Audience Insights Inc. has released initial findings from its Canadian Podcast Listener study, which talked to more than 4,000 Canadians in partnership with Ulster Media, and with support from the Globe and Mail. Among the main findings: nearly 10 million Canadian adults have listened to a podcast in the last year with that number growing – 41 per cent of respondents had listened to their first podcast in the past year. The study also found there’s an appetite for Canadian content with 47 per cent wanting to know more about what Canadian podcasts are available. Four of the top 10 podcasts respondents had listened to in the last month were Canadian. You can download the Summary Report here.
CBC’s hit original serialized crime podcast Someone Knows Something: Dee & Moore, returns with Season 3 on Nov. 7 at cbc.ca/sks. This season, host and investigator David Ridgen revisits his ground-breaking documentary Mississippi Cold Case, a civil rights era case, which follows white supremacists, domestic terrorism and failure in the American justice system.
The CRTC has given notice it will hear radio applications on Jan. 11, 2018, including Bell Media’s proposal to acquire CICZ-FM Midland, CICX-FM Orillia, CJOS-FM Owen Sound and CICS-FM Sudbury from Larche Communications Inc. for $17,033,409, plus a tangible benefits package of $1,022,005, equal to six per cent of the value of the transaction.
Golden West Broadcasting is also seeking to acquire CJGY-FM Grande Prairie and its rebroadcasting transmitters CJGY-FM-1 Fort St. John and CJGY-FM-2 Dawson Creek from subsidiary Grande Prairie Radio Ltd., as part of a corporate reorganization. The CRTC will also hear applications to operate Christian specialty music stations in Kelowna, Sydney, NS, and Regina. The deadline for interventions or comments is Nov. 24.
103.1 Beach Radio (CKQQ-FM) Kelowna is officially on the air. Playing the greatest hits of the 80s and 90s, the station rebrands from Q103.1, following what the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group says was extensive market research.
Corus Entertainment and the Calgary Stampeders are continuing their partnership which will see News Talk 770 (CHQR-AM) broadcast games through to 2022. Global Calgary will continue to be the official community television partner of the Stampeders football club. Canadian Football Hall of Fame broadcaster Mark Stephen will provide play-by-play, accompanied by colour commentator Greg Peterson.
The 16th Annual CKNX Health Care Heroes Radiothon raised $321,427 on Oct. 21. Over eight hours, pledges were taken to raise money for eight foundations and their respective equipment goals for regional hospitals around mid-western Ontario. The radiothon was broadcast on CKNX AM920, 101.7 The One (CKNX-FM) Wingham and Classic Rock 94.5 (CIBU-FM) Wingham.
Drumheller’s Rotary Radio Auction raised over $31,000 on Oct. 11-12. Everything from Calgary Flames-donated jerseys to haircuts and oil changes were auctioned off on 910 CFCW.
Over $75,000 was raised on Oct. 20 at the North Central Health Foundation Radiothon. Raising money for a digital x-ray machine, the radiothon was heard live on 105 CJVR-FM and CK750 (CKJH-AM) Melfort, SK.
Gilles Parent has been taken off-air at FM93 (CJMF-FM) Quebec City until further notice after Le Journal de Québec published allegations of sexual misconduct. In a statement, Cogeco Media said it was “very serious about the allegations” and that after an internal investigation Parent had acknowledged his wrongdoing. Parent joins media personality Eric Salvail and Just For Laughs boss Gilbert Rozon as the latest Quebecor to be outed for sexual misconduct in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations.
The 11th Annual Radiotelethon for the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital raised $506,504 for new MRI and CT scan equipment on Oct. 15. The nine-hour event was broadcast by YourTV Hawkesbury and the Jewel 107.7 (CKHK-FM) Ottawa, as well as online.
SOCAN has partnered with Pioneer DJ Corporation of Japan to become the first music rights organization in North America to use direct metadata extraction technology, KUVO, to identify electronic dance music performances automatically in nightclubs and other electronic music venues. The Pioneer-KUVO device is being provided voluntarily to nightclubs, beginning with the Toronto area, as an additional aspect of their SOCAN music license agreement. Once installed, the device easily plugs into a DJ’s mixing board, capturing metadata from the music, which is then collected and relayed to SOCAN to tabulate and distribute royalties more accurately to copyright holders. CODA nightclub in downtown Toronto is the first to adopt the technology.
