Newstalk 580 CFRA launches The Vassy Kapelos Show

Veteran political journalist Vassy Kapelos will be hosting a new, national radio show starting today.

Kapelos, newly named CTV’s Chief Political Correspondent, will host The Vassy Kapelos Show weekdays from noon to 2 p.m. on Newstalk 580 CFRA in Ottawa and across the iHeartRadio Canada talk network.

“It’s going to be really fun,” Kapelos told CTV News at Six. “I know it’s not supposed to be all the time hard core politics, even though that’s what I love, so there will be a lot of that, but there will be some fun to be had, especially through the holiday season and the lead-up to Christmas.”

She says she also hopes there will be more interactions with the people affected by the political decisions that will be covered on the new show.

“The big issue right now is cost of living, second to that, maybe tied at times, sometimes higher, is health care. I am curious to see the ways in which various parties continue to navigate them,” she said. “If there is one issue that has kind of delineated parties from each other in the past six months, it has been the cost of living crisis in this country.”

Prior to joining CTV News and Newstalk 580 CFRA, Kapelos was host of CBC’s Power & Politics. Previously, she was Global News’ Ottawa Bureau Chief and host of The West Block. Before working in Ottawa, she covered provincial politics in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Kapelos says she’s excited to broadcast on radio.

“There can be lots of big interviews with major players that are tough, and that’s certainly the direction I want to take it in, but also, I have the opportunity to talk to people who are impacted by political decisions… and actually talk to them live. That’s something I’ve never experienced before,” she told CTV News Montreal, where the Vassy Kapelos Show will air weekdays on CJAD 800.

In addition to hosting The Vassy Kapelos Show weekdays on radio, she is also host CTV News Channel’s marquee daily political program Power Play, as well as Question Period, CTV’s weekly political program of record.

Kapelos is a two-time Canadian Screen Award winner for Best Live Production, Social Media (2020), for CBC’s coverage of the B.C. byelection that saw Jagmeet Singh win his seat in Parliament, and Best Talk Program or Series (2021), for Power & Politics. She also received the 2021 Leitch Lecture Award from the University of Alberta and University of Calgary’s faculties of Law after delivering a lecture on the political effect of the COVID-19 health crisis in Canada.

Born in Toronto, Kapelos graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then from Dalhousie University with a Master of Arts.

The Vassy Kapelos Show airs weekday afternoons from 12 to 2 p.m. ET across iHeartRadio Canada Talk Network stations, including Newstalk 580 CFRA in Ottawa, CJAD 800 in Montréal, NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto, 610 CKTB in St. Catharines, 1290 CJBK in London, AM800 CKLW in Windsor, AM1150 in Kelowna, CFAX 1070 in Victoria.

All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across the country via live stream on iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio Canada app. 

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