By Connie Thiessen
Martin Spalding has been named the new president of Cogeco Media.
Spalding succeeds Caroline Paquet, who had held the role since July 2021. Paquet came into the job after almost two decades with Quebecor, with her most recent title there being vice president of marketing and content at Vidéotron.
A former Bell and Astral executive, Spalding has been in the Montreal market for more than 30 years. Up until 2021, he served as Bell Media’s regional vice president and general manager of local radio and television for eight years, overseeing 10 general managers in the day-to-day operations of CTV Montreal, as well as 25 French- and English-language radio stations across Quebec. Prior to that, he held the title of vice president of operations and local sales at Radio Astral.
After a five-year stint in the 1990s as program director of Montreal’s Mix 96 (CJFM-FM), he also ran the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One racing event for over a decade.
Spalding’s remit at Cogeco will cover 21 radio stations, including Montreal news talk ratings powerhouse 98.5 (CHMP-FM), 96.9 CKOI, The Beat 92.5 (CKBE-FM), Radio Circulation (CKAC-AM), the Rythme network stations in Montréal, Québec City, Mauricie, Saguenay and Estrie, and the four Planète stations in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean.
Revenue in Cogeco’s Media division was up 3.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2024, according to the company earnings report in July.
This week’s shuffle follows the announcement in May of a new operating model for the company going forward, which will be introduced Sept. 1. Headlined by structural changes to Cogeco’s executive leadership team, it sees the commercial, operational, and technical functions of its Canadian and U.S. telecommunications businesses combined into a streamlined North American-wide organization.
Frédéric Perron was appointed president and CEO of Cogeco and Cogeco Communications in March, succeeding the retiring Philippe Jetté, who had held the role since 2018.
Photo of Martin Spalding
