• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 30, 2013

Nickelodeon is getting into the radio business -- or at least digital radio -- through a partnership with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment’s iHeartRadio, which is set to unveil its first-ever Nick-branded radio station; the family-oriented channel will also be simulcast on the Nickelodeon Web site, Nick.com.

With the station motto “All the Hits, All the Slime,” the new “Nick Radio” channel on iHeartRadio is set to debut with 'Free Birds,' the new animated feature from Relativity and Reel FX, as the launch sponsor. Celebrity guest DJs including Ariana Grande, star of Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat, Big Time Rush, the boy band outgrowth of Nickelodeon’s show of the same name, and YouTube celebrity-turned-pop-star Austin Mahone.

Additional guest DJs like Nick Cannon, Cody Simpson and Jennette McCurdy, Grande’s co-star on Sam & Cat, will be featured after the launch. Nick Radio will also have regular full-time DJs including Mo’ Bounce of Clear Channel’s Z100 hit music station in New York; Maxwell of Q102 Philadelphia; Wendy Wild of 103.5 KTU, “the beat of New York;” Z100’s Erica America on weekends; and Nickelodeon’s J. Boogie, who will host the Nick Radio Dance Party, a two-hour Top 40 mix on Friday and Saturday nights.

Nick Radio will feature celebrity interviews and plenty of the TV network’s sophisticated humor, along with popular music targeting the tween and teen set. Sharon Dastur, program director of Clear Channel’s Z100, is programming the station.

Clear Channel and Nickelodeon will promote Nick Radio with musical performances by Fifth Harmony and Cody Simpson at the iHeartRadio Theatre presented by P.C. Richard & Son in New York City .