Numeris says Canadians listened to more radio throughout the week last month. With daily routines and tuning behaviour disrupted over the month of March, Numeris says Canadians listened on average 115.9 minutes a day – a 4% increase over February for listeners A18+ in meter markets across the country. The increase in daily listening spanned the entire week with in-home tuning on Saturday and Sunday increasing from 76.7 to 90.0 minutes a day for those who listened to AM/FM radio.
Podtrac’s latest weekly podcast consumption data shows a continued decrease in download and audience growth. U.S. weekly podcast download growth was -3% the week of Apr. 6-12, -1% the week of Mar. 30 – Apr. 5, -4% the week of Mar. 23-29, -2% the week of Mar. 16-22, and -1% during the week of Mar. 9-15, across all Podtrac measured podcasts. By category, Podtrac measured show downloads week-over-week for Apr. 6-12, compared to the previous week, are down -4% for News, -4% for Comedy, +3% for Business, 0% (flat) for Society & Culture, and -4% for Sports.
Jazz.fm.91 (CJRT-FM) Toronto staff got a surprise last week when they opened their inboxes to find a tribute video, produced remotely with the combined effort of more than two dozen local jazz musicians, thanking the station for its continued support. Despite the challenging environment for the not-for-profit station with many of the revenue generating events it partners on now postponed, VP & Managing Director Lorie Russell says the station is upholding a funding commitment benefiting artists through the Unison Benevolent Fund. “Our listeners understand what we give back in Canadian talent development, it’s what we do. And our artists know that when they suffer, so do we,” Russell told Broadcast Dialogue. “The musicians know that we are in need and I am sure many feel gratitude that we made the decision to donate a portion of our proceeds back to the music community.” The video features Mike Downes, Bill McBirnie, Kevin Barrett, Rich Underhill, Julie Michaels, Lyne Tremblay, Ori Dagan, and Shannon Butcher, among many others.
Richard Deitsch and Donnovan Bennett are hosting new Sportsnet podcast, Sports on Pause, exploring how COVID-19 is impacting sports around the world. So far, episodes have featured experts, athletes and personalities like IOC member Dick Pound, Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated, and IndyCar iRacing Challenge driver James Hinchcliffe.
Western Academy Broadcasting College in Saskatoon has challenged local businesses to follow its lead and donate 10 meals a day to the local Lighthouse shelter. Don Scott, the college’s educational director, spearheaded the idea with the meals purchased from the ROCK ‘n’ ROLL diner, a restaurant the college shares a building with. Donations are being accepted here.
P1 Media Group and Benztown have collaborated to create a Facebook group featuring examples of creative ways radio stations around the world are connecting with their listeners in the COVID-19 environment. For ideas or to share what your station is doing, check out Coronavirus Radio Ideas.
LISTEN: broadcasting talent coach Steve Reynolds is Matt Cundill’s guest on the Sound Off Podcast. Reynolds has been working from home long enough to share his wisdom about how it’s done.
