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August 8, 2019 10:15 am  #1


iHeartRadio Forcing Nearly 300 Of Its Stations To Air Weekend Podcasts

Both Bell Media and Corus already do this to some extent, but now iHeart Radio, the biggest owner in the biz down south, has ordered many of its radio stations to air some of its podcasts every Sunday night. 

From the Verge:

"iHeartMedia will harness more than 850 radio stations to build its podcast audience and entice potential advertisers. The company today announced Sunday Night Podcasts, in which 270 stations will play a prerecorded podcast episode in between music or talk radio. The initiative will bring podcasts to the airwaves in every one of iHeart’s markets."

I suppose this makes perfect sense - they have access to hours and hours of fresh material, and it seems to be a no-brainer to make use of it. But a podcast on a music station? I'm not so sure how that audience will take to it, especially if there's any amount of spoken word content in it. 

More here. 

'RB already airs a few of Bell's products, including "Famous Lost Words," a show co-hosted by ex-MuchMusic VJ Christopher Ward that airs old interviews with classic rock artists. And they've also added the Amanda Lang podcast, in addition to continuing with the U.S.-based Ted Talk program, which runs on weekends commercial free.

Corus occasionally gives some exposure to Niki Reitmayer's "This Is Why."

With second biggest U.S. owner Entercom buying two podcast companies last week, it appears on air is slowly but surely giving way to online. And with both big companies taking a huge and expensive plunge into the podcasting world, it makes sense to leverage one against the other. 

But the question remains - with these shows available on demand anytime, will listeners bother tuning in?