TORONTO – Newfoundland Capital Corporation president and CEO Rob Steele has been named as the 2016 inductee to the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
Steele will be honoured at the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards gala on May 5, 2016 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto.
In 1997, Steele joined the board of directors of Newfoundland Capital Corporation, and assumed the leadership role of president and CEO in 2001. He quickly moved to streamline the company's investments to focus on radio, and NCC acquired its first radio station in 1986 in Charlottetown. By 1999, NCC had grown to 14 licenses.
Under Steele’s leadership, the company became Newcap Radio in 2015 and now operates 95 radio licenses across Canada, including the largest acquisition in its history last year when it purchased five radio stations in two of Canada's largest markets, Vancouver and Toronto. Newcap is now the largest pure-play radio company in Canada with almost 1000 employees; the second largest radio company in terms of broadcast licenses; reaches millions of listeners each week through a variety of formats (from hip hop to country to classic rock), and is a recognized industry leader in radio programming, sales and networking.
Steele currently sits on the boards of Stingray Digital and Atlantic Signature Mortgage. He is also past co-chair of the ECMA Event Committee and continues to be involved with the ECMA's in an advisory capacity. In addition, he also serves on the Advisory Committee for Junior Achievement of NS, and is a director of the Halifax Mooseheads Hockey Club, an affiliate of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
A strong supporter of giving back to the communities where he does business, Steele is personally involved with organizations such as Alzheimer's Society, the Mental Health Foundation, Family SOS, Daffodil House, Feed NS and the Arthritis Society. He was named Outstanding Individual Philanthropist of the Year in 2014 by the NS Association of Fundraising Professionals for the extent of his involvement in and support of various community efforts.
"In the decade or more that Canadian Music Week has worked closely with Newcap, we have taken great pride in watching them grow from a regional broadcaster with holdings on the east coast and northern Ontario, to a truly national operator, with stations from coast to coast”, said Canadian Music Week president Neill Dixon, in the announcement. “Steele, as head of the operation, has been an integral part in both their physical and corporate growth, and has led the way in their acknowledged leadership in talent development and forward thinking broadcasting. We are honoured to recognize him as this year's recipient of this prestigious award."
Canadian Music Week 2016 will take place May 4 – 14, 2016 in Toronto.
