980 CFPL will celebrate its centennial anniversary on Friday, Sept. 30 at the London Knight’s home opener, in addition to special on-air segments throughout the week. CFPL’s forerunner CJGC-AM was conceived in 1922 when Arthur Blackburn, owner of the London Free Press Printing Co., was granted one of the first radio licences in Canada. The station began broadcasting from studios in the Free Press building at 440 Richmond Street. Unhappy with the growth of radio, Blackburn struck a deal in 1932 to merge CJGC-AM with Windsor’s CKOK-AM resulting in the birth of CKLW-AM which was to serve both the London and Windsor markets. The merger enraged London residents and businessmen, forcing the Blackburns to withdraw from their partnership and open new London station, CFPL-AM. Corus Entertainment acquired CFPL from Blackburn Radio in 1999. This week, the station is airing several radio specials in celebration of 980 CFPL’s 100th birthday. Read more here.
Numeris says more Canadians listened to radio on-the-go over the summer months as people took advantage of what for many was the first season free of COVID-19 restrictions. Numeris has released its first batch of “insights” which will replace Radio Topline Reports going forward. Reflecting Numeris Radio PPM data for Summer 2022, Numeris says 67.9% of radio tuning by Adults 25-54 was done outside the home. Out-of-home (OOH) tuning was up across all dayparts with the evening seeing the biggest gain, up nine percentage points year-over-year. Vancouver led OOH listening by market at 75.3%, A25-54, followed by Edmonton where 69.3% of tuning was done outside the home. When it comes to live streaming of radio, Edmonton (16%), Vancouver (13%), and Toronto (12%) were the top three markets. Adults 18-45 led streaming by demographic at 12% overall, with seven per cent in that age group streaming on-the-go. Read more here.
Luminate (formerly MRC Data) has announced a partnership with Mediabase that will see the airplay monitoring service’s tracking data fuel its North American music charts, igniting a transition away from BDS. Effective this December, Luminate’s reporting on radio music activity in the U.S. and Canada will become the standard, with its Top40, Rhythmic, Mainstream Rock, Active Rock, Modern Rock, Triple A, Country, Oldies, AC, Hot AC, Urban, Urban AC, Smooth AC, Christian, Gospel and Latin charts, no longer competing with Billboard, whose charts were formerly fed by Luminate’s BDS service, which tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. With the announcement, Luminate has unveiled plans for a new, modernized client and user platform, encompassing all of the company’s data offerings. Luminate says Mediabase is the first of many new data partners that will contribute intelligence to the new platform, slated for launch next year. Read more here.
The CRTC has found that the market of Rouyn-Noranda, Que cannot support an additional commercial radio station at this time. The commission is returning an application filed by Josyane Cossette, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, for a broadcasting licence to operate a French-language commercial FM station in Rouyn-Noranda. The CRTC will publish an application filed by Radio Boréale for a broadcasting transmitter to broadcast the programming of community station CHOW-FM Amos, Que. in Rouyn-Noranda as part of the non-appearing phase of an upcoming public hearing.
Michelle Sawatzky-Koop, morning show co-host on Golden West Broadcasting’s Radio Southern Manitoba network, (CHSM-AM, CJRB-AM, CFAM-AM), is one of the recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, for her involvement in local sports and arts initiatives and mentorship of young people in her community. The former Team Canada Olympic Volleyball setter is celebrating her 25th year with Golden West. She’s also the co-founder of the Heroes in our Midst podcast.
Cliff Dumas, the co-founder and Chief Content Officer of branded content studio Everything Podcasts, has been nominated for a Country Music Association (CMA) Award for Broadcast Personality of the Year (Medium Market) in the U.S. for his work on KUZZ Bakersfield, CA morning show, “Cliff and Tanya in the Morning” alongside Tanya Brakebill. Originally from Toronto, Dumas was formerly a longtime host and producer for Country Music Television (CMT) in Canada, a producer and writer for CBC for two decades, and continues to serve as the continuity voice for CHCH-TV Hamilton. Dumas is the only Canadian broadcaster to be named Broadcast Personality of the Year by both the CMA (1990) and Academy of Country Music (2011).
International Podcast Day (IPD) returns Friday, Sept. 30, marking a comeback for the event’s livestream after a hiatus, featuring 23 podcasters from 10 different countries, including Canadian Kattie Laur from Pod the North; Todd Cochrane, CEO of Raw Voice & Blubrry; and the People’s Choice Podcast Awards. Find the complete schedule here and check out our podcast with IPD co-founder Dave Lee for ideas on how to celebrate here.
The Toronto Star is partnering for a new season of The Manjit Minhas Podcast, which launched Monday, Sept. 26, on the Toronto Star Podcast Network. Season 3 will feature 12 original episodes and is produced by Mixxable, a podcast network owned by influencer marketing platform, Influicity. Minhas, who hails from Calgary, has been one of the entrepreneurs on CBC’s Dragons’ Den since Season 11 and founded Minhas Breweries with her brother Ravinder in 1999. The show has been a Top 10 podcast in the business category, featuring Minhas in conversation with Canadian guests from the world of business and entrepreneurship, including Andrew Chau of Neo Financial, Joanna Griffiths of Knix and Michele Romanow of Clearco.
Cinema Reignited is a new podcast from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, powered by Telefilm Canada. In each episode, host Samah Ali explores a different Canadian film that’s been digitized as part of the Canadian Cinema – Reignited initiative. The podcast takes listeners on a journey through the time period during which each film was made, the historical and social context at the time, and how the film relates to broader themes in society through a modern day lens. The first episode will drop in October.
Blue Hotel is the new podcast from Jeff Woods tackling relationships and sexuality, with weekly guests ranging from relationship experts, therapists, sex educators and coaches, to erotic authors, performers, and more. Episodes feature listener submitted stories and questions via the Blue Hotel Hotline, with each episode featuring a narrated erotic bedtime story.
LISTEN: Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media returns to the Sound Off Podcast to discuss recent Tech Surveys for Public and Commercial radio, and the AQ4 Survey which targets air talent. The fourth instalment of AQ was released at Morning Show Boot Camp in Chicago in August and is an eye opening piece of research. You can link to the results here.
Through the Fire is a new podcast on the Sound Off Podcast Network, hosted by JUNO-nominated country artist Don Amero, focused on overcoming adversity, re-framing misfortune, and celebrating courage. Guests thus far include fellow musicians Dallas Smith, Christa Couture, and Robb Nash sharing their stories from “fire to fortune” and lessons learned along the way.
Duncan McCue is hosting new show, Helluva Story, featuring a half-hour of international and Canadian audio documentaries and storytelling. Airing on CBC Radio One and SiriusXM, the show made its debut on Sunday with the last piece filed by the late Jody Porter of CBC Thunder Bay, about six Indigenous leaders imprisoned for taking a stand.
Voices, the London, ON-headquartered voice marketplace, has launched Project Marketplace, a new way for clients to discover and hire voice talent. Voices says Project Marketplace removes the “wait and see” experience of auditioning, instead giving voice talent orders, and payment up front, that they can work on right away.
The Broadcast Dialogue Canadian Radio Awards (aka “The Howards”) are officially open for submissions! Check out this year’s categories and criteria at CanadianRadioAwards.com. Submissions close on Monday, Oct. 17. We’re pleased to welcome new category sponsors Matt Fogarty Voiceovers, Burli, and the Community Radio Fund of Canada. We’ll be announcing this year’s jury soon.
