REVOLVING DOOR:

Shelagh Rogers is retiring after the current season of CBC Radio literary program, The Next Chapter after 15 years and 43 with the public broadcaster. Her final episode will air June 24. Rogers got into radio at Queen’s University campus station CFRC, going on to host a country music program while still a student at CKWS (now Global TV) Kingston. She joined CBC Radio Ottawa in 1980, where she hosted current affairs and music programs, becoming the host of national classical concert show Mostly Music in 1982. Upon moving to CBC Toronto in 1984, Rogers started hosting on national programs like Morningside, The Max Ferguson Show and Basic Black, and was the founding host of The Arts Tonight. In 1995, Peter Gzowski named Rogers the permanent guest host of Morningside. CBC says The Next Chapter will continue, with the summer edition of the show to be hosted by CBC Books producer and contributor Ryan B. Patrick, as the search for a permanent host gets underway. Read more here.

Darrel Janz is retiring from CTV Calgary after 50 years with the station. Janz’s broadcasting career began at CFAM Altona, MB in 1962. He went on to report and anchor for CFQC Radio & TV in Saskatoon and then CTV Montreal from 1968 to 1972. After a year at CFPL-TV London, Janz accepted a position at CFCN-TV in 1973 as senior anchor. Until 1987, Janz anchored the station’s 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. newscasts, going on to co-anchor the supper hour newscast with Michelle Hogan and then Barb Higgins for 21 years. He returned to feature reporting with weekly segment “Inspired” in 2013. Janz has also served as an instructor in the Broadcast Journalism programs at SAIT and Mount Royal College.

Stef Davis is leaving CTV Regina to join CTV Kitchener. Davis has been a video journalist and anchor in the Regina newsroom since 2018. Prior to Regina, she worked as a VJ with CTV Yorkton and as a sports reporter at Yorkton This Week.

Gord Edick has retired from Global News Toronto after 23 years as Senior Supervising ENG Camera. A news photographer for more than 40 years, Edick has worked on numerous programs over the years, receiving the Roy Tash Award for Spot News Cinematography in 2011 from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC) for Global’s G20 protest coverage.

Mason DePatie has joined Global Edmonton. DePatie arrives from CTV Winnipeg where he had been a video journalist since late 2019. Prior to that, he was at CTV Lethbridge, where he was hired right out of SAIT.

Clint Hollinger has joined Corus Entertainment in Alberta as Manager, News Technology, working with Global News. Hollinger was most recently Senior Manager, Media Engineering, for the Prairie Region at Rogers Sports & Media. He’d been in management with the company for more than a decade.

Michelle Gamage is The Tyee’s new health reporter. A 2016 Concordia University grad, Gamage has been a freelance reporter for VICE News, Adbusters, and Vancouver’s Megaphone, among other publications.

Brishti Basu has joined New Canadian Media part-time as the multicultural news outlet’s Deputy Editor. Basu was formerly a staff reporter at Overstory Media Group’s Capital Daily in Victoria until she was caught up in a group layoff in January.

Mark Johnston is now doing double duty on 96.3 CRUZ FM (CFWD-FM) Edmonton weekday evenings, in addition to co-hosting mornings on Play 92 (CHMX-FM) Regina. Johnston has been with Harvard Media for the last five years.

Darrell Gibson has retired from Harvard Media. Gibson, a Media Marketing Consultant, based in Regina, leaves Harvard after more than 27 years with the company.

Dean Shaikh is now Rogers’ Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. He moves into the position after serving as VP, Regulatory Affairs at Shaw for the last 17 years. Prior to that, he served as Counsel, Regulatory Law for the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association and practiced competition law for The Competition Bureau.

Curtis White has been named the new president of Vancouver’s Network Media Group. White was part of the group that founded Thunderbird Entertainment, spending a decade with the studio helming its business development, corporate finance and investor relations initiatives. Since 2019, he’s been a Managing Partner of B.C.-based Caliber Ventures, advising emerging tech and media companies and consulting for Network for the past 18 months. White succeeds Paul Gertz in the president’s role. Gertz had also served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), a position he’ll continue in. Read more here.

Steven Kotlowitz has retired as a member of the Board of Directors for Network Media Group. Kotlowitz has served as a board member since 2012 and served as executive producer on 12 of the films in Network’s I AM documentary franchise. He’ll remain an advisor to the company. 

A wee update. On May 7, I felt lightheaded after a workout. Within hours, I was in emergency bypass surgery. Eternal gratitude for @wpgparamedics, the doctors, @manitobanurses, @mahcp_mb, @sbhwpg. The healthcare system is stretched but they’re working hard for patients. Heroes pic.twitter.com/sMIX152Fl3

— Karen Pauls (@karenpaulscbc) May 15, 2023

Karen Pauls is recovering after undergoing emergency bypass surgery. Pauls, a CBC National news reporter, based in Winnipeg, shared on social media that she suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), often experienced by women with few risk factors.

RADIO & PODCAST:

MuchMusic icon Ed the Sock has officially joined Durham Radio’s 94.9 The Rock (CKGE-FM) Oshawa, reviving the classic overnight radio format. The All-Night Show!, which the station has been testing out for the past two weeks, will air live Wednesday to Sunday from midnight to 5 a.m., taking listener phone calls and texts all night long. Ed (aka Steven Kerzner) is no stranger to the time slot, first introduced to viewers of Newton Cable in 1987 on The Late Late Show, which eventually landed on Citytv in the ’90s as Night Party. Steve Macaulay, VP of Sales at Durham Radio, said the company believes that the overnight audience has long been under-served. Read more here.

640 (CFIQ-AM) Toronto is welcoming Canadian comic Colin Mochrie (Whose Line Is it Anyway?, This Hour Has 22 Minutes) as a guest host on Sunday, May 21. Filling in for Maggie John from 7 – 10 a.m. on Toronto This Weekend, the hosting stint marks Mochrie’s radio debut behind the mic. “Colin Mochrie is a legendary comedian, and we are delighted to have him on 640 Toronto,” said Amanda Cupido, General Programming Director Talk & Talent. “Our station champions smart, informative talk radio, but also understands the importance of laughter – and we’re excited to deliver this mix with talent like Colin for the May long weekend.”

pic.twitter.com/v5ebg4kPH6

— Adam Stirling (@Adam_Stirling) May 9, 2023

CFAX 1070 Victoria talk show host Adam Stirling has issued a public retraction after admitting to spreading misinformation about conservative media personality Ezra Levant and Rebel News. Following Rebel’s $100,000 fundraising effort for the Red Cross during the Alberta wildfires in 2016, Stirling acknowledges that he shared numerous tweets suggesting that the right wing news outlet was directing funds into its own coffers. Levant has asked Stirling to make a donation to the Wood Buffalo Food Bank in Fort McMurray.

SiriusXM Canada and the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) have revealed the three finalists in the 2023 SiriusXM Top of the Country competition: Hailey Benedict (St. Albert, AB); Noah Derksen (Winnipeg); and Teigen Gayse (Kelowna). The finalists have a busy summer ahead, starting with a trip to Nashville in June where they will perform at CMA Fest, followed by stage performances at Montreal’s Lasso country music festival in August and then CCMA’s Country Music Week in Hamilton where the competition culminates in a finale in September, broadcast live on SiriusXM’s Top of the Country Radio (Ch. 171). 

Marc Denis, a veteran of Montreal radio and TV, has self-published a book of anecdotes featuring the celebrities he encountered over the decades. Available in both English and French, net sales of “Mais Oui Tell You Some Stories?” will go towards the Teresa Dellar Palliative Care Residence serving Montréal’s West Island. Among the famous faces featured in the book are Paul McCartney, Céline Dion, Boy George, Billy Joel, Chris DeBurgh, Bo Diddley, and Frank Zappa.

Luminate has beta launched its new platform which promises to expand the company’s global data capabilities across music sales, streaming and airplay data, while introducing a more agile user interface. Unveiled at the Music Biz Annual Conference in Nashville, the company (formerly known as Nielsen Music and P-MRC Data) says the new interface – which replaces legacy music data consumption platform Music Connect – offers users a more comprehensive view of music consumption by artist and project at both global and individual country levels to gain greater understanding of “the intersection of growth and disruption in music and entertainment.” In the coming quarters, Luminate says it will incorporate its other data offerings into the platform, including music audience research, film metadata, TV metadata, and streaming video analytics. Read more here.

U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Ted Cruz are among a bipartisan coalition that has introduced legislation that would direct federal regulators to mandate AM radio in new vehicles at no additional charge. The legislation follows a letter Markey sent to 20 leading carmakers last year requesting they maintain access to AM broadcast radio in their vehicles. Of those 20 carmakers, eight – BMW, Ford, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo – had removed AM radio from their electric vehicles, with Ford and Volvo among those abandoning AM altogether moving forward. The Act would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a rule requiring automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without an additional fee or surcharge; and direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study whether alternative communication systems could fully replicate the reach and effectiveness of AM radio for alerting the public to emergencies. Read more here.

SIGN OFFS:

Deborra Hope, 67, on May 15, after a nearly decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s. Originally from Trail, BC, Hope left home at age 18 to attend the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she got her feet wet in journalism reading newscasts and hosting on campus station CITR and reporting for student newspaper, The Ubyssey. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she studied journalism at Carleton University and began working as a junior reporter with The Canadian Press. She went on to join the now-defunct United Press International (UPI) as a Vancouver-based reporter, until being lured away by former BCTV news director Cameron Bell in 1981. She hosted the Early News at 5 p.m. and the InSight segment during the News Hour at 6, in addition to the 6 p.m. newscast, alongside Tony Parsons, for many years. Hope, who was married to Global BC cameraman Roger Hope, retired at age 59 in October 2014 when she started to show symptoms of early onset dementia. Read more here. 

Global BC celebrates the life of our friend and former colleague Deb Hope. Squire Barnes has more on how her work ethic and sense of humour made her a B.C. news icon.
Read more: https://t.co/tPUzwOB8P2 pic.twitter.com/sEvcoVzPRs

— Global BC (@GlobalBC) May 16, 2023

TV & FILM:

Convergence Research Group’s latest Battle for the Canadian Couch Potato Report indicates Canada is increasingly being impacted by the global OTT battle for viewers. Based on analysis of over 50 OTT services (and more than 35 providers), led by Netflix, Convergence estimates 2022 Canadian OTT access revenue grew 23% to $3.3 billion, with 18% growth forecast for 2023, mostly benefitting non-Canadian players. The report estimates 2022 Canadian Cable, Satellite, Telco TV access revenue declined 4% to $7.5 billion and forecasts 3% annual declines through 2025. Convergence also estimates 2022 resulted in a decline of 2% of Canadian TV subscribers, with on average 3% per year declines anticipated from 2023-25. It’s estimated that as of 2022, 6.3 million or 40% of Canadian households did not have a TV subscription with a Cable, Satellite, or Telco TV access provider, forecast to rise to 48% by 2025. 

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its 9th annual Awards Gala on Saturday, May 13. Best Feature Film went to Queens of the Qing Dynasty, the sophomore film from Cape Breton filmmaker Ashley McKenzie. The second season of Bell Fibe TV1 comedy Vollies, starring Jonathan Torrens, won Best Television Series – Scripted Award. Two new awards were handed out including Best Television Series – Unscripted, captured by VICE Canada docuseries Living in Flow, produced by Gorgeous Mistake Productions and directed by Meaghan Wright, which follows six Atlantic Canadian youth with mental health challenges. Outstanding Achievement in Editing went to Kimberlee McTaggart for her work on Moonshine. 

The 2023 Alberta Film & Television Awards, aka The Rosies, are now accepting submissions. This year’s awards will be held in Edmonton on Sept. 30. The deadline for entries is May 31, with finalists to be announced in August. Eligible productions must have been completed between Jan. 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023. 

Entertainment One (eOne) has expanded its long-running partnership with The CW Network to make it the U.S. home for Lea Thompson-led CTV original mystery series The Spencer Sisters, and CBC one-hour dramedy Moonshine. The premiere dates for each series will be announced at a later date. The announcement follows The CW’s pickup of CBC comedies Run the Burbs and Son of a Critch, Corus Studios’ Great Chocolate Showdown, and Global TV’s Family Law.

Prime Video has started production on new Canadian Amazon Original docu-reality series, Luxe Listings Toronto. Based on hit Australian Amazon Original, Luxe Listings Sydney, the Toronto-based edition showcases multimillion-dollar listings through the lives of real estate agents, Peter and Paige Torkan, founders of Team Torkan and Brett Starke, founder of The Starke Group. Luxe Listings Toronto is produced by McGillivray Entertainment Media (MEM) with executive producers Angela Jennings, Nanci Maclean and Scott McGillivray. On June 12, Luxe Listings Toronto will be featured in Banff Media Festival’s Home Reno-ssance: What’s Hot in Property panel, focused on trends and the evolution of the home renovation and real estate genre. 

Frantic Films has announced an agreement to create a new paranormal series with Alexandra Holzer, daughter of famed parapsychologist Hanz Holzer. Frantic says it has also secured two high profile pieces of crime related IP it will develop and take to market as early as Real Screen West. The Winnipeg and Toronto-based prodco is also collaborating with New York-based producer My Entertainment, on recently announced true crime docuseries Nightmare on My Street, featuring Robert Englund, star of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.  

Hollywood Suite has announced the return of original documentary series A Year in Film. Premiering May 25, the fourth season will shine a cinematic spotlight on the years 1973, 1985, 1999 and 2010, featuring archival material, film clips and interviews with industry insiders and critics. Among the films covered will be The Exorcist, Serpico, Enter the Dragon, Paper Moon, American Graffiti, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, The Goonies, PeeWee’s Big Adventure, The Matrix, Fight Club, American Beauty, The Blair Witch Project, The King’s Speech, Inception, Winter’s Bone, True Grit, and more. Meticulously restored Canadian cult classic The Peanut Butter Solution will also receive its broadcast premiere on Hollywood Suite on May 26, immediately following the premiere of the 1985 episode of A Year in Film. The film is also discussed indepth on A Year in Film Podcast with guest, Jay Baruchel.

CTV original competition series Cross Country Cake Off returns with six new episodes, Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, beginning May 26. Hosts Mary Berg and Andrew Han make another trip across the country to find 40 new cake makers hoping to bake their way to the top prize of $50,000 and the title of champion. The new episodes see Berg and Han stop in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montréal, and Halifax for five regional qualifying rounds, culminating in a national finale face-off, airing June 30.

Gender Equity in Media Society (formerly Women in Film and Television Vancouver) has announced the dates of the second installment of its Emerging TV Producers Program (ETVP) to help support producers from underrepresented communities. ETVP is a six-month initiative aimed at providing training and mentorship for up to 10 women and gender-diverse creators. Funded by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and BC Arts Council, and sponsored by Warner Brothers Discovery Access Canada, the program is designed in two phases – a series of workshops, to be held in-person in Vancouver, Sept. 22-26 and phase two, Oct. 2 to Dec. 20 – when participants will be matched with a mentor to assist them with packaging their projects for development funding and/or industry markets. The program is free and open to BC-based emerging producers who want to gain producing skills and have a series concept to submit. Program applications are open June 12 to July 9.

The CaribbeanTales Black Incubator and Studio Access Project (CTBISAP) has announced the 2023 cohort of its “Limitless” training program for emerging Black Canadian filmmakers. The program is designed to build capacity in the Black Canadian film industry by providing IP knowledge and skills acquisition, training in marketing and branding, and business skills development. This “Limitless” cohort includes Nauzanin Knight, Noel Cousins, Mahlena- Rae Johnson, Chelsea Nyomi, Murry Peters, Vichy Plancher, Letay Williams, Nelie Diverlus, KhaRa Martin and Aichoucha Haidara. The program will run until the end of September, culminating with participants creating a development and pitch package for their projects.

The National Screen Institute (NSI) has welcomed 10 emerging Indigenous creators as they begin their training through the CBC New Indigenous Voices program, a 14-week program covering the essential elements of working in the film, TV and digital media industries. This year’s cohort includes: Lisa Abel (M’Chigeeng First Nation/ON); Asha Bear (Tobique First Nation/NB); Lucas Boudreau (St. Laurent/MB); Sage Boulanger-McLeod (Berens River First Nation/MB); Renée Courchene (Sagkeeng First Nation/MB); Apollo Dawson (Dzawada’enuxw First Nation/BC); Jacob Dorie (Black River First Nation/MB); Alysha Johnny-Hawkins (Tahltan First Nation/BC); John Luke (Kivalliq Region/MB); and Linsey Murdock (Fisher River Cree Nation/MB). For the first time since 2019, training will be in-person in Winnipeg, with participants working out of Big Sky Studios.

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

Rumble, the Canadian-headquartered online video platform, has acquired San Francisco-based social podcasting and live audio and video streaming platform, Callin. Rumble, which touts itself as “immune to cancel culture” and popular with right-leaning streamers like Alex Jones, Matt Walsh, and Donald Trump’s Truth Social network, moves into the podcast space on the heels of YouTube’s official foray into podcasting last month. 

VICE Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Founded in 1994 and growing into an international media conglomerate from its origins as a small, Montreal-based magazine, the move follows the company’s announcement that it was shutting down its VICE World News brand and cancelling VICE News Tonight, resulting in more than 100 newsroom layoffs. As reported by VICE subsidiary Motherboard, the bankruptcy filing will likely result in the sale of the company to Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management for $225 million USD. VICE Media LLC and its associated companies owe Fortress more than $474 million.

Rathnelly Group Media has rebranded as Glory Media and undertaken a reorganization of its niche business luxury lifestyle media products, ceasing to publish Bay Street Bull and realigning its brands under the Glory moniker to include Glory Professional, Glory Sports, and the luxury and trend driven Glory Upgrade. The Toronto-based publisher’s announcement says the Glory portfolio will include quarterly print issues (exclusive to Glory Professional), digital cover stories and podcasts, video, social media, newsletters, and experiential, adding that the Glory Media name was chosen “as a reflection of the company ethos on success, innovation, and progress.” Glory Media is helmed by publisher David King.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

The CRTC’s public consultations on modernizing the broadcast system are officially underway as the commission looks to set up a framework that will re-envision how broadcasters and foreign streamers contribute to the production of Canadian content. The first phase of the consultation proposes the possibility of flexible contribution requirements that would be potentially tailored to individual business models, starting with a base contribution, proposed to apply to all broadcast undertakings. A secondary, flexible financial requirement would see undertakings invest in Canadian programming and/or training and development, while a third component would reflect “intangible” contributions like promotion and discovery of Canadian content, back catalogues, and other company proposals that meet longterm public policy objectives. The second phase of the consultation will look at which online streaming services need to be registered with the CRTC proposing that streamers with annual revenues under $10 million be exempt. Additionally, the definition of Canadian and Indigenous content – and accompanying point system – will also be considered in phase two, anticipated to start this fall. Read more here.

The Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) and ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) have renewed the National Commercial Agreement (NCA) for another year, pending ratification. The agreement provides an increase in pay and sets out steps toward modernizing and simplifying the agreement through industry-wide consultations that will take place over the next year. A year ago, the ACA and ACTRA entered into an agreement after the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA) walked away from negotiations.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy, from the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). Recognized in the law enforcement category for its repeated efforts to block journalists from accessing information, the jury noted the refusal of TPS to provide a journalist with wait time data for 9-1-1 emergency calls from 2017-18 in a simple machine-readable electronic format. Instead, TPS took two years to respond to the request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and when it did provided the journalist with a 1,508-page, non-searchable PDF document. The journalist appealed the denial to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. In May 2022, TPS was ordered to comply with the original request to provide the data electronically.

Cision’s latest State of the Media report indicates “accuracy” and “maintaining credibility as a trusted news source” are leading concerns for journalists, particularly with the rise of ChatGPT and other AI-driven applications. Featuring responses from more than 3,100 journalists from 17 global markets, “ensuring content is accurate” was named the top priority by journalists (58%) and was what they perceive as the top priority for their organization (43%). 40% of journalists said they are relying more on data this year.

Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights in Toronto, is the 2024 Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellow. She will focus on how human rights journalism can inform and improve policymaking in and for developing countries. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has selected 24 global journalists for a year of study at Harvard University, with the fellows examining the growing threats to democracy and the free press; the use of AI in reporting; innovations in storytelling; political polarization; solutions journalism; media trust; and journalism collaboration, among other issues.

The RTDNF (Radio Television Digital News Foundation) Canada Scholarship program is accepting applications for more than $16,000 in scholarship money. All applications must have been produced for a school assignment in 2022-23 for a journalism or communications program at a Canadian college or university. There is no fee to apply. Find scholarship details and qualifications here. The deadline to apply is June 19.

RTDNA Canada has announced dates for its upcoming awards programs. Regional Awards finalists will be announced May 25, with winners revealed June 15. National Awards and Best Canadian Local News Awards finalists will be announced in October with the winners named at the Awards Gala at Sheraton Centre Toronto on Oct. 21 during the RTDNA National Conference, Innovate, Elevate, Celebrate: Mapping the Future of News, Oct. 20-21.

The 2023 Webster Awards, celebrating the best of B.C. journalism, are now accepting submissions until July 30. New categories this year include: Best News Reporting of the Year, Excellence in Investigative Journalism, Excellence in Feature Reporting, and Excellence in Arts & Culture Reporting. Stories published June 1, 2022 to May 31st, 2023 are eligible. 

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

Matrix has announced plans for its 6th annual Media Ad Sales Summit, returning Nov. 8-10, at the beachfront Conrad Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Summit brings together leaders from across the media industry who represent varying verticals, to discuss both the challenges and opportunities the industry currently faces, while aiming to reduce the friction and improve efficiencies when buying and selling advertising. Topics to be discussed include: Ad Buy/Sell Automation; Ad-Supported Streaming; TV Station Economics, including The Future of Advertising, Affiliation & Retrans; and TV’s ATSC 3.0. A highly anticipated session will be led by members of the Media Ad Sales Council (MASC), an advocacy group founded by Matrix, focused on the industry’s role in advancing the media ad-sales ecosystem through automation, convergence, and inclusion.