Radio & Podcast News – Golden West launches new country station in Southern Alberta

Golden West Broadcasting has launched its new Country station 91.5 Cochrane Now (CKXY-FM) in Cochrane, AB. The station, which is now broadcasting at 10,000 watts, was previously a 100 watt re-broadcaster of CFIT 106.1 Airdrie. The station is being supported by companion digital publication Cochrane Now.

Homalco First Nation at Campbell River, BC has soft launched Raven FM 100.7 (CKCC-FM). Playing a New Country format, the station will serve the Comox Valley from Sayward to Parksville. Listen online here.

The CRTC has granted a new broadcast licence for an FM radio station in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf, QC. The licencee – Michael Lambert – was the only applicant to express interest in serving the market. The Adult Contemporary station will broadcast at 88.7 MHz and play a range a music of music from pop-rock hits, spanning 1965 to today, as well as weekend programming featuring retro and country programs.

The CRTC has approved a new commercial licence serving Sainte-Marie-de-Beacue, QC. The 4,500 watt Arsenal Media station, CHEQ-FM, will carry a mix of country/folk music at 105.3 mHz. Arsenal owns 14 stations and two re-transmitters in 10 regions of Quebec.

Music Canada has established a scholarship in memory of Deane Cameron, former President of EMI Music Canada. A dedicated industry advocate, Cameron, 65, passed away in May after a sudden heart attack. The MusiCounts scholarship is aimed at helping young professionals completing post-secondary studies in music performance, business or production, kick start their careers. Announced at Music Canada’s 2019 Symposium in Toronto, the scholarship will be supported by the organization’s member labels Warner, Sony, and Universal. Music Canada says in keeping with Cameron’s support for Indigenous communities, $15,000 has been pledged to the MusiCounts Scholarship Program to ensure that three Indigenous youth receive a scholarship in 2020. Indspire will help identify the successful candidates.

Susan Marjetti, Executive Director of CBC Radio and Audio, is the 2019 recipient of the Music Canada President’s Award. The award is given to an individual outside the recorded music label community who has exhibited a passion for music and had an impact on the wider industry. Marjetti oversees CBC Music, CBC Talk, CBC Podcasts, and the new CBC Listen app. Gil Moore, a founding member of the band Triumph, and owner of Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, received the 2019 Artist Advocate Award, which recognizes advocacy efforts to improve the livelihood of music creators.

Hot Docs Podcast Festival, coming up Nov. 6-11 in Toronto, will feature a live preview of Anna Maria Tremonti’s new podcast. Tremonti, who hosted CBC Radio national current affairs show The Current for 17 seasons, is now producing for CBC Podcasts. Her new longform interview podcast More with Anna Maria Tremonti is set to launch in January.

Spotify’s latest financial results for the third quarter of 2019 reveal the streaming service now has 248 million monthly active users (MAUs), a 30% increase year-over-year with 16 million adds in Q3. 113 million of those users are premium subscribers, with that tier seeing 31% growth in the last year and five million adds in the last quarter. Spotify says podcast adoption is now reaching about 14% of MAUs. The streamer says it continues “to feel very good about our competitive position in the market. Relative to Apple, the publicly available data shows that we are adding roughly twice as many subscribers per month as they are. Additionally, we believe that our monthly engagement is roughly 2x as high and our churn is at half the rate. Elsewhere, our estimates imply that we continue to add more users on an absolute basis than Amazon. Our data also suggests that Amazon’s user base skews significantly more to ‘Ad-Supported’ than ‘Premium’, and that average engagement on our platform is approximately 3x.” 

The 6th annual Strike a Chord Gala, held in concert with Stingray Oct. 17 at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom, raised $350,000 for Music Heals to support music therapy programs. With George Stroumboulopoulos serving as MC, over 700 guests took in a surprise secret lineup that included Fred Penner, Aloe Blacc, Warren Dean Flandez, The Tea Party, and Sugarhill Gang.

iHeartRadio Canada has announced that its latest iHeartRadio Secret Session, featuring Lady Antebellum, will take place somewhere in Toronto this November. Hosted by Pure Country network midday host Shannon Ella, the event will see Lady Antebellum perform in front of an intimate audience of contest winners. Previous iHeartRadio Secret Sessions have featured Halsey, Shawn Mendes, Marshmello, and Neil Young.

The Edmonton Broadcasters Club is hosting its second After Work Social entitled “Women of the Morning” on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The panel discussion will be moderated by Eileen Bell (CHED), and feature Stacey Brotzel (CTV Edmonton), Erin Chalmers (Global Edmonton), Lisa Evans (Power 107), Stella Stevens (CFCW) and Jack Sweeney (CISN Country). More info here.

FEATURE: Benztown CEO Andy Sannemann talks imaging for News/Talk with KFI Los Angeles’ producer John Considine. Find their full conversation, here.

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