Radio & Podcast News – Canadian Radio Awards and Canadian Podcast Awards winners unveiled

Broadcast Dialogue has unveiled its 2023 Canadian Radio Awards winners. By radio group, wins were led by Rogers Sports & Media which captured 12 awards, including Program Director of the Year honours for Christian Hall (Major Market) and Jacquie Beckett (Medium Market); Music Director of the Year wins for Katie Stanners (Large Market) and Wendy Boomer (Medium Market); and talent awards for SONiC Edmonton’s Lauren Hunter, CHYM 96.7 Kitchener’s Adele Newton, CHEZ Ottawa’s The Biggs & Barr Show, KiSS Radio’s The Roz & Mocha Show, and K-ROCK Kingston’s Brock & Dalby. Harvard Media won four awards, including Best On-Air Team (Major Market) for play107 Edmonton morning show team, Ryder and Lisa. Corus Radio also claimed four awards, including both the Major and Medium Market Engineering categories. Bell Media won four awards, including Major Market Station of the Year, which went to 94.5 Virgin Radio in Vancouver, and Best Podcast (Major Market) for The Jann Arden Podcast, while Pattison Media also recorded four wins. By program, The Pro Bono Group’s national Canadian Food Bank PSAs initiative claimed three awards, while the syndicated At The Crossroads from ATC Blues Radio picked up two wins. Head to CanadianRadioAwards.com to listen to this year’s winning audio.

Podcamp Toronto has handed out the sixth annual Canadian Podcast Awards. This year’s wins were led by Canadian History Ehx, which captured the People’s Choice Award and Outstanding News & Current Affairs Series; Sonar Network’s You Made Me Queer!, which won Outstanding Adult Series and Outstanding Main Title Theme Music for a Series; and story-driven, role-playing podcast No Quest for the Wicked, which picked up awards for Outstanding Fiction Series and Outstanding Production for a Series. Find the full list of winners here.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Border Broadcasting’s application allowing 102.7 Lake FM (WLYK-FM) Cape Vincent, New York to become wholly owned by a Canadian company. The foreign ownership waiver is a first. Controlled by Andrew Dickson and Jon Pole (co-founders of My Broadcasting Corporation), Border plans to continue operating WLYK and serving the Cape Vincent and Watertown area, however the station largely targets the Kingston, ON market. Border has been operating WLYK under a local marketing agreement, stunt-launching last February as 102.7 The Pole, with a strip club classics format. 

Rogers Sports & Media has reinstated the JACK FM format on CJET-FM Smiths Falls, ON. The move follows the company’s return of its licence for CityNews 1310 (CIWW-AM) to the CRTC, and subsequent restoration of its Country format station to 101.1 on the dial, following a series of December 2020 moves that saw Country 92.3 debut on CJET-FM in place of the JACK FM brand to make way to simulcast news/talk on FM. 

Corus Entertainment’s Country 99 has debuted in Winnipeg as the company abandons the former Peggy @ 99-1 Adult Contemporary format. The talent lineup thus far includes CISN Country Edmonton afternoon drive announcer Ethan VanValls in morning drive, Corus Country network midday announcer Marissa “MJ” Lyons; and Country 105 (CKRY-FM) Calgary morning show host Gregg Reynolds in the afternoon time slot.

Huber Broadcasting’s Cat Country 98 Assiniboia, SK has flipped to 98 FM CKHD Hit Radio. Steven Huber says he decided to make the switch after substantial market research. The station is playing hits of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, from artists like Corey Hart, Eddie Money, Journey, Def Leppard, Colin James, and Big Sugar.

CBC Radio’s IDEAS and Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre are collaborating on a five-part talk series to be recorded between January and June, inspired by five plays in the theatre’s 40th anniversary season. Each event will feature a 45-minute talk followed by an onstage interview conducted by IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed, and take place on a Sunday morning prior to a matinee performance and recorded for later broadcast on IDEAS. The series will begin Jan. 7 with McGill University professor and literature scholar Sandeep Banerjee delivering a talk on love and art in times of war, inspired by Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy. Find more info on how to reserve a free ticket to a broadcast taping here. 

Bayshore Broadcasting’s 97.9 The Bruce in Saugeen Shores, ON hosted the 8th annual Light the Way Radiothon in support of the Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation. This year’s event proceeds of $231,558 will go to purchase cardiac monitors for in-patients and the renovation and expansion of the nurses station, which hasn’t been updated since the 1960s. Since its inception, the Light the Way Radiothon has now surpassed over a million dollars ($1,189,000 to be exact) in funds for the Hospital Foundation.

LISTEN: Andrew “Hustler” Paterson, the owner of Winnipeg Sports Talk, is on the latest Sound Off Podcast. Following Bell Media’s move to drop the TSN 1290 sports radio format in Winnipeg in February 2021, Paterson and his producer Michael Remis have aimed to fill the gap, putting out high-quality daily sports content. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

ADVERTORIAL: Jerry Parker, Director of Technical Services for MusicMaster, is on this special, sponsored episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, talking about the music scheduling software provider’s success in the Canadian marketplace, MusicMaster Pro and MusicMaster CS – Client Server Edition. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here: