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FYI

Media Beat: December 16, 2019

Earlier in this column, we reported on the self-acknowledged success of Radioplayer in Cana

Media Beat: December 16, 2019

By David Farrell

Earlier in this column, we reported on the self-acknowledged success of Radioplayer in Canada. It stood to reason that we were going to hear from Bell Media, which has its own iHeartRadio app in the market.


We were right. Last week, Rob Farina, Head of Radio Content, Strategy and iHeartRadio, Bell Media Radio, fired back with the following…

I felt your story gave the reader the impression that Radioplayer Canada is being adopted by Canadians as their choice for streaming audio. It’s not.  We are currently clocking at over 20 million hours tuned monthly – compared to their 3.7. Even the Stingray app has more engagement then RadioPlayer Canada. The other factor – they got to 1M downloads in 3 years – we hit that within six months of launch and now have almost 3 million downloads in Canada. But downloads are a useless figure – you can get lots of downloads, but what matters is the engagement. How many apps have you downloaded and never used?  

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The attached chart should give you an accurate picture of where Canadian radio plays – and it’s on iHeart. Also – we have been onboarding Canadian broadcasters onto iHeart platform – Evanov, MyFM, Canadian Association of Community and Campus broadcasters, etc.

He tips us that two more “major broadcasters” are to be announced as part of the bandwidth of stations on offer through the iHeartRadio Canada app toot sweet.

So, it would seem, the iHeartRadio app is winning the race to date, but let's also take into account that the more the merrier adds to more radio audience engagement and that's a good thing.

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Jane McGarrigle with sisters Anna and Kate
FamGroup

Jane McGarrigle with sisters Anna and Kate

FYI

Obituaries: Remembering Artist Manager/Musician Jane McGarrigle, Singer Marianne Faithfull

This week we also acknowledge the passing of pedal steel pioneer Susan Alcorn and American publishing executive Ben Vaughn.

(Laury) Jane McGarrigle, a Canadian songwriter, musician, music publisher, artist manager and author who worked extensively with her sisters, folk legends Kate & Anna McGarrigle, died on Jan. 24, at age 84, of ovarian cancer.

A Celebrity Access obituary notes that "Jane McGarrigle began her career in music when she was just 14 after she was recruited by nuns to play organ at l’Église de Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, a historic Catholic church in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Canada.

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