Bill Welychka is best known for his time at MuchMusic, but what you might not know is that after his 13 years with the channel, he chose to go into local news, culminating in spending more than a decade at CKWS-TV in Kingston where he was part of cutbacks at Corus Entertainment last year and ultimately chose to walk away from media.

Welychka has since published the second edition of his memoir, A Happy Has Been: Exciting Times and Lessons Learned.

He joins Broadcast Dialogue - The Podcast to talk about his media journey, the aftermath of major downsizing in the Kingston market, his love affair with the city, and what he's up to now.

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Inside the CCSA Conference – Where Telecoms Exchange Ideas and Gain the Collective Scale to Win

In this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast we take a deep dive into the vital role of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA) and its CONNECT Conference in supporting independent broadcast and telecom operators. We look at how the CCSA serves as a critical lifeline and a powerful collective brain trust, enabling members to secure essential content deals, forge strategic technology partnerships, and compete credibly with larger national carriers. Highlighting the conference’s unique environment of complete transparency and shared best practices, this episode emphasizes the association’s mission to future-proof its members by encouraging them to stop working in the business and start working on it, particularly by addressing the exponential challenges and opportunities posed by AI and focusing on long-term resilience and community service.

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Deepa Prashad, one-half of the Daryn & Deepa show on Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) Toronto, has been named the 2025 Young Broadcaster of the Year.

Presented annually in memory of late programmer Steve Young, the award is voted on by past honourees and was handed out this year alongside Broadcast Dialogue's Canadian Radio Awards.

Deepa joins Broadcast Dialogue - The Podcast to talk about her meteoric rise in radio, developing her passion for what's essentially her second full-time job - content creation, representing her West Indian heritage, and more.

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For more than 80 years, Dielectric has earned their reputation for providing the most sophisticated antenna signal transmission solutions. Their unique processes help their clients get it right with an up-front design ethos, monitor and predict failures, even respond to and recover from catastrophic weather events in record time.

Keith Pelletier is President of Dielectric and he’s here to provide an update on how they’re doing it!

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The 2025 Canadian Radio Awards were hosted by Connie Thiessen (Broadcast Dialogue) and Matt Cundill (The Sound Off Podcast) on Friday November 28, 2025. You can watch the entire show on the Broadcast Dialogue YouTube and Linked In Pages.

A full list of winners can be found here.

By station, Stingray Radio’s boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM) Toronto won three awards, including Program Director of the Year for Troy McCallum, On-Air (solo) Host of the Year for morning man Stu Jeffries, and Music Director of the Year for Wayne Webster.

boom 97.3 was also the runner-up for Station of the Year (Large Market), with Pattison Media’s 102.3 NOW! Radio (CKNO-FM) Edmonton taking the honour for a second year in a row.

Other stations picking up multiple wins included Northern Native Broadcasting’s CFNR Terrace, BC. The not-for-profit station earned the Best Campus or Community Station honour, while Matt Fisher was named Program Director of the Year (Small Market).

Independent station Moose FM (CKFU-FM) in Fort St. John, BC also earned two awards – Station of the Year (Small Market) and Best Podcast (Small Market).

By radio group, Rogers Sports & Media came away with a leading five awards, followed by Vista Radio (4), Bell Media (3), and Stingray Radio (3).

Other groups recognized include Evanov Communications, Harvard Media, Pattison Media, Whiteoaks Communications Group, Golden West Broadcasting, Novacast Media, and Newfoundland Broadcasting, in addition to not-for-profit creative collective, the Pro Bono Group.

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While there was little in the recent federal budget for commercial radio and television broadcasters, Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) President Kevin Desjardins believes there's still reason for optimism in the sector.

We welcome Desjardins back to Broadcast Dialogue - The Podcast to talk about the CAB's ongoing lobby efforts to help set private broadcasters up for success, the current climate on Parliament Hill, and more.

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Peter Bissonnette's memoir Count On Me reflects on the retired telecom executive's decades in the cable, internet and media industry - from humble beginnings to rising to the position of President of Shaw Communications.

Bissonnette joins Broadcast Dialogue - The Podcast to share his personal and professional journey, informed by values of integrity, empathy and fairness. He also shares his ethos on the importance of belief in oneself, the power of visualization and affirmations, and takes us behind-the-scenes of some of the most transformative deals in Canadian telecom and broadcast history.

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Across the U.S., broadcasters are proving what radio has always known that it drives real results.

In this episode of Broadcast Dialogue - The Podcast, our U.S. partner Warren Kurtzman of Coleman Insights sits down to talk about how Cox Media Group is using Validate to show advertisers the measurable impact of their campaigns, connecting streaming and broadcast listening to actual website visits and conversions.

As radio faces growing pressure for accountability and attribution, Validate is giving the medium the same kind of data confidence that digital has enjoyed for years.

If you’re in Canadian radio, this is your cue. The tools are here, the proof is here and the stations using them are already winning the ROI conversation.

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