The Weekly Briefing

The 2023 Broadcast Dialogue Canadian Radio Awards winners will be announced this morning at 9 a.m. PT/noon ET. Head to CanadianRadioAwards.com where we’ll unveil this year’s winners and winning audio.

Watch our social channels following the announcement to tune in to a livestream featuring members of our jury and some of this year’s honourees.

REVOLVING DOOR:

Heather Butts has been named weekend anchor of CTV National News. Currently Toronto Correspondent for CTV National News, Butts steps into the role previously held by veteran anchor Sandie Rinaldo, who is now helming the recently-introduced early evening edition of CTV National News. Butts started her reporting career with Global News’ CHEX-TV in Peterborough, moving on to successive roles at Global’s CKWS-TV Kingston, and Shaw TV in Whistler, before joining CTV in 2014. Read more here.

John Tory is rejoining Bell Media’s Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) and CTV News. Tory, who resigned during his third term as mayor this past February after admitting to an affair with a political staffer, previously hosted The Live Drive on Newstalk 1010 from 2009-14. More recently, he filled in as a guest host this summer. In his new role as a Municipal Affairs Expert, he’ll contribute political analysis across multiple platforms, making weekly appearances on 1010’s Moore in the Morning, CTV News Channel daily political program Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, and CP24 Live at 5. Read more here.

Rick Lee, Corus Radio’s Greater Toronto Area Program Manager, has been upped to Senior Program Manager of London, Kitchener/Guelph and Hamilton, reporting to Regional Program Director Dave Blezard. Lee has been with Corus for four years, serving in the Program Manager role for 102.1 the Edge (CFNY-FM) and Q107 (CILQ-FM) Toronto, and Y108 (CJXY-FM) and Energy 95.3 (CING-FM) Hamilton. Prior to joining Corus, Lee was an on-air personality at X92.9 Calgary, JACK 96.9 (CJAX-FM), and SONiC 102.9 (CHDI-FM) Edmonton, among other stations.

Morgan Hoffman has joined Global’s The Morning Show as an entertainment reporter. Hoffman, who’ll also contribute to Global News, had previously been a reporter with Entertainment Tonight Canada since 2019, which was cancelled by Corus Entertainment in September.

Denise Kimmel will be joining the Global News Parliamentary Bureau as show producer for The West Block with Mercedes Stephenson, starting Jan. 15. Kimmel, who was most recently a producer on CTV’s W5, also previously managed CTV’s Toronto Bureau and Washington, D.C. Bureau. She’s also served as a producer at Discovery Channel.

Eilish Bonang has moved into a long form reporting position with Global Halifax as the station moves forward with a single-host format for Global News Morning. Bonang had been morning show co-anchor, alongside Paul Brothers, and a digital broadcast journalist with the station for the past two years. Prior to that, she was a video journalist for CTV in Moncton. 

Roger Hope will be retiring after almost 44 years as an ENG camera operator with BCTV and Global BC. Hope, the husband of late Global anchorwoman Deb Hope, is currently the longest-serving employee at the station. His last day will be Dec. 22.

Alyson Samson is leaving CTV Atlantic in Fredericton to pursue a job outside of media. Samson had been a video journalist with CTV since 2020. Prior to that, she was a reporter and editor for CBC, based in Newfoundland.

Don Collins has retired from CHUM Toronto after 50 years as an account manager. After graduating from the Humber College Radio program, Collins was hired at the station by Jim Armstrong and Allan Waters in May 1973.

Marcia Douglas has been named the new Executive Director of the Bell Fund. Douglas, currently Vice-President, Growth & Inclusion at the Canada Media Fund, succeeds Nancy Chapelle, who is retiring from the role at the end of the year. Douglas previously worked with the Bell Fund as a Program Manager from 2010-15.

Chris Bell has left his role at eOne to join Netflix Canada’s content team. He’ll work with Canadian Content Directors Danielle Woodrow and Tara Woodbury to develop Netflix’s Canadian scripted slate. Bell has been with eOne for the last eight years, most recently as VP, Scripted Development, Television.

Colin Bohm has been named the new CEO of Toon Boom Animation. Most recently with Corus Entertainment, where his role as EVP of Content and Corporate Strategy was eliminated in October, Bohm’s appointment comes following Corus’ sale of the Montreal-based software developer to U.S. investment firm IMG. Bohm will take up his new role in January, overseeing operations and developing global strategy with a focus on expanding sales of Toon Boom’s subscription-based software.

Nicole Cheng has been promoted to the position of Vice-President, Finance and Facilities at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). In the role, she’ll serve as a key member of the CMPA senior leadership team, responsible for leading and managing the finance and facility team and functions for the CMPA. The promotion follows the upcoming retirement of CMPA Chief Financial Officer Rob Searle. Cheng joined the CMPA as Controller in 2018. 

Thomas Santram, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Cineplex, has been elected as the Chair of the Board of The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy). Santram steps into the role as former Chair John Young, CEO, Boat Rocker Media, has served the maximum term on the board and will be moving into an advisory role as ex-officio, Past Chair for a one-year term. Solange Attwood, former EVP, Blue Ant International, was elected to the role of Vice-Chair, previously held by Santram. Additionally, Magali Simard (Director, Industry and Community Relations, Cinespace Studios Toronto) has also been appointed to the Board of Directors.

RADIO & PODCAST:

Numeris’ fall diary release covers the period from Nov. 7, 2022 to Nov. 5, 2023. It is worth mentioning that, in these 22 markets, radio reached 82% of adults 12+ and 84% of adults 25-54. This fall, 38% of A25-54’s listening occurred in their vehicles, up 4% from fall 2022. In-home tuning, now at 33%, has decreased four percentage points from the previous fall. Canadians 12+ in the top markets spent an average of 13.4 hours per week listening to radio, while Quebecers 12+ spent 15.8 hours per week listening. Read David Bray’s breakdown for Ottawa, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Victoria and Halifax here.

Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released new data indicating online audio is the main source of listening for newcomers to Canada. MTM found that while traditional radio remains popular with four in five anglophones (80%) and 86% of French speakers, that number goes down to just one in three newcomers (35%). One in five (19%) newcomers listen to online radio, while 12% subscribe to satellite radio. Popularity of traditional radio is higher among those coming from the Americas (49%), men (36%), newcomers over the age of 35 (43%), those who live in Alberta (42%) and those within the highest income brackets. MTM found the majority (91%) of newcomers are opting for online audio, with listening to music on YouTube the most popular way of audio consumption (76%), followed by music streaming services (62%). Read more here.

SiriusXM Canada and Lucid Group have announced that SiriusXM audio streaming is now available to all new and existing Canadian Lucid owners. SiriusXM access will be available as an optional subscription on the entire Lucid Air vehicle lineup. All Lucid Air owners will receive a three-month trial. Engineered with future-ready hardware, Lucid owners already subscribing to SiriusXM will also have access to SiriusXM’s Pandora Stations feature, which enables drivers to create their own personal channels that play more of what they want, drawing content from SiriusXM’s vast music library. 

See more

The CRABO’s are back! We have now opened the submissions for the Community Radio Awards in Broadcast and Online.

You can see the new submission form and the guidelines on the site https://t.co/0WnIbn9G1D.
Submission deadline is March 1st, 2024. pic.twitter.com/6xUhVwHhb4

— NCRA/ANREC (@ncracanada) December 6, 2023

The National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA) 2024 Community Radio Awards in Broadcast and Online (aka the CRABOs) are open for submissions. Submissions close March 1. Learn more here.

The 840 CFCW “Critters” Charity Hockey Team is celebrating a milestone 30th anniversary. What started on Nov. 25, 1993 in Thorhild, AB as an extension of CFCW’s Edmonton Oilers broadcasts has now visited hundreds of communities, raising over $1.2 million for local charities. To mark the 30th anniversary, the CFCW Critters returned to Thorhild on Nov. 30, including seven members of the original team (Tom Easy/Doug Hawryluk/Chuck Tetrault/Tim Ellis/Syd Smith/Shane Clemmer/Marty Stevens), joining the current Critter team for the game. The event helped raise over $27,000 and will guarantee the Critters push past $1.3-million dollars raised later this season. Read more here.

LISTEN: Former Clear Sky Radio President Paul Larsen is on the Sound Off Podcast discussing buying 103.9 The Lake in Kelowna during the pandemic, which he’s now in the process of selling to Pattison Media. Larsen discusses his lengthy radio career and offers up some stories from throughout the years, as well as his thoughts on the future of radio.

FEATURE: The AM band is being prematurely abandoned by big broadcasters, says CINA Radio Group founder Neeti P. Ray, who is seeking approval to buy Bell Media’s AM stations in Windsor and Hamilton. Ray, who operates South Asian news, talk and music station, CINA 1650 AM Mississauga, FLOW 98.7 (CKFG-FM) Toronto, and multi-ethnic stations CINA-FM Windsor and CKIN-FM Montréal, has entered into an agreement to purchase CHAM and CKOC Hamilton and CKWW Windsor. Set to appear before a Feb. 8 CRTC hearing, Ray believes AM still has an audience to be served by smaller broadcasters, telling Broadcast Dialogue that the manner in which the band is being dumped by broadcasters “is tantamount to AM euthanasia.” Read more here.

SIGN OFFS:

Ian Vandaelle, 33, on Dec. 5. A 2012 Ryerson Journalism grad, Vandaelle interned with the Red Deer Advocate, Wetaskiwin Times, National Post and Report on Business, before joining BNN Bloomberg as a producer in November 2012. Based in Toronto, Vandaelle left BNN in September to join the Financial Times as its financial services reporter.

TV & FILM:

Pluto TV has celebrated its one-year anniversary in Canada, pacing at over 1 billion total viewing minutes (TVMs) monthly, according to data supplied by the streamer. Since entering the Canadian market, Pluto TV has added over 50 new full-time channels, available across 11 distribution partners, including The Weather Network, Blue Ant Media, OUTtv, Sony, Lionsgate, Cineflix, NFB, Stingray, and Corus Entertainment. New additions joining the catalogue include: Income Property Channel with real estate expert Scott McGillivray; Pluto TV Westerns; More MTV!; Love Pets; Leave it to Bryan Channel (launching in January) featuring Canadian contractor Bryan Baeumler; Real Disaster Channel; Sailor Moon Channel; Naruto Channel feat. the popular Japanese manga series; NickToons; Pluto TV Adventure Channel; and Crime Files (launching in January).

Blue Ant Media and Muse Entertainment have entered a partnership to launch Love Drama, a new free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel that offers a mix of scripted drama, including romance, mystery, thrillers and holiday-themed programming. The content includes 300+ hours of movies, series, and mini-series from Muse Entertainment’s vast library of scripted entertainment. The channel is now available to audiences in the UK on Virgin Media and Netgem TV and in Canada on LG Channels and Pluto TV. 

The Huron Carole benefit concert, founded by musician, actor and activist Tom Jackson, airs on APTN on Dec. 14 and continues with special showings throughout the holiday season, including Dec. 24, celebrating Jackson’s legacy of raising over $250 million for various humanitarian causes. Artists gracing the stage this year include Andrea Menard, PIQSIQ, Loreena McKennitt, Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, and Beverley Mahood. This year’s 90-minute seasonal showcase, produced by the Christmas & Winter Relief Association, aims to support vulnerable communities by raising funds for the Canadian Red Cross. The concert will also be available for streaming on APTN lumi from Dec. 14 onwards.

Global has announced premiere dates for its all-new Winter/Spring 2024 primetime offering. The New Year starts off with the return of the NCIS and FBI franchises, along with CSI: Vegas, 9-1-1, So Help Me Todd and Fire Country, comedies Abbott Elementary and Ghosts, and reality series Survivor and Big Brother Canada. New series Elsbeth, starring Carrie Preston and based on the fan-favourite character featured in The Good Wife and The Good Fight, also joins the lineup.

AMI has unveiled new and returning original series on AMI-tv and AMI+, starting with The Kelly & Ramya Prime Time Specialb on Dec. 29, celebrating AMI’s long-running daily program. Additional new programming includes One More Time, starring stand-up comedian D.J. Demers; All-Access Comedy, also hosted by Demers and featuring Canadian stand-up comedians from the disability community; and Season 1 and 2 of Push, which takes audiences into the inner world of the “Wheelie Peeps,” an unlikely group of friends and wheelchair users. Returning programming includes Season 3 of Mind Your Own Business, where entrepreneurs in the disability community aim to take their businesses to the next level; and Season 4 of Dish with Mary in which home cook Mary Mammoliti travels across Canada, chatting and cooking alongside the country’s hottest chefs.

TSN and RDS have acquired exclusive media rights to the Conmebol Copa America 2024. Live coverage of Copa America matches are available across TSN, TSN+, and RDS platforms throughout the summer 2024 tournament. Coverage kicks off on June 20 and concludes with the tournament final July 14. Canada’s next opportunity to qualify for Copa America comes on March 23 when they face off against Trinidad and Tobago.

Asian Television Network (ATN) will air live cricket this holiday season and into the New Year. In the month of December, and leading into the New Year, audiences in Canada can enjoy New Zealand (Women) vs Pakistan (Women): six matches; West Indies vs England: eight matches; New Zealand vs Bangladesh: six matches; American Premier League 2023: 24 matches; Super Smash T20 Men: 32 matches; Super Smash T20 Women: 32 matches. The series will air live on Commonwealth Broadcast Network (CBN) and ATN Cricket Plus. ATN will also air the home series of Cricket West Indies and New Zealand Cricket in 2024, featuring visiting teams from South Africa, Australia, England & Bangladesh

CBC, Netflix and APTN, with production partners Red Marrow Media and Northwood Entertainment, have confirmed the lead cast and director of the first episode for a new untitled Arctic comedy series (10×30). Anna Lambe (True Detective, Trickster, The Grizzlies) will star as young Inuk mother Siaja, with seven-year old Inuk actress, Keira Cooper, making her screen debut as Siaja’s daughter. Anya Adams (Yellowjackets, Ginny & Georgia, Black-ish, The Good Place) has been confirmed as the director of the first episode, and the producing director of the series, which will start filming in Nunavut in spring 2024. Created and written by Inuit writer and producer Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Inuit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, and executive produced alongside Miranda de Pencier (Northwood Entertainment), the series follows a young Inuk mother who wants to build a new future for herself.

CHCH-TV Hamilton will be bringing back its live New Year’s special. Now in its second year, The Countdown to 2024 will be produced by Department 86 Productions for CHCH-TV. Hosted by TV personality Rick Campanelli, the Hamilton-based production will feature live music and comedy, filmed in front of a live studio audience at CHCH-TV’s Studio North. The Countdown to 2024 airs Dec. 31, starting at 11:10PM.

The 2023 Web Series World Cup (WSWC) final ranking crowns Chateau Laurier as the most awarded digital series of the year. The series was multi-awarded in several categories including Best Drama (TO WebFest), Best International Series and Best Supporting Actor for Emmanul Kobango (NYC WebFest), Best Director James Stewart and Best Actress Kate Ross Leckie (NZ WebFest), among over 200 festival awards. Chateau Laurier also won the 2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Digital Series – Fiction (Emily Weedon & Kent Staines). This is the second WSWC trophy for Canada after The Communist’s Daughter won in 2021. 

Corus Entertainment streaming service STACKTV is now available through the Bell Fibe TV app. Existing Fibe TV app customers can now add STACKTV to their subscription for $10 a month, offering 16 TV networks on one platform, including all series, movies and specials that air on Global TV, Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, W Network, The HISTORY Channel, Adult Swim, Slice, Showcase, National Geographic, Lifetime, Cartoon Network, Treehouse, YTV, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior. STACKTV is also available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers, Rogers Ignite TV, Ignite SmartStream and FuboTV customers.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

CBC/Radio-Canada says it will consider “all possible measures” to manage its financial pressures, following criticism from current and former journalists that the public broadcaster wasn’t considering cuts to executive bonuses as it looks for $125 million in savings. The public broadcaster announced last week that it would eliminate 800 positions as part of that cost-cutting, amounting to about 10% of its workforce, and reduce its English and French programming budgets. An appearance by President & CEO Catherine Tait on The National fueled further outrage when she refused to clarify whether cutting executive compensation was being considered, as chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault touted data from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation indicating that in 2022, the CBC paid out more than $16 million in bonuses. Read more here. As reported by Global News, the House of Commons heritage committee, which Tait will appear before in the New Year, has deemed it “inappropriate for the CBC to grant bonuses to executive members.”

CBC/Radio-Canada’s latest Environmental Sustainability Report is highlighted by a 35% reduction in business travel and an annual energy consumption reduction of 7%. The report is the second since the launch of the public broadcaster’s 2021–26 environmental strategy, Greening Our Story, and covers key initiatives from April 2022 to March 2023. The corporation also reduced its annual water consumption by 4% and completed two renewable energy projects in Point La Nim, NB and Carp, ON with Point La Nim becoming CBC’s first carbon-neutral transmission site.

Corus Entertainment has released its 2023 Sustainability Report, which outlines the company’s ongoing advancement of sustainability initiatives anchored by its Planet, People and Responsibility goals. Corus reported a 7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2022, with a 73% waste capture rate at Corus Quay. The report also includes diversity data, indicating 21.3% of employees identify as a visible minority, 16.4% in positions at director and above.

CDPQ  (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) has announced an investment in Cogeco Communications following the investment group’s purchase of the entirety of Rogers Communications holdings in the company. Upon the closing of the transaction, CDPQ will hold $350 million in Cogeco capital. CDPQ first invested in the company in 2013 by providing a CAD $50 million loan. In 2017, it also contributed USD $315 million toward Cogeco’s $1.4B acquisition of MetroCast cable systems in the U.S.

The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) has announced it’s wrapping up operations after more than 55 years. Conceived in 1967 as a Centennial Broadcast Museum project, with initial funding from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), a physical museum was first considered before CCF Chairman and retired All-Canada and Selkirk Communications executive Ross McCreath moved in 1994 to make the internet the home of Canadian broadcasting history. Since then, through industry donations and volunteer support, CCF has published a comprehensive database of radio and television station histories, ownership, networks, and programming. The CCF’s collected materials will continue to be available online through archive.org, while York University will continue the work of studying and cataloguing the history of Canadian broadcasting at broadcasting-history.ca. Read more here.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF), in partnership with Narcity Media Group, has launched the new CJF-Narcity News Creator Fellowship dedicated to nurturing the growth of emerging video storytelling talent. Sponsored by YouTube Canada and the Google News Initiative, the six-week fellowship offered to six emerging news-content creators, will provide training and mentorship from Narcity editors and journalists, focusing on the creation of local news videos for publication on both Narcity and the creator’s YouTube and social channels. Fellows will receive a $5,500 stipend. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 26.

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) invites members of the media to submit stories for the association’s annual Media Awards competition. A committee of reporters and nurses, selected by RNAO, will judge stories published or broadcast in Ontario in 2023. Previous winners include The Ottawa Citizen, CBC Toronto, CityNews, and Latinos Magazine, focused on a variety of topics including COVID vaccinations, a peek behind the scenes of an emergency room, and the health-care obstacles faced by Black women. Nominations must be received via the online submission form no later than March 1.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

ReelWorld has launched AI Create, a generative AI tool for programmers and producers that creates authentic sounding listener testimonials in seconds. Users simply type a phrase, ask a question, or enter a topic – even including their station name – to instantly generate a variety of listener responses that sound just like the real thing to fit any theme, event, or promotion, including Santa and Elf voices to bring holiday imaging to life. AI Create is currently rolling out across all ReelWorld imaging and production services, including ProductionVault and RED Hits.