Radio & Podcast News – Toronto’s G98.7 introduces new morning lineup

Broadcast Dialogue’s Canadian Radio Awards, presented by HD Radio, will announce our 2021 winners on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Stay tuned to Broadcast Dialogue’s social media channels and CanadianRadioAwards.com. In the meantime, votes are still being tallied for our inaugural FYI Music News Emerging Artist Award which goes to a Canadian artist or group that has charted but has yet to break into the top 40, based on Mediabase data. Open to radio programmers and music directors, if you are a Weekly Briefing subscriber and haven’t received a ballot, please reach out at info@broadcastdialogue.com. Voting will conclude Monday, Nov. 15 at noon ET. Read more about this year’s finalists here.

G98.7 (CKFG-FM) Toronto has introduced a new morning lineup as new General Manager Gary Gunter makes his mark on the station under the new ownership of multicultural broadcaster CINA Radio Group. The station’s new morning lineup sees former midday personality Red and comedian/on-air personality Jay Martin team up, with the show also featuring producer Perion Prince, mixologist DJ Ritz, and Chris Hayles providing hourly news updates. “Great Music Morning Show” will air weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. Geena Lee also joins the lineup as host of “Love Notes” every Monday-Thursday, 7 – 11 p.m.

John Derringer has celebrated his 5,000th show on Toronto’s Q107 (CILQ-FM). A 10-time Canadian Music Week Radio Personality of the Year, Derringer joined Q107 for the first time from 1984 to 1993. After leaving to host mornings at CHOM Montreal and later The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM), he returned to Q107 in 2000, replacing Howard Stern’s brief syndicated run on the station. 

Lake 88.1 (CHLK-FM) Perth, ON held its third annual Radiothon on Oct. 14 that saw listeners donate a record $120,177 in support of four area hospitals in Perth, Smiths Falls, Carleton Place and Almonte, as well as three rural community health centres. Lake 88, now a division of My Broadcasting Corporation, aired 12 hours of interviews and pledges to raise funds for healthcare equipment for a new emergency department and CT Scan unit. Lake 88 General Manager Brian Perkin says the success of the Radiothon was also a show of support for frontline workers, who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic. 

Edison Research has released new survey data commissioned by WorldDAB, in partnership with Radioplayer and supported by National Association of Broadcasters, Commercial Radio Australia, and Xperi. The online survey talked to nearly 6,300 respondents who had recently purchased or leased a new car or plan to do so across Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the U.S. It found that broadcast radio continues to dominate as the most preferred source of in-car entertainment. Almost all (90%) said a broadcast radio tuner should be standard equipment in every car, a trend consistent across age groups. 82% of potential car buyers said they would be less likely to buy or lease a vehicle that is not equipped with a built-in radio tuner. Day-to-day consumption of broadcast radio among motorists remains significantly higher than for any other form of audio content. 65% of respondents say they listen in the car ‘frequently’, versus 23% for online streaming music services and 15% for CDs. The importance of free-to-air radio was also highlighted with 70% concerned about data charges for streamed content.

The Canadian Podcast Listener (CPL) study, now in its fifth year with the support of The Podcast Exchange (TPX), has released its annual survey of more than 3,000 Canadians, followed by the main survey of 1,600 monthly podcast listeners looking at what they listen to as well as changes in how they’re listening. Signal Hill Insights has released some initial findings that indicate the incremental five-year growth trend is continuing with monthly podcast listening up by two points from Oct. 2020. Weekly podcast listening is up even more as more Canadians make podcast listening a regular habit, rising from 18 to 21% of Canadian adults. Podcast listening in French Canada, which has long lagged behind English Canada, is up most sharply as more French-Canadian content becomes available, with weekly listening spiking from 12 to 18%. Audience composition largely held steady, with listening growing across all demos. Of monthly listeners, 47% are aged 18-34; 35% are 35-54 and 18% 55+. By gender, 54% are men; and 46% are women. Read more of this year’s CPL insights, here.

Media Girlfriends is producing a new podcast for the Toronto Star and Black North Initiative, called Between Us With Wes Hall. The podcast is about finding solutions to anti-Blackness and systemic, racial discrimination in corporate Canada. The first episode, which dropped Nov. 9, features Kardinal Offishall as Hall’s guest.

LISTEN: Callie and Jeff Dauler, who started their podcast when Jeff’s radio career abruptly took a turn in 2019 from Star 94.1 Atlanta, are on the latest episode of the Sound Off Podcast. Callie and Jeff discuss how they monetize not just the show, but their social media handles, and how they engage with listeners beyond the RSS feed. They also discuss how they’ve used conventional and unconventional podcast strategies to support their brand. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here: