Radio and Podcast News In Brief

CBC Radio’s national current affairs evening show As It Happens will mark its 50th anniversary with a special hour-and-a-half-long episode featuring highlights from the program’s five-decade history. Led by hosts Carol Off and Jeff Douglas, the 50th anniversary special will air at 6:30 p.m. (7 p.m. NT) on Friday, Nov. 16 on CBC Radio One and the CBC Radio app. The show, which has now surpassed 13,000 episodes, first premiered Nov. 18, 1968. According to Numeris and Adobe Analytics, As It Happens reaches 1.6 million listeners weekly via CBC Radio and is also heard on Sirius XM and more than 100 public radio stations in the U.S., with an audience of hundreds of thousands on digital platforms.

National Campus and Community Radio Association/l’Association nationale des radios étudiantes et communautaires (NCRA/ANREC) and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) in the U.S. have a new partnership that will allow NFCB members to use the !earshot Digital Distribution System (!eDDS) for music discoverability. The !eDDS online platform allows musical artists, labels and distribution companies to upload recordings to be searched, reviewed, and downloaded by campus, community, and college radio stations. NCRA/ANREC executive director Barry Rooke says over 100 unique labels and artists signed on to the system within a month of its release. Once fully developed, !eDDS will reach over 200 campus, community and college radio stations across North America, giving stations and volunteer programmers access to new and unique content not found on commercial radio.

The 16th Annual Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Radiothon raised $401,870.65 on Nov. 7-8. Broadcast live on 620 CKRM, My 92.1 (CHMX-FM) and 104.9 The Wolf (CFWF-FM) Regina, the radiothon made use of the hashtag #KPlusS4Kids on social media, with $5 donated for every tweet or retweet. Among the figures that supported the hashtag were St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. This year’s donations will equip Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital’s pediatric surgical suites with IV Infusion Pumps, Patient Monitor Systems and Pediatric Defibrillators.

The Mount Forest Louise Marshall Hospital Foundation has reached its $100,000 fundraising goal, following the 2018 CKNX Wingham Health Care Heroes Radiothon on Oct. 20. Over $1.75 million has been raised over 17 radiothon events.

Joe Bowen, 67, longtime Toronto Maple Leafs play-by-play announcer, has been inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame’s broadcast wing as the recipient of the 2018 Foster Hewitt Award. Born and raised in Sudbury, Bowen started calling games for the Leafs in Oct. 1982, after he was lured away from Halifax where he had been doing play-by-play for American Hockey League team the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. On Mar. 7, 2017, Bowen called his 3,000th game as voice of the Leafs.

The Vernon Community Radio Society has filed its application with the CRTC to launch a new FM community radio station serving the Greater Vernon, BC area. The proposed station has been assigned the call letters CFAN-FM by Industry Canada, which the non-profit would brand “Valley FM.” The station would broadcast at 97.9 MHz, with an average effective radiated power of 581 watts.

The CRTC has approved an application by Kebaowek First Nation, on behalf of a not-for-profit corporation to be incorporated, for a new broadcasting licence to operate an English-language Indigenous (Type B Native) FM radio station in Kipawa, Quebec. During the first 12 months of operations, the station’s board of directors would consist of members of the band council. The new station will operate at 104.1 MHz (channel 281A) with an average effective radiated power of 6,000 watts. During each broadcast week, the station will broadcast 126 hours of programming, including 111 hours of musical content (35 per cent in the Algonquin language) and 15 hours of spoken word programming and news. 15 per cent of its overall programming will also be in the Algonquin language.

Jeff Woods has released the audio version of his book Radio, Records & Rockstars. The book alternates between Woods’ reflections on his own radio career and conversations with rock legends like David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin, among others. Radio, Records & Rockstars is available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Woods’ syndicated radio show Records and Rockstars, currently airing in the U.S. and Canada on stations including Q107 (CILQ-FM) Toronto, is also available through Momentum Media Networks.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has conducted a survey that indicates ownership of emerging tech products like smart speakers and 4K Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TVs is seeing the largest growth among Canadians. The third annual survey shows almost all Canadian households own a television (93 per cent), 86 per cent own a smartphone – up six percentage points from 2017 – and three quarters (75 per cent) own a notebook, laptop or netbook. While these three screens are also the top three most-desired tech products Canadians want to buy in the year ahead, smart speakers are the fastest-growing tech segment in Canada. Smart speaker ownership grew 12 percentage points from 2017, now reaching 15 per cent of Canadian households. Wireless earbuds (up 11 points to 27 per cent ownership) and wireless headphones (up 10 points to 37 per cent) are also growing in popularity. CTA also reports an increase since 2017 in Canadians’ ownership of other emerging technologies including virtual reality headsets (seven per cent ownership, up six points from 2017), smart thermostats (13 per cent), smartwatches (14 per cent) and action camcorders (21 per cent). More than a quarter of Canadian households (26 per cent) now own a 4K UHD TV – up 10 percentage points from 2017 – and almost the same total (23 per cent) own a TV with a screen 60 inches or bigger, up eight percentage points.

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