Success Stories

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"I've been with them (Nickleback) for almost nine years. I went right out of high school into a recording curriculum (at Columbia Academy) for two years. Meanwhile, I was doing an internship at the studio where Nickelback was recording their first album. I had never done live sound before, but was being asked to do it and they were one of the bands I mixed. Frankly, I was getting more calls about live sound than studio work! We started doing weekend gigs, and that turned into two-week tours and into cross-Canada tours. I started tour managing at the same time, and it just kept growing. Fortunately, nine years later, I'm still tour managing and doing sound."

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RSD grad Craig Berkey has been working steadily in audio post production for feature films since he graduated. His most recent notable credits: Re-Recording Mixer for 2008's Academy Award winning Best Picture, No Country For Old Men, for which he was nominated for Sound Mixing.  He was also on another Academy Award nominated film this year, Transformers, as a Sound Effects Editor.  And if that wasn't enough, Craig worked on the big Will Smith film of 2007, I Am Legend.   Craig's other credits include: Sound Designer, Mixer & Supervising Sound Editor for Superman Returns, X-Men and X2; I, Robot; Big Fish; Ice Age; Sleepy Hollow; and many more.  Congratulations, Craig, on your Oscar nomination!  Craig's newest film is the highly anticipated Nim's Island, based on the best-selling children's book by Canadian writer, Wendy Orr.  Craig was the Sound Designer on Nim's Island, which stars Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler, and Abigail Breslin.

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Last year Terry was at it again, recording the red-hot Canadian dance band, Shout Out Out Out Out on their JUNO-nominated album, "Not Saying/Just Saying." Terry also just completed work on the new Perfect Blue EP (with Econoline Crush guitarist Dave Hesse), and the new project from Bramwell and the Left Overs. Busy guy.

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Columbia Academy Recording & Sound Design grad Jeff Dawson is riding a huge wave of success these days as co-producer and engineer of Daniel Powter's (Bad Day) smash debut album.

Says Powter about their collaboration, "Jeff and I bunkered down in this apartment with a little studio. I started writing songs, and he and I would come up with these great production ideas. It was like a door opening. Everything became easy. Before, when I was making a record, one song would take me a week. Now I would have the song written in just a day, and Jeff and I would get all these bass parts down and start making loops. It just encouraged me to keep going."

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Brad Fay, Rogers Sportsnet Anchor (and CA grad), dropped us a line recently to reflect on his career to date, Great memories of my year at Columbia with Ray as my instructor.  Campbell River radio was (my) first (job).  Here's the rest: Kelowna Daily courier - Sports Writer, from 1991 - 1996 (at the same time, colour commentator for junior hockey on CKOV Radio), BCTV in Vancouver - Sports Anchor/Reporter, from 1997 - October 1998, and Rogers Sportsnet - Sports Anchor, from October 1998 to present."  Asked how he made the move into television with no television experience, Brad replied, "I used to play pick-up basketball with, among others, John McKeachie and he was always pushing me to give TV a try.  He kept mentioning me to the powers-that-be at BCTV and they finally relented and gave me a shot."

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Columbia Academy Broadcast Performing Arts grad Don Taylor is well known to sports fans.  Don co-hosts the daily sports talk show, Pratt & Taylor, heard afternoons on the TEAM 1040 Sports Radio in Vancouver.  And that's just his day job. Don can also be seen nightly anchoring the Rogers Sportsnet Connected telecast from Vancouver.

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Recent CA grad, Sat Shaw, is enjoying his first radio gig as a News & Sports Reporter/Anchor for Newcap's The Fox in Edson, Alberta.  Newcap has launched a number of stations recently in Northern Alberta, hiring a number of CA grads while they're at it, including: Jay Johanneson & Liz White in Slave Lake, and Scott Campbell in Lac La Biche.

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There's more than one way to break into the business - and CA Broadcast Performing Arts grad, Tessa Sam should know.  Victoria, BC modern rock station, The Zone @ 91.3 FM, recently held "Newsapalooza", an open audition for a morning show news co-host (the winner pairing up with another Columbia Academy alum, Dylan Willows).  Hundreds of hopefuls auditioned at the open call in Victoria's Capilano Mall.  These were whittled down to a final ten.  Each of the ten then went on air for an hour with co-host Dylan Willows.  Those ten were pared down to the top four.  And after another on-air show with Dylan and an extensive on-line vote, CA's own, Tessa Sam, came out on top!  Congratulations, Tessa!  Knock 'em dead.   Check Tessa out at: http://thezone.fm

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Erin Berger (pictured top row, leaning) started her broadcasting career at CJAV radio in the small town of Port Alberni, BC, as the News Anchor, beat reporter, Sports and weather girl.  "I did a little of everything including janitorial as the last person who was hired was the one who had to clean the bathrooms!  OH!  The joy of working in a small market station, but I learned a lot and made life long friends with fellow media people in the city."   Erin then made her way to Saskatoon, SK, where she is now a Talk Show Producer at News Talk 650 AM.  "I run the show technically while we are on the air from 5:30 to 8:30 am and during, before and after I search the world for interesting show content and guests.  We are very entertainment, sports and news oriented.  Like a Canada AM kind of show.  For instance we recently had Olivia Newton John on to talk about her Christmas album and her show in our fair city on Saturday night, Michael Farber Senior Writer from Sports Illustrated to talk hockey, and the leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party to talk about the upcoming election.  An eclectic mix eh?  Something I do every Sunday morning that I really enjoy is co-hosting a province wide call in show called Garden Talk alongside an expert greenhouse owner.  I have learned so much about all things green and growing and I love talking to people about their plants.  They have such passion!  I also am known as the “Mature” voice at the station so I voice ID’s,  splitters and loads of spots."

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"Brian O'Connell here on the Rock, I was one of the first Newfoundlanders to attend Columbia Academy in Edmonton, back in 1976. Columbia was a lot of fun and it opened the door for me to a great career in broadcasting.  My first gig was working in the Newsroom at Midwest Broadcasting's CKSA-CITL (radio and TV) in Lloydminster, SK. I had a blast!  Before I graduated I took some advice from an older broadcaster who told me to try and work my way across the country to get a real feel for the business in Canada.  I did work my way back east through the Maritimes.  My first big responsibility involved coordinating the launch of FM-Q-93 in PEI.  I have worked with some great broadcasters, John Owen, Don Wilson, Bas Jamieson, Loman MacAulay, Wes Saunders, John Murphy, and Mike Campbell, to name a few.  I have done mornings for the majority of my career and I have been given the opportunity to work in programming, sales and management.  Some of the stations I have worked for include: CKSA, CFCY, FM-Q-93, VOCM-FM, KIXX Country, Q-Radio, VOCM, and OZFM.  I enjoyed moving around to experience the many formats and the ideas.

A lot of time has passed since I was put on the Greyhound and sent off to the Border City.  I have enjoyed every second, every format, and I still get a kick when I turn on the mic!  Columbia started me on the road to a great career, a lot of fun, too many stories and list of friends and colleagues that goes on forever.  I am currently the Station Manager for the OZFM Radio Network in Newfoundland.

Following over thirty years of broadcasting, I still get just as excited when I go on the air as I did back in Edmonton when I had to do my first shift in the Columbia studio.  Thanks!"

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Adam writes, "Just thought I'd give you an update on how things are going for me here on the Island! Everything is great at SUN FM. Things have been really busy between producing 5 hours a day, going live 3 hours a day, and doing remotes on the weekends. But I'm loving every minute of it! I've been filling in as the host of the afternoon drive show since January, but will be returning to mid-days in June. You definately have to be prepared to hit the ground running in this business!"

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Shaun is pictured here (yeah, he's the crazed-looking guy in the middle) with Canadian rockers 54-40.

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Vanesa is the host of the weekly music televsion seriesWorld Beats on Channel M in Vancouver, as well as the host of Latin Beats, on Channel M. When she's not in the TV studio, Vanesa can be found acting in films and television series. She has recently been featured in the movies The Gwen Araujo Story and White Noise 2, and has made appearances in the TV series: The L Word, Fallen, and Smallville.

It's no wonder Vanesa was named Columbia Academy's On-Air Personality of the Year for 2002.

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Probably why Robin was named Columbia Academy's On-Air Personality of the Year for 2003.

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Shane 'Fresh' Holford, a 2007 CA Video & Film Production grad, has returned to his native Barabdos (lucky guy!), to start his own production company called, Fresh Productionz, where he offers editing, 2D animation, color correction and image polishing and camera work. Shane talks about how incredibly busy he is, "I work with companies who contract me, which are mostly advertising agencies. I do work for a company called Ethnic Vision Inc. doing editing on many different genres of video. I am also an editor for a TV show called, Roamin', which broadcasts here in Barbados. And I will be working with a company called StudioStudio which does photogrpahy for weddings and they are now adding video to their package and I'm head of that department. I have three music videos to do so far this year, along with a commercial to do for the Gospel Flame Awards." Now that's busy! (pictured here at the VFP tour of CBC Vancouver)

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Video & Film Production (VFP) grad Bassem Chabou wrapped a grueling six days shooting six TV commercials in Damascus as a First Assistant Director. It was his first time working with film cameras and motion control - very high tech.

Bassem says, "We were in pre-production for five weeks - full time. We shot for six days for about 16 hours a day. On the last day of shooting we worked for 27 hours non-stop! Crazy, right? But we had to, because the motion control machine and crew had to leave Damascus for England the day after shooting. So we kept working that day to finish everything".