The Western Association of Broadcasters held its 2019 WAB Gold Medal Awards Gala Thursday evening at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Hosted by Global Calgary’s Linda Olsen, the awards celebrated the best in Prairie broadcasting. The evening was highlighted by presentations to 2019 WAB Hall of Fame Inductees Boyd Kozak and Bob Ridley. Stingray’s Jenn Dalen was also presented with the WAB Leader of Tomorrow Award. Find the full list of honourees here.
The Western Association of Broadcasters (WAB) celebrated the 85th edition of its annual conference at the Fairmont Banff Springs last week. John Vos, WAB President, and Glenn Ruskin, WAB Vice-President, took time to acknowledge some of the instrumental figures in the association’s history. Gord Rawlinson began attending the WAB Conference before he officially joined Rawlco Radio in 1969. He has since attended more than 50 consecutive WAB Conferences. At the 50th WAB Conference, back in 1984, Gord’s father Ed Rawlinson received a Perfect Attendance Award for 38 years of continuous WAB attendance. Since 1958, Golden West Broadcasting CEO Elmer Hildebrand has missed just one conference. 2019 marked the 60th WAB Conference Hildebrand has attended.
PPM ratings for Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal are out covering the 13-week period from Feb. 25, 2019 to May 26, 2019. Read David Bray’s full analysis here.
Toronto: Bragging rights at the top of the ratings heap go to CBC Radio One delivering a 13.3% share for A12+ (up from 12.3%). CHUM-FM trades places with CHFI-FM grabbing the #1 spot with women 25-54 delivering a 17.7% share (up from 13.6%). BOOM-FM holds the #1 spot for males 25-54, posting an 11.1% share (down from 12.6 % in the last 13-week book). CHUM-FM leads the way for M18-34 with an 11.6% share. For F18-34, CHUM-FM leads, posting a 14.7% followed closely by CHFI-FM at 14.6%.
Vancouver: CBC Radio One grabs the #1 spot for A12+ with a 17.0% share of hours tuned (up from 14.0%). Taking the top spot for F25-54 was QM-FM, posting an 18.6% share (up from 21.9% last time out). CBC Radio One grabs the lead for M25-54 listeners, delivering a 13.0% share followed by CFOX at 11.9%. The FOX is well out in front for M18-34 with a 16.6 % share of hrs. tuned (down from 17.3%). When it comes to females 18-34, oddly enough, Rock 101 takes top spot posting a 14.3 % share.
Edmonton: NOW! Radio takes #1 with A12+, posting a 9.2% share of hours tuned (down from 9.6%). NOW! takes also top spot for F25-54, delivering a 20.0% share (down from 20.9 %). CRUZ-FM tops the list for M25-54 with a 10.5 % share (up from 10.3%). For M18-34, NOW leads the way posting a 12.5%. NOW also led with F18-34 delivering a 19.0%.
Calgary: CBC Radio One leads the way for A12+ with a 9.4% (up from 8.1 % last time out). 95.9 CHFM is popular with female listeners, taking #1 spot for F25-54 delivering an 8.9% share (down from 9.5%). For M25-54, X92.9 is #1 with a 10.1% (down from 10.9%). CKCE-FM takes top spot for M18-34 delivering 9.7%. Wild 95.3 steps up and out front) for F18-34 posting a 13.1% share.
Montreal: CHMP 98.5FM is #1 for A12+ (Franco) with a 17.3% share (down from 18.9%). For A12+ (Anglo) CJAD 800 is #1 with a 26.7% (down from 27.1%). CITE-FM is tops with women, taking #1 spot for F25-54 (Franco) delivering a 23.2% share (up from 25.4%). For F25-54 (Anglo) The Beat 92.5 is #1 with a 32.5% share (up from 30.0). For M25-54 (Franco), CHMP 98.5FM is on top at 15.5% share (down from 16.2 %). For M25-54 (Anglo), CHOM-FM is #1 at 19.1% (up from 18.3%).
Vista Radio has launched 98.1 2day FM (CKBD-FM) Lethbridge, playing a customized playlist of hits that cross musical genres from the likes of AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Ed Sheeran, Queen, Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons. CKBD had been branded as 98.1 The Bridge since September 2014 following its acquisition by Clear Sky Radio. It initially played modern rock before switching to a modern adult contemporary format in 2017. Vista acquired the Clear Sky Radio stations late last year. The company says after conducting extensive research in the Lethbridge market, “it set out on a journey to design an innovative new sound that centers around many different styles of music and concentrates on being a truly local radio station. The station will also expand its local news coverage with more newscasts, in addition to content on local news portal MyLethbridgeNow.com. Vista has also rebranded its other Lethbridge station. Classic Hits CJOC will be known as 94.1 Juice FM.
The CRTC has approved South Fraser Broadcasting’s purchase of the former Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM) Vancouver licence, but has denied its requests for exemptions to its CanCon requirements or its ask to be exempt from tangible benefits. Roundhouse Radio, which operated as a unique urban talk format under the leadership of rock radio veteran Don Shafer, went dark in May 2018 after being on-air for about two and half years. Heard at 98.3 FM and with its studios located in Railtown on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the station had an ERP of 1.7 kilowatts. South Fraser, which operates Pulse 107.7 FM (CISF-FM) Surrey, had asked that it be allowed to delete the station’s condition of licence requiring it to devote a minimum of 50% of its musical selections from content category 3 (Special Interest Music) to Canadian selections. It also proposed reducing the requirement to devote a minimum of 50% of its musical selections from content category 2 (Popular Music) to Canadian selections to a minimum of 40%. In addition to denying that exemption, the commission says South Fraser will be on the hook for CIRH-FM’s outstanding Canadian Content Development (CCD) contributions. Roundhouse shareholders applied to the CRTC last November to sell to South Fraser for $600,000. It’s unclear if the exemption denials will hinder the deal. Read more here.
The CRTC has concluded that the North Bay, ON market can sustain another commercial radio station. Vista Radio, which already operates CFXN-FM in the market, has expressed interest in starting a new station which would bring the number of commercial stations serving the area to five, including Rogers stations CHUR-FM, CKFX-FM and CKAT. The market is also served by Christian music station CJTK-FM-1 (Harvest Ministries Sudbury), as well as a transmitter that rebroadcasts the programming of CBC Sudbury.
Rawlco Radio CEO Gordon Rawlinson and his wife Jill will receive honorary Doctor of Laws degrees at the University of Regina spring convocation on Friday. The Rawlinsons are being recognized for their widespread philanthropy, supporting a variety of causes over the years through their Lily Street Foundation. Those causes include St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert and Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford. They also support a financial aid program for aboriginal business students at the Edwards School of Business in Saskatoon; the U of R School of Journalism; Saskatoon’s Remai Gallery; the E.A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts in Prince Albert, and the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, among many other charitable endeavours.
Dalhousie University’s International Development Studies program has introduced two summer courses via podcast for the first time that’s resulted in an enrollment boost over the traditional offering of the same courses. The summer version of Introduction to International Development, like many summer courses, has traditionally been taught using Dalhousie University’s web-based video platform. Requiring a lot of independent reading and with little direct engagement, Associate Professor Robert Huish started thinking about how to make the course environment more responsive to allow students the best chance at success without watering down the subject material. The same in-class curriculum offered throughout the year has been translated into three podcasts using the Panopto app, a video content solution which allows users to marry slides and photographs to audio. The first podcast series talks about core issues in the field of international development; the second interviews experts on the issues; and the third talks about how those issues are used in research or journalism. Read our feature story here.
Spotify has announced that it’s bringing back its Sound Up accelerator program aimed at bringing more diverse voices into the podcasting world. Sound Up helps applicants take their ideas to pilot production, covering technical challenges, storytelling through audio, and marketing. At the end of the week, participants pitch for a chance to win $5,000 and the opportunity to have up to five episodes produced, while retaining the IP to their podcast idea.
She Podcasts Live, a conference aimed at female podcasters, is happening Oct. 11-13 in Atlanta. She Podcasts began in 2014 as a small Facebook group for women seeking podcasting answers, tips and resources. That network has since grown to almost 12,000 women with its supporting podcast, hosted by Elsie Escobar and Jessica Kupferman, boasting 5,000 downloads per month.
On the latest Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, if you weren’t at the recent 2019 Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards, among this year’s Hall of Fame inductees were longtime CJAY92 Calgary morning man Gerry Forbes, coast to coast rock radio legend Brother Jake Edwards – who currently helms mornings at TSN 1040 Vancouver, and legendary CKOI-FM Montreal music director Guy Brouillard. We’ve compiled some highlights from the evening and be warned…you will hear LANGUAGE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL LISTENERS.
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