CHCH TV losing Nick Dixon and Carly Conway to Toronto competition
Hamilton Spectator By Natalie Paddon
CHCH is losing a news anchor and assignment editor to television stations up the highway.
Nick Dixon, who has been at the station for more than 11 years, is heading to CP24 for an anchor and reporter position, and Carly Conway is leaving for CTV Toronto.
Both staffers handed in their resignations Tuesday.
"It's the right move at this point in my career," Dixon said. "It's been an amazing ride to work here, but this amazing opportunity has presented itself at CP24, and I'd be pretty foolish not to take it."
Conway, who has worked at CHCH for five years, echoed a similar sentiment.
"I just think it's a good next step career-wise," she said. "I love Hamilton, and I love CH … but it was personally, what do I want to do next and where do I want to go?"
Reporter Sean Leathong also recently left to take a position at CTV Toronto.
In December, the television station underwent a shakeup. Channel Zero announced the subsidiary that employed CH's on-air personalities, producers and camera operators had filed for bankruptcy.
All employees were terminated, but some were offered new jobs with a privately held numbered company.
Channel Zero had taken over a troubled CHCH from Canwest Television Limited Partnership in 2009.
Dixon said it hasn't been determined if he'll have an on-air goodbye, but he'd like to bid farewell to the "viewers who have been committed through a whole lot of tumultuous times in the 11.5 years."
"A lot of great times but obviously a couple more recently and then of course seven years ago another sort of hiccup shall we say," he added.
After the restructuring, Dixon said he started poking around a little more than usual to see what else was out there.
"It certainly played a part, but it's not the be-all, end-all reason for my decision," he said.
Conway said the overhaul also contributed to her decision to leave.
"It has a lot to do with that," she said. "I didn't see myself leaving until what happened in December."
"It was just thinking what was best for me."
Vice-president of news Mike Katrycz said CHCH offers people a chance to develop their careers and a platform to showcase their talent, including to Toronto.
"We've developed some great people over the years, and they've hired some of them," said Katrycz, who has been at the station for 15 years. "This is the story that we've had going on for years and years."
When asked about the role of December's restructuring on recent departures, he said, "There's great uncertainty in the entire industry."
"We're still here, we're still serving the community, we're not going anywhere."
Dixon and Conway talked about how much they appreciated their time at CHCH.
"The great thing about CH is that it's big enough where you're really working on news and stories that impact people, but it's small enough where you have so many opportunities to learn and get so much experience," Conway said.
npaddon@thespec.com
905-526-2420 | @NatatTheSpec
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/66...o-competition/
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