Radio Disney is shutting down, according to reports. Both Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country will go off the air in early 2021, after 25 years of broadcasting.
The move comes as pandemic-stricken Disney tries to reorganize to focus more on streaming, such as Disney+.
Launched in 1996, Radio Disney was instrumental in making household names out of Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers.
From Deadline…
Artists on major labels like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, N’Sync, One Direction and many more hugely benefited from Radio Disney exposure.
As streaming fundamentally altered the music business in the 2010s, laying waste to radio assets and changing the mix of what people listen to, operations like Radio Disney made less sense to sustain.
ESPN Radio remains a division of Disney’s ESPN division, but Disney spun off ABC Radio Network and 22 radio stations in a 2007 transaction with Citadel Broadcasting. In 2014, it shifted Radio Disney’s distribution to strictly digital and satellite.
The shutdown will directly affect 36 full- and part-time employees, Disney said.
[Source: Deadline]
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