Radio & Podcast News – It’s Canadian Music Week

The Radio Trailblazers honoured this year’s Rosalie Award recipient Tuesday Night at Toronto’s Rosewater Room, in conjunction with Canadian Music Week. This year’s  honouree is Carmela Laurignano, vice-president and Radio Group Manager at Evanov Radio Group. Humber College student Heather Williams, who is headed to work in promotions at Rogers’ Fort McMurray stations, received the Renee Roth Memorial Award. Read more here.

Radio Interactive gets underway at Canadian Music Week on Thursday. Thursday highlights include the opening keynote by radio futurologist James Cridland on Canadian radio’s digital strategy, the presentation of Infinite Dial Canada research by Edison SVP Tom Webster, and a Programming 2020 Masterclass discussing how stations can prepare themselves for Numeris’ incoming shift to continuous measurement for all radio markets. Thursday evening, this year’s Broadcast Industry Awards will be handed out at a sold-out event at Rebel Entertainment Complex, including this year’s Hall of Fame inductees Brother Jake Edwards, Gerry Forbes and Guy Brouillard. Friday’s conference agenda opens with a panel of women visionaries on the evolution of the business of music and radio. The morning’s keynote conversation features 2019 CMW Lifetime Achievement Award honouree Robbie Robertson and broadcast veteran Denise Donlon. That’s followed by a panel on Elevating Young and Diverse Voices featuring CHUM morning co-host Jamar McNeil, KiSS 104.9’s Kevin Lim, and Peter Kash of Flow 93.5. Matt Cundill of the Sound Off Podcast will moderate Broadcasting in the Age of Podcasting with panelists Steve Pratt, Pacific Content; Leslie Merklinger, CBC Radio; and Jordan Heath Rawlings of Rogers. Read more here.

Gord Kidder remains in a coma in the Czech Republic, however the broadcast community has rallied to raise nearly $115,000 to cover the broadcast sales veteran’s mounting medical costs and airlift back to Canada. Last week, Gary Slaight, president and CEO of Slaight Communications, and former CHUM Group chairman Jim Waters, offered to match further donations to a gofundme page set up for Kidder. A partner in Muskoka Information Radio (CIIG-FM) Gravenhurst, ON, and former account manager at CHUM and Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM), Kidder was in Europe in early April to take part in ceremonies around the 75th anniversary of The Great Escape. The trip was made in honour of the uncle he is named for, a POW at Stalag Luft III during WWII, who was one of the men captured and shot in the infamous plot. Kidder was on his way home and in the airport when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. After two surgeries, he remains in the ICU. Kidder did not have out-of-country or private health insurance. Bill Herz, former SVP of Sales for Standard Broadcasting, who worked with Kidder at CFRB, said as of Wednesday they were $10,000 shy of their fundraising goal and hoped to fly Kidder home by week’s end.

Golden West Broadcasting’s Estevan stations – CJ1150, SUN 102 (CHSN-FM) and ROCK 106 (CKSE-FM) – raised over $168,000 for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation with the Radiothon for Life.  Funds raised will help add and replace equipment in the maternity ward at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan.

The 13th Annual CHAB Family First Radiothon saw the Golden West team in Moose Jaw raise almost $300,000 for the Moose Jaw Health Foundation and a new lithotripsy unit and anaesthetic machines for the Dr F. H. Wigmore Regional Hospital. After 36 hours, the goal of $150,000 was surpassed and almost doubled.

Harvard Broadcasting’s GX94 and Fox FM Yorkton held their 13th Annual Airwaves for Health Radiothon Apr. 29-30 at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre. A record $143,128 was raised towards purchasing new state of the art digital mammography equipment. The first annual radiothon raised funds for the mammography equipment currently in use.

99.3 County FM’s Radiothon in Prince Edward County, ON surpassed all goals as the member-owned, volunteer operated, not-for-profit community radio station, set out to take the final bite out of the $150,000 start-up loan that put the station on-air in Oct. 2014. With $47K remaining, a team of 106 volunteers surpassed that goal as listeners and sponsors donated more than $53,000. Over the four days of the Radiothon, 45 musical acts performed live on-air. Each day of the event, listeners were invited to tour the station and enjoy the music, in addition to an Island Jam Party at the Prince Edward County Yacht Club, and a Tailgate Party & Sale where the public was encouraged to donate their proceeds to the Radiothon. The event marked the opening of fifth anniversary celebrations for County FM, which will continue through the Spring and Summer, leading up to Oct. 14.

The Canadian Podcast Listener Survey has released more data, finding that sharing has been a key component in podcasting’s growth. The survey, from Audience Insights Inc. and Ulster Media with support from TPX, found nearly two-thirds (65%) of monthly podcast listeners say they have shared podcasts they listen to with others at some point in the last six months. Almost half of those (46%) shared a podcast (46%) by word-of-mouth and nearly a quarter (23%) of monthly listeners said they had shared a podcast in the past six months via social media, rising to 29% among 18-34 year olds. Nearly one-in-five (18%) podcast listeners shared content directly via email or text, rising to 29% among “power listeners” – those who listen to at least five hours of podcasts per week. Initial findings from the Canadian Podcast Listener Survey 2019 will be released this summer. Read more here.

The Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC) is implementing StatsRadio’s sales and performance analysis tools at its member radio stations. The two-year agreement will see StatsRadio gradually implemented at French-language and Acadian community radio stations throughout the country, starting with Ontario and New Brunswick. The project was made possible with funding from the Government of Canada. The Alliance says the new system will empower its members with the capability to enhance their understanding of their audience and demonstrate their relevance to advertisers to secure better positioning in increasingly competitive advertising markets. StatsRadio now has over 80 broadcasters using its offer.

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