OAB Town Hall Discusses Radio's Changing Audiences

By External Source

The following is provided by Janik Media President Liz Janik who a great many will remember from her days on-air at CFNY, and as a consultant at Joint Communications.  She is also a Rosalie Award winner, celebrating her longstanding commitment to radio in Canada. You can find out more about her career highlights here.

This year’s town hall was lively and more candid than usual. The conversation was masterfully directed by “radio futurologist” James Cridland and covered a range of the issues facing radio. Panelists were Sherry O'Neil, Director, cairns oneil strategic media inc.; Chris Pearson, President, Acadia Broadcasting Limited; Geoff Poulton, President, Vista Radio; Troy Reeb, SVP, News, Radio & Station Operations, Corus Entertainment; and Susan Wheeler, Vice President, Regulatory Media, Rogers Communications Inc.,

The emphasis throughout the day at the OAB kept circling back to how listeners’ tuning habits are changing, given the wide variety of listening platforms available, including Podcasts, Spotify and talk content on YouTube.  How can radio claim its place in the new universe opened up by social media.  Exactly what is radio? And what is its role? 

Community, Community, Community

The consensus was the secret of successful radio is in its ability to create a sense of community through the use of audio.  Historically, radio built its franchise serving a community formed by geography.  Chris Pearson and Geoff Poulton represented stations whose success is derived by super-serving local markets.

– The story in full can be found in today’s Media Beat column here.