Corus Entertainment has shuffled the on-air lineup at 103.1 Fresh Radio (CFHK-FM) London, adding evening personality Ian Lynch to its morning show and moving to air Tucker & Maura’s morning show from Hamilton sister station Energy 95.3 (CING-FM) in the afternoon drive time slot. Lynch, who has been with Corus since 2017, joins longtime morning duo Kim Woodbridge and Mark LeBel on new show Fresh Mornings with Kim, Mark & Ian from 5:30 – 9:30 a.m. Liz Gogol moves from afternoon drive to middays (11 a.m. – 3 p.m.), while Toni Ross jumps from middays to evenings (6 – 10 p.m.). Corus says “significant local elements” will feature in the London edition of the Tucker & Maura show. Scott Tucker is familiar to London listeners having previously spent a decade in the market.
Stingray has announced it’s further extending the reach of ‘the Breeze‘ format to rural Nova Scotia, starting Jan. 15. Already heard in Halifax, Edmonton, and Vancouver, CKEC-FM New Glasgow is the latest market to pick up the “easy, relaxing and familiar favourites” format. Currently playing Hot Adult Contemporary, CKEC-FM has been branded as Mix 94.1 since Nov. 2018. Ann & AJ will continue to host the morning show, while Corey Tremere (who also hosts middays at Ocean 100 Charlottetown) moves from middays to afternoons. Drew Ferreira, a veteran Stingray personality based in Toronto and heard in multiple markets, will voicetrack middays, while the nationally-syndicated “Evening Breeze with Stacey” will air from 7 p.m. – midnight. Read more here.
Corus Entertainment and Oilers Entertainment Group have announced a three-year extension of their 25-year partnership that sees 630 CHED maintain the exclusive radio broadcast rights for all pre-season, regular season and playoff games through to the 2022-23 NHL season. 630 CHED has been the home to Edmonton Oilers radio broadcasts since 1995 and the home of weekday afternoon show Oilers NOW since 2011. The Faceoff Show, hosted by 630 CHED sports announcer Reid Wilkins and former NHL player Rob Brown, will continue ahead of every Oilers game, as will the post-game Overtime Openline.
SOCAN Foundation has announced the recipients of the inaugural SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards. The five winners – TOBi, Naya Ali, RAAHiiM, Hunnah and Dylan Sinclair – will each receive $5,000 made possible by SiriusXM Canada. More than 300 applications from artists across Canada were submitted for the 2020 Awards. Learn more about the winners and jury, here.
SiriusXM has signed a new agreement to become the exclusive audio broadcaster of the Masters Tournament. For the 2021 tournament, scheduled for April 5-11, SiriusXM will produce and present live play-by-play broadcasts all four days of tournament play from Augusta National Golf Club. SiriusXM’s exclusive Masters week broadcasts will be available to listeners on SiriusXM channel 208 or 92, on the SiriusXM app and available to stream at home. Expanded coverage will include a live broadcast of the Par 3 Contest played on Wednesday of Masters week, an event which has not been available before as an audio broadcast. SiriusXM and Augusta National are also collaborating on a new podcast dedicated to the Masters, entitled The Masters Show, available every Monday night through the week of the Tournament.
MRC Data has released its 2020 Canada Year-End Report, in collaboration with Billboard. Covering music consumption for the 12-month period from Jan. 3 through Dec. 31, the report reveals that total audio consumption grew 6.5% over the year prior with audio streaming finishing the year with a 16.1% increase, anchored by a banner year for Children’s music and Country. Prior to the first wave lockdown in early March, audio streaming was up 21.3% over the same period in 2019, while total audio consumption (which includes album sales) was up 10.8% in the first 10 weeks of the year. Despite an 8.2% decline during the first eight weeks of lockdown, on-demand audio consumption rebounded through the remainder of the year. Worldwide, total audio streaming was up 22.6%. New albums from Canadian artists The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Drake and Shawn Mendes were among the year’s most-consumed across all genres.
Audible Magic has entered into an agreement with SOCAN to acquire its Seattle-based content fulfillment and rights administration business, MediaNet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It will enable Audible Magic to provide digital platforms with a comprehensive range of services to help manage their use of music. SOCAN and Audible Magic have also entered into a strategic partnership with the goal to use Audible Magic technology and services to help SOCAN improve operational accuracy and reporting to publishers and songwriters.
The Podcast Exchange (TPX) has signed a deal to exclusively represent the cabana podcasts portfolio in Canada, including shows like Crime Junkie, Chicken Soup for the Soul with Amy Newmark, and several series from commercial weather forecasting service, Accuweather. Based in New York City, the ad sales agreement marks parent audio marketing company AdLargeMedia’s first foray into the international market. It gives TPX exclusive Canadian ad sales representation for the more than 165 podcasts in the cabana portfolio. Read more here.
Pacific Content’s VP of Podcasts, Steve Pratt, has published a list of podcast predictions for 2021 from leaders in the space like Wondery founder Hernan Lopez, Edison Research SVP Tom Webster, and iHeartPodcast Network President Conal Byrne. Among them, that monthly listeners will top 120 million; that TikTok will drive the increased popularity of short form audio or “micropods”; and that interest in news and political podcasts – now that the U.S. election is over and the pandemic winding down – will dwindle.
LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Jesse Tieman, co-host of the morning show on Kingston’s Country 93.5, talks with Matt Cundill about growing up in a broadcast household, what he learned from his dad – the late legendary sportscaster Randy Tieman of CTV (CFCF) Montreal – and more. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
