Chris Pearson, President of Acadia Broadcasting, has announced his transition to retirement, with Senior Vice-President Shelley Snodgrass to succeed him, effective Dec. 1. Pearson, who has spent nearly four decades with the company and held the role of president since 2016, will remain on in an advisory role to support the transition. He’ll also continue as President of the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB) and continue to serve on the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) CEO Radio Council. Based in Saint John, NB, Snodgrass has been with the company since 2016, holding roles including Vice-President, Sales. Read more here.

Tracey Connolly has been named Global Director of Broadcast Sales at Nautel, as longtime Senior Director of Broadcast Sales Wendell Lonergan retires after more than 47 years with the company. Based in Metro Halifax, Connolly’s sales background includes more than 17 years with Sysco in Atlantic Canada. Lonergan first joined Nautel in 1978 in research. Successive roles included Project Leader, Medium Wave Transmission, before being named Sales Manager, Middle East and North Africa in 2005. He’d been in his current role since 2012. Read more here.

Mike Crawley is headed to Washington, D.C. to cover the U.S. capital for CBC News. Crawley has been with the public broadcaster since 2005, initially as a reporter in Saint John, before joining the Toronto bureau where he’s been a Provincial Affairs reporter for the last 16 years.

 

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Damian Rickards (aka Mr. D), who recently announced his departure from JUMP! 106.9 (CKQB-FM) Ottawa, has joined 91.5 The Beat (CKBT-FM) Kitchener in middays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. weekdays. Rickards has previously done two separate stints hosting evenings on 91.5 The Beat.

Danger (aka Darren Grieve) is joining Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) Vancouver on weekends. Grieve has been working with the Canadian Traffic Network (CTN) for the last decade, heard on Rogers Sports & Media’s NewsRadio 1130 (CKWX-AM), and was the host of ResurreXtion Radio on the former SONiC RADiO (CKKS-FM). He rejoins Corus Radio, where he was a host on CFOX for nearly a decade.

Brenden Escott is the new host of Edmonton Oilers hockey on CHED 880. Escott will be heard during the Face-Off Show, each intermission, and on Oilers Overtime, in addition to hosting Inside Sports weeknights from 6 – 8 p.m. He’s been with CHED since 2018, initially producing Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer.

Leah Camenzind is now Executive Director of the TELUS Fund, overseeing finance, operations and program design. With TELUS since 2017, she previously led the TELUS originals film program and co-founded the TELUS independent film program, stewarding the investment of over $15 million into the production of more than 100 social-purpose films and series. She succeeds Elizabeth Friesen, who has retired from the position after 12 years.

Jinny Howe has been named Head of UCAN (U.S.-Canada) Scripted Series at Netflix. She’ll succeed Peter Friedlander – one of the company’s longest-serving creative executives – who will be leaving the streamer after almost 14 years. Howe joined Netflix in 2018, holding the title of VP, Original Series, Drama, helping develop series like Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, The Night Agent and The Diplomat.

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Bell Media has appointed former Disney+ exec Jerrell Jimerson to the newly-created role of Senior Vice President and Head of Product & Experience, leading the company’s product vision, strategy and design efforts across digital, direct-to-consumer entertainment, sports and news products, including Crave, CTV News, TSN, TSN+, Noovo, RDS, and iHeartRadio. Jimerson has been working in product marketing in the digital space since the late 1980s. He joined iHeartRadio as SVP, Digital in 2012, and later served as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and EVP, Product & Design for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Star and Star+ from 2018-23. Since leaving Disney, he’s been running his own advisory firm, MediaTech Insights. Read more here.

Ann MacKeigan has announced the launch of new media consulting venture, CompassMedia, as she departs CBC after more than 30 years. MacKeigan had most recently held the title of Executive Producer, Talent Development, transitioning late last year from her previous role as Executive Producer of q with Tom Power, and Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud. With CBC since 1988, she previously served as Director, Content Development and Production, Radio and Audio.

Blair Bartrem has launched BlairChecks, a new talent coaching venture focused on elevating on-air performance and content strategy. His initial partnership is with Toronto’s Indie88 (CIND-FM). Bartrem was most recently Executive Producer of the Pooja & Gurdeep Show at 98.1 CHFI, where he helped guide the duo’s transition from television to radio. 

Damian Rickards (aka Mr. D) has moved on from Jump! Radio (CKQB-FM) Ottawa after 11 years of hosting evenings. Rickards says it’s not a complete farewell as he will continue to help out behind-the-scenes and may occasionally fill-in on-air. He has yet to reveal his next move.

Shirley McQueen has announced she’ll be filling in as a national host on Bell Media’s Bounce Radio network. McQueen, who is also heard on Vista Radio’s ICON Radio on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, is arguably best known for her 13-year run on Toronto’s Q107 (CILQ-FM). She’s also been on-air at Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) Vancouver and CRUZ FM (CKEA-FM) Edmonton.

Ryan Williams has joined Whiteoaks Communications’ Legend 102.9 (CKLH-FM) Hamilton as the new morning show producer for Sunni & Hayes. Williams was previously a board operator and producer with 610 CKTB and 97.7 HTZ FM (CHTZ-FM) St. Catharines.

Rodrigo Mazon has been named Head of Canada and Latin America for Paramount. Based in L.A., Mazon will oversee strategy, initiatives and programming for Paramount’s streaming offerings, including Paramount+ and Pluto TV, in those territories. He previously held roles with Netflix as VP of Content, and more recently was Chief Content Officer, Streaming for TelevisaUnivision.

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Corus Entertainment has announced that TELUS marketing exec Christopher Mercer is joining the company as Barb McKergow, Senior Vice President, Advertising, gets set to retire this fall. McKergow started her broadcast sales career with WIC (Western International Communications) in 1992, focused on national sales. She joined Canwest Mediaworks in 2000, moving on to Shaw Media for the next 14 years, where she ended her time as Head of Marketing Ventures. She officially joined Corus in 2019 as SVP of National Advertising Revenue, holding the title of SVP, Advertising Sales for the past year, overseeing all advertising sales, revenue management, research, advanced advertising and data teams. Mercer will take on the role of Senior Vice President, Media Sales and Solutions, effective Sept. 3. He most recently held the title of Vice President, Marketing and Revenue, for TELUS Health Care Centres. Read more here.

Mark McDonald has been promoted at Bell to the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, responsible for network strategy and infrastructure, as well as maximizing the potential of key technologies like 5G wireless and fibre. McDonald joined Bell in 2015, serving as VP and SVP of Networks. Prior to that, he held roles in both Europe and Canada with Nokia, including leading the Canadian wireless engineering and operations team.

Jazz Sanghera has retired from CTV News Vancouver after a 40-year career as a field producer and videographer, most recently for CTV Morning Live. One of the very first hires at the station 28 years ago – back when it was Vancouver Television (VTV) – his career began in the early 1980s volunteering at Duncan Cable. He also spent time at CKPG-TV Prince George.

Vicki Shae has joined the morning show on Winnipeg’s 92 CITI FM, alongside Joe Aiello and Phil Aubrey. Shae, who departed Corus Entertainment’s Country 99 (CFPG-FM) in July, moves into the co-host spot left vacant by the departure of Shalinda Kirby from the show in May.

Gruff Gushnowski has been filling in for Robin Larose on Rock 101 (CFMI-FM) Vancouver in his 2 – 6 p.m. afternoon drive time slot. It marks Gushnowski’s first time on-air in the Vancouver market. The Edmonton radio veteran is currently the host of Mornings with Gruff on Corus Entertainment’s 92.5 The Chuck (CKNG-FM).

 

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Nate Carr has been released by Pure Country 89 (CIMX-FM) Windsor, where he’d been helming mornings, in addition to being heard weekends on Bounce Radio 99.5 (CKKW-FM) Kitchener. He had been with Bell Media since 2018. Carr’s departure seemingly leaves the station with no locally-originating shows, according to its website.

Randy Owen is returning to country radio on Tillsonburg’s New Country 107.3 (CJDL-FM) in September. Owen will be hosting a three-hour Sunday morning “Country Gold” show, under the working title of “Randy’s Country Rewind.” Owen, who previously worked for CJDL-FM from 2007 to 2020 in afternoon drive, began his career at 1470 CHOW Welland in 1980, going on to hold roles at CKGL-FM and 570 AM (CKGL-AM) Kitchener and CKPC-AM and FM in Brantford.

Joel Poirier has said goodbye to Prince George after two years with Vista Radio’s Country 97 (CJCI-FM) where he hosted middays. Vista was Poirier’s first stop after graduating from SAIT’s Radio, Television and Broadcast News program in 2023.

Sharon Taylor has been named Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Triton Digital. Reporting to President & CEO John Rosso, she’ll oversee global teams across sales, customer success, ad operations, demand generation, and technical account management. Taylor has been with Triton since 2017, serving most recently as Executive Vice President, Podcast and Content Delivery. Prior to that, she was CEO at Omny Studio, which Triton acquired in 2019.

Evi Sari has been promoted at WildBrain CPLG to the newly-created role of VP, Global Location-Based Entertainment (LBE), as the company continues to expand its LBE business. Danielle Tanton also joins the LBE team as Director, Location-Based Entertainment, EMEA, Experiential Strategy & Partnerships. In her expanded role, Sari  – who is based in Shanghai – will lead WildBrain CPLG’s global LBE strategy, with an immediate focus on Europe and the Middle East. Tanton will report to Sari and be based in London, joining from RWS Global, where she was responsible for driving business growth across experiential productions, cruise lines, theme parks and resorts. She’s also held roles at Mattel, Paramount and Entertainment One.

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