Month of May

It's been a great month to celebrate the accomplishments of Fanshawe College Broadcast Journalism graduates.

Fans of two of the four CHL teams at this years Memorial Cup in Mississauga hear the exploits of their team from Fanshawe voices.  Tim Roszell (BRJR class of '04) calls play-by-play for the Saint John Seadogs on News 88.9 (Rogers).  Roszell, a Chatham native, came to Fanshawe College in 2002 with one goal in mind - to make a career out of sports broadcasting and specifically play-by-play.  When I see Tim hold the Presidents Trophy aloft, I think of all hard work he put into perfecting his broadcasting skills.

Tim  took every volunteer opportunity he could find during his time at Fanshawe.  He started doing play-by-play for the Strathroy Rockets junior B team with a single mic plugged into the team video camera.  The games were viewed by coaches and players.  While attending Fanshawe Tim did play-by-play basketball and hockey but also volunteered for Rogers Television.  This month, he got a chance to call a rare championship winning, overtime goal as the Seadogs beat Gatineau in the QMJHL final.

Manny Paiva (BRJR class of '06) is the News Director for Bayshore Broadcasting. He is also the play-by-play voice of the Owen Sound Attack on Rogers Television and colour analyst for radio broadcasts on CFOS (Bearradio).  The Attack were all but gone in 2000 when the franchise seemed headed for Cornwall.  CFOS helped spearhead a campaign to attract local investors and keep the team in Grey-Bruce.  When Jarrod Maidens scored in overtime of the 7th game of the OHL championship series, who could blame Manny for taking a picture with the OHL trophy (Manny has the brightest smile in the picture).

The month of May continued to rain compliments on our students when the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDF) announced the winners of their national scholarships.

Stefanie Masotti (L)  Bernadette Lee 

 Four Fanshawe students and one recent Fanshawe graduate were named winners of $2,000 scholarships.   A fifth scholarship went to Fanshawe graduate Stefanie Masotti, who just completed her MA in Journalism at the University of Western Ontario.  For Stefanie, it will be her third trip to the RTNDF podium in Halifax on June 24th.  In the picture on the right, Stefanie accepts her first RTNDF Marketwire scholarship from Bernadette Lee in Toronto in June of 2009.  She has just been hired by CTV in Ottawa.  Her latest scholarship is the Cold-FX scholarship for medical reporting.

Fadi working the phones in the X-FM newsroom with Sydonie Eggett


Fadi Didi won the BNN Jim O'Connell  scholarship for business reporting.  Fadi prepared a documentary on private coffee and donut shops trying to compete against Tim Hortons.   Fadi came to our program after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with an English degree.  Fadi has a great future in our business and he lives in London, Ontario. 

Emmett Murphy was named the winner of the RTNDF scholarship for graduating students.  He did a piece on singer Justin Corriveau, who is confined to a wheelchair but loves to sing in public.  Emmett is from Ajax and has just been hired by NEWCAP Television in Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan.

Emmett (right) in studio at 106.9 CIXX-FM with Kate Roberts 

Two other students were awarded scholarships.  Micah Iman of Regina, Saskatchewan has just completed her first year of studies.  Micah won the CBC Barbara Frum scholarship for excellence in interviewing.  Micah has secured a summer job at Regina country radio station Big Dog 92.7 (Astral). Micah will return for her second year of studies in the Broadcast Journalism program in September.

Zachary Currie won the 2011 Marketwire scholarship for 1st year students.  The documentary he submitted was called Living With the Animals about a families difficulties dealing with students living in the same neighbourhood.  Zachary is enrolled in our collaborative program with the University of Western Ontario.

There certainly is pride in sharing these achievements with the students in your program.  Moreover, it feels great that their hard work is recognized in such a tangible way.  Congratulations.