Bell Media Radio
Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media. The company owns stations across the country, including in most of Canada's largest radio markets. The company's programming is distributed to other stations across Canada via its syndication division, Orbyt Media, and it is also the local licensee of the Virgin Radio brand.
"CHUM Radio" redirects here. For the radio stations in Toronto that the broadcasting chain was named after, see CHUM (AM) and CHUM-FM.iHeartRadio Canada
CHUM Radio (1945–2011)
1945 (as CHUM Limited)
2011 (Bell Media Radio)
2016 (iHeartRadio Canada)
Randy Lennox, president of broadcasting[1]
Orbyt Media (formerly CHUM Radio Network)
History[edit]
The company has its origins in CHUM Limited, which was acquired by CTVglobemedia in 2006. Through subsequent acquisitions, it also subsumed the radio properties of Astral Media in 2013; many of these were former Standard Radio stations that were acquired by Astral in 2007.
In 2016, Bell Media reached a licensing agreement with U.S. radio conglomerate iHeartMedia to operate a localized version of its internet radio platform iHeartRadio, and organize Canadian versions of its event franchises (such as the Jingle Ball). Since this agreement, Bell has primarily promoted its audio content, including radio stations and podcasts, under the public-facing brand iHeartRadio Canada.
In 2023, Bell Media laid off 6% of its workforce and closed nine of its radio stations and sold three as part of a restructuring plan and consolidated newsrooms across its platforms, resulting in its news/talk stations laying off most of their news staff and relying instead on the local and national newsrooms of CTV News. Stations closed included Winnipeg's Funny 1290, Calgary's Funny 1060, Edmonton's TSN 1260 Radio, Vancouver's BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410 and Funny 1040 and London's NewsTalk 1290 while Hamilton's Bloomberg Radio 1150 and Funny 820 and Windsor's AM 580 were sold[2] to CINA Radio Group for $455,000.[3]
On February 8, 2024, parent company BCE announced a total of cuts across the company, including 4,800 layoffs - with approximately 10% of those jobs being at Bell Media specifically, and the sale of 45 of its 103 radio stations to Vista Radio, Whiteoaks Communications Group, Durham Radio, My Broadcasting Corporation, ZoomerMedia, Arsenal Media and Maritime Broadcasting, pending approval by the CRTC.[4] Bell executive Robert Malcolmson told Canadian Press that the "significant divestiture" of Bell's radio assets occurred "because it's not a viable business anymore".[5]
Bell's stations broadcast under various formats, although hot adult contemporary and adult hits are particularly common. The stations typically air locally produced or voice-tracked programming for the majority of their schedules, although some national network programming also airs. In 2007 and part of 2008, the hot adult contemporary radio stations also aired the national evening program The Sound Lounge. Bell distributes The Breakfast Club, The Bobby Bones Show, Brooke & Jeffrey, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and the American Top 40 in Canada via Orbyt Media.[11][12]
As of 2021, the majority of Bell Media's music radio stations operate under standard, networked formats with a mix of local and/or common national programming.[13][14] These brands include.
Bell's French-language radio stations in Quebec, inherited from Astral Media, have similarly operated using networked formats:
Bell inherited Astral's Boom FM (classic hits) and EZ Rock (adult contemporary) brands during the acquisition as well: presently, Boom FM is used only by two Bell-owned stations, both in Quebec, and the majority of English-language stations using the brand are owned by Stingray Radio (who had acquired the flagship outlet in Toronto, CHBM-FM, as part of divestments during the acquisition). The last remaining EZ Rock-branded stations in Canada were phased out with the launch of the Bounce and Move brands.
Until 2024, Bell also operated three networked brands featuring talk and spoken word programming. Except for TSN Radio (which features a mix of local programming and other acquired sports talk programs and event broadcasts, often syndicated from ESPN Radio and Westwood One), the majority of this programming was automated with little local content:
Following the sale or closure of numerous Bell stations in 2023 and 2024, the BNN Bloomberg and Funny radio brands were no longer in use. Aside from three TSN Radio stations, Bell's remaining news/talk stations carry local programming with some regionally or nationally syndicated shows under the brand of the iHeart Radio Talk Network as well as simulcasts of local and national newscasts and other programming provided by CTV News.
Bell began to introduce in-house evening programming for its news/talk stations in 2017 with The Evan Solomon Show (until Solomon's departure in 2023).[24] In 2020, Bell dropped Coast to Coast AM from its stations and replaced it with The Late Shift with Jason Agnew,[25] later replaced in 2021 by the new overnight show The Late Showgram with Jim Richards.[25] The overnight show was discontinued and Richards, as of 2024, hosts Newstalk Tonight, an early evening show which is syndicated on Bell Media Radio's news/talk stations.[26] As of 2024, shows syndicated across most or all of the iHeart Radio Talk Network included Newstalk Tonight with Jim Richards, The Vassy Kapelos Show, The Richard Crouse Show, The Jerry Agar Show, and CTV National News.