What the heck is happening at JAZZ.FM91? The first sign something wasn't right was when Dani Elwell left last year. She was Vice President, Creative and host of #NIGHTLAB, but suddenly she was gone without an explanation. And yes, I've asked her to appear on Toronto Mike'd and I'm hopeful that will happen later this year.
Then, there was an investigation into the behaviour of Ross Porter, the station’s CEO and president, which was spurred by a letter written by a group of former and current employees. Porter is now out as CEO and president, but remains on the air as host of a Saturday morning show on the station. His voice is also used for on-air identification breaks.
Then, there was the sudden dismissal of Garvia Bailey, who hosted the morning show. Mark Wigmore took over as morning show host, but now he's been let go. He was also the senior arts editor responsible for the station’s arts coverage. Also terminated are weekend hosts Walter Venafro and David Basskin, David Wall, the director of community outreach and education, and Jaymz Bee, who had been at the station for 16 years.
A post shared by Jaymz Bee (@jaymzbeesez) on Jun 15, 2018 at 8:30am PDT
All of this coincides with a shakeup of the board. JAZZ.FM91 is a public broadcaster supported entirely by corporate and private donations and by limited commercial revenue. Its licence from the CRTC prohibits it from running commercials for more than four minutes an hour.
Yesterday, they aired dead air in the morning and couldn't time their BBC news updates correctly. The station appears to be in disarray, with no official comment from the board.
So what's next for CJRT? Don't the donors have a right to know what's up? Does anyone know what's happening?
