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SiriusXM has announced a partnership with TikTok to join “forces on the rollout of new and innovative content across each of their platforms.”The partnership will include the launch of “TikTok Radio” on SiriusXM later this summer as a permanent channel “featuring the trending sounds that are redefining pop culture from TikTok”. The channel will be sonically synched to the TikTok experience promoted as feeling like a radio version of the platform’s “For You” page.Starting today, Pandora will debut hosted playlists from TikTok creators with commentary about their favorite songs. “TikTok Tastemakers” will launch with Bella Poarch today and feature Christian Shelton and Nick Tangorra in the coming months, which will be cross-promoted on the social media platform. Pandora will also host a weekly “Tik Tok Hits” playlist of the top songs trending on the platform.The deal will also allow TikTok to re-air previous Pandora exclusive content from their “Pandora LIVE” series.TikTok, SiriusXM and Pandora today announced they are joining forces on the rollout of new and innovative content across each of their platforms. Creating listener experiences curated specifically for each platform’s loyal fans will allow TikTok, SiriusXM, and Pandora to deliver access to groundbreaking programming, exclusive performances, special events, and some of music’s top and emerging talent.This summer, SiriusXM will launch TikTok Radio, a full-time music channel featuring the trending sounds that are redefining pop culture from TikTok. TikTok Radio will be presented by TikTok creators, tastemakers, and DJs. TikTok Radio will be available in vehicles and as a streaming channel on the SiriusXM App, desktop, and all connected devices.Sonically synched to the TikTok experience, the channel will feel like a radio version of the platform’s “For You” page. The TikTok Radio channel will feature a diverse group of TikTok creators showcasing trending music and stories behind the songs throughout each day, as well as a weekly music countdown dedicated to TikTok’s top trending tracks. Listeners can expect to hear directly from music’s next generation of rising stars and whatever else the TikTok community is vibing to.Also, beginning today, Pandora is launching a series of exclusive hosted playlists featuring popular TikTok creators who will take listeners through their favorite songs with special commentary about their selections. The creators will be curating, hosting, and promoting the playlists to their fans on TikTok. The TikTok Tastemakers series will kick off with Bella Poarch, and other creators including Christian Shelton and Nick Tangorra following in the coming months. Pandora listeners can also tune into the TikTok Hits Playlist featuring all of the latest and greatest songs featured and trending on TikTok.TikTok fans will also have access to select re-airings of Pandora’s original events series, Pandora LIVE. Recently, Pandora LIVE Powered by Women featuring Gwen Stefani and Jazmine Sullivan re-aired on TikTok. Additional upcoming events will be announced throughout the year.“We are excited to collaborate with TikTok to create new content that brings the vibrancy of the leading social networking service to life on live radio and our streaming platforms,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. “The effect TikTok has on music, and pop culture in general, is undeniable. Our platforms will provide a unique opportunity for TikTok creators to engage with our listeners with content experiences that have never been done before in audio. The exclusive SiriusXM channel will bring a new take on radio by tapping into the latest music trends on TikTok, while Pandora listeners will get access to playlists curated personally by TikTok’s top creators.”“TikTok is redefining the way that fans discover music and artists, while enabling a new form of musical engagement and creative expression,” said Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music, TikTok. “We are excited to work with SiriusXM on TikTok Radio and to bring TikTok creators to Pandora to make the trends, music, and creative influences that are playing such a defining role in modern culture even more accessible.”Obermann added, “We’re really excited to see this come to life and thank the SiriusXM team for being such an innovative and visionary collaborator.”“When I started posting on TikTok in the beginning of the pandemic, I had no idea that, less than a year after starting my TikTok, I’d sing in a Super Bowl commercial. Making videos for TikTok is always the highlight of my day, and I’m lucky to have found such a supportive musical community,” said TikTok creator Christian Shelton, whose playlist will be one of the first in Pandora’s TikTok Tastemakers series. “The playlist I created reflects my love for all genres and features new and old music, a lot of which is inspired by my fans on TikTok! I want people who listen to my Pandora playlist to get to know me a bit more through the music I love.” […]

Former Univision Radio Vice President of Content Haz Montana has joined Mereulo Media as Vice President of Audio Content.Montana had been with Univision from 2005 until earlier this year. Before joining Univision, Montana served as VP/Programming for Entravision, and programmed stations in multiple formats including WRMA Miami, KIMN Denver, WSNX Grand Rapids and WVIC Lansing MI.Meruelo Media President/CEO Otto Padron stated, “We ‘Haz’ Montana and Montana ‘Haz’ Us! After an exhaustive national search getting to know some of this country’s most amazing leaders in our craft of audio — we’re happy that Haz chose us!” Padron continued, “Haz brings the right balance of audio art and hard science perfectly nested within his steady brand of leadership, personal values and the confident entrepreneurial spirit we energetically embrace here at Meruelo Media. These very essential qualities are must-have requirements to steer our team and legacy audio brands.”Montana commented, “Hip Hop, Rock, Throwbacks, Latin Rhythm, and passionate talent. This opportunity is a dream come true. I’m honored to be starting today with Team Meruelo, and looking forward to working with some of this country’s most iconic audio brands and lead a great team of format captains as we continue to develop and grow these legendary call letters towards a market-agnostic and boundless digital horizon.” Montana added, “Above all, I’m excited about chartering a bold path in this newly reimagined role of VP/Audio Brands here at Meruelo Media.” […]

DeletionsVandalia Media Partners 2 has surrendered the license of 990 WJEH Gallipolis OH.The FCC has held an initial status conference on April 28 for WJEH’s license renewal hearing brought on by WJEH being silent or operating via STA for all but 28 days since Vandalia took control of the station in December 2019. A sale of WJEH to Zack Media South for $4,000 had been pending.Carlos Arana Ministries’ 91.1 KQGC Belen NM was deleted after the licensee did not respond to an inquiry to its operational status. A complaint filed in January 2020 by Cedar Cove Broadcasting owner Vic Michael indicated that he had never heard the station operating on his frequent drives through the area over the course of 2019. Michael also stated that the station’s antenna was not on its licensed facility in a photo taken in May 2018, his inquiry to American Tower stated the station’s lease was terminated in April 2016, and that Arana had died several years ago.Lewis Broadcasting has surrendered the license for Jazz 1540 WJZI Decatur IN and its CP for 106.1 W291DF Decatur. WJZI had been operating under temporary facilities since its tower was destroyed in a wind storm in April 2015.AM ChangesFull Gospel WPJM 800 AM Radio Inc.’s Gospel 800 WPJM Greer SC seeksThis content is for Premium Annual and Premium Monthly members only.Log In Register […]

April PPM Ratings Top 50 – RadioInsight Each month Ratings Expert Chris Huff compiles a list of the top 50 stations in average quarter hour share and cumulative audience for the 48 markets that are […]

Big Moves As Brewer Starts Sale Forced Chattanooga Shuffle – RadioInsight Brewer Media has made the first step in the three signal format shuffle triggered by the pending sale of 105.1 WALV-FM Lakesite to American […]

There is always a Song of Summer. There was one last year, despite both the travails of pop music and the insanity of the (can’t-go-) outside world. The real question is whether there will be depth. In music’s best summers, 1979 for instance, there are so many great choices that some big radio hits aren’t even considered contenders to be the Song of Summer. A summer of great music is the summer we all need this year. Providing a better soundtrack is the thing that radio can do for audiences to prove their ongoing value. Having enough Summer Song candidates for a photo finish on Labor Day weekend gives music a place in the cultural conversation and radio a place in helping drive it. As recently as 10 days ago, I was having a conversation with a radio person about available current product. “Where are all those major releases that you said were going to start flowing in every Friday?” he asked. Only one uptempo song of the sort geared for summer dominance was climbing the charts at that moment — Doja Cat f/Sza’s “Kiss Me More.” But BTS’s “Butter” is out tomorrow. Maybe Marshmello/Jonas Brothers too. PDs are also expecting new Ed Sheeran and Jason Derulo/Tesher.Last year, I declared “Watermelon Sugar” the Song of Summer 2020. Some readers felt strongly that it was “Blinding Lights.” (I always try to go with a song from summer; as it turns out, there were greater slights for the Weeknd in store.) This summer, Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” is resurgent, and will likely be in power rotation well into the summer. I’m good with that; it went away in February before I was ready.Last summer, Lipa was waiting for “Don’t Start Now” to run its course while “Break My Heart” was scaling the charts, bolstering her place in a not-crowded-enough field of CHR hitmakers. To some extent, good things have already happened for the other top Summer Song contenders. “Kiss Me More” has cemented Doja Cat as an artist beyond “Say So.” “Butter,” even before its release, has made CHR eager to play a superstar act that they were skeptical about, even as “Dynamite” climbed the charts last year.On the Summer Energy 2021 playlist unveiled here a few weeks ago, we’re up to 60 uptempo or summer-feeling songs, including all the current songs mentioned in this week’s column. Some songs are in play already at radio, or already hits elsewhere in the world. Some just ought to be. I’ll be adding to the playlist throughout the summer. If you’ve been following our 15 years of Song of Summer columns, you know I feel that a true “Song of Summer” should be uptempo, or at least breezy/tropical or summer-themed. Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” certainly counts as summer-themed/summer-feeling. So do Kali Uchis’s “Telepatia” and Anitta’s “Girl From Rio.” And ROR readers, less hung-up than I am on this topic, advocated for Masked Wolf’s “Astronaut In The Ocean,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and “Leave the Door Open” as well, although I’m particularly curious about the next Silk Sonic single as well.A number of ROR readers felt that “WAP” was the Song of Summer 2020, even without radio’s full acknowledgment. This year, Cardi B’s “Up” is geared for summer and just cracking top 20 pop at this writing. Saweetie f/Doja Cat’s “Best Friend” is just about to crack top 10 pop, while her even-more-uptempo “Fast (Motion)” is already in play at Hip-Hop and Rhythmic Top 40.  I have felt for months that if Nelly & Florida Georgia Line’s “Lil Bit” hung in there until Memorial Day that it would be a Song of the Summer contender. It would also be not just a song that broke from radio, as opposed to streaming, but a song that broke from secondary-market radio, something we haven’t seen in too long a while. Another pop/country collaboration, Elle King & Miranda Lambert’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” is climbing the Adult Top 40 chart. There are no firm plans yet for it at Mainstream CHR yet. It will definitely be worked at Country now, giving it a shot at the same sort of multi-format lateral support that helped “The Bones” by Maren Morris.In the last few weeks, Regard f/Troye Sivan & Tate McRae’s “You,” Riton x Nightcrawlers f/Musafa & Hypeman’s “Friday,” and Joel Corry, Rae & David Guetta’s “Bed,” all proven international hits, have already lined up in formation. Having multiple dance/pop hits was a big part of CHR’s 1997 comeback. In the radio summer we need, dance hits won’t be fighting for one or two slots. So also listen to Afrojack & David Guetta’s “Hero.” Summer songs have always been a way to propel acts back into contention at CHR, from Kid Rock to Enrique Iglesias. Coldplay’s “Higher Power” isn’t an obvious “All Summer Long”-type bid, but does harness the ‘80s appeal that drove “Blinding Lights.” Onerepublic’s “Run” is right next to Coldplay on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits and has an early supporter at KLLC (Alice 97.3) San Francisco. They’re not intended for CHR, but yesterday afternoon, there were new singles from Duran Duran (“Invisible”), Garbage (“Wolves”), and Aly & AJ (“Pretty Places”). I predicted last Memorial Day that the Song of Summer 2020 might not exist yet but might be a phenomenon that developed at the speed of streaming. That prophecy had to wait for January and “Driver’s License” to be fulfilled. Now, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” is off and running, even with “Déjà Vu” still growing.” There are also a number of PDs already advocating for Bella Poarch’s “Build a Bitch” as the next phenomenal record to emerge from streaming.From the pop/punk intersection, there’s also Illenium and Iann Dior’s “First Time” and All Time Low’s “Once in a Lifetime,” following up their “Monsters” breakthrough. There’s the well-timed “Cloud 9” by Beach Bunny. There are a half-dozen other viable Alternative titles on the Summer Energy 2021 playlist,  although, as usual, those that cross may take longer than three months to get here. One particular left-field favorite is the Maine’s “Sticky.”Country has always had its own suite of summer song candidates. This year, I’m going to give them their own story. Look for “Handicapping the Country Summer Song of 2021,” and some thoughts about the landscape challenges that entails, next week. That’s my list of Summer Song candidates. What are yours? Here’s to a better summer for all.   […]