REVOLVING DOOR:
Daniel Eves, SVP, Networks at Corus Entertainment, will be stepping down next month. Eves has been with Corus since 2016, starting as SVP, Specialty Networks, overseeing the network’s cable portfolio. He’d been in his current role since 2019, helping launch Corus’ STACKTV video streaming package. Eves had previously served as VP, Content, Specialty Brands & Digital, for Shaw Communications and prior to that, VP, Strategic Programming, Specialty, at Canwest. He’ll be succeeded by Corus’ current VP, Programming and Multi-platform, Jennifer Abrams, who has been with Corus/Shaw since 2013. Starting in the new year, Abrams will assume responsibility for all programming and content windowing strategies across the company’s 33 specialty networks, Global and the Global TV app, STACKTV, Teletoon+, and Corus channels on Pluto TV, set to launch Dec. 1 in Canada. Read more here.
Marcia Young and John Northcott have been announced as the new hosting team on flagship CBC Radio morning newscast, CBC News: World Report. Young shifts from weekends to now host the program Monday through Thursday, while Northcott steps away from anchoring on CBC News Network to take up hosting World Report, Friday through Sunday. Former weekday host, Nil Köksal, stepped away from the newscast earlier this year to take up co-hosting duties on CBC Radio’s As It Happens with the departure of Carol Off. Read more here.
Loren McGinnis is the new host of the Calgary Eyeopener, CBC Calgary’s morning radio show. McGinnis arrives from Yellowknife, where he’s been the morning host of The Trailbreaker on CBC North Radio One in the Northwest Territories, Western Nunavut and Northern Alberta since 2013. McGinnis will begin his hosting duties on Calgary Eyeopener on Dec. 12, replacing David Gray, who retired in June.
Margaret Gallagher steps into the hosting chair of CBC Victoria weekend morning show North by Northwest, starting Jan. 7. Gallagher currently hosts the long-running jazz program Hot Air, which she’ll step away from, and regularly reports for CBC Vancouver’s The Early Edition and On The Coast. She steps into the North by Northwest chair with the approaching retirement of longtime host Sheryl MacKay on Dec 31.
Jason D’Souza helms CBC Victoria afternoon show All Points West, beginning Jan. 16. Before relocating to Ontario in 2020 to host Toronto weekend CBC Radio One morning show, Fresh Air, D’Souza spent time as the voice of All Points West while its host was on maternity leave. He also produced the multi-platform series Matheson, where he spent a month embedded at LA Matheson Secondary School in inner-city Surrey, BC to explore high school life.
Whitney Stinson, currently the Provincial Managing Editor for Global Saskatchewan, has been named National Managing Editor (Weekends) for the Global News’ Network news desk. With Global Regina since 2012, Stinson has been involved in managing national stories from the Humboldt Broncos bus crash to the recent mass stabbings at James Smith Cree Nation. She will start her new role in January.
Jaye Makinson is taking on a new role with Global Peterborough as News Manager for the station. The first woman to hold the role in the station’s 67-year history, Makinson has been with the station (formerly CHEX) since 2005. Over the years, she has held roles including anchor, producer and videographer. Friday was her last turn on the anchor desk as she takes up her new position on Monday, Nov. 28.
Tara Slone has announced she’s joining the San Jose Sharks as a host and content contributor. Slone will host a podcast for the team, do feature interviews, and join NBC Sports Bay Area for the occasional broadcast. Up until its cancellation this past June, Slone was the co-host of Rogers Hometown Hockey for eight years.
Jocelyn Laidlaw is taking time away from CTV Calgary as she waits to begin cancer treatment. Originally from Vancouver, Laidlaw has been with CTV Calgary since 2003, anchoring and producing the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts.
Drex (aka Justin Wilcomes Chan) will be away from the JACK 96.9 (CJAX-FM) Vancouver morning show for the next four to six weeks after suffering a heart attack over the weekend and undergoing emergency surgery for a 100% blockage. Drex, 43, has been hosting the show since 2020, alongside Bob Addison and Lena Schulman.
Kareem Gouda is leaving his anchor/producing role at CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver to join 980 CKNW and Global BC. Gouda had been with Rogers Sports & Media since 2019.
Theo Argitis has announced his departure from Bloomberg News after 24 years. Argitis had served as Bloomberg’s Ottawa Bureau Chief for the last 18 years.
Geoff Thrasher will be retiring from his position as General Sales Manager of CHCH-TV Hamilton on Dec. 31, after 20 years. Thrasher’s media career started in his home town of London, ON where, after graduating from the Fanshawe College Radio Broadcast Program, he began working in radio sales at CKSL. From there, he moved to Toronto, making stops at CKO, CKEY, and then CBC, GlobalTV, and CBC Newsworld. He had helmed CHCH sales operations since 2002. Over the years, Thrasher has served as President of the Canadian Association of Specialty TV, the President of the Broadcast Executives Society, and the Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Association of Broadcast Representatives.
Bruce Richardson, an engineering and production veteran of CJBK London, CHOK Sarnia, CKQT Oshawa, and Q107 (CILQ-FM) Toronto, in addition to three decades in television and film, has acquired Woodleigh Replicas (renamed Woodleigh Castles) on Prince Edward Island. The former tourist attraction – a four-acre property that includes a 13,000 sq. ft. replica of the Tower of London and a smaller replica of Dunvegan Castle – had been abandoned since 2008. The site is currently being upgraded for television and film locations.
Andrew Cardozo, former CRTC commissioner and past Toronto Star and Broadcast Dialogue columnist, has been appointed to the Senate of Canada, one of three independents to fill vacancies in the upper house from Ontario. A CRTC commissioner from 1997 to 2003 and an adjunct professor of journalism and communications at Carleton University, Cardozo has also served as president of the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy since 2013.
Carmela Haines has been appointed the new CEO of Saskatchewan’s Access Communications Co-operative, effective Jan. 1. Haines takes over from Jim Deane, who announced his retirement this past June after holding the role since 2000. She has been with Access since 2003 when she joined as Vice-President, Finance and Administration. She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2019.
Sarah Hussain has been appointed Director, Sales & Acquisitions at Blue Ant International, overseeing the Middle East, Africa, Benelux and ancillary sales including pre-sales, content licensing and partnerships. Based in London, Hussain has over 10 years of sales experience and joins Blue Ant International from Vice Media Group where she worked as Senior Sales Manager for EMEA and Canada, planning and executing brand partnerships, pre-sales deals and acquisitions. Prior to that, she was a Sales Manager at A+E Networks.
Steve Gamester has been promoted to Creative Director, Feature Docs, Co-Pros and Limited Series at Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company. The promotion follows his success developing and producing award-winning docs including 9/11 Kids and Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust. A founding partner of Saloon Media, Gamester previously oversaw more than 300 hours of programming for History, National Geographic, Showcase and Global TV.
Bryan Press has signed on for another term of fundraising with nabs (National Advertising Benevolent Society), which will celebrate its 40th Anniversary in 2023. Press, who is also marking 40 years in media sales, has been working with the media charity since 1998.
RADIO & PODCAST:
CKUA Radio, Alberta’s donor-funded community radio network, is celebrating 95 years of broadcasting this week. CKUA, the first public broadcaster in Canada, launched on Nov. 21, 1927 thanks to a provincial grant that allowed the University of Alberta Department of Extension to build a transmitter on campus and purchase CFCK from Radio Supply Company Limited. Starting out broadcasting lectures and other educational content, the community station has since entrenched itself as a cultural institution with host-curated programs across genres from blues to folk, jazz, hip hop and classical. Over the years, hosts have included entertainer Robert Goulet, conductor and composer Tommy Banks, broadcasters Bryan Hall and Terry David Mulligan, Stony Plain Records founder Holger Petersen, and folk singer Celeigh Cardinal. In 2016, CKUA expanded with the establishment of a studio at Calgary’s National Music Centre (branded as Studio Bell), in addition to its 16 transmitters across the province. Read more here.
Northern Native Broadcasting (NNB) is reviving its project for an Indigenous radio station in Vancouver. First approved in 2017, the CRTC has given NNB until Aug. 2023 to launch the English- and Indigenous-language Type B Native FM station (CJNY-FM). NNB says its circumstances have improved, blaming the influence of consultants under former CEO Greg Smith for running the organization into debt and nearly leaving parent station, CFNR-FM Terrace, bankrupt. “Months of delays and consulting fees drained our financial resources with no return on this considerable investment,” NNB stated in its application, saying the pandemic exacerbated the situation by preventing any further close interaction with lower mainland Indigenous nations as well as potential investors and revenue sources. NNB says since March, its economic situation has rebounded to the point where they can once again make the project a reality. While an extension has been granted to Aug. 31, NNB says it hopes to launch the station in February.
105.9 The Region (CFMS-FM) Markham has applied to the CRTC for a rebroadcast signal to improve its reach from 44% to almost 61% of households in the region and reduce technical challenges and interference. In its application, the station says current technical challenges give an advantage to stations spilling into the market from Toronto, Durham and Newmarket who can claim to have better coverage due to their larger signals and sell unused airtime deeply discounted. “We can either lower our rates to unsustainable levels or let the business go,” the station asserted in its application. “Neither are long-term solutions for serving this community which the Commission recognized as being underserved in Decision 2012-487 that granted this license. The only partial coverage of the market has an impact on the ability of CFMS to reach revenue targets and significantly reduces the possibility of it being self sustaining.”
The Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is hosting an upcoming gathering of radio personalities who’ll share their experiences with students, including Kolter Bouchard of 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM), Dan Chen of Q107 (CILQ-FM), Sam East and Jax Irwin of Virgin Radio 99.9 (CKFM-FM), Ailish Forfar of Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM), Paul McGuire of Today Radio 93.5 (CFXJ-FM), Darryl Henry of CHFI, and Jamar McNeil of CHUM 104.5. Instructor Harry Corro put the panel together to address his radio broadcasting class, RTA974 at TMU’s The Creative School. The students will be presenting their final radio project to the panel.
Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released new data that indicates podcast adoption in Canada continues to climb. It found that over one-third (36%) of the English-speaking population in Canada is now listening to podcasts. That’s up from 30% in the fall of 2019 with podcast listenership growing by 20% during the pandemic, according to MTM. Comparatively, one in four Francophones has listened to a podcast in the past month, up from 17% in fall 2019. Those who stream AM/FM radio or use music streaming services are more frequent podcast users with two thirds of listeners indicating they get their podcast content from a single source. Spotify leads podcasting apps as the most common way for listeners to access content. Read more here.
CBC British Columbia has released original podcast, Land Back. The six-part podcast, hosted by Gitxsan journalist Angela Sterritt, explores Indigenous land rights in Canada and the true meaning of “land back” for Indigenous communities.
CBC British Columbia’s annual Food Bank Day returns Dec. 2 with a full day of special programming on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen in support of Food Banks BC. After raising over $2.9 million for local food banks in 2021, CBC is bringing back the community event, as food bank demand remains high. While touring the CBC Vancouver Broadcast Centre is a yearly highlight for many, this year the building will not be open for tours. However, the centre is opening its doors to live studio audiences for live broadcasts of CBC Radio One programs.
SOCAN Foundation has announced the winners of the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Canadian Songwriters, sponsored by SiriusXM Canada. Five cash prizes of $5,000 are awarded to young creators from across the country in recognition of their exceptional work and potential. This year’s winners are: Anna Johnson (Alberta) for “Boys on Bikes” (pop); AVIV (Ontario) for “Drowning in the Culture” (indie pop); Avril Jensen (Quebec) for “van gogh” (pop); Danie (Ontario) for “Summer” (soul/jazz); and Velours Velours, (Quebec) for “Tournesol” (country rock). Honourable mentions include: DeeDee Austin (Nova Scotia) for “Buried Truth” (pop); Brighid Fry (Ontario) for “In the Grass” (singer-songwriter); Allegra Jordyn (Ontario) for “Technicolour” (pop); Fin McDowell (Alberta) for “Losing Game” (folk); and Mia Kelly (Québec) for “Garden Through The War” (alt indie-folk).
Luminate’s Artist & Genre Tracker indicates the most preferred decade for Holiday Music is the ‘90s, but the ‘80s and 2020s follow closely behind. Holiday Music fans also stand out as avid consumers of talk-based content. According to the tracker, Holiday Fans spend +44% more time listening to podcasts, +63% more time listening to talk radio and +83% more time listening to audiobooks compared to the average U.S. consumer (ages 13+). Additionally, Luminate’s Entertainment 365 study found that Holiday Music listeners are more likely to attend & tune into live events like the theater (+86%), live streaming music events (+68%), live streaming podcasts (+66%), and attend live music events (+40%).
LISTEN: Earlier this year, ACTRA Toronto undertook a survey looking at the extreme vocal work that video games are now demanding of voice actors. In response to those concerns, University of Cincinnati Professor of Voice D’Arcy Smith has created the Vocal Combat Technique, a method to help voice actors and performers make aggressive sounds in the healthiest way possible. He joins us on this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, joined by Voice Health Expert Katelyn Reid. Both performers themselves, Reid and Smith offer advice on how to optimize your vocal health no matter what part of the performance industry you work in. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
LISTEN: Tony Doe, a Nigerian radio and podcast consultant, is on the latest Sound Off Podcast. With stable, cheap internet much harder to come by and the country fragmented by both language and the fact that many have multiple SIM cards and phone numbers, Doe walks us through the way radio stations have come to handle these challenges and what it’s meant for the development of Nigerian broadcasting as a whole. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
TV & FILM:
UBCP/ACTRA handed out its awards at a live ceremony at the Vancouver Playhouse on Nov 19. This year’s winners are: Agam Darshi – Donkeyhead (Best Lead Performance, Female); Stephen Lobo – Donkeyhead (Best Lead Performance, Male); Leah Gibson – Joe Pickett: The Most Hated Man in 12 Sleeps (Best Supporting Performance, Female); Eric McCormack – Drinkwater (Best Supporting Performance, Male); Ian Hanlin – Angry Birds: Summer Madness – Much Ado About Pudding (Best Voice Performance); and Marny Eng, Colby Chartrand, Kevin Fortin, Leif Havdale and Jeff Sanca – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Best Stunt Performance). The John Juliani Award of Excellence posthumously honoured actor Michael Kopsa.
Bell Media says the 109th Grey Cup attracted an average audience of 3.3 million viewers on TSN and RDS, an increase of +5% over last year. Overall, a total of 8.2 million Canadian viewers watched some or all of the Toronto Argonauts 24-23 last-minute victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Audiences peaked at 4.7 million viewers at 9:49 p.m. ET as the Argos secured the victory in the final minute. On social media, TSN’s official platforms garnered 1.7 million views on Instagram, 525,000 views on TikTok, and more than 400,000 video views on Twitter, with total Twitter impressions of more than 1.9 million.
Hasbro has put eOne’s TV and film business up for sale. Hasbro will maintain the capability to develop and produce animation, digital shorts, scripted TV and theatrical films for audiences related to core Hasbro IP, but has shifted its focus to significantly increase investment in key brands, with a focus on gaming, direct to consumer, franchise brands and licensing, including Peppa Pig, Transformers, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, My Little Pony and Power Rangers. Assets that are part of the potential sale include a 6,500+ content library, the non-Hasbro branded film and scripted TV business which produces and finances top tier content like The Woman King, Yellowjackets and The Rookie franchise, Hasbro’s interest in Entertainment One’s Canadian film and TV business, and Hasbro’s unscripted division which includes hits like the Naked & Afraid franchise.
DOC Institute has undertaken an analysis of BIPOC representation among publicly-funded documentary production in Canada, finding that it remains low with inconsistent industry-wide data collection and reporting. Nordicity was engaged to analyze three years of funding awarded to Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) documentary creators in the Canadian film and television industry with an eye to gauging how successful BIPOC creators are at securing funding compared to non-BIPOC applicants. The analysis included Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund (CMF), National Film Board (NFB), and TVO with CBC declining to participate citing limited resources. Of the participating funders, TVO is the only one that collects data on BIPOC creators, showing a decline in the number of BIPOC creatives supported between 2017 and 2020 with anecdotal evidence suggesting representation is low across the industry. Read more here.
Air Canada has announced it has launched live TV on select aircraft and domestic routes. Delivered through a satellite-connected, inflight entertainment solution, the airline’s initial offering features six Canadian English and French channels. They include sports channels TSN, TSN 2 and RDS; CTV News Channel; Quebec all-news station LCN; and BNN Bloomberg. Air Canada expects 50% of domestic flights to offer Air Live TV by the second of quarter of 2023. Read more here.
marblemedia and Fae Pictures are in development on original political family drama Salt, from creator Abdul Malik (Transplant, Peace by Chocolate). marblemedia acquired the project earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Series Accelerator program. Salt follows a young man raised by a wealthy Muslim family reeling from a scandal. Seeking to make amends for his father’s sins, he takes a job as a ‘salt’ to infiltrate and covertly unionize an opulent international hotel chain in Chicago from the inside. Recently selected for Playback Magazine’s 10 to Watch, Malik spent a decade on the front lines of labor and environmental movements as a documentarian.
Saloon Media has optioned Shaun Hamill’s well-received, debut horror novel, A Cosmology of Monsters. The book will be adapted into an ongoing one-hour (8×60′) dramatic series with creator and executive producer Caitlin D. Fryers. A Cosmology of Monsters follows the Turner family as they operate an immersive, haunted house experience. While struggling to keep their business afloat, they begin to realize there is something more sinister at their door—real monsters. Fryers is best known for writing on all four seasons of SYFY’s Wynonna Earp and was the first Canadian to win the Sir Peter Ustinov Award for Scriptwriting at the International Emmys. Also executive producing the adaptation are SVP Scripted Content Melissa Williamson, Managing Director Michael Kot and Author Shaun Hamill.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
Canada Media Fund (CMF) has announced it’s winding down Encore+ and Encore Plus, its respective English and French YouTube channels featuring vintage Canadian series like Degrassi High, Ready or Not, Danger Bay, Mr. Dressup, Street Legal and Da Vinci’s Inquest, in addition to numerous short and feature films, documentaries and mini-series. CMF launched the channels in 2017 to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary, restoring and digitizing hundreds of hours of content buried in analog catalogues in partnership with Deluxe Canada which covered 40% of digitization costs. The new, high-quality digital masters were made available to the rights holders and released to the public on Encore+ in English and French. In total, more than 3,000 pieces of content were digitized and restored under the program, which also generated some new global sales. Read more here.
Vevo has partnered with free global streaming platform, Plex, to launch several streaming channels featuring 24/7 music video programming. The partnership brings Vevo content to the Plex platform, which boasts millions of users across the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Mexico. Plex can be accessed across smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, streaming devices, game consoles, personal computers and web browsers, in addition to network-attached storage (NAS) solutions, antennas and tuners.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
OPINION: As the Senate Transport Committee starts its clause-by-clause review of Bill C-11, an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act, OUTtv CEO Brad Danks, APTN CEO Monika Ille and Luc Perreault, Strategic Advisor, Stingray Group write about the profound impact the Bill will have on the Canadian broadcasting system and the content Canadians can access. In particular, they see weaknesses in the bill in how it treats the distribution of Canadian programming services and apps by OTT platforms and virtual BDUs. “Independent broadcasters of all stripes, public interest services like APTN, AMI, and TV5/UNIS, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), FRIENDS, distribution companies such as TELUS, Bell and Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA) and the CRTC agree (though sometimes on different points) – the Bill needs to be fixed to address distribution issues,” their editorial states. Read more here.
Canadaland is being sued over allegations included in its recently-released podcast, Ratfucker: Confessions of a Dirty Tricks Operative. Focused around the activities of political fixer David Wallace, a suit has been filed in a Calgary court by developer Shane Wenzel and his mother, Edith, who allege they were defamed in the podcast by suggestions they were involved in funding a plot to oust former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
The BC Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) has begun announcing the winners of its annual awards, recognizing excellence in broadcasting in the province. In the Best Commercial Creative – Radio category (Large Market), Corus Entertainment’s CFOX and Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) Vancouver were recognized for “Accent Inns – Give A Duck.” In the Small/Medium Market category, Vista Radio’s 94.3 The Goat (CIRX-FM) and Country 97 FM (CJCH-FM) Prince George won for Total Tops Kitchen and Bath – “Time to Reno.” BCAB will be announcing more award winners online in the coming weeks.
Ericsson has undertaken the largest global 5G-related consumer survey to date. Conducted by Ericsson ConsumerLab, 5G: The Next Wave found 17% of 4G users intending to upgrade to a 5G subscription in the next 12-15 months. Additionally, eight in 10 current 5G users in Canada don’t want to return to 4G. However, consumer knowledge needs more work as 15% of users claim they are on 5G but use a 4G handset while another 18% own a 5G capable device but have not upgraded to a 5G subscription. The Canadian sample included 1,200 consumers interviewed online between April and July 2022 with the full survey scope representative of 1.7 billion consumers worldwide.
TELUS has released its fourth annual Indigenous Reconciliation & Connectivity Report. Key milestones for 2022 include connecting 12 more Indigenous lands to broadband internet in 2022 with more than 83% of homes, small businesses, and governing bands now able to access high-speed internet. In partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Indigenous artist Carey Newman, TELUS committed $1 million to launch the digital Witness Blanket project to further amplify Indigenous voices and survivors of the residential school system. The TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good also invested $6 million in Indigenous-owned for-profit companies. TELUS’ Indigenous Advisory Council is guided by Luc Lainé of the Huron-Wendat Nation, Shani Gwin of Métis Nation Alberta, Carol Anne Hilton of Hesquiaht Nation, and Dr. Kim van der Woerd of ‘Namgis First Nation.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
Cision has acquired Factmata Limited, an advanced social and news media monitoring and analytics product that uses AI to identify and track narratives online through articles, blogs, tweets and other social chatter. The tech delivers insights to help brands, agencies, and organizations better understand conversations and narratives gaining traction.
The Portland Trail Blazers have engaged Vancouver’s Sparx Technology, licensing the company’s platform for the 2022-23 NBA season. Used to engage audiences with voting/polling, predictive questions and trivia, Disney, the Oscars, Big Brother Australia and Turner Sports have also used the platform.
