CBC News team
Kristina Barnes
Kristina Barnes is the Host/Producer of CBC Calgary:Late Night.
Born and raised just west of the city, Kristina loves that she has been able to spend her entire television career in Calgary. After earning her diploma in Broadcasting at Mount Royal College, Kristina joined the CBC Newsworld team (now CBC NewsNetwork). Much of her time with Newsworld was as Host and Producer of several news programs for teens. From Nunavut to The Netherlands, Kristina most enjoyed travelling to find the stories that would connect young Canadians to the world around them. She was honoured for her work by the Canadian Cable Television Association, twice winning a Galaxi Award for Outstanding Achievement in Educational Programming. Kristina has also worked as a Writer, Lineup Editor, Reporter, Producer and Host for other various CBC programs.
Kristina is one of the Calgarians who looks forward to ten days in July, when the Stampede turns our city into the Wild West. She gets a kick out of talking to people from around the world who come to see and participate in the parade, the afternoon rodeo and evening chuckwagon races. During the Stampede Kristina is part of the CBC Sports coverage, interviewing the cowboys and cowgirls who come to our city to compete.
Despite having travelled extensively, Kristina still believes the best view in the world can be seen looking west from Calgary across an open field to the Rocky Mountains. These days when she travels, it's more likely to be a camping trip. She can also been found coaching and volunteering in a number of minor sports, trying to learn how to kickbox, and playing with monster trucks! Some day Kristina also hopes to once again find the time to curl up with a good book.
Carla Beynon | Email
Carla was born in Calgary and raised just outside the city in the beautiful community of Cochrane.
After graduation from Mount Royal College, she spent 5 years with CTV Saskatchewan. First as a Video Journalist in Yorkton, and then as a VJ and anchor in Regina. In 2007, Carla was named Co-Anchor of Saskatchewan's top-rated newscast. She spent a lot of time volunteering in the community and speaking at events.
Carla has won regional and national RTNDF Scholarships as a student for a radio documentary. She also received the Provincial and National RTNDA Dave Rogers Award for a Long TV Feature in 2008.
Carla's passion is telling stories about amazing people who make a difference in our world.
Erin Collins | Email | Twitter @albertareporter
Erin Collins has been calling Calgary home off and on since 1989 when he moved here from Saskatchewan.
Since then, he has also lived and worked all across Canada and around the world. Some of his favorite stops include working for the CBC in the Arctic, spending a year backpacking across East Africa (where he met his wife Nynne while pretending to surf) and taking a master's degree in international relations in Denmark.
Erin started with CBC Calgary in 1999 and loves telling stories that combine his curiosity for the world and his passion for politics and the environment. It's that passion that won Erin an award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association for the spying scandal involving the Energy and Utilities Board that plagued the Alberta government in 2007.
When he's not chasing down stories, Erin's chasing down pucks on the ice with his hockey team and chasing after his son Oskar everywhere else.
Sonya Denton | Email | Twitter @dentons
It was while living in Germany and studying at the University of Cologne that Sonya discovered she had a passion for telling stories and decided on a career in news.
Sonya's TV career has taken her to Northern Ontario where she reported and anchored for CTV in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. She has a television broadcasting degree from Ryerson University.
Raised in Calgary, Sonya is happy to be back in the city doing what she loves to do in the dynamic environment of the CBC newsroom.
Outside of work, Sonya can be found practicing yoga, cooking and spending time with family and friends.
Scott Dippel | Email
Scott Dippel was born and raised in Calgary. He has a journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and has worked in four provinces over the past two decades. His roles have included legislative reporter, news reader, assignment editor and national reporter. Scott’s many reporting assignments for the CBC have included Parliament Hill, filing from Australia in the mid and late 1990s as well as stints in several smaller cities in Canada.
Scott is now CBC Calgary’s municipal affairs reporter. While he enjoys any story involving politics, elections and leadership races are a particular interest.
Outside of work, Scott enjoys cycling, travelling and spending time with his family.
Doug Dirks | Email | Twitter @dirkscbcsports
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, become sports broadcasters."
CBC Sports Specialist Doug Dirks has been proving that motto (yes, he made that up himself) for more than two decades now.
Following a brief career as a forward on “the worst college hockey team in history”, Doug moved on to a distinguished career in sports journalism. The award-winning broadcaster has covered everything from the Grey Cup to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Doug has also appeared extensively at the network level as a commentator for triathlons, speedskating, show jumping, luge, rodeo, and Hockey Day in Canada.
His career highlight is doing play-by-play of beach and indoor volleyball for CBC Sports at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, calling 61 matches for CBC, TSN, and the BBC.
A graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Mount Royal College in Calgary, and Humber College in Toronto, Doug is married to a wonderful woman and has two terrific kids. He's encouraging them to pursue careers in more respectable fields.
Tara Fedun | Email | Twitter @fedun
Born in Mackenzie, B.C., Tara has spent most of her career in Alberta and B.C.
After graduating from SAIT in 2001, she snagged a job at CKNW Newstalk 980 in B.C. Tara worked her way from traffic reporter to news reporter and then to anchor. She moved to Vancouver Island to work in A-Channel's Nanaimo bureau for two years, before answering the call back to the Rockies and a radio position with CHQR.
Tara is a general news reporter for CBC News: Calgary.
Tara says she feels right at home again in Calgary, reconnecting with old friends, enjoying the sunshine, the mountains and of course, the great skiing.
Dave Gilson | Email
Dave Gilson has been with CBC Calgary for nine years. He's worked as a lineup producer, show producer and network producer before bringing his experience and expertise to the role of reporter.
Outside the CBC, Dave loves spending time with his wife and two young kids. When he's not doing that, you can find him out hiking, mountain scrambling or snowshoeing in Alberta's backcountry.
Meghan Grant | Email
Meghan has been with CBC Calgary since 2008. She began working in radio with the current affairs shows as an associate producer and eventually moved on to reporting for radio and television. Previously, Meghan worked as a producer for Pink Dog Productions in Halifax. She holds degrees in Journalism from the University of King's College and Sociology from Bishop's University.
Born in St. John's and raised in Halifax, Meghan's grown fond of Calgary but still considers herself a Bluenoser at heart.
After work, Meghan spends her time chasing her son around and showering him with hugs and kisses before he decides he's too cool for that.
Kirk Heuser | Email
Kirk is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist. He has been reporting, anchoring and hosting on television and radio in Alberta for more than a decade.
Born and raised in Red Deer, he started at CBC Radio in Edmonton then spent the last eight years focused on political reporting for television stations in Edmonton and Calgary. January 2009 marked his return to the CBC, this time here in Calgary.
Kirk was a professional actor before becoming a journalist. He still takes on the occasional movie or TV project including a recurring role on the CBC-TV series, Heartland. Kirk and his wife, AMPIA-winning actor Chantal Perron, are also cast members of Dirty Laundry, Calgary's only completely live, completely improvised soap opera.
Leighton Klassen | Email
Leighton first cut his teeth in journalism when he took a job as senior editor at the University of Winnipeg student newspaper. Graduating in Communications in 2006, he went on to write for Winnipeg's weekly newspapers, The St. Paul Journal, and the Portage Daily Graphic before starting his career in radio news at CBC Manitoba.
While there, he covered several stories in crime and aboriginal issues.
In fall 2008, he made the move to Calgary where he's been a general assignment reporter ever since.
In his spare time, Leighton enjoys playing hockey, skiing, and hiking.
Bryan Labby | Email | Twitter @bryanlabby
Bryan is a proud third-generation Albertan who discovered his passion for journalism early on.
Reporting for his high school newspaper in Edmonton led to the Columbia School of Broadcasting. After graduation, Bryan became the news director in a one-person newsroom in Castlegar, B.C., and then the morning news anchor and general assignment reporter at a private radio station in Kelowna, B.C.
Bryan returned to Alberta to work for Calgary's CFAC 960 AM anchoring the afternoon news for four years, before switching to television for A-Channel, reporting and anchoring the weekend newscast for six years.
In 2007, he "headed across the river" and landed at CBC Calgary.
Bryan is a bit of fitness fanatic. He's completed several triathlons and marathons. When not at work, Bryan is busy at home with his wife and three daughters.
Mary-Catherine McIntosh | Email
Mary-Catherine learned to tell stories in her grandparents' kitchen.
She scored her first journalism gig when she was eight, hosting a variety show on the local cable channel in her hometown of Charlottetown.
Mary-Catherine has a masters degree in journalism from Carleton University.
She was the 2009 winner of the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Greg Clark Award for her stories on temporary foreign workers.
Nirmala Naidoo | Email
Nirmala Naidoo is the Anchor of CBC News Calgary at 5, 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. seen weekdays on CBC Television in Calgary and southern Alberta.
With two decades of experience as a journalist, she has worked in Canada and abroad covering a variety of stories including the Gulf War, British Elections and IRA bombings.
Nirmala has received numerous awards for her work that include Best Anchor; Best Reporting; Best Documentary and Best Series. She has been profiled in cover stories in Time magazine in 2001 and in Calgary’s popular style magazine Avenue, in December 2009. As well, she has twice been voted one of Calgary Magazine's Top 40 under 40, and was featured on the cover of one of those issues.
The mother of two young boys, Nirmala works closely with several community organizations and charities, but those causes nearest to her heart are those that help minorities – women, persons who are physically or economically challenged and new immigrants.
Nirmala holds Degrees in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Alberta as well as a Graduate Honours Journalism Degree from Carleton University.
Danielle Savoni | Email
Danielle Savoni is CBC Calgary's Meteorologist.
Back in 1997 Danielle was on a cruise in the Caribbean with her family. This was during a strong El Niño episode that caused some crazy weather. It was cold, windy and the boat was rocking back and forth so much that most of the people on the cruise ship were sea sick. Danielle was amazed that a change in sea surface temperatures could cause such a change in weather patterns. By that point, she became genuinely interested in weather.
Since then, Danielle has obtained a double degree from the University of Western Ontario in Business and Psychology, a Journalism Diploma (with honours) from Humber College and a Broadcast Meteorology degree from Mississippi State University. Danielle has done local and national weather in Ontario before moving out to CBC Calgary.
According to Danielle, Calgary is the best place in the country. It's one of the top 5 sunniest cities in Canada, temperatures can climb to 15 degrees in the middle of winter and there are times that you can golf and ski the rockies in the same day.
When she is not busy bringing you the latest weather forecast, you'll find Danielle snowboarding, walking her puggle, just hanging out with her Fiancé and friends at a local restaurant or shopping.
Terri Trembath | Email
Terri is a videojournalist, shooting, editing and reporting stories for CBC News: Calgary.
Born in the thriving metropolis of Cabri, Sask. (a town of 500 people), Terri graduated from the Lethbridge Community College with two diplomas — one in radio communications and one in television broadcasting.
After five years as a camera operator and editor with CKSA in Lloydminster and with Calgary's A-Channel, Terri jumped at the chance to write and report for Global Maritimes as a videojournalist. She packed up her car for the trek to Nova Scotia, staying there for four years.
Back in Calgary now, Terri likes to spend her free time on the squash courts, taking advantage of the city's biking trails and hitting the nearby slopes on her snowboard.
Tara Weber | Email
Tara Weber is a TV/Radio reporter and host.
She has filed stories from newsrooms across the country, including Toronto, Yellowknife, Windsor and Calgary.
Tara has been part of teams nominated for an RTNDA award as well as for the New York Festivals.
She has a Journalism degree from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from UBC Okanagan.
Being from Western Canada's Wine country, Tara enjoys practising attuning her palate to a great glass of red. She also likes to curl up with a good book or movie at home.
Colleen Underwood | Email
Colleen was an X-ray technologist in Edmonton before a passing conversation with a veteran reporter inspired her. The reporter told Colleen that journalism is "the type of job where you never know what you will be doing until you get there, and you learn something new every day."
That's when Colleen began volunteering with a local newspaper. She moved to Calgary and graduated from the applied journalism program at Mount Royal College in 2004.
Colleen has worked for both CBC Radio and TV in Calgary and Regina, as well as a reporter for Shaw TV.
Her passions include reading, running and yoga — and an addiction to taking courses. Her next project is to learn how to sew her own clothes after getting a machine for Christmas.
She also admits that she hasn't completely stopped cheering for the Oilers or the Eskimos. "It's hard to give up such loyalty after having grown up in Edmonton — but I try," she says.
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CBC News: Calgary