Ryan MacDonald
Ryan MacDonald tells music stories as community stories, using local performers, students and events to show how songs, traditions and culture shape everyday life. As a reporter and video journalist for CTV Atlantic at CTV News, he focuses on features where music intersects with heritage, education and grassroots initiatives, rather than treating it as entertainment in isolation.
Music as a lens on heritage and local identity
MacDonald’s music coverage centres on how songs and performers carry place-based history and identity. He has reported on Men of The Deeps marking 60 years with an anniversary tour, emphasizing “so many stories and songs” and treating the choir’s repertoire as a living record of mining life and community memory. His piece on the Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame highlights a four-person induction as an occasion to honour longstanding contributions to the local music scene, framing recognition of individual artists as part of a broader story about regional musical heritage.
He extends this focus on identity to stories where music is used deliberately to promote the region. In his coverage of tourism operators seeking songs that celebrate the island, he shows how local stakeholders look for new music to attract visitors, suggesting that the right song can function as both marketing and a statement of pride. Across these pieces, MacDonald treats music as a narrative device that holds community memory and helps define how a place presents itself to the wider world.
Youth, education and the next generation of musicians
Another through-line in his work is the attention he gives to young musicians and music education. MacDonald has reported on Cape Breton music students who created a pandemic-era song as a class project, describing how the piece carries a message of hope in uncertain times and positioning students as creative voices responding to crisis. He also covers programs where music and culture are the explicit focus, such as a March Break camp at the Gaelic College, highlighting how structured activities immerse children in traditional music while building confidence and cultural knowledge.
These stories show his interest in the infrastructure that supports emerging talent, not just the performances themselves. The classroom project and the camp coverage both underline how teachers, schools and cultural institutions use music to build resilience, foster connection and pass on traditions. MacDonald’s framing consistently gives space to young participants and educators, making clear that the future of the local music scene depends on sustained investment in learning and cultural transmission.
Music woven into broader community and social issues
MacDonald frequently situates music within wider social and community conversations. In his piece asking Maritimers whether celebrities should speak out about political issues, he uses a high-profile halftime performance by Bad Bunny during NFL Super Bowl 60 as a springboard to explore public attitudes to artists engaging in political discourse, tying pop culture moments to civic debate. His article on Cape Bretoners marking Earth Day with a community cleanup focuses on environmental stewardship but also fits into a pattern of stories where collective action and local pride are central themes.
He also covers issues affecting everyday life that sit adjacent to his cultural beat. In reporting on how kids and parents can stand up to online bullying, MacDonald presents practical strategies for families, showing a concern for digital safety and the wellbeing of young people. His profile of Frankie MacDonald on World Autism Awareness Day portrays the popular figure as an example of what people living with autism can achieve, emphasizing inclusion and achievement rather than limitation. Together with his music-focused features, these pieces indicate a reporter who is attentive to how culture, technology and community support intersect in shaping opportunities and challenges for residents.
Feature-driven, human-centred storytelling
Across his body of work, MacDonald favours feature-style reporting built around individuals, choirs, student groups and volunteers rather than abstract trends. Stories about anniversary tours, induction ceremonies, tourism initiatives, school projects and cleanups all hinge on the voices of people doing the work, whether they are veteran performers or children writing their first song. The recurring focus on “stories and songs” and messages of hope signals a preference for optimistic narratives that still acknowledge wider social context.
His dual role in reporting and video journalism means his pieces are structured to work both on-air and online, with clear story arcs, visual-friendly events and accessible language. For communications teams, his work shows a consistent interest in music that is rooted in community impact, educational value and social themes, making him a fit for stories where songs, programs or performers are tied to broader questions of heritage, youth engagement or everyday challenges rather than purely commercial promotion.
4 more music journalists.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling Murphy is the theatre reporter and critic at The Globe and Mail. She stands out for writing about theatre as both art and infrastructure, with coverage that links new Canadian stage work, awards culture, and pop-inflected criticism. She covers theatre, music, and pop culture in a detailed, conversational style, moving between reviews, reported features, and analysis of the systems that shape what gets produced. Her beat includes the Dora Awards, Toronto stages, new writing, intimate productions, and smaller venues, as well as controversy where artistic decisions meet politics and community response. Before The Globe, she was senior editor of Intermission Magazine, and her bylines include The New York Times, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, and the Baltimore Sun.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson is Editor-in-Chief of Exclaim! and leads coverage of music’s links to sports, literature, and technology, with a strong focus on Canadian artists. Hudson reports on how music intersects with other fields, not as a separate industry. Recent coverage has included Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer on how playing piano saved his career, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Canada-wide soccer watch party, Lakes of Canada’s Margaret Atwood-inspired album Transgressions, Hannah Mary McKinnon on The Beaches influencing her rock-themed novel, and Alexander Nilsson’s 1001 Albums Generator as a tool for broadening music discovery beyond algorithmic recommendations.
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz is a commerce writer whose distinct focus is the buying and streaming side of music, entertainment and lifestyle, helping readers decide how to watch major events and what to purchase around them. She is an e-commerce specialist at Rolling Stone, covering products, platforms and deals tied to award shows, festivals, sports and everyday culture. Her beat blends music streaming guides with shopping and product recommendations across fashion, beauty, tech, food, wellness and drinks. She reports through experience-focused service journalism, using lists, comparison roundups and step-by-step guides to answer concrete questions about how to stream major cultural moments, where to shop and which products to choose. Her background includes commerce and lifestyle writing for consumer publications such as Esquire, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Women’s Wear Daily and Billboard.
Allie Gregory
Allie Gregory maps how audiences encounter new music by tracking the practical pathways of releases, tours, festivals, platforms and projects. She is a managing editor and news writer at Exclaim!, where she is a primary editorial contact for forthcoming releases and news tips and helps shape the outlet’s daily agenda around new music and its broader entertainment context. Her reporting centres on timely album and tour announcements, live logistics and festival programming across indie, metal, country, pop and adjacent film and streaming news. She writes direct, information-heavy pieces that foreground calendars, support acts, set times and programming structures, while also producing longer-form interviews, cultural stories and staff-pick recommendations that connect artists’ work, controversy and creative campaigns to how audiences encounter music and entertainment on the road, at festivals and on screens.