As Whiteoaks Communications Group closes on its acquisition of four Bell Media radio stations in St. Catharines and Hamilton, the company is welcoming more than 30 new employees and freelancers.
As of Monday, 97.7 HTZ FM (CHTZ-FM) and 610 CKTB St. Catharines are part of the Whiteoaks group of stations, alongside newly-rebranded Hamilton stations, Legend 102.9 (CKLH-FM, which formerly carried Bell’s Bounce branding), and dream 105.7 (CHRE-FM, previously a MOVE Radio station).
Many of the former Bell Media employees are joining Whiteoaks, including Lisa Vinc, former Bell Media Radio Regional Program Director for Niagara and Hamilton, who is now Whiteoaks’ Senior Program Director for those markets.
Those identified for promotion from the previous ownership group, include Asta Cronkite, who moves up to Promotions Director and Assistant Music Director, while Loghan Peters moves into the role of Promotions Coordinator.
Expanded departments, include Traffic, led by Traffic Manager Elana Kennedy, who previously was the Traffic Coordinator at CKLH-FM for eight years. Robyn Metcalfe joins Whiteoaks as Traffic Coordinator, previously of the Canadian Traffic Network (CTN) and a familiar voice to listeners. Metcalfe is the former VP of Programming/Traffic for Skywords Media. Erin MacGillivary joins Whiteoaks as Group Creative Director. Writing for Legend 102.9 marks a return for MacGillivray to CKLH-FM. Jeff Kirkwood also joins the company as its new Imaging Producer. He formerly spent 24 years with CHUM Radio in Toronto and another 12 with Bell Media.
On-air, the lineup at 610 CKTB sees Jon “Gonzo” Mark expand his role as primary host of The Drive, with CKTB News Director Bonnie Heslop contributing to the program weekly. The Drive’s other weekly host Walter Sendzik is shifting into other business, while still contributing to CKTB programming.
Gene Valaitis, an alum of Q107 (CILQ-FM), CFTR, AM640, CFRB, The Team (CHUM-AM) and TSN in Toronto, will be heard from 9 a.m. – noon. Valaitis follows Steph Vivier on Niagara in the Morning.
CKTB will also continue to air Bell Media network programming, including the Vassy Kapelos Show and Shane Hewitt and The Night Shift.
On 97.7 HTZ-FM, Ashleigh Darrach will be returning in July to host middays (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) on HTZ-FM, also serving as Music Director for both HTZ-FM and Legend 102.9 FM.
Taylor Kaye will host middays on Legend 102.9 (CKLH-FM). She was formerly heard on the station as a fill-in host on midday and drive, in addition to hosting a weekend show. Tom Park, a 102.9 K-Lite alum and formerly the morning show producer for Sunni & Hayes, is the station’s new weekend host and will lend his imaging voice talent to the Hamilton and Niagara stations.
Kayla joins dream 105.7 as Music Director and midday host. She formerly hosted Rogers Sports & Media national radio show, Canada’s Most Requested, and contributed to social media and digital engagement for KiSS 92.5 (CKIS-FM) Toronto.
All other current hosts and dayparts remain unchanged on each station.
Whiteoaks’ new Senior Engineering Manager is Joanne Gurney, reporting to Director of Engineering & IT, Summer Dent. Also new to the company is Senior Staff Accountant Rebecca Wilson, while Catherine Carr was promoted earlier this year from Financial Controller to Whiteoaks’ Vice President of Finance.
President Matt Caine told Broadcast Dialogue that the company is looking forward to more growth in the coming months as Whiteoaks’ continues to expand its service and presence to communities from Niagara Falls to Mississauga.
