Radio executives and programmers are gearing up for Radiodays North America in Toronto next week, taking place concurrent to Departure Festival + Conference, a “reimagined” Canadian Music Week (CMW).
The third iteration of Radiodays North America, happening May 6-9 at the lakefront Hotel X, promises to cover a range of issues the radio and podcast sector is grappling with – from what the Top 40 format looks like in 2025 to sessions on audience measurement, the value and future of local news, and digital advertising opportunities.
“I think it’s the most widespread agenda that we’ve done to date, encompassing all aspects of audio,” veteran programmer and Radiodays North America programming consultant Ross Davies told Broadcast Dialogue. “There are more podcast sessions over the two days than we’ve had before…and we’ve got at least two, if not three AI sessions, which is obviously on everyone’s mind.”
Other sessions tackle the value of local news, specifically in the context of natural disasters like last year’s L.A. fires, featuring moderator and National Director of Talk & Talent for Corus Entertainment, Mike Bendixen, in conversation with Alex Silverman, former Director of News & Programming at KNX Los Angeles, and Christopher Ebbott, SVP of Programming & Operations, Audacy Los Angeles.
Another panel will explore the future of local news, featuring Alison Broddle, Managing Director, CBC Vancouver, April Lindgren, head of the local news research project at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Alex Freedman, Executive Director of the Community Radio Fund of Canada, and Lesley Lotto, CEO of the Remote News Service.
Kurt Johnson of Townsquare Media will tackle how digital advertising is transforming radio’s bottom line, while a session with radio futurologist James Cridland and global market researcher John Parikhal called the “Cyclone Bomb” will look at what shape radio might take in 2040.
Other big names coming in for the conference include The Fred Show from 103.5 KISS FM, Chicago; Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer for Cumulus Media and Westwood One; Bumper co-founder Dan Misener; and NPR Tiny Desk Concerts producer Bobby Carter.
A late morning session on Tuesday, ahead of the official Radiodays welcome reception, will feature Grammy-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and iHeartRadio Canada syndicated host Bryan Adams.
Davies said the Departure team have “embraced” Radiodays North America as an integral part of the newly-rebranded festival.
“The interactions we’ve had with their team have been terrific,” said Davies. “So, that’s been really good, very supportive. They decided to move the location to Hotel X, which in and of itself, is going to make the thing look very different.”
“I think it will be quite an experience the way Departure has planned production elements around moving people around, interacting with everyone with all of these different events going on, whether it’s the culinary or tech or music conferences taking place at the same time as Radiodays. It’s going to be really impressive.”
Davies says Radiodays is anticipating attendance to be the same, if not slightly higher than last year, as many broadcasters continue to grapple with advertising revenue challenges.
“For example, I just got an email yesterday from a major U.S. company – a senior vice president – he’s coming up and he said ‘Ross, I can’t, as much as I want to, come up and bring my team. Our last quarter down here was so awful. Everything is cut back. So, he’s going to come up with maybe one or two people, as opposed to five or six.”
Davies said the Depature Festival committees have done a great job of of bringing this year’s conference offerings together.
“This is all about a sense of community that [Loft Entertainment CEO Randy Lennox] wants to bring from the music industry, the broadcast industry, the tech industry, all under one roof,” said Davies. “His goal here is to create a community and they’ve got some pretty exciting events planned. I think we’re in for a pretty good experience.”
