Barry Morgan gets permanent mid-day gig on CJAD; The Exchange debuts

It is now official. Barry Morgan has received a nice promotion at CJAD Radio, confirmed by brand director Chris Bury as the new permanent host of the mid-day Noon to 3 p.m. show.  He moves over from his evening shift to replace the duo of Ric Peterson and Suzanne Desautels.

Barry Morgan

Filling the gap for Morgan from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. will be a new show called The Exchange, featuring a rotation of hosts: Dan Delmar on Mondays, Matt Gurney  of  The National Post on Tuesdays and Thursdays  and political commentator Supriya Dwivedi on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Good for my old friend Barry, whom I first met when we attended the Concordia University Journalism Program  some 30 years ago. I was the sports editor of The Concordian Newspaper and in walked Barry, looking for a chance to write.  I gave him the soccer beat. Barry had a great set of pipes and worked his way up through the ranks of CJAD news and sports, tried his hand at television, enjoyed a stint at 940 News and the former Q92 and then resurfaced at CJAD. For the last couple of years he has been a jack of all trades, mainly hosting evenings, but filling in doing sports, the morning show and the weekday drive. 

 "Ever since I was a kid growing up in Ville St Laurent, I wanted to work in radio," Morgan is quoted as saying on the CJAD website. "I never imagined myself doing anything else."

The Exchange  promises to entertain and create buzz. Each night a different host goes head-to-head with a guest commentator. CJAD says to expect strong debate, lively discussion and some laughs. Any topic is fair game.

For the evening rotation, Delmar will stick around Mondays after co-hosting Today's Entrepreneurs at 7 p.m. This happens to be one of the more interesting shows on local radio, sponsored by the accounting firm Fuller Landau. Producer Stephanie Darwish and co-host and firm partner Josh Miller always come up with interesting guests. Dan, who runs his own PR firm, is a true talent. I still believe he has a full-time future in broadcast media.

Gurney is columnist and editor at the National Post, where he also serves as an editorial board member. He is a familiar face on televised political panels, having appeared on MTV Canada, CTS, CTV and the CBC, and is heard frequently across the country on national and local radio programs. He joined Toronto's CFRB NewsTalk 1010 (also part of Bell Media) as a regular contributor in 2011, and serves as a guest host when regular CFRB on-air personalities are absent. 

The  fluently trilingual Dwivedi is ( English, French and Hindii) graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from McGill University  and upon completion she was accepted into both medical and law school. Much to the chagrin of her parents, she opted to pursue the legal route where she could finally use her argumentative powers for good. She completed her LL.B in civil law at the University of Montreal.

Supriya Dwivdei

 

Another new CJAD regular to salute is morning news reporter  Tina Tenneriello, who effectively replaces Laura Casella (now with City Montreal TV).  Tina has an exceptionally smooth delivery and I have already seen in person how she works her magic on the iphone, literally editing her stories in seconds. I am working on mastering the proper pronunciation of her name.

Finally, Bury appears to be making early progress on bringing the TSN 690 operation closer to CJAD. Sportscasts are now billed as coming from the TSN Sports Centre. CJAD's Rick Moffat is now also part of the TSN 690 morning show while TSN's Mitch Gallo works for both the Mitch Melnick and Aaron Rand Shows. Abe Hefter and Moffat have crossed over to TSN shows and I am sure this is only the beginning.