Exec Who Resigned Following Controversial Letter, for Canadian Launch
By Karen Bliss
March 29, 2016
In a classy move of forgive-and-forget, Bell Media has hired experienced radio executive Rob Farina as a senior advisor for the launch of iHeartRadio in Canada. He begins his role on May 1, 2016. iHeartMedia, the largest radio company in the U.S., announced its expansion into the country earlier this year.
Farina is the Rogers Radio exec who sent an “urgent letter” to fellow Canadian broadcasters last November, accusing Bell Media and new president of entertainment production and broadcasting Randy Lennox of using his former position as long-time Universal Music Canada’s president to land exclusive content opportunities. Farina quickly apologized and resigned.
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So, what gives with this? iHeart is on the verge of bankruptcy in the United States and now they plan to enter Canada…. shall I give my head a shake again?
Interesting that it is mentioned that International audiences are starting to prefer locally produced shows and are turning away from Hollywood shows. Apparently, the Canadian private broadcasters are oblivious to this, and are slowly dying.
Have you listened to it? Amazing. Take local shows and mix with whatever format you like. At least that’s hot its done in USA. Then again, like mentioned, its losing money bad. But like Twitter; very popular, but not making any profit. Then there’s Canadian Content. None required with iHeartradio. What does that mean?
For clarification: This isn’t really iHeart (the company) entering Canadian radio. It’s Bell using their branding and technology to enhance their streaming options. It has no bearing on the on-air product (other than promotion)
Rob lashes out at Bell there awhile back while he was working with Rogers. Now, he’s working with Bell? I’m really confused.
The players involved at Bell (Randy Lennox and David Corey) have known Rob for a long time, and that one incident was very uncharacteristic.
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It seems that Bell is just re-branding their already existing radio apps…as iHeart. Is that right? Just a one stop shop (app) to access all the Bell stations?
Yes, with a little more (Pandora like streams.) Also, the iHeart app is a default music app in many of the newer connected car dashboards.
And not subject to any Can-con rules!!! Anything that is streamed does NOT need Canadian Content. Canadian listeners will wonder, for example, why the iHeart Hits stream doesn’t play Hedley or Nickelback ever 10 minutes. Could be a game changer.