CBC/Radio-Canada and Toronto not-for-profit station JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) are among the global broadcasters shortlisted in the New York Festivals Radio Awards competition. Among the CBC productions to make the list are CBC Podcasts’ Life Jolt, White Hot Hate, The Village (Season 2), and Boys Like Me. CBC Radio programs shortlisted include The World at Six for Best Newscast; Cross Country Checkup’s coverage of the “Freedom Convoy” for Best Coverage of a Breaking News Story; and Quirks & Quarks Black in Science Special, nominated for Best Documentary: Science & Technology. Radio-Canada’s René Homier-Roy was shortlisted for Best Radio Personality: Network/Syndicated, while its Battle Of The Books For Young Audiences was shortlisted for Best Children/Young Adult Program, among 11 nominations for French radio. JAZZ.FM91 received four nods, including Best Jazz Format; Best Writing for its Black History Month Vignettes; Best Music Special for Caribbean Christmas Mixtape; and Best Music Podcast for its In The Land Of The Misty Giant episode featuring Grammy-winning keyboardist Shaun Martin. Read more here.
Bell Media and Desjardins have launched a new radio campaign to raise awareness for the GoodSpark Grants initiative, highlighting the grant recipients and what their businesses are doing in their local communities. The initiative has provided a total of $3 million to 150 small businesses across the country who applied for a grant based on projects that support sustainability, employment, and innovation in their local communities. A collaboration between Bell Media, Desjardins, Glassroom and Bleublancrouge, the campaign features live reads, promos, and social media content integrations across iHeartRadio Canada, Orbyt Media, Stingray Radio, and Central Ontario Broadcasting stations. “Tell Me Something Good” segments are also airing on iHeartRadio Canada’s Talk and Virgin Radio Network, as well as Stingray radio stations, featuring local, good-news stories aimed at inspiring listeners to engage in acts of kindness within their own communities.
SiriusXM will again provide comprehensive coverage of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, offering subscribers access to live play-by-play of every regular season and postseason game, as well as 24/7 news, talk and analysis on the MLB Network Radio channel. The SXM App offers 30 play-by-play channels dedicated to streaming the official radio broadcasts of every MLB team, giving fans the choice between the home and visiting team announcers for every game. All 30 MLB play-by-play channels are also available on vehicles equipped with SiriusXM with 360L radios. The 2022 MLB season begins on Opening Day, April 7, with a slate of nine games. Find the full schedule here.
Canadian Music Week (CMW) and Friends of Steve Young are once again posthumously saluting the late broadcaster with the Steve Young Broadcaster of the Year Award. Anyone working in the industry can nominate any worthy broadcaster under the age of 30 (to make up for a lost year due to COVID, they will honour those who are under 31 years of age as of Dec 31, 2021). The winning candidate must work in the programming department: On-Air, Programming, Promotion, Production or Creative. The deadline for entries is Friday, May 13. Read more here.
Luminate, formerly MRC Data, has released a preview of its Canada Music 360 report. Among its findings are that 60% of Canadian music listeners still discover new music via radio, with 7% growth in music listeners tuning radio vs. 2020. 90% of music listeners are now streaming music online with 33% saying they plan to subscribe to a music streaming service in the next six months.
Maureen Holloway, who parted ways with Toronto’s CHFI in October, announced on Standing By: The Terry & Ted podcast this week that she is collaborating with former CBC News personality Wendy Mesley on a new podcast called “Women of Ill Repute” featuring guests that have “pushed the envelope.” Set to launch in June, the podcast will be produced by Matt Cundill and will be part of the Sound Off/Dean Blundell Podcast Network.
BuzzFeed Culture Writer Scaachi Koul and Toronto writer Sarah Hagi, who boasts bylines for VICE and The Guardian, are co-hosting a new podcast for Wondery called Scamfluencers. It explores the world’s most insidious Scamfluencers from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health, and wellness. The first two episodes are available on Wondery now, with the podcast debuting on other platforms, starting April 11.
SOCAN’s total annual collections for licensed music for 2021 are expected to exceed $416-million, a 3% increase over the previous record of $405.6-million set in 2019. SOCAN attributes most of the $25-million year-over-year growth to $135-million collected for the use of music on digital platforms – an increase of $32-million over 2020. Despite the continuing positive growth in digital music licensing and the popularity of online streaming services, a SOCAN writer member who earned royalties in 2021 earned an average of only $67.14 from domestic digital sources for the entire year. Revenue from international sources continued to show strength at the historically high mark of $106.1-million, demonstrating that Canadian music creators and publishers continue to outperform on a global level.
Francis Currie of audio and radio research firm Currie Nordén is running a short, anonymous, online talent survey asking current announcers and presenters about their coaching experiences. The survey is in preparation for a conference session at Radiodays Europe, and promises to be the biggest survey on audio talent coaching ever undertaken.
LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Jeni Wren Stottrup, the coach behind The Podcasters Forum and host of Gritty Birds. She helps podcasters find their voice as a coach, through content marketing, speaker training, tech training and mindset coaching, bringing experience from over 20 years in the music industry as a singer, festival producer, journalist and content creator. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
