Radio & Podcast News – Evanov rebrands GTA’s Jewel 88.5

The 2021 Broadcast Dialogue Canadian Radio Awards, presented by HD Radio, close to submissions this Monday, Oct. 11. Thanks to our sponsors and supporters, “The Howards” are FREE TO ENTER. Enter your station talent across 22 categories, including new awards for Best Canadian Multi-Market Program, Best Performance in a Commercial, Best Use of Sound, and Campus or Community Station of the Year. Learn more here.

Evanov Communications has added Jewel 88.5 (CKDX-FM) to its LITE rebranded stations. Licensed for Newmarket and located in the Toronto CMA, Evanov says the station’s soft pop playlist now skews younger. Spanning the ‘70s to today, LITE 88.5 will include more current hits while retaining core artists like Ed Sheeran, Adele, Billy Joel, Maroon 5, Bryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, and Michael Bublé. 

94.7 Hits FM (WYUL-FM), the so-called “border blaster,” licensed to Chateaugay, New York and serving Greater Montreal and the Seaway River Valley, including Cornwall, ON, has flipped to Educational Media Foundation’s K-Love Christian Contemporary format. Martz announced in June it was selling WYUL and sister station Wild Country 96.5 (WVNV) Malone, NY to EMF. After 19 years, 94.7 Hits FM signed off at midnight Sept. 30 with Linkin Park’s “This is the End.” Montreal media blogger Steve Faguy captured some of the audio from the station’s last day.

Global News Radio 980 CKNW Vancouver has announced a refreshed weekend morning lineup. Stirling Faux, who has been filling in since early 2020, gets a permanent Saturday timeslot from 6 – 9 a.m. with Weekend Mornings with Stirling Faux, starting Oct. 9. He’ll be followed by A Word in Edgewise hosted by Jon McComb at 9 a.m., who comes out of semi-retirement. The show features McComb and rotating talk show hosts from across the country, discussing the major headlines of the week. Weekend Mornings with Raji Sohal will air Sundays from 6 to 9 a.m., starting Oct. 10. Sohal joined CKNW earlier this year as a contributor to Mornings with Simi. Born and raised in the Lower Mainland, she previously worked as an arts reporter and podcast host with CBC Montreal.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has made an FCC filing that calls on the commission to loosen radio ownership caps in the U.S. Citing both declining revenue and audience due to increased competition from streaming services, NAB says local radio stations’ OTA ad revenues fell 44.9% ($17.6 billion to $9.7 billion) from 2005-20. FM stations in the 253 Arbitron/Nielsen continuously measured markets saw OTA revenue fall from $10.5 billion in 2005 to $6.0 billion in 2020, a decline of 42.9%. According to Nielsen, Average Quarter Hour (AQH) FM listening has dropped 23.5% in the past five years. 10 radio companies have also filed with the commission requesting rule changes, including Connoisseur Media, Townsquare Media, Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Midwest Communications, the Frandsen family stations, Cherry Creek Media, Neuhoff Media, Eagle Communications, Patrick Communications and Legend Communications.

The Canadian Podcast Listener has released some early returns from its forthcoming study indicating that podcast listening in French Canada is up sharply, with monthly listening rising from 17 to 21% and weekly podcasting up from 12 to 17%. The fifth year for the study, The Canadian Podcast Listener will come out with a full release in late November, co-published by Signal Hill Insights and Jeff Ulster with the support of The Podcast Exchange (TPX).

Humble & Fred celebrate 10 years of podcasting on Oct. 14 with a special livestream at 7 p.m. ET. The duo recently visited Toronto Mike’d to talk about the last decade, the evolution of podcasting, and the uniqueness of their success. Listen here.

Bell Let’s Talk has introduced new mental health podcast series, From Where We Stand: Conversations on Race and Mental Health, hosted by CTV Your Morning’s Anne-Marie Mediwake, CHUM 104.5 morning co-host Jamar McNeil, and broadcaster and comedian, Candy Palmater. Starting Oct. 6 and over the next six weeks, the series will explore mental health issues affecting culturally diverse communities throughout Canada. It will feature guests sharing their personal stories and mental health journeys, alongside mental health experts who can help Canadians understand the impacts of racism and injustice on mental health. Weekly episodes will explore topics like intergenerational trauma, first generation immigrant experiences, language barriers and how stigma affects men’s mental health. 

LISTEN: Dave Cadeau, the former Director of Programming for Sports Radio at Rogers Sports & Media, has been recruited as the Executive Producer of the new Ti-Cats Audio Network – an in-house content machine super-serving fans with daily and game day programming – amid increasingly scant resources in conventional broadcasting. On the latest episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, we welcome Cadeau to talk about the future of pro-sports media content and the ever-changing sports radio landscape.

LISTEN: Rob Walch, the VP of Podcast Relations at Libsyn, returns to the Sound Off Podcast. In this episode, Walch debunks myths and puts podcasting into perspective, discusses having a presence on YouTube, and as the host of Today in iOS, dives into Apple’s plans for the future.  

Canada’s Walk of Fame has announced that six-time JUNO Award winner Serena Ryder is the 2021 recipient of the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour presented to a musician, duo, or group that continues to make a positive impact with their talent and benevolence in the field of music. Ryder joins past honourees Alessia Cara, Drake, Brett Kissel, Carly Rae Jepsen, Shawn Mendes, and The Weeknd, among others. She’ll be presented the honour during the annual Canada’s Walk of Fame Awards Gala at Toronto’s Beanfield Centre on Dec. 4. A special broadcast will air at a later date on CTV. Other Arts & Entertainment inductees to the Walk of Fame this year include Keanu Reeves, Graham Greene, Bruce Cockburn, Jully Black, and Salome Bey, “Canada’s First Lady of Blues.”

Rudy Blair has been named the official host of Canadian Music Week’s Virtual Voices Series. Prior to launching his website, Rudy Blair Entertainment Media, the entertainment journalist previously spent 23 years with 680 News (CFTR-AM) Toronto. Among other accolades, Blair is an inductee of the Humber College Radio Broadcasting Hall Of Fame.

Country 105 (CFDC-FM) Shelburne, ON took its morning show on the road, Sept. 23-24. Broadcasting live from Sobeys in Orangeville, Rod & Jill asked listeners for help restocking the shelves at the Orangeville Foodbank. Rod West camped in the store parking lot for three days and nights, braving rainstorms and single-digit temperatures. The event saw more than 2,000 lbs. of food collected and $1,200 raised in cash donations.

JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) Toronto is welcoming the return of its Sound of Jazz Concert Series following a year-long hiatus. The 45th season will feature six special concerts between October 2021 and March 2022 in the Long & McQuade Performance Hall at the JAZZ.FM91 studios. The season gets underway with the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. Audiences will be able to hear each concert LIVE on the air and online via JAZZ.FM91’s Facebook page. As with all Sound of Jazz concerts, the performances will also be archived for an upcoming episode of the weekly Sound of Jazz program, Sundays at 4 p.m. Find full concert details at jazz.fm.

99.3 County FM (CJPE-FM) Prince Edward County, ON has received a $30,000 donation from the John M. & Bernice Parrott Foundation that will facilitate construction of a two-person, accessibility-compliant sound isolation booth (Whisper Booth) and recording studio. Beyond improving and expanding the station’s recording capabilities, the new Whisper Booth will allow more people to simultaneously take advantage of the station’s recording technology. Many advertisers across Prince Edward County use the station’s recording services to support their businesses, in addition to 150+ non-profits seeking a platform to reach their audience. Construction of the Whisper Booth will begin this year, with completion in the spring of 2022.

The Edmonton Broadcasters Club will host its Fall Virtual Luncheon on Oct. 20. Featuring Holger Peterson, CKUA and CBC personality and the former owner of Stony Plain Records, the event is open by donation with proceeds funding the organization’s annual NAIT Radio/TV/Digital bursary awarded to the top student in the course.