise go untold. The non-partisan initiative is designed to help fund travel and reporting on key campaign events, and to provide communities across the country with access to high-quality, fact-based election coverage. The grants are open to Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations (QCJO) with fewer than 20 editorial staff, freelance journalists with a strong track record of reporting, and journalists covering underrepresented communities, remote regions, or local election issues.
World Press Freedom Canada (WPFC) has announced former newscaster and current disinformation watchdog Kevin Newman as the keynote speaker at its annual World Press Freedom Day luncheon on May 1 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The theme of this year’s luncheon is Disinformation and Democracy: Standing on Guard. Newman recently co-founded GetFact.ca, a collective of researchers, fact-checkers, and creatives fighting back against mis- and disinformation.
Sammy Kogan, a Toronto-based photojournalist and multimedia creator, is the recipient of the 2025 Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award presented by The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and The Canadian Press (CP). Presented annually in memory of the late, prize-winning CP photographer, the award allows an early-career photojournalist to work at CP’s Toronto head office for a six-week internship. Kogan’s portfolio was selected from submissions from across the country.
BROADCAST TECH + ENGINEERING:
FEATURE: Canadian exhibitors are prepping for NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 5-9, albeit with the expectation they’ll potentially see fewer Canadian attendees on the show floor, amidst the current political climate and ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war. Saskatoon-based broadcast supplier Pippin Technical Service, is among the Canadian companies headed to Las Vegas. Sales & Marketing Specialist Grant Biebrick told Broadcast Dialogue that with ongoing uncertainty around the U.S. tariff situation, looking at prospective vendor partnerships from around the globe will definitely play a larger role at this year’s show. Read more here.
Protocol Group’s Octapixx Media has been selected as the official studio and production control room partner for OneSoccer’s coverage of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), TELUS Canadian Championship, Canada Soccer’s Men’s and Women’s National Teams home friendly matches and Concacaf competitions. Octapixx’s newly-built facilities in Toronto will provide REMI (Remote Integration Model) production service across Canada, featuring advanced control rooms and production suites, along with a modern, full-service live sports broadcast studio.
Signal Hill Insights has unveiled a Video Podcast Brand Lift research solution as YouTube continues to assert itself as the podcast consumption platform of choice. The audio research company is billing the solution as the first research tool to demonstrate video podcasts’ return on investment in upper- and mid-funnel measures, such as brand awareness, favorability and purchase intent. The solution can be used to measure traditional pre-, mid- and post-roll ads, along with longer custom segments, branded episodes, share-of-voice integrations, and branded video podcasts. Read more here.
Triton Digital has announced that iHeartRadio podcast hosting platform Spreaker has integrated Sounder, its Al-powered, end-to-end audio intelligence platform. The integration sees all English content now analyzed through a brand suitability and contextual targeting environment to ensure buyers are being presented with a curation of content that fits their key messages and targeting goals, enabling show level and category targeting, while podcast creators on Spreaker benefit from more revenue-generating opportunities. Triton Digital acquired Sounder in March 2024 to bring brand-suitability solutions and AI-powered podcast understanding to its existing audio streaming and podcasting technology.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has released independently audited data for CES 2025, revealing an increase in attendance from senior-level executives, investors, and media. A total of 142,465 participants from across the globe attended CES, 40% international, demonstrating CES’ continued global influence. AI continued to be the top area of interest for attendees, with growing interest in robotics. Entertainment and advertising community attendance grew by 11% from CES 2024. The event will return to Las Vegas, Jan. 6-9, 2026.
