Kyle Freel
Kyle Freel is an afternoon news anchor and reporter at 104.7 Heart FM who concentrates on local health, public safety and community-impact stories driven by official advisories and law enforcement updates. His coverage is distinguished by a focus on what incidents, policy decisions and infrastructure projects mean for residents in practical terms, from safety warnings to water quality notices and job-creating investments. He works across breaking news, planned announcements and longer-running developments, keeping listeners current on risks, services and changes that affect everyday life.
Crime, Policing and Public Safety
Freel’s most consistent thread is crime and policing coverage, where he follows active investigations, charges and enforcement actions through to resolution. He reports on incidents such as an active police investigation in Ingersoll, detailing the increased police presence and subsequent updates as the situation evolves. He covers cases where local police lay charges after a hate-motivated assault, outlining the offences and consequences for the accused youth. His reporting includes court-related stories like a Woodstock man charged in Brant County, tracking how local residents are implicated in regional cases.
Public safety warnings are a second strand in this work, where he relays police messaging aimed at preventing harm. He has covered a swatting incident at a high school in Woodstock, explaining how a fake phone call triggered a heavy police response and how authorities handled the situation. He also reports on new scams affecting Woodstock, passing on police service warnings and describing how the scam operates so residents can recognise and avoid it. Missing person updates, such as the Oxford OPP search for and subsequent discovery of a missing teen, further show his role in sharing urgent information while following cases to their conclusion. Across these stories, he sticks closely to police and official statements and emphasises clear, actionable details for the public.
Health, Advisories and Community Wellbeing
Health-related alerts and community wellbeing form another core area of Freel’s beat, often intersecting with emergency and infrastructure issues. His coverage of a boil water advisory in Tavistock focuses on guidance from Southwestern Public Health, explaining the requirement to boil water and later confirming when the advisory ends. This type of reporting centres on what residents must do, how long measures will last and when normal service resumes.
He also covers health and wellbeing messaging tied to community events, including reminders from the OPP around the Super Bowl that stress the importance of designating a sober driver.
Freel extends this lens to the food system and its impact on health and security through coverage of Sunrise Farms’ expansion in Woodstock.
In reporting on the company’s plan to build a state-of-the-art poultry processing facility, he highlights the scale of the investment, the new jobs it is expected to create and the role the plant plays in strengthening the province’s agri-food supply chain. The story connects local economic development with food safety standards, halal-certified products and domestic processing capacity, treating the facility as part of a broader effort to secure reliable protein supply.
Together, these pieces show a health beat that ranges from immediate advisories to structural changes affecting food, safety and community wellbeing.
Politics and Civic Accountability
Freel also reports on politics and civic leadership, particularly where national developments intersect with local representation. In his coverage of Oxford MP Arpan Khanna’s reaction to a Liberal majority government, he explains how the MP frames the new political landscape and outlines his plans to advocate for his riding and hold the government to account.
The story focuses on the implications of a majority for local constituents and presents direct quotes as the central material.
His work references recurring segments such as the Warden Interview on the Heart FM Morning Show, signalling ongoing engagement with municipal leadership and policy discussions. This thread positions elected officials’ responses and commitments alongside the everyday consequences of federal and provincial decisions.
Local Announcements and Community-Focused Coverage
Beyond breaking crime and political stories, Freel covers local announcements and event-driven news with an emphasis on safety and wellbeing themes. Profiles of his work describe a focus on community events, fundraisers and initiatives that relate to crime prevention and public safety, often anchored by practical guidance from authorities.
Whether the subject is a public reminder around a major sports event, a scam warning or a boil water advisory, he keeps the framing concise and centred on how residents’ behaviour and routines may need to change. Across the newsroom schedule, his coverage knits together crime, health, politics and community announcements into a coherent local news beat oriented toward risk, responsibility and the everyday lives of listeners.
4 more health journalists.
Alanna Smith
Alanna Smith is a national health reporter whose work links health policy and politics to real access to care, with a constant focus on health equity, infectious disease and the toxic drug crisis. She reports for The Globe and Mail on infectious diseases, hospitals and long-term care, mental health, drug policy and the pressures on health systems in Western Canada. Her stories connect big-picture decisions to patients, families, front-line workers and volunteers, showing how funding, privatization and federal standards shape public care. She has covered trauma care inequities, proposed public‑private models in Alberta, drug toxicity and overdose policy, respiratory virus surges, measles elimination, gene‑editing advances and gender‑affirming health care laws. Her work combines narrative reporting, data, legal and policy analysis, and has been recognized by national journalism and press freedom organizations.
Allan Levine
Allan Levine is a historian and author whose journalism uses the past to explain present-day issues. He writes for the Winnipeg Free Press, including the Now & Then column, which examines current events through history. His subjects include public health, disease, medical treatment, health systems, politics, social conflict, strikes, wars, antisemitism and Canadian public life. His polio reporting traces Manitoba epidemics, hospital pressures, treatment, mortality and the arrival of vaccines through archival data and medical history. He also writes about the Winnipeg General Strike and Jewish communities, including discrimination, rights and security. His work draws on books about Canadian political leaders, Jewish history and the wartime economy, including The Dollar A Year Men. He writes long-form, analytical pieces that combine dates, statistics, policy decisions and narrative storytelling to connect people and institutions with broader historical change.
Angela Amato
Angela Amato is a digital news producer with CTV News, and her coverage is distinct for linking health research and public safety concerns to legal and policy decisions that shape daily life. She reports on health, justice, politics, business, arts and culture, crime and public-interest stories. Her health work covers academic and clinical research, including studies on vaping and lung blood flow, exercise tolerance and early heart dysfunction in young adults. She also reports on motorcycle gang arrests, homicide and death investigations, Indigenous justice stories, wildfire evacuations, ambulance contracts, property taxes, labour negotiations and political advocacy rules. She explains complex findings in plain language and stays close to documents, data and expert sources. Her background includes investigative and daily newsrooms, and she has earned nominations for national journalism awards.
Apoorva Mandavilli
Apoorva Mandavilli covers the collision of infectious disease science, vaccine policy and public health agencies for The New York Times, following how research, regulation and politics shape outbreaks and access to vaccines. She reports on science and global health with a steady focus on infectious diseases and pandemics, including Covid-19, mpox, H.I.V., malaria and tuberculosis, treating them as ongoing global threats. Her work explains complex epidemiology and virology in clear narratives about risk, evidence and the consequences of scientific decisions. She repeatedly returns to vaccine policy, law and misinformation, tracing how court fights and agency disputes affect immunization schedules and public trust. She also reports on global health programs, funding cuts and inequity in care and technology. A longtime science journalist and former founding editor in chief of Spectrum, she has written widely on science and health and received major honors for medical science reporting and pandemic coverage.