Radio & Podcast News – Border Broadcasting’s WLYK-FM moves forward as 102.7 Lake FM

Border Broadcasting’s WLYK-FM is moving forward as “Kingston’s Feel-Good Station” 102.7 Lake FM, less than three weeks after launching stunt format 102.7 The Pole, with a playlist inspired by strip club DJs. The border station will feature hits from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s from a range of artists including Hall & Oates, Journey, Heart, Whitney Houston, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Genesis, Rod Stewart, Duran Duran, Prince, and Madonna. With the on-air lineup yet to be announced, 102.7 Lake FM will also broadcast local news, weather and events. Jon Pole and Andrew Dickson, the co-founders of My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), acquired Border Broadcasting in December. Licenced to Cape Vincent, New York, the 102.7 dial position was previously held by Rogers Sports & Media’s KiSS 102.7 with Rogers formerly holding a 20% stake in Border Broadcasting. Read more here.

The CRTC will hear an application by Skigin Radio Incorporated for a broadcasting licence to operate an Indigenous low-power (Type B Native) FM radio station in Woodstock First Nation. The 50-watt station would operate at 107.7 MHz. The applicant proposes to broadcast, per broadcast week, 112 hours of local programming, primarily in English with 20 hours a week devoted to Indigenous languages (Wolastoqey, Mi’kmaq and Ojibway), and six hours of French-language programming. 104 hours would be devoted to musical content, of which 20% of the musical selections would be performed or composed by Indigenous creators. The commission will hold an electronic hearing on May 11. The deadline for interventions is April 3.

Leigh Cunningham, radio voice of the Sarnia Sting, has celebrated calling a milestone 1,500 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) games. A Fanshawe College Broadcast Journalism graduate, Cunningham started his play-by-play career in 1998 with the London Knights. Over 16 seasons, he called games for the North Bay Centennials, Windsor Spitfires and Saginaw Spirit between 1998 and 2014, in addition to the Knights and the Sting. Cunningham has been doing play-by-play for the Sting on Blackburn Media’s CHOK since 2015.

Creative BC is getting into the podcast funding space with the launch of a $100,000 Pilot Podcast Program. The first-of-its-kind program will support the development, production, and promotion of podcasts by B.C.-based content producers. It will operate two separate streams of funding (each earmarked for $50,000 in available funds) – Podcast Pipeline, supporting development, and Podcast Connect, which will help existing podcasts with production and/or promotion support. To be eligible for funding, applicants must be a registered society, non-profit or company incorporated in B.C. or Canada with its head office in British Columbia. Read more here.

Spotify has expanded its Audiobooks offering to Canada. Launched last fall, the service was initially only available to U.S. audiences with expansion in November to the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Its catalogue currently features 350,000 titles with content available in English and French, however, audiobooks can’t be purchased in-app with customers directed to another website for purchase. At its initial launch, Spotify noted the 20% year-over-year growth in the audiobook market.

JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) Toronto is soliciting ideas for its “Canadian Jazz Time Capsule.” Suggestions so far include a copy of Moe Koffman’s Live at George’s album from 1975, programs from now closed but not forgotten Toronto venues, and Oscar Peterson’s Canadiana Suite. The station is asking listeners and community members what they would put into the container to define Canadian jazz for future generations. Once enough suggestions are received, JAZZ.FM91 will form a committee to decide which ones will go into the time capsule, then commission it to be built and decide where it’s buried. The contents will be revealed at a special Sound of Jazz Concert on April 30, in celebration of International Jazz Day, at Lula Lounge. Submit your suggestion by email to capsule@jazz.fm.

LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, radio industry veteran Rob Creighton. You might not know his name up here in Canada, but down in the States, he’s been running shows from Lubbock, Texas to Chicago, Illinois over the last few decades. He and Matt Cundill dive into his history on the radio and his time in the program director’s chair, as well as what prompted his move off the airwaves and into Townsquare Media’s office in Sedalia, Missouri.