Five years in, iHeartRadio festival is not just a promotion but an institution

Radio builds walls and, once a year, tears them down.

Explodes them actually. The iHeartRadio Music Festival is the rare place to see Kanye and Kenny jump out of their radio formats to perform on the same stage at the MGM Grand Garden. Especially when nobody is handing out awards.

The festival is more of a rewards show, if you figure more than 850 radio stations fall under the corporate realm of the former Clear Channel Communications, which changed its name to iHeartMedia just before last year's festival.

"It's not about wielding a stick as much as it is them wanting to be a part of it," says Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia's chief programming executive.

For the fifth year, artists ranging from Demi Lovato to Blake Shelton will flock to the two-night all-star concerts at the MGM's arena Friday and Saturday, as well as Saturday's connected Daytime Village outdoor concert at the MGM Resorts Village (the part of the weekend most accessible to ticket buyers of average means and/or not connected to the music industry).

"It's cool for somebody like Kenny Chesney to be on the side of the stage watching Hozier, this cool artist he's probably never seen before because their paths don't cross that much," Poleman says. "Or see Lil Wayne watching Sam Smith. It's just a cool kind of environment for the artists just as much as it is for the listener."

The iHeart brand was launched in 2011 to promote a then-new app that consolidated and streamed the company's radio stations. The corporate name change speaks to the level of success. Poleman says brand awareness of the app has grown to 80 percent since the first festival, and the content reaches 240 million consumers each month.

"When you talk to any of our brands we work with on our shows, they say 'You guys are a case study on how to build a brand, to build it so quickly.' The level of awareness in that first year to what it is now is unprecedented," he says.

But iHeart expanded quickly after than initial splash, to include a secondary TV market for the Yahoo! Live webcast. The concerts will air on the CW on Sept. 29 and 30.

Friday's lineup includes Coldplay (the festival's "grand champion" with three appearances), Sam Smith, Kenny Chesney, Jason Derulo, Demi Lovato, Duran Duran, Lil Wayne, David Guetta, Disclosure, Kanye West and Las Vegas' own The Killers.

Saturday, it's Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd, Fall Out Boy, Blake Shelton, Puff Daddy, Tove Lo, Prince Royce, Diplo, Hozier, Trey Songz and Nick Jonas. Yahoo! Live will stream both nights at 7 p.m.

Last year added the daytime concert, which Poleman says is now "actually better than most festivals" in its own right. The outdoor show bills 16 acts, topped by Lovato, Hozier, Tove Lo and Trey Songz. The music starts at 11 a.m.

Clearly the annual festival stands beyond an expensive app promotion. Last year, Billboard magazine estimated the festival's revenue at a "healthy eight figures," thanks to sponsor packages and ad dollars. (Even those who buy tickets at $177 to $559 see TV commercials between acts inside the arena).

Poleman is the programmer who revamped the company's flagship New York pop station into "Z100" in 1996. The iHeart festival was inspired by the station's annual "Jingle Ball."

"When I was a kid my older brother and sisters would go to a concert and I'd get left home because I was the youngest," he says. "I used to think, 'How come I can't hear where they are? How come I can't experience that at home.'

"It's very cool that everybody in America can experience the show live at the same time by listening to our radio stations and also by watching it online with Yahoo, and then a week later seeing it on the CW."

And if radio (and now streaming bundlers such as iHeart and competitors such as Pandora) was the chief culprit in segregating audiences into micro-niches, format-hopping acts such as Taylor Swift and Florida Georgia Line are showing listeners are less worried about sorting their Hot AC from their Urban Adult Contemporary.

"I look at Vegas as that place where America loves to converge, so I think it's the perfect (for the festival)," Poleman says.

Fans of one act might see another they aren't so familiar with and say, "They sound amazing live, I want to go check them out and hear their full set," Poleman says. "You actually hear the artists say that a lot: 'I wish I could play longer, but make sure you come see us on tour.' It's a great advertisement for their tours."

Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Mikeweatherford