Publishers see a podcast mini boom | Smooth Extra and Heart Extra replaced on Digital One
Mar 2020 Radio News
Publishers see a podcast mini boom
Publishers have rolled out a litany of special coronavirus products to cover the growing epidemic, like newsletters and live blogs and, of course, podcasts.
At the end of February, CNN launched “Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction” a daily 10-minute myth-busting show which hit 1 million downloads a week after launch. Within a few days, it was number three on Apple’s podcast list and number one in Apple’s News category. The Guardian introduced extra virus-related episodes to its health podcast vertical “Science Weekly” as well as dedicating episodes of its daily news podcast “Today in Focus.” The Guardian said it was too soon to share podcast numbers but its first coronavirus-dedicated show on January 24 is one of its most popular episodes of “Science Weekly”. The BBC World Service also launched a daily-related show, “Coronavirus Global Update” last week.
Smooth Extra and Heart Extra replaced on Digital One
Global has closed Smooth Extra & Heart Extra and replaced them with Smooth UK & Heart UK respectively.
Smooth Extra joined the national DAB multiplex D1 at the end of 2014 and had a strapline of Your Refreshing Music Mix – making it slightly different from the main station playing Your Relaxing Music Mix.
eMarketer: US Spotify bigger than Pandora
eMarketer has released original research showing that Spotify serves more U.S. listeners than Pandora (a U.S.-only streamer) does.
According to the research company: “Pandora is no longer the most popular music streaming service in the US, with Spotify taking the No. 1 spot in 2019. According to eMarketer’s latest forecast on digital music listeners, the number of Spotify listeners surpassed those of Pandora two years sooner than predicted in our March 2019 forecast.”
Virgin Radio presenter Pete Mitchell has died
Virgin Radio paid tribute to presenter Pete Mitchell on Friday afternoon following the news of his sudden death.
Pete started his radio career at Red Rose Radio followed by a move to Piccadilly Radio and went on to work at a number of stations including BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM and Absolute Radio.
He was well known for his pairing with Geoff Lloyd, hosting The Pete and Geoff show on Key 103 in the 90s. They went to Virgin Radio (now Absolute) in 1999 to present the evening show but soon made their way to breakfast, which ended in 2005.
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