Jocelyn Martin

Jocelyn Martin covers the intersection of local music, arts and community life for CTV News, often focusing on how concerts, festivals and creative projects support causes and engage audiences. She is a journalist at the network’s Barrie bureau and works across shooting and editing stories, writing for the web and managing the website, bringing more than a decade of radio and television experience and a strong background in audio and video production, writing and story development to her reporting. Her work reflects a clear passion for music, community and storytelling, with a consistent emphasis on live performance, artist lineups and the local impact of cultural events.

Local music and live performance coverage

Music coverage is a central thread in Martin’s recent work, with a steady stream of stories about concerts and performances that matter to local audiences. She reports on touring country artists and multi-stop tours, such as a feature on Canadian country musicians embarking on the Great Canadian Roadtrip tour, detailing participating performers, the number of stops and the overall concept of the tour. Her articles on venue programming, including the Casino Rama lineup, highlight a mix of country, classical, rock and international pop, naming artists like Jake Owen, Dustin Lynch, The Tenors, ASIA, tribute bands to The Tragically Hip and Italian pop band Pooh, alongside dates, times and ticket price ranges.

Martin also tracks the festival side of the music beat, with coverage of events such as the Tall Pines music festival, where she lays out headliners and supporting acts including Paul Langlois of The Tragically Hip, Hawksley Workman & The Wolves, The Tea Party and ODDS, and notes the schedule and festival setting. Her reporting on the Troubadour Festival Local Opener Showcase and related Summer Concert Series focuses on opportunities for emerging performers, outlining submission deadlines, jury selection dates and the structure of a waterfront concert series spread over multiple weekends. Across these pieces she consistently supplies practical information—lineups, schedules, venues and ticket details—alongside clear attention to genre, from country to rock and classical, positioning her coverage as a guide to the live music landscape in her patch.

Music, charity and community initiatives

A distinguishing aspect of Martin’s music reporting is the way she ties performances to charitable and community goals. In one story on a fundraising concert featuring a Juno Award–winning artist, she foregrounds the more than $135,000 raised for people with developmental disabilities, making the beneficiary community and the financial outcome central to the piece. Her coverage of the Great Canadian Roadtrip tour similarly frames the event as “for [a] worthy cause,” connecting country performers with a broader charitable mission and explaining how the tour’s structure supports that goal.

Beyond ticketed concerts, Martin writes about initiatives that blend music with other forms of public engagement, such as a town project that combines public art and live music and invites artists to submit original works for a community selection process. She also covers a unique community art project designed to bring awareness to deafblindness, emphasizing how creative work can be used to spotlight disability and accessibility issues. Together, these stories show that she does more than list events: she tracks how the local music and arts scenes are used to raise funds, support disability communities and build shared public spaces, often giving equal weight to artistic content and social impact.

Arts, lifestyle and local service reporting

While music and arts are recurring subjects, Martin’s portfolio also includes lifestyle and service journalism aimed at helping residents navigate everyday concerns. She writes practical guidance pieces, such as a detailed article on keeping homes safe during winter weather, in which she relays expert advice on evaluating trees, inspecting roofs and fences, clearing eavestroughs, insulating outdoor pipes and knowing how to shut off utilities to reduce risks from storms and freezing conditions. Her reporting on seasonal topics extends to coverage of sunshine and above-zero temperatures around Family Day, framing local weather as part of holiday planning and daily life.

Martin covers health-related service stories, including a call to “Celebrate Canada Day by giving blood,” where she underscores the importance of blood donation and positions the holiday as an opportunity to contribute to the healthcare system. Animal welfare and safety also feature in her work, such as a piece on the Ontario SPCA taking in 22 cats and five dogs from northern communities until they find permanent homes, and a report on a young man charged with dangerous operation of a jet ski, which sets out key facts about the incident and resulting charges. She reports on recreation and tourism infrastructure through articles like the planned makeover of Mount St. Louis ahead of the 2026/27 season, describing new amenities such as a European-style beer hall and expanded dining options at the summit and in the chalet. These stories show a consistent approach: clear, fact-heavy coverage that explains what is happening, who is affected and what residents need to know in practical terms.

Multiplatform storytelling and production background

Martin’s professional background underpins her style of coverage across these beats. She works for CTV News in multiple roles, including shooting and editing stories, writing for digital platforms and managing the website, which gives her direct involvement in both the visual and written presentation of local news. She has over 10 years of experience in radio and television and a strong foundation in audio and video production, writing and story development. Her own description of her work highlights a passion for music, community and storytelling and notes a focus on local music in her journalism.

That mix of production skills and editorial experience aligns with the way her pieces integrate event logistics, artistic detail and community impact, particularly around concerts, festivals and public art projects. Whether covering a country tour, a multi-genre venue lineup, a fundraising concert or a collaborative arts initiative, Martin’s reporting stays close to the specifics—names, dates, numbers, locations—while situating music and art within wider community narratives. For communications teams working around live performance, cultural programming or community-based initiatives, her body of work points to a journalist who consistently engages with stories where music and arts are tied to local participation, charity and everyday life.