James Cridland is Managing Director of media.info, and an Australia-based radio futurologist. He is a consultant, writer and public speaker who concentrates on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on the radio business. Find out more or subscribe at http://james.cridland.net
Radio futurologist James Cridland will be at RAIN Summit West, where he will appear from Australia as admirably non-jet-lagged co-host. He sends this week’s newsletter with a note:
I thoroughly enjoyed Radiodays Europe last week; and also a whistle-stop day of meetings in London, meeting my old friend Chris Moyles (as in “he’s been a friend for a long time” not that he’s old), looking round talkRADIO and Virgin Radio, and a few other productive meetings. Because of Radiodays, there was no newsletter last week, but all the links for the last few weeks are below.
James Cridland’s articles
- Video: From the archive – what I learnt when running a community website for Southgate London N14 – and relevancy for radio
- One of my columns (in audio): the ‘desperate radio denigrators‘
- My latest column: The new LG Stylus 2 – why it’s important for radio (and recorded on one)
- Martin Kelner – ‘the most charmless sacking I have ever suffered’ – quite angry about this
United States
- Nice piece from Fred Jacobs about longevity for radio stations. Format flips don’t happen in the UK nor Australia: I wonder if they ultimately help US radio or hinder it? [For non-US readers: I gather that a HMO is something to do with health insurance, but you can happily read this piece without needing to know anything about how the health system works.]
- Home artwork for the lazy tech journalist
- New Edison Research stats. More than one in five Americans now listen to podcasts, and online radio is now listened-to by 50% of all Americans.
- The Audio Signal by Dana Gerber-Margie – awesome super-duper podcast-related newsletter that you should subscribe to
- Podcasts that make you smarter – looks an interesting, if US-centric, list
- Why 1010 WINS Is One Of The Best In The World – good stuff from RadioINK. And, by the way, what a lovely website redesign – much, much, much better. Hurray.
- The need to ‘feed the transmitter’ means you can’t just shut down a radio station. But what if you could for a week?
- Long read: What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. tl;dr: Be nice to each other.
- Internet radio wins because of low ad-loads, says a US magazine. High adloads are mainly – not solely – a US issue; but they’re certainly a concern for listeners. Surprising that concerted work isn’t going on to increase yield.
- Here’s how NPR promotes NPR One and its podcasts on-air. It kind of doesn’t. Weird.
- Lisa G tries to find a job after her radio gig. Turns out it’s not so easy.
- Fascinating data about ebook consumption, and also relevant for radio as Steven Goldstein discusses
- CBS to exit the radio business, and sell all stations. Bad news for radio’s image. And slightly perplexing.
- Great piece about radio’s changing consumption habits – The decline of radio(s)
- Lazy Buggles headline written by someone in a media agency and promoting Advertising Week. Folks, we have a problem.
United Kingdom
- Martin Kelner – ‘the most charmless sacking I have ever suffered’
- I make it to the beginning of the Chris Moyles breakfast show on Radio X – and, later and in more detail, to his podcast.
- 5 Things I learned about life and work, working as a teenage radio DJ. – lovely story from Ian Sanders. (Amazing: someone who works for BBC Local Radio who wasn’t shafted!)
- From the archives – 1997: Eddy Temple-Morris talks about being head of station sound for BBC Radio 1
- Could UK radio tell people how to vote in the forthcoming referendum? I post a regulation question…
- The UK government does a big public opinion piece on the BBC. Turns out the public mostly love it.
- Nice looking hotel. Would be a fun place for retired BBC engineers to stay, if they can afford it. (For a little bit of context: this used to be the BBC’s R&D facility.)
- I heard an enjoyable piece about encryption on BBC The Inquiry, via ABC News Radio.
- On Android and wanting Iain Lee’s new talkRADIO podcast? Here it is on Player FM
- Good look back at Cliff Michelmore – a broadcaster I don’t think I remember much.
- RadioDNS were at Radiodays Europe. Here’s what they were up to – pushing a car into the exhibition space
- A brand new, 24/7 country radio station launched in London on DAB
- “The station does not have live presenters” (loved writing that). Say hello to Radio Dead.
- A good piece on the history of Virgin Radio, which ‘returns’ shortly to the UK.
Australia
- Wow. What a gift this radio interview is. Councillor makes naughty video on his (council-supplied) phone. Defends it as ‘red blooded’. From 612 ABC Brisbane.
- Stay classy, Australia! Brilliant competition on Kyle and Jackie O’s show.
Elsewhere
- Ireland: Bus drivers in Dublin no longer banned from listening to the radio – clever stunt from Radio NOVA
- Geneva, Switzerland: great research about radio’s use in-car
- New Zealand: Here’s why I talk often about sticking video cameras in radio studios and post-producing stuff. So this happens.
- An interesting sweep through the radio dial on the Cayman Islands, thanks to Earshot Creative