What's New

JOBS, JOBS, and more JOBS for CA Grads

Broadcasting Jobs

UPDATE - BPA grad, Suneil Senghera, dropped us an e-mail to let us know that he has been the Promotions Coordinator for CHUM Radio Vancouver (The Beat, QM/FM, Team 1040) for three years.  As Suneil says, "It's a really cool job."

Recent BPA grad, David Cannon, has been hired to take over Vancouver's Tourist Information Radio.  He'll be working with another recent grad, Whitney John Stuart, to help build the station.  David has also been hired for Vancouver's Virgin Radio street team, the Flight Crew.  Busy guy.

UPDATE - BPA grad, Tara Jean Wilkin, is now co-hosting the afternoon drive show ("Kiah and Tara Jean") on Vancouver's Virgin Radio 95.3 FM.

UPDATE - Brock Hunter has moved from Corus' all-traffic station, AM 730 and is now reading news over at Rogers for News 1130.

UPDATE - Brittaney Carlsen has made the move from her first on-air job as a Morning Show Co-Host at Power 99 FM in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and has now been hired as a news anchor at Vancouver's all-news station, News 1130.  Brittaney joins a big list of Columbia grads at CKWX: Shane Bigham, Kari-Lyn Twidale, Amanda Wawryk, Sabeen Habib, Chad Dey, Jolene Chernoff, and Brock Hunter.

Recent grad from the evening class, Matt Morgan, has landed a great first on-air gig as the Morning Show Host at 890 CJDC, Peace Country's Country in Dawson Creek, BC. The station seems to be a family tradition as Matt's father, well known Vancouver broadcaster, Michael Morgan, also got his start at CJDC.

Gary Gosal is now on the air at Peace FM in Chetwynd, BC as well as doing the play-by-play announcing for the Dawson Creek Junior Canucks.

BPA grad, Chris Rivest, called recently to tell us that things are going great for him in his new job in Creative at Z 99 FM in Red Deer, Alberta. 

UPDATE - BPA grad, Jocelyn Ott, has been pursuing her love of acting since graduation.  She most recently was a background performer in the soon to be released big budget film, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, directed by Chris Columbus.

UPDATE - Emilie Clarke, 2007 BPA grad is working hard for CTV Globemedia.  She's on the air mornings on Vancouver's top-rated Mike & Tara Show on 103.5 QM/FM and also doing jock shifts on The Beat 94.5 FM.  Way to go, Emilie!

Another new grad, Bonnie Nelson, called to let us know that she has been hired for her first on-air job as a News Reader at one of Edmonton, Alberta's most respected news stations, CHED.  She'll also be working for their sister station, iNews880 - proving once again that landing your first on-air job in a major market is difficult, but not impossible.  Bonnie joins a growing list of CA grads at CHED, including News Director, Bob Layton, Senior Anchor, Sheila Gardner, and reporters Thomas Dias and Jolene Chernoff.

Recent BPA grad, Madelaine Burke, has landed a great new job "down under" in her home country of Australia.  "Maddie B" is the newest Swing Announcer at 97.3 Coast FM.  She writes, "Today was my first jock shift on commercial radio!  The PD said he was shocked at how good it went, considering it was my first time jocking on "real radio".  To be honest, I can say with 100% certainty that I would not have had such great feedback (or even landed the job in the first place) if I had not had my training with you at Columbia.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work in one of the most FUN industries in the world!"

Recent grad, Steve Griffiths, has just been hired on as the new play by play broadcaster for the Williams Lake Timberwolves of the BCHL. He will the new voice of the T-Wolves.  Steve also will take on marketing duties for the hockey club.

Grad Heath Morgan has accomplished the very difficult task of getting hired right out of school at a major market news station!  Heath has snagged a job as a Producer at CKNW Radio in Vancouver where he produces both the Bill Good show two days a week and the Shell Busey show on Saturdays, in addition to board operating overnights.

Recent BPA grad, Brandon Astle has scored a great first job right out of school.  Brandon has been picked up to do play-by-play streamcasting for the Langley Chiefs of the BCHL (British Columbia Hockey League). He'll be covering all 60 home and away games.  A classmate of Brandon's, Colin Emberson, is providing the colour commentary.  Check them out at: (http://bchl.insinc.com/web)

UPDATE - Kari-Lyn Twidale, who has been with Vancouver's News 1130 for quite a while now, is now doing everything Rogers.  She's on the air for Roger's News 1130, Jack FM, and Clear FM.  And now she's doing traffic and weather for the Breakfast Television show on Roger's new television acquisition, City TV.

UPDATE - Mike Erickson, who got his start with Peace FM in Chetwynd, BC, has already moved up to the larger market of Prince George, BC.  Mike is now a Swing Announcer at The Wolf in Prince George.  He joins fellow CA grad Ashley Hinton at The Wolf.

UPDATE - Maggie Cox, who had been on the air in both radio and TV (CJFC Kamloops), has made the jump to 'A' (formerly A Channel) in Victoria, BC.  Maggie joins the new morning news team at 'A'.

UPDATE - Natalee Taylor, previously at The Bounce in Edmonton and 103.9 The Juice in Kelowna, has been hired to do the 9am - 12 noon show at Virgin Radio in Vancouver as Taylor Jukes.

Continuing with hockey broadcasting, BPA grads Nick Fast and John Helm have landed gigs providing play-by-play and colour commentary for the Columbia Valley Rockies hockey team of the KIJHL (Kootenay International Junior Hockey League), based out of Invermere in southeastern B.C.  Nick and John will be traveling with the team and streaming the entire season of 50 games on the league's website (http://www.kijhl.com).  Check them out.

UPDATE - Warren Andrews is now doing the afternoon drive at Vista Radio's 99.7 The River in Campbell River, BC. 

UPDATE - Ross Raymond, who had been on the air at Nanaimo's The Wolf for quite some time, has made the move to Lethbridge, Alberta, where he is now Promotions Director for 94.1 FM, The Lounge.

Ann Luu, a 2006 grad, is now a double threat, doing weather reporting on television for the CBC with Gloria Makarenko, and now doing traffic reports for the morning show at Vancouver's JRfm and 100.5 The Peak FM.

Evening class grad from 2007, Mike Feeney, writes to say that he has landed his first on-air job as the weekend host at 89.7 Sun FM in Duncan, BC. Mike joins CA grad Adam Salvisburg at Sun FM.

Ed McDougall is off and running on his new career as a Copywriter. He has been hired on at 89.9 HAL FM, a classic rock station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, close to his old stomping grounds of P.E.I.

UPDATE - Raman Sihota called to say that she is really busy these days on the media job front. She continues to work as a Host for CHNU TV and Shaw TV and she has recently been hired in the Corus Entertainment Promotions department for The Fox, Rock 101, CKNW, and News 1130. Raman hopes to begin training soon as a News Anchor for CKNW.

UPDATE - Steve Burden, a grad from way back, dropped us a line to let us know that he is now on the air in Dawson Creek, BC at Radio 890, known as the Peace Country's country. Steve will be on the air weekends at 890. He writes, "I would like to thank everyone at Columbia Academy for helping me achieve a lifelong dream of mine. I will always be grateful for everything you taught me."

Dylan "Bob Thomas" Hinkleman landed his first production job just before graduating. He's been hired on as a Production Editor for Vancouver's Info-Chip Communications, one of North America's leading providers of custom digital audio solutions for on-hold, internet, and multimedia networks.

Scott Campbell landed his first job only weeks after graduating. Scott was hired as the Morning Show Co-Host doing News & Sports for Newcap's new Big Dog 103.5 FM radio in Lac La Biche, Alberta, about 200 kilometres north-east of Edmonton. Scott will also take on a host of other duties at the station.

Recent grad Mindy Singh and brand new grad, Puneet Dhami have both landed jobs with RJ1200, a Vancouver Hindi and Punjabi radio station. They will be doing on-air shifts as well as production and other duties for the station.

Video & Film Production Jobs

UPDATE - VFP grad, Awoba Bob-Manuel Wallace, is now working on a documentary on women in politics.  Her short film was a finalist in the ION Film Festival in 2009.  She was recently co-writer and director of a play, Oluronbi The Musical, in Lagos, Nigeria, which was well received.

UPDATE - VFP grad, Jeff Yaworski, is now working for Arri as a Rushes Colorist in Munich, Germany.  He writes to say, "I am still amazed sometimes that you inspired me to do so much in my time in Vancouver.  Without that, I would have never ended up being here doing the things that I am now able to do.  I realized at my time in Columbia Academy that a member of the film industry is something that I really wanted to be, and I thank my lucky stars that I am here and doing my dream job.  Some say that a 'rushes colorist' is the least glamorous of the colorist positions, but I am loving it every single day."

UPDATE - VFP grad, Adrian Patterson, is producing a series for Vancouver's Novus TV called, Hibachi in the Rain, a cooking show hosted by Jessica Hill and Meghan Kingsley.

UPDATE - VFP grad, Hiroshi Hayano, wrote to tell us that he has been working for NHK (Japan's national TV network) on a documentary for Mai Kuraki, a well known Japanese vocalist.

VFP grad, Samantha Witala, recently updated us on her career, "I'm currently in Seattle. I've just finished up an internship with KOMO TV for editing.  Before I left I was working with CHUM Radio (in Vancouver) as a Producer for the morning and mid morning show. I've also worked as the Post Production Assistant for the TV series "Psych" when it first started filming in Vancouver.  I'm in Vancouver for the next week working on a music video for an artist by the name of Nessa V as an Editor and an AD.  We are working with the RED camera and Final Cut Studio 2.

UPDATE - VFP grad, Levan Fernandez, dropped us a line to let us know what he's been up to since graduation.  "I used to work in NBC-Telemundo directing and TD for news at 6pm and 11pm and also a 30 min live on tape show.  I did it for almost 6 years and before that at Univision and another station in the Bay Area KTSF-26.  Since I left the Academy I started working in news, one year at master control, camera and then jumped into TD and directing.  I'm missing that, all that action, especially the Olympics and elections.  A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from NBC for Directing again, I'm just waiting for the anwser to return to San Francisco."

VFP grad Shane 'Fresh' Holford has returned to his home in Barbados and is super-busy. He's opened his own production company, Fresh Productionz where he's editing and doing color correction and image polishing for a number of clients. He is also heading up the wedding video department of a new company as well as working on music videos, awards shows, and a bunch more. Busy guy!

UPDATE - Video & Film grad Stephanie Lehman, who has been working for Canada's TSN (The Sports Network) since graduation writes to say, "Things are going really well. I'm now cutting our headlines and bumpers, as well as the Sportscentre Top 10's and any other special features that you see on the show. Still doing the highlight packs but not as much as I seem to be making my way slowly up the ladder.
It's nice because now I get to be more creative instead of just telling you what happened in whatever game."

Andry Razafimanantsoa, a recent VFP grad, has returned to his native Madagascar and has been very busy since returning. He has already produced two documentaries and two music videos. He's "working like a dog" (just like we told him would) but loving every minute of it. He just completed a promotional video for the government of Madagascar called, "Madgascar, Island of Opportunities".

Chris Alarcon was hired as an Editor with busy Vancouver production company,  Basetwo Media, owned by three other Columbia grads, Jonathan Galbraith, Jeff Pelletier, and Tom Marchand.

Sohrab Sandhu has been hired as an Editor and Camera Operator for Music Waves and Red FM in Vancouver.

UPDATE - Aziz Dhamani e-mailed to let us know that he has just wrapped as a 2nd AD for a short film shot in HD in his native country, Bangladesh. He writes, "We had a team from Britain shooting the feature which will be premiered at the Toronto Film Festival."

Recording & Sound Design Jobs

UPDATE - Grad Matt Dawson is now doing ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) mixing for North Vancouver's busy post-production sound facility, Sharpe Sound. Matt started in the computer room at Matt but moved into ADR when they realized that his talents were being wasted in the computer room. Matt joins a number of incredibly successful Columbia Academy grads already working at Sharpe Sound. (Editor's Note: Matt recently worked on ADR for the block-buster big budget film, 2012.)

RSD grad, Nathan Dunlop, called recently to update us on his career. He is now supervising all of the live sound engineering at the 300 acre Spruce Meadows Equestrian Centre just outside of Calgary, Alberta.

RSD Sound Design grad, Chris Jackson, dropped us a line to say that he has just re-launched his label, Rapid Fire Records, and has put out a digital e.p. every two weeks since.  They have been signing Canadian electronic music producers from coast to coast and making waves across the world on podcasts and radio.  They are on their 17th release right now and booked through to November, 2009.

RSD Sound Design grad, Nathan Lin, has been busy since returning to Taiwan.  He has been working on the sound design for various short films, a stage play, and even music recording for a soprano.

RSD Sound Design grad, Eric MacPherson, has been hired on to do Location Sound Boom Operating and Mixing for Vancouver's Make Believe Entertainment. Make Believe specializes in documentary productions.

RSD Sound Design grad, Quentin de Lorenzis, has opened his own recording space, The Woods Studio.

RSD grad, Steve Pitawanakwat, has been hired as the Head Recording Engineer at KAYA (Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association) in Vancouver. Steve's teaching kids how to record and express themselves through music.

RSD student, Andre Nadler-Behnka had a great time working as part of the stage crews on the massive Pemberton Music Festival, featuring Nine Inch Nails, The Tragically Hip, Jay-Z, Tom Petty, and Coldplay.  Lots of work and very little sleep, but he learned a ton and got to listen to some great bands.

RSD grad Shawn Fennell dropped a note to let us know that he was nominated for two Leo Awards recently under the category of 'Short Drama' for Best Overall Sound and Best Sound Editing. He didn't win, but was honoured to be nominated. Shawn says, "You all rock down there at Columbia Academy!" So do you, Shawn. Congratulations on the great work.

RSD grad "Special K" (Kevyn Callender) has been working hard since graduation back home in his island paradise of Barbados. He recently did live sound engineering for a big concert featuring performers from London and Barbados.

RSD grad Parlange Diaz has been working as a Recording Engineer for busy Vancouver producer/singer-songwriter, Chin Injeti, co-founder of the band, Bass is Base.

Current RSD student, Scott Armstrong, has been busy working with Nasco Staffing Solutions in Vancouver, loading and unloading semi-trailers for major concerts. He recently did the huge Kanye West show, the Van Halen reunion show (where he got to watch the show from just off-stage - how cool is that?) and worked with the boys from Bon Jovi when their two shows rocked Van City last December.

RSD grad Goran Samardziski has been hired on full time as a Media Technician for the BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver. Goran will be recording and editing audio as well as shooting and editing video for the in-house media department of the busy hospital.

Chris Stoness has had quite a ride in his new career since his recent graduation. While still in school, Chris interned as a Studio Runner at Bryan Adams' reknowned Vancouver studio, The Warehouse. Chris decided to make his own way, though, and shortly after, created his own artist development company, while still engineering on the side. Chris says that he's busier than he ever thought possible so soon and that things are going great.? Chris is now playing bass for a hot new local band. 

Columbia Academy Recording & Sound Design grad, Jamie Ferland landed a great engineering job at Moko Productions in Prince George, BC with former CA grad, Moses Kostamo. Jamie helped Moses build a new studio where they recorded music and worked on post-production projects. Jamie was also doing live sound engineering at events throughout Northern BC.