Stingray Digital Group has announced its intention to acquire Newcap Radio owner Newfoundland Capital Corporation for $506 million, including the assumption of net debt of approximately $112 million. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, Montreal-based Stingray will pay $14.75 per share, payable in a combination of cash and Stingray shares. Headquartered in Dartmouth, NS, Newfoundland Capital is the second-largest radio licence holder in the country, employing about 800 radio professionals. Newcap’s 82 FM and 19 AM radio licences would mark a major addition to Stingray’s lineup of specialty television channels and multiplatform music and video services. Going forward, the Steele family would hold five per cent of the merged company with Newcap president & CEO Rob Steele remaining on the Stingray board.
Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM) Vancouver will remain on the air for now as its board of directors negotiates with a tentative buyer. CEO Don Shafer tells Broadcast Dialogue that the board has decided to keep the station up and running while the process moves forward. The independent, community-focused news/talk station had been set to go dark Apr. 30.
The Aboriginal Multimedia Society of Alberta has begun testing its new Calgary signal at 88.1 CJWE-FM. Set to launch in mid-June, the station will feature programming in Blackfoot, T’suutina, Nakoda and Cree as well as a range of music from country to hip hop to traditional Indigenous. The station will also host province-wide radio bingo on Monday, Thursday and Saturday nights.
Maureen Holloway is the 2018 recipient of the The Rosalie Award from the Radio Trailblazers. A fan favourite on the Toronto airwaves, after longtime stints at Mix 99.9 (CKFM-FM), then Q107 (CILQ-FM), she is now one half of Darren and Mo on 98.1 CHFI-FM. Holloway is also familiar to listeners as host of nationally-syndicated entertainment feature The Last Word, now rebranded as Other People’s Business. Holloway will also moderate a panel during Canadian Music Week entitled The Future is Female addressing the #metoo and #timesup movements. Any CMW delegate can take in the May 10th panel featuring media exec Denise Donlon; Julie Adams, SVP Rogers Radio; and Susan Marjetti, CBC’s executive director of radio/audio, among others.
CMW Radio panels on May 10-11 will include The Top-of-the-Top Executive Session which will hear from Caroline Beasley, CEO, Beasley Media Group, USA; Julie Adam, SVP Rogers Radio; Mark Redmond, president & CEO, SiriusXM Canada; Rob Farina, head of Radio Content, Strategy and iHeartRadio, Bell Media Radio; and Troy Reeb, senior VP, News, Radio and Station Operations, Corus Entertainment. Programming the Unexpected: When the Outside World Tears Up Your Prep will feature Bobby Bones, host of The Bobby Bones Show, USA; Drew Savage and Nat Hunter (CHQM-FM); and Josie Dye (CIND-FM). Broadcast Dialogue publisher Shawn Smith will moderate Public Image, Unlimited: The Station-Message Workshop featuring panelists Al Ford, National Format Director, Rogers Media; Sherri Drewe, Sonic 102.9 (CHDI-FM) Edmonton; and Trevor Shand, sound design/production director, Rogers Radio. Find the complete agenda here.
Matt Galloway, host of CBC Radio’s Metro Morning in Toronto, has won the 2018 Harry Jerome Media Award. Named for the African-Canadian track athlete and advocate, the award is presented by the Black Business and Professional Association. Galloway, who has been working at CBC Radio for more than a decade and took over Metro Morning in 2010, accepted the award in Mississauga on Saturday evening. He has previously won the African-Canadian Achievement Award for Excellence in Media, as well as the Excellence In Community Service Award from, the Intercultural Dialogue Institute, among other accolades.
Golden West Radio’s stations in Estevan helped raise $104,615 for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation during the Radiothon for Life on Apr. 18. The total includes a $50,000 commitment from a family to purchase the naming rights for the chemotherapy department of the hospital, which will undergo expansion and relocation. The remaining $54,615 will go toward the purchase of capital equipment.
Sun FM (CICF-FM) Vernon personalities Brian Martin, Betty Selin and others helped raise $93,602 for the Vernon Jubilee Hospital during the 12-hour Have A Heart Radiothon on Apr. 26. Funds raised will go toward a new pediatric oncology treatment room.
101.5 myFM (CKMO-FM) Orangeville, ON and Sign Needs Orangeville have delivered a banner signed by the community to Humboldt, SK. Containing hundreds of messages of condolence, the banner arrived at the Elgar Petersen Arena over the weekend.
Edison Research has released The Infinite Dial: Heavy Radio Listeners which finds that 20 per cent of the biggest radio users already own a smart speaker. The report looked at the 30 per cent of the American population, ages 12 and over, who are “Heavy Radio Listeners” or those who listened to more than one hour of radio in the previous day. The study found 82 per cent of those listeners have a radio in their home, which means nearly 18 per cent achieved ‘heavy’ status through in-car or at-work listening. View and download the complete report here.
CBC Vancouver launched a new original podcast on Monday, hosted by CBC Radio One’s Stephen Quinn. SOLD! explores the role of foreign investment in Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis and the divisive effects that has had on the city and province.
