The Weekly Briefing

The Broadcast Dialogue Canadian Radio Awards are back!

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Broadcast Dialogue Canadian Radio Awards. To be eligible for the 2024 competition, entries must have been published by or aired on Canadian radio between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024. Winning entries will be showcased on our website. Only one entry per station is allowed in any particular category.

Nominations close on Nov. 1, with winners to be announced on Friday, Dec. 6. Find the full list of categories and rules & regulations at CanadianRadioAwards.com.

REVOLVING DOOR:

Ron McKenzie, the Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) at Rogers, has announced his retirement. McKenzie had been in the CTIO role since 2022 and with Rogers since 2019, following his retirement from Shaw Communications as SVP of Business. He’ll be staying on as an advisor to the CEO until the end of the year.

Wendy “Boomer” Bouwma has announced her departure from Rogers Sports & Media. Bouwma has been with the network for almost 12 years, most recently as National Music Curator for Rogers’ Country Network and host of “Boomer’s Canadian Club,” its national country countdown show, which just picked up a Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Award for Country Music Program of the Year. Bouwma has accepted a new role with 604 Records as Director of the label’s Country Division.

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Thrilled to be joining @CityNewsTO as municipal affairs reporter. Get in touch if you have a story idea. pic.twitter.com/rtaJDMQAou

— Alan Carter (@the_alancarter) October 2, 2024

Alan Carter has joined CityNews Toronto as a Municipal Affairs reporter. Carter parted ways with Global News in August after almost 25 years with Corus Entertainment as an editor, anchor, and reporter with the network and talk radio host on 640 (CFIQ-AM) Toronto.

Jeff Spindel has been downsized at boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM) Toronto after more than 14 years with the station. Spindel was also a coast-to-coast presence on Stingray Radio stations from coast-to-coast.

Gruff Gushnowski, Assistant Program Director at Edmonton’s K-97 (CIRK-FM) and 96.3 The Breeze (CKRA-FM), and PD of Rural Alberta for Stingray Radio, has been released by the company. Gushnowski had served as PD for Rural Alberta since 2019 and took on the additional APD role in 2022.

Amy Beeman is joining 1130 NewsRadio (CKWX-AM) Vancouver as midday anchor. A former longtime morning show producer and announcer with Bell Media Radio in Vancouver, Beeman has been freelancing and doing media training for the past few years. 

Mickey Djuric has left The Canadian Press (CP) to join POLITICO as a reporter. Djuric had been with CP for the last three years, most recently as a reporter in the Ottawa bureau. Prior to that, she was a reporter and online producer with CBC and Global News in Regina.

Luc Lemoine will retire after more than three decades with CBC on the Prairies. Lemoine’s career began at CBC-TV in Winnipeg in 1992, followed by a move a year later to take a permanent role as a radio technician in Regina. He went on to become a video editor and later supervising technician. He’ll end his broadcasting career at the end of October as the Station Technician in Charge for CBC Saskatchewan.

 

América Turner has re-joined JAR Audio as a Business Development Specialist. Based in Vancouver, Turner previously served as Head of Operations for the branded content studio in 2021/22, before taking time off to focus on her young family.

Geoff White has been appointed Executive Director and General Counsel at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC). White previously served as the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada, where he championed the interests of competitive telecom service providers. Other mandates include Director and Regulatory Counsel for the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), External Counsel to PIAC, and Counsel and Senior Regulatory Analyst at MTS Allstream. John Lawford, will be moving into the role of Special Counsel after 21 years with PIAC. He’ll be honoured at the organization’s Annual Dinner on Nov. 28 at the National Arts Centre.

RADIO & PODCAST:

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Announcement : #Cancer Diagnosis@TarzanDan@iHeartRadioCA pic.twitter.com/sGxpVpxQOO

— Tarzan Dan Freeman (@TarzanDan) September 27, 2024

“Tarzan Dan” Freeman has gone public with a cancer diagnosis he received in mid-May, following a cardiac event that landed him in hospital. Happening just three months into his “dream job” as the network midday host on Bell Media’s Bounce Radio, Freeman woke up from a nap with a resting heart rate of 185 bpm. It was during the subsequent hospital visit that he learned he had cancer. The veteran radio host is now going public with his diagnosis as he comes out on the other side of an ongoing treatment plan and looks to make his return to the airwaves after a four and a half month break. Freeman doesn’t have a date for his return to work, but is hoping to get back on-air soon. Read more here.

Maritime Broadcasting System (MBS Radio), which currently operates 24 stations across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and P.E.I., has announced a new strategic partnership with Target Broadcast Sales. The transition is set to take effect Nov. 25 with no change in representation for MBS’ in-house agency business. Pending CRTC approval, MBS Radio plans to acquire five additional stations currently owned by Bell Media, including CKTY-FM and CKTO-FM in Truro, NS; CKBC-FM Bathurst, NB; CJCJ-FM Woodstock, NB; and CIKX-FM Grand Falls, NB, bringing its radio assets to 29 stations.

CVOX, Comox Valley, BC’s online, community radio station, is looking to raise $50,000 to work towards securing a broadcast licence from the CRTC. The volunteer-run, donor-funded station has reached an agreement with the Waverley Hotel in Cumberland to broadcast from its rooftop, one of the highest points in the Comox Valley.  

CBC has unveiled its fall slate of original podcasts, featuring a new series on Celine Dion, a first-person account of vision loss, and the return of true crime exploration Someone Knows Something, focused on the disappearance of a Hanover, ON teen. Season 9 of Someone Knows Something digs into the Christine Harron case, who left for school in May 1993 and was never seen again. Uncover: Bad Results, launching Oct. 28, explores the chaos that ensued following bad results from a Toronto company offering prenatal paternity tests promising “99% accuracy,” while Celine: Understood, hosted by Montrealer and Celine Dion expert Thomas Leblanc, explores the combination of cultural, political and business alchemy that led to the Canadian icon’s international stardom. Read more here.

Curiouscast sci-fi podcast, Escaping Denver, returns for a fourth season on Oct. 21. Mike Howorun and Brady Roberts are co-creators of the podcast, that takes place in a seemingly inescapable maze below Denver International Airport. Following the success of the first three seasons, Blackstone Publishing LA will release an Escaping Denver novel – an original story set in the same universe as the podcast – in fall 2025. 

 

The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) Podcasting Program is open for a second round of project funding. Open to Indigenous screen-based and audio storytellers, the program supports podcast projects with Pre-development, Development, Marketing & Distribution, up to a maximum of $30,000. The submission window closes Oct. 24.

Spotify is sunsetting the Chartable podcast analytics platform. From now through Dec. 12, users can continue to access Chartable and its features free of charge. Those who’ve prepaid will receive a refund through the end of their contract period. To avoid episode playback issues or other disruptions to your podcast or data, it’s recommended users remove the Chartable trackable RSS prefix from their hosting provider. If you’re a Chartable SmartFeeds user, you’re asked to update your podcast RSS URL in the various podcast directories with the RSS feed provided by your hosting provider. Spotify will introduce shareable links through the Spotify for Podcasters platform to track Spotify listener conversion, available for free, no matter where you’re hosted. 

The Pro Bono Group has released the latest “Pro Radio Project” spot, titled “Promotion,” starring Canadian actor and voiceover performer Noel Johansen, and award-winning Canadian actress and TV personality Camilla Scott. “Promotion” can run by itself or in rotation with the other Pro Radio spots. New creative aimed at Christmas advertisers is set to follow in November. 

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LISTEN: Tchadas Leo became the first Coast Salish journalist to anchor a news program on Coast Salish territory earlier this year. Leo, the winner of this year’s RTDNA Canada Emerging Journalist Award, has been working with Victoria’s CHEK Media since 2021, hosting the award-winning podcast and now television series Our Native Land, which explores all things Indigenous and First Nations on Vancouver Island. He joins Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about his media journey thus far, his commitment to telling under-reported Indigenous stories, and his thoughts on recruiting the next generation of journalists.

LISTEN: Steve Pratt joins the latest Sound Off Podcast, discussing his career evolution from YTV’s “The Zone” to CBC Radio 3, and later co-founding Pacific Content. His new book Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers offers strategies for earning audience engagement through creative storytelling.

SIGN OFFS:

Craig Lawrence, 73, on Sept. 1, following a stroke and early onset Parkinson’s. Originally from Duncan, BC, Lawrence attended the BCIT Broadcast program in the early 1970s before joining BCTV/Global BC in Vancouver as a cameraman in the heyday of studio variety and game shows. “Mongo,” as he was known, became an excellent handheld and ped cameraman and later mastered the jib. He was eventually promoted to DOP (Director of Photography), a title he held until 2013. Among the events he worked on were many Olympic games, working with the BCTV/WIC mobile group for American and Canadian networks. Lawrence also bonded with many of the children featured in profiles he shot for the annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon.

TV & FILM:

CTV News is re-launching W5, the network’s long-running investigative program cancelled earlier this year, as the dedicated investigative unit of CTV National News. The one-hour news magazine aired its final episode in March after 58 seasons, falling to cuts announced by Bell Media parent BCE in February. At that time, the network indicated that the flagship investigative series would evolve from a standalone docuseries to a multi-part, multi-platform investigative reporting unit, with its content to be featured across CTV National News and CTV News platforms. The new W5 Investigative Unit will be led by Managing Editor and Senior Correspondent Avery Haines, Investigative Correspondent Jon Woodward, and TSN Senior Correspondent Rick Westhead. The unit’s first investigation, Narco Jungle: The Death Train, which began airing this week, is a five-part series focused on the migrant crisis. The network will also launch a series of one-hour documentaries featuring Haines’ reporting. Read more here.

Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) has unveiled Inside Centre Block—The Restoration, a two-part documentary series that takes viewers behind-the-scenes of Canada’s largest and most complex heritage rehabilitation project. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, Inside Centre Block-The Restoration explores Centre Block’s renewal, showcasing the progress since its doors closed in 2019. The first episode airs Oct. 6, with the second episode to follow Oct. 13. Both episodes will air again Monday, Oct. 14 and be available to stream at cpac.ca.

TVO Original documentary All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes will be available to stream across Canada, starting Friday, Oct. 25 on TVO.org, TVO Docs YouTube channel, and Smart TV apps. The three-part series will also be aired on TVO’s broadcast channel in Ontario the following evening and air weekly Saturday evenings through Nov. 9. Directed by husband-and-wife filmmaking team, Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, the immersive film uses cutting-edge underwater drones to explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive mussels, known as quaggas, are re-engineering the ecosystem of the Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers. To capture this epic change, the pair spent more than 150 days filming underwater, making it the most ambitious underwater film ever made about the Great Lakes.

Attraction has announced a first-look development deal with writer, director, and producer Ryan McMahon. The prodco says the partnership aims to develop a slate of original, thought-provoking, and impactful content across multiple mediums including film and television, with the deal signifying its first major step into talent-led unscripted content and a broader strategy of expanded English-language content offerings. McMahon most recently won two Canadian Screen Awards for Crave documentary series Thunder Bay, an adaptation of the Canadaland podcast of the same name.

Schitt’s Creek Executive Producer Andrew Barnsley has announced his company Project 10 Productions has partnered with by coastal, the Sylvia Beirnes-run production and marketing agency based in Toronto, for a first-look development deal. Both companies will work together to develop scripted, unscripted and reality television projects leveraging by coastal talent. The first co-production will be Madison Tevlin podcast, 21 Questions, expected later this year. 21 Questions is a spinoff of Tevlin’s award-nominated TV series Who Do You Think I Am? produced by Beirnes and Jeni Besworth. Tevlin and her guests will take turns asking each other questions to peel back the layers of themselves not typically seen in an interview. The final question (Question 21) is a nod to the duplicated 21st chromosome which is present in people with Down syndrome. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will be the official hotel partner of 21 Questions with episodes being filmed at select Fairmont locations. Confirmed guests include Nelly Furtado, Woody Harrelson and Emma Roberts.

The National Directors Division (NDD) of the Directors Guild of Canada has launched its new National Director Mentor Program, one of three NDD initiatives that aim to build a pathway for DGC Directors upwards through the industry and to help advance careers. The new program pairs DGC Director members with directors who are one or two steps further in their career. The NDD Executive Committee will select up to 10 participants, each to be paired with a DGC Director Mentor for a term of nine months – during which time they will have monthly one-on-one meetings as well as a meeting with the entire cohort.

CBC, APTN, and the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) have announced the selected applicants for the CBC-APTN Early Stage Scripted Development Program for Indigenous Creators in association with the ISO. The program is designed to give emerging creators with projects still in the pre-development stage, access to CBC and APTN executives and to provide tailored support to help move their projects into the next stage of development, and ultimately into production. The 2024-2025 selected projects are: Winnipeg-based creator Darcy Waite’s Gimli Golf and Country (Comedy) and Port Coquitlam, BC filmmaker Mike Gosselin’s Burnt Wood (Drama). The program runs from September to the end of March and will provide creators with custom-tailored training and support, including creating a series bible, deepening character and story arcs, creating broadcaster relationships, building a team, pitching the project, and preparing a budget.

Global’s The Morning Show (TMS) has undertaken a brand refresh featuring a new logo and animations, a reimagined colour palette, and a new mid-century, 1970s- inspired set courtesy of Wayfair. The online retailer’s first partnership with a Canadian TV outlet/show, the new set was designed by Shia DeLuca, in partnership with Wayfair. The partnership will include verbal call outs, sponsored billboards, custom in-show segments led by TMS designer DeLuca, social extensions, a consumer contest for a chance to win Wayfair products, and branded content articles online that drive to Wayfair products for purchase.  

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

Village Media has announced its acquisition of Ontario provincial politics newsletter Queen’s Park Today, and Parliament Today, its federal counterpart. Founded in 2012 by journalist and entrepreneur Allison Smith, Queen’s Park Today is targeted at Ontario lawmakers, political staffers and insiders, while Parliament Today was launched in 2021 to cover federal politics and all things Parliament Hill. Both newsletters will now operate as part of The Trillium, Village Media’s legislative bureau at Queen’s Park, which it launched early last year. Katherine Declerq will continue her role as editor of Queen’s Park Today, in addition to taking on editorial duties at Parliament Today. Reporter Alan S. Hale will continue to write the Queen’s Park Today newsletter under The Trillium banner, while Parliament Hill reporter Palak Mangat will continue to write the Parliament Today newsletter. Allison Smith also joins Village Media as the founding editor of the soon-to-launch TorontoToday. Read more here.

Indiegraf has closed a $2.2 million seed round and secured additional funding from American social investors, the Knight Foundation. The seed round of funding was led by StandUp Ventures with participation from Coralus and Mucker Capital. CEO Erin Millar, who co-founded the publishing solutions provider for journalist entrepreneurs, alongside her sister Caitlin Havlak in 2020, said in a post to LinkedIn that the organization is on a mission to prove that local media can be good business. Indiegraf currently boasts 60 partner publisher titles under its network umbrella, including IndigiNews, Peterborough Currents and The Resolve.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

CTV News has parted ways with two of its staff members, following an investigation into an altered clip of federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The network said their investigation found that “two members of the CTV News team are responsible for altering a video clip, manipulating it for a particular story.” CTV National News initially ran a retraction, following the spliced clip’s airing, which the Conservatives said left viewers with the impression that Poilievre could introduce a non-confidence motion over the Liberal dental care program, which would trigger an early election. The clip was edited and the accompanying script reframed, removing reference to the phrase “carbon tax election.” The Conservative leader’s media relations lead Sebastian Skamski said in a post that “until they explicitly acknowledge their malicious editing & omission of context to undermine Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MPs won’t engage with CTV News & its reporters.” Read more here.

The Canadian Journalism Collective-Collectif Canadien de Journalisme (CJC-CCJ) has opened the application process to share in compensation from the Online News Act. The process to become a member of CJC-CCJ is now open to all news businesses. Those who applied during Google’s Open Call process must reapply. Eligibility to receive funds will be subject to the terms of the CRTC’s exemption order.

The Association des Professionnels de L’edition Musicale (APEM), which represents French-language music publishers, has filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC, urging the regulator to collect music streaming service data on a quarterly basis related to the rank, title, artist, release data and origin of listens and impressions (where the music is displayed to the user). Specifically, it’s asking for data for the 10,000 most popular musical pieces listened to in Canada, the top 5,000 Canadian musical scores, the top 5,000 French-language songs, and the top 5,000 non-Canadian musical pieces. The group says this will allow publishers to evaluate the discovery of their music and compare the recommendations of Canadian French-speaking content against non-Canadian directories in those online services to ensure the objectives of the new Broadcasting Act are being met. The group says its members have struggled to reach their audiences, with a significantly smaller portion of royalties than expected making it into artists’ pockets. Read more in our sister publication, CARTT.ca (paywalled).

Unifor is once again sounding the alarm as Bell Canada’s Expertech, a network infrastructure service provider, cuts 120 positions across Ontario and Quebec. The job cuts will eliminate 18% of the unit’s 660-person membership, which is represented by more than 19 local unions in both provinces. The cuts will first be made through a VSP (Voluntary Separation Program) as well as RIO’s (Retirement Incentive Offers). Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier says the move showcases how “Bell is ambling towards a death by a thousand cuts.” Unifor represents clerical workers and technicians at Expertech, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE. Members ratified a new collective agreement with the company in June.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

WABE 2024 Conference Recap

This year’s WABE 2024 Conference, held at the JW Marriott ICE District in Edmonton, marked one of our most successful shows in recent memory. With the dedicated efforts of our volunteers, WABE continues to expand its reach across the media industry, now incorporating AV, live production, post-production, and film. The results of this hard work paid off, with over 319 attendees—our best turnout in Edmonton in the past decade.

Our free exhibit hall was a hub of innovation, packed with the latest technology and supported by more than 60 sales professionals from the media and entertainment technology sectors across Canada. The paper and panel sessions sparked critical conversations, from emerging technologies like GPS-complementary systems via ATSC 3.0 to the potential impact of AI on our industry.

WABE could not happen without the support of our generous sponsors. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Cheryl Bruley and Paul Stechley at Applied Electronics, Adrian Bullock at LG Electronics Canada, Chi Chi Liu from Burli, Richard Sondermeyer & Sarah Haslip at G.S. Broadcast Technical Services, Scott Farr at RCS, and Sherman Del Sol at Deltech. Their contributions help us make this conference accessible for technical professionals. We are also grateful to our other sponsors: Avateq, RVALM, Wide Orbit,The Tiessen Group, Grundy Telecom, and Nautel. Their partnership ensures WABE remains a cornerstone of connection and education in our industry.

We also could not have done this without our incredible volunteer team this year, including:

Tessa Potter, Rob Brown, Cameron Thomson, Eric Becker, Alan English, Alexander Hall, Jim McTighe, James Seabrook, Ken Gould, Jessica Fontaine, Tyler Godsman, Dale Coutts, Amrita Rai, Daniel Oong, Janet Greco, Shilpa Sharma, Liam Jeffs, and Mary Musselman.

We also had the pleasure of honouring exceptional individuals in our industry with the following awards:

• RW Lamb Award: Tyler Everitt

• Sheila East Women in Broadcasting Award: Cheryl Bruley

• Spirit Award: Bill Stovold

• Ambassador Award: Brian Gray

These awards celebrate the best in our field, recognizing those who lead through innovation, dedication, and continuous improvement. Nominations for the 2025 awards are now open—submit your nominations early and help us recognize the outstanding contributions within our industry! For more details, visit WABE Awards.

Finally, we’re thrilled to announce that next year’s conference, WABE 2025, will be held at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2025. This will be a milestone event as we celebrate WABE’s 75th anniversary alongside a SAIT Broadcast Systems Technology (BXST) reunion. We aim to surpass 400 attendees next year as we continue to expand our reach and connect professionals in media and entertainment technology.

Please help us spread the word and mark your calendars for what promises to be an unforgettable event. Together, we can continue to learn, connect, and grow the media and entertainment technology industry in Canada which is already fueled by passionate professionals working in it every day.