Media Beat: December 07, 2017

By David Farrell

It’s a family affair at the house of Rogers

Ted Rogers's adult children are moving into more senior roles on the board of the company the late entrepreneur founded.

Rogers Communications Inc. said on Thursday that Edward Rogers will become chairman of the board on Jan. 1, while his sister, Melinda Rogers, will replace him as deputy chair. The pair will leave formal day-to-day management of the company to chief executive officer Joe Natale and his executive team. – Christine Dobby, The Globe & Mail

Radioplayer Canada connects with Amazon Echo

Radioplayer Canada, the radio streaming app that features more than 500 Canadian radio stations, has just announced its streaming service is available with Amazon Echo, powered by Alexa.

This latest consumer product integration follows the recent smart device integrations of the Radioplayer Canada app with Sonos, Google's Chromecast, and Apple CarPlay.

"This integration with Amazon Alexa is great for Canadian radio," Julie Adam, Rogers Radio Sr. VP, and Board Chair of Radioplayer Canada said in a statement this week. "The integration echoes the mission of all participating radio broadcasters to be available however, wherever, and whenever our listeners want. Alexa makes it easier than ever!"

The free digital app offers streams from stations operated by Bayshore Broadcasting, Blackburn Radio, Blackgold Radio, Byrnes Communications, CAB-K Broadcasting, Central Ontario Broadcasting, Clear Sky Radio, Cogeco Media, Corus Entertainment, Durham Radio, Fabmar Communications, Golden West Broadcasting, Harvard Broadcasting, Larche Communications, Newcap Radio, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Rogers Media, Rawlco Radio, RNC Media, Saskatoon Media Group, Vista Radio, and Westman Communications Group, as well as the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC).

98.1 CHFI rings in Santa time as Toronto’s #1 radio station

Rogers Media has much to celebrate this holiday season as 98.1 CHFI continues its reign as Toronto’s #1 radio station according to yesterday’s PPM quarterly survey (August 28 to November 26, 2017) released by Numeris. CHFI captured a 13.8 percent share with A25-54, pacing 4.2 share points ahead of the nearest competitor. Also, CHFI’s flagship morning show, Darren & Mo claimed the top spot among A18-34, A18-49, and A25-54.

Complementing CHFI, Rogers Media radio stations 680 NEWS and KiSS 92.5 also garnered terrific results with key audiences.

“We know that Toronto listeners can get their music, news, talk and sports on a wide variety of radio choices, so the news from Numeris is truly a testament to the dedication from our team to deliver fresh and engaging content every day – drawing our audiences back to us again and again,” said Julie Adam, SVP, Rogers Radio. “We also pride ourselves on the deep connection our hosts have with listeners, as relatable friends in the car, at home, and on-the-go.”

Torontonians are continuing to turn to 680 NEWS as their trusted source for news, weather and traffic, with yesterday’s Numeris announcement confirming that 680 NEWS is the #1 all-news station in the market among A25-54.

Also, sister station KiSS 92.5 is a hit with key audiences as the #1 Top 40 station for A25-54 and F25-54, as well as the #4 station overall for F25-54.

Finally, for sports fans in Toronto, Sportsnet 590 The FAN continues to lead as the most listened-to all sports radio station in Canada.

In addition to listening to Rogers Radio stations on-air, online and through the Radioplayer Canada app, audiences can now connect with 680 NEWS, 98.1 CHFI, KiSS 92.5, Sportsnet 590 The FAN and Radioplayer Canada live through an Amazon Echo device – press release.

Rogers Media Rebrands Calgary’s KiSS 95.9 to 95.9 CHFM

The Calgary Lite Music Mix formatted FM made the switch the same day it kicked in with an all-Christmas music mix and launched an advertising campaign across out-of-home, digital, and television platforms to get the message across in the Stampede City.

The new year starts with the return of popular morning show host Billie Jo Ross returns on Monday, Jan. 8 to ‘Mornings with Mookie, Billie Jo and Lori’, airing weekdays from 5:30 – 9 am. Sasha Spencer, Erin Wilde, and Sue Deyell will round out weekday programming, and Michelle Yi taking listeners through the weekend. – press release

Readers need to start paying for the news

No one seems to be asking that crucial question when it comes to free news. Where did it come from? Forget the lunatic fringe websites where they post interviews with time travellers just back from the year 2987. Most of us know that isn’t news.

But what about what Google and Facebook deliver? Those mammoth enterprises are many things, but they are not news organizations. Between them they have not one journalist on the payroll. They are happy to look through the work of real news organizations and send some good stories to your smartphone. But they don’t create the original stories.

Consider some recent examples of what we wouldn’t know without journalism – Mark Bulgutch, The Star

Republican takeover of LA Weekly stirs advertiser boycott

In the days since Los Angeles newspaper LA Weekly’s new ownership group Semanal Media laid off nine of its 13 editorial staffers—and those owners were revealed to be Republican donors, including a libertarian publisher who helped run an anti-union conservative think tank—departing employees and contributors have organized an advertiser boycott with the goal of buying back the storied alt-weekly. Local concert venues The Echo and The Regent Theater, concert promoter Spaceland Presents, record store chain Amoeba Music, and indie hip-hop label Mello Music Group have joined the boycott – Spin magazine