advertisement
FYI

iHeartRadio Canada's Killer Screens & Gadgets App

Bell Media has trounced its competition in just about every category you care to name with its iHeart Radio app. Its success is attributable to unique content, like Shakey's Sunday night concert, and a multi-platform marketing campaign.

iHeartRadio Canada's Killer Screens & Gadgets App

By David Farrell

Since launching the iHeartRadio mobile app 14 months ago, Bell Media has trounced its competition in just about every category you care to name and is now the dominant screen and gadget player in the market.


This week, the company  released an updated edition of the player app that adds compatibility with Apple Watch, Apple CarPlay, Android Wear, Android Auto, and Sonos wireless speaker networks.

Describing its content-rich player as the “fastest-growing music service in Canada”, Bell Media reports iHeartRadio averages 1.8 million active online listeners monthly since launching in October 2016. The service also boasts a complement of 1,230 radio stations across all formats including sports, news/talk, ethnic, gospel, and comedy, One can also slice and dice to fine tune by music genres.

advertisement

Unlike nearest competitor Radioplayer with its no-frills menu advertising 500 radio stations, the iHeartRadio Canada app is also home to 10,000 podcasts, a large number of commercial-free music playlists that are genre specific, a growing catalogue of unique music content, and a website that is constantly updated with smartly-written pop culture content.

There’s also the just-launched exclusive-audio component called Secret Sessions that debuted Dec. 1 with Neil Young’s Omemee livestream concert that had 250,000+ people listening online before the show started at 8 pm ET. The same concert airs on the CTV network this Sunday, starting at 9 pm EST.

Users should note that the app update now requires users to create a Bell Media login.

advertisement
Ludacris performs onstage at Shaq’s Fun House held at Mardi Gras World on February 7, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Christopher Polk/Variety

Ludacris performs onstage at Shaq’s Fun House held at Mardi Gras World on February 7, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Country

Ludacris Exits Rock the Country Lineup Following Fan Backlash

The rapper was originally announced as part of the lineup earlier this month.

Ludacris has spent years “Pimpin’ All Over The World,” but he won’t be doing so on the Rock the Country tour this summer.

On Friday (Jan. 16), Rolling Stone reported that the Grammy-winning rapper’s name had been removed from the lineup announcement poster. According to the magazine, the “My Chick Bad” MC “wasn’t supposed to be on” the lineup in the first place. Representatives for the traveling festival confirmed the news, directing Billboard to Ludacris’ team “for any additional comments.”

keep readingShow less
advertisement