Publisher’s Note
This morning we have some breaking news of our own. We are doubling down on our commitment to our Canadian industry.
Under Greg’s leadership, Cartt.ca has carved out a niche for credible news, top-notch analysis, and commentary about radio and television, but also the overarching telecom industry as well as the regulatory bodies.
It has been a pleasure getting to know Greg over the past year as we have put this deal together and I am gratified that he feels that our team is the one to take Cartt.ca to the next level, so he can dedicate himself to his latest opportunity as news director of CHCH-TV.
Cartt.ca and Broadcast Dialogue complement each other nicely in the way they cover their respective editorial territory. They will continue to serve each of their constituencies with first class journalism and coverage of news and events across electronic media, telecom, and regulatory spectrum. If you are not a current follower of Cartt.ca you can learn more here.
Shawn Smith, Publisher, Broadcast Dialogue
REVOLVING DOOR:
David Gray, the host of Calgary Eyeopener on CBC Radio One, is stepping away from the program he’s hosted since 2010. Gray’s 33-year career started with The National in Toronto, before he moved on to become Legislative Bureau Chief in Edmonton. He eventually returned to Toronto to take a national reporting gig with CBC business show Venture, and later CBC Newsworld.
With a career at CBC that spans nearly two decades, veteran CBC Ottawa news host Adrian Harewood (@CBCAdrianH) is leaving CBC. Tune into Harewood’s final local newscast on June 30, 2022 live on CBC Ottawa News at 6, or stream on Gem. https://t.co/eGl44R8lFm pic.twitter.com/cSyYUpY1X3
— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) June 27, 2022
Adrian Harewood delivers his final newscast on CBC Ottawa on Thursday, June 30. As previously reported, Harewood is leaving to focus on his work with Carleton School of Journalism where he’s been a full-time faculty member since last July. He’s been with CBC Ottawa since 2006, 13 of those years as co-anchor of the supper hour newscast. Before coming to television, he was the host of All In A Day on CBC Radio One.
Ian Black, on-air climatologist for CBC News Ottawa for more than three decades, has retired. Black is the only weather forecaster in Ottawa endorsed by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. Prior to joining CBC in 1989, he was a substitute teacher.
Lyne Fortin has retired after a 41-year career in broadcasting. Fortin started her career as a reporter at CHSJ Saint John, NB in 1981, moving on to CKWS-TV Kingston, before spending close to 20 years at CBC Ottawa as a producer, reporter and morning newscaster. For the last two decades, she’d been a senior producer at CPAC.
Scooter (Scott) Shantz is joining the Virgin Radio (CFBT-FM) Vancouver morning show, alongside Holly Conway and Nira Arora. Shantz departed Pulse FM (CISF-FM) Surrey earlier this year where he’d been co-hosting mornings since 2020. Shantz fills the vacancy left by Jonny Staub, who departed the station in February and had been co-hosting the morning show since 2012.
Dean “Boomer” Molberg has announced his departure from Sportsnet 960 The Fan (CFAC-AM) Calgary. The host of Boomer in the Morning, alongside Ryan Pinder, Molberg is stepping away for what Rogers Sports & Media cites as “personal reasons” and will host his last show on Thursday. Third co-host and former NHL’er Rhett Warrener left the show in March.
The Dave & Rachel Show has come to an end on Pure Country 93 (CJBX-FM) London. Dave Collins and Rachel Gilbert have been hosting the morning show for the last 11 years and made the decision to leave the show together. Collins, who has been with CJBX-FM for the last 27 years, plans to take a break, while Gilbert has a growing voiceover business. Mary Anne Ivison will be filling in on mornings over the summer. Ivison previously did afternoons on Pure Country (CKKL-FM) Ottawa for six years.
Chris Reiser has been appointed Program Director of Kahnawake’s K103.7 (CKRK-FM). Reiser has worked with K103.7 in the past, in addition to stints with 92.5 The Q and 89.9 CKKI Montreal, Krater 95 Honolulu, and 89.5 WNCK, Nantucket’s NPR Station, where he served as Operations Manager.
Jonathan Montpetit has taken on a new role with CBC News as a Senior Investigative Journalist covering social movements and democracy in Canada. Montpetit has been with the public broadcaster since 2016, working as a web journalist for CBC Montreal.
Abby Kuhathasan is joining CBC News’ London, UK bureau. The former CTV correspondent has most recently been working for Deutsche Welle in Berlin as a correspondent, anchor and producer.
Norma Reid has anchored her last late night newscast for CTV Vancouver as she relocates her family to Calgary. Reid joined CTV Vancouver in 2010, having previously worked for the network in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert.
Today, I registered as a candidate to be the next mayor of #Ottawa.
Wherever you live in this city, wherever you come from, whatever you do, I have one promise to you:
I will work hard, every single day, to make Ottawa safe, reliable, and affordable for everyone. pic.twitter.com/aoWnxX6qmF
— Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) June 29, 2022
Mark Sutcliffe has registered to be a candidate for Mayor of Ottawa. Sutcliffe retired from daily radio last year after taking a step back from his four-hour mid-morning talk show, Ottawa Today on CityNews Ottawa (CIWW-AM), to host a one-hour noon version in late 2019. Sutcliffe had been on-air for two decades in the market with previous stops at 580 CFRA and Rogers TV, in addition to 15 years as a columnist for the Ottawa Citizen.
Kariane Bourassa is running in Quebec’s next provincial election under the banner of the CAQ (Coalition Avenir Québec), as she attempts to retain the riding of Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré. Bourassa has been a journalist with TVA since 2014, first in Sherbrooke and more recently Montreal.
Simple Marie Gomez is joining CityNews 680 (CFTR-AM) Toronto. Gomez previously worked for CityNews Winnipeg as a video journalist in 2020-21. She’s most recently been in a communications role with Crossroads International.
Nikitha Martins is leaving CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Martins, a 2020 Langara Journalism grad, has been a web editor and reporter with the station since 2019.
Reaon Ford is joining Vancouver branded content agency, JAR Audio, full-time as a Senior Producer. Ford has been working as freelance voiceover talent and audio editor since his departure from News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver in May 2018. Ford was with the station for 16 years, ending his tenure as morning co-anchor.
Tony Leadman has been named Executive Director of International Distribution for The Weather Channel. Leadman will be responsible for developing and leading a business unit that will distribute The Weather Channel’s original programming, including shows like Frozen Gold, Uncharted Adventure and The Earth Unlocked to broadcasters and content platforms globally. Leadman was formerly the architect of CTV and Bell Media’s international program distribution business and responsible for numerous international co-productions, commissions and licensing deals. Prior to that, he was the Canadian Executive Manager of MGM Studios television division, where he managed the distribution business and secured the Canadian financing of the Stargate SG-1 series as well as Poltergeist.
Liz Levine has been named Senior Producer and Vice President, Television, at Shaftesbury. Levine has over two decades of experience in film and television, starting in the business at Citytv Toronto. She’s since worked as a writer, journalist, and development executive and producer, developing and producing films like Kyra Sedgwick’s directorial debut Story of a Girl and Across My Land, in addition to projects for CBS, CW, Disney Channel, Sony Pictures Entertainment and TBS.
Rita Middleton, CEO and interim CFO of International Solar Solutions, has been appointed as an independent director of WildBrain. Middleton will fill a seat on the board of directors vacated by Alan Hibben, who will be stepping down Sept. 1 for personal reasons. Middleton has over 25 years of strategic senior management experience and from 1990 to 2008 was in the broadcast and entertainment industry. Initially she was with CUC Broadcasting and then worked in increasingly senior finance, corporate development and technology roles at Alliance Atlantis Communications. She was Senior Vice President, Finance & Information Technology Services, with Alliance Atlantis at the time the company was sold in 2007.
Erica Meus-Saunders has joined the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) as its new Executive Director, following the departure of longtime ED Martha Cooley, who is now helming the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. Meus-Saunders has been working as a Membership Coordinator for Screen Nova Scotia for the past four years, in addition to other contract coordinator and production roles.
RADIO & PODCAST:
Mel Warner, the host of CFRO Co-op Radio’s Caribbean Sounds for the last 30+ years, was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame as a pioneer in a ceremony at the Commodore Ballroom on June 23, fittingly ahead of The Wailers concert. Warner is also a music promoter, whose company Melo Productions paved the way for ska, reggae and other acts to play in Vancouver.
Antica Productions and Postmedia Network have formed a strategic content partnership that will see podcasts and unscripted television and film adapted from Postmedia journalism. Toronto-based Antica will represent Postmedia stories for adaptation as streaming properties with Stuart Coxe, Antica Productions President, and Erika Tustin, Senior Director of Content Monetization at Postmedia, leading the partnership. Kathleen Goldhar, former Executive Producer of CBC’s The Current, will oversee the partnership on behalf of Antica, while Chris Gallipeau, Director of Audio and Video, and Andrea Hill, Director of Verticals, will do the same at Postmedia. The first podcast under the deal is True Crime Byline, a six-part series premiering this week hosted and executive produced by Goldhar, that features Postmedia journalists like the National Post’s Tom Blackwell and Joseph Brean, Montreal Gazette reporter Jason Magder, and the Regina Leader-Post’s Barb Pacholik, discussing their work on career-changing stories and the cases that continue to haunt them. The first episode, with Lori Culbert of the Vancouver Sun, dives into the paper’s investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton. Read more here.
LISTEN: Nancy Regan is best-known for her 15-year hosting stint on highly-rated ATV/CTV Atlantic supper-hour lead-in Live at 5…a job she literally fell into after university. Growing up in the spotlight as the daughter of Nova Scotia Premier Gerald Regan, she found herself addicted to approval, which compounded a lifelong struggle with perfectionism. Regan is the author of new book, From Showing Off to Showing Up, that she describes as a memoir with a side of self help. Now a podcaster, actress, and presentation coach, Regan joins us on this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about emerging from years of masking anxiety and imposter syndrome to walk the path of self-discovery and authenticity. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Matt Cundill speaks with Marty Forbes, veteran Program Director, VP and GM at stations like 99.9 CKFM Toronto, The Bear (CFBR-FM) Edmonton, CISL Vancouver, CKKS Vancouver, CJAX Vancouver, CKSL London, and his first gig at CHNL Kamloops. In 2009, Marty started Radiowise Inc. to help companies navigate the changing radio landscape. Now that he’s winding Radiowise down, Matt and Marty dive into the challenges radio stations face in 2022, the way many companies are failing to address them, and the problems with the CRTC’s stagnant grip on broadcasting. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
SIGN OFFS:
John Beveridge, 89, on June 15. After working for the Canadian High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand, Beveridge started his career in broadcasting with the CBC in 1959. He went on to join CJOH-TV Ottawa where he was hired just 10 days before the station went on-air in 1961. He started as film librarian, staying with the station for 33 years through successive promotions to Program Manager, and later Vice-President of Programming. He retired in 1995. Beveridge was an active participant in Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) committee work prior to his retirement.
Doug Ackhurst, 77, peacefully at home on June 24, following a seven-year battle with metastatic melanoma. Ackhurst started his broadcast career in 1961 at CFOX 1470 “Lakeshore Family Radio”, working for Gord Sinclair Jr. He quickly rose to become Program Director, then Manager. He then joined the new Northern Broadcasting, owned by Jack Schoone, and worked as manager of CFCH and CKAT, overseeing the Timmins stations for over nine years. When Telemedia took over, he was moved to Toronto to run CJCL, where he instituted “Music of your Life” and later “All Sports.” After eight years, he moved to CFOR Orillia and CKMP Midland and was responsible for switching them to FM under the KICX brand. He also had responsibility for Bracebridge, Timmins and Stratford. From Orillia, he moved to Sudbury for two years, managing CIGM and CJRQ. He then returned to Toronto to run The Fan 590 for more than six years until Telemedia was sold to Rogers in 2002. He retired as Vice President and General Manager. Ackhurst served on many boards over the years, including FACTOR and the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB). He was proud that his grandson Matthew Maynard followed him into broadcasting (Algonquin College 2019) and is currently employed by AMI.
TV & FILM:
Sportsnet has confirmed that the Rogers Hometown Hockey tour is officially retiring after eight seasons. Rogers Sports & Media declined to comment on the status of the talent attached to the show, including co-hosts Ron MacLean and Tara Slone. Broadcasting weekly from a different community, the tour included a weekend of free outdoor hockey festivities, culminating in a community viewing party broadcast on Sportsnet and SN Now, with MacLean and Slone hosting live on-site. Profiling players and teams in each city it visited, London, ON hosted the first tour stop in October 2014. The tour was suspended for the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 and the broadcast moved to Monday nights when it returned this past season. Read more here.
The Directors Guild of Canada, BC District Council (DGC BC) has ratified the tentative agreement it reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the Canadian Media Producers Association-BC (CMPA). After five days of polling, 89.5% voted in favour of the deal. The ratification comes after 15 months of bargaining which saw DGC BC issuing strike notice for the first time. Highlights of the new contract include: wage increases of 3% each year, retroactive to July 11, 2021; minimum wage differentials to ensure that, as minimum wage increases, the wage rates for positions just above minimum wage continue to increase as well; outsized wage increase for Location Managers resulting in a 15.8% wage increase over the term of the agreement; and a Meal Penalty, which incents producers to provide DGC BC employees with meals in a timely manner.
CTV and Counterfeit Pictures have announced the cast joining new original comedy series, Shelved. Created by Anthony Q. Farrell (The Office), Lyndie Greenwood (The Expanse), Chris Sandiford (What We Do In The Shadows), Dakota Ray Hebert (Run Woman Run), and Paul Braunstein (Baroness Von Sketck) are confirmed to lead the cast of the eight-episode, half-hour series. Production is underway in Toronto on the single-camera workplace comedy centered around the lives of employees and patrons at the Jameson Public Library in Parkdale. Greenwood stars as Wendy, Head of the Jameson Branch.
Dave Merheje premieres new comedy special I Love You Habibi on July 29 on Crave. Filmed in front of a live audience during the 2021 Just For Laughs Festival in Montréal, the Crave Original special is focused on family and therapy with Merheje talking about growing up in Windsor with his Lebanese family, and going to therapy in a culture that really doesn’t do that. Merheje co-stars alongside Daisy Ridley in the upcoming feature Sometimes I Think About Dying, directed by Rachel Lambert. He also plays the recurring role of Ahmed on the award-winning comedy series Ramy on Hulu.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG), the union representing the majority of CBC workers, says it’s concerned that last week’s CRTC-issued licence renewal sets out a path that could lead to hundreds of news staff in metropolitan centres losing their jobs. The decision relaxes a condition of licence requiring CBC television stations in metropolitan markets to broadcast minimum thresholds of local programming, while retaining the requirement in non-metro markets. The commission has also released the CBC from any expenditure requirement related to news programming and gives CBC/Radio-Canada the flexibility to meet its conditions of licence across its online streaming platforms, CBC Gem and ICI TOU.TV, in addition to linear TV and radio. CMG says many of its members fear relaxation of the public broadcaster’s licence requirements could lead to CBC canceling television newscasts, in favour of spending on online content. Read more here.
— CMG – La Guilde (@CMGLaGuilde) June 30, 2022
Canadian Media Guild (CMG) has created an Award of Recognition to draw attention to the plight of long term temporary workers at CBC. The first instalment of the CMG Long Service Awards were handed out during a virtual ceremony Wednesday evening, honouring a dozen employees from across the country. The union estimates the number of temporary staff at CBC bureaus across the country ranges between 25% to 30%. In May of this year, CMG says CBC was employing 1,137 temporary workers according to numbers provided by the corporation, accounting for one out of every four workers.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
