Audio Ink

PodcastOne is growing the management team. Jim Berk is taking over as the new CEO. Founder Norm Pattiz retains his post as Executive Chairman. Most recently, Berk served as the CEO of Participant Media, an entertainment company focused on film, television, publishing, and digital media.

Comedian/actor Bill Engvall is bringing his humor to PodcastOne. His My Two Cents with Bill Engvall podcast will land every Wednesday. Along with the gags, Engvall will have celebrity interviews, personal stories, and his “two cents” on current events. He’ll fly solo for the first two shows.

Each week, Pandora "musicologists" will handpick music recently released for each New Music Station from a blend of emerging, underground, and well-known artists across all formats, including Pop, Country, Hip Hop, Dance, and others.

It's a multi-year partnership with Loyal Ears Digital which will now allow Westwood to offer free fantasy sports and entertainment games to stations for their websites. Westwood reminds us that these games are 100% legal and bring "all the excitement that comes with fantasy gaming." There will be local and national winners every week and client branding opportunities.

There's not much more that a streaming-only company can do, so while radio stations around the country, especially those in Orlando, put together fundraisers, roundtable discussions, and wall-to-wall news coverage about the terrorist attack in Orlando, Spotify has created a 40-song playlist called "Pulse."

The new channel will be called Red Hot Chili Peppers Radio and will launch on Wednesday, June 15 in celebration of the band's new studio album, The Getaway, to be released June 17. Chris Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers super fan, will host the limited-run channel. Red Hot Chili Peppers Radio will feature music spanning the band's entire career.

In its April digital ranker, Triton is reporting that mobile listening made up 76.2% of total listening during the M-F 6A-8P daypart, which was an all-time high. When compared to March, the Urban AC format showed the largest listening gain with a 9.4 percent increase in Average Active Sessions.

Adrianna Costa, Haute Mom’s Life blog, has launched a podcast component to the brand, in partnership with PodcastOne. Costa extends the “celebration of the Hottie in every Mommy” in the new Haute Mom’s Life podcast.

WeWork is a shared office company with about 90 locations and 60,000 members all over the world. The new partnership has iHeart creating live stations for the company, along with targeted podcast content and a new studio which was built at the WeWork New York City heardquarters for interviews, events, and performances.

In May, and for the third consecutive month, ESPN Audio broke its record for the number of podcast impressions – 41.2 million, an increase of 35% over the previous May (30.7 million), and breaks the records set in March (38.9 million) and in April (39.0). Who did listeners download the most? Let's find out...