James Cridland is Managing Director of media.info, and a U.K.-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
The big news this week in the UK was the award of the second commercial national digital multiplex. The UK regulator awarded it to Sound Digital’s bid; I’d have much rather it went for Listen2Digital, the opposing bid. Listeners are set to gain, though – a bunch more speech-based radio stations, and a new radio station called Virgin Radio. UK consumer website Radiowise is less than impressed, since they’ll all be in mono. Bauer, part owners of the bid, are set to gain; unlike the stations put forward by their partners UTV, Bauer will save, I calculate, £1.8m every year with this win.
Fascinating, too, to note the poor internal press that DAB has within the UK radio industry. Just reading these comments in Facebook highlights what a long way we have to go. I keep banging on that Digital Radio UK needs to do a PR job internally in the industry about DAB (and the same needs to happen in other countries). If you can’t convince the industry, you’ve no chance convincing the public.
The US
- US radio’s classic hip-hop oldies stations could destroy the genre’s history, says Ernesto Aguilar.
- urRadio, a new streaming startup, puts broadcasting in a music service – interesting. Allows DJ links and more in an app.
- Very interesting idea – TuneIn now offering embed code for broadcasts, so you can share live radio. My own website, media.info, is now using it throughout – here’s Leeds’s Radio Aire as one example. (Audio is probably UK-only though, sorry, because music rights blah).
- US: over 400,000 consumers ask for FM inside their mobile phones. This is a great campaign, and well executed.
- On iPhone, you get a podcast app installed by default. On Android? Nope. Brad Hill says Google should take note.
- Developing audio apps for Android Auto – useful overview of “the other CarPlay”. Examples from NPR and iHeartRadio.
- “It is critically important that we CELEBRATE the advertisers we have“, says Eric Rhoads. And, er, listeners too.
- Nielsen certifies streaming app numbers – this looks big, and a good thing for the industry
- The controversial value of free – nice piece on Spotify
- Larry King has a special way of tweeting: I love this. It’s so old-fashioned. I’ll not spoil it by telling you.
- Dana Chivvis of Serial podcast: ‘We were at the centre of a whirlwind and we just hunkered down’, she says, in this Guardian writeup of a BBC conference
- Why Internet Radio is The Biggest Advertising Opportunity of The Future – some interesting data points in here. It says Pandora’s revenue-per-thousand-
listening-hours is $42.77. For UK commercial radio, that figure’s US$33.81, if you were interested. What is it for US radio? I’d not have the faintest idea where to start. - Break the rules, exhorts Perry Michael Simon – quite rightly.
- Digital Radio’s Global Consensus – John Anderson highlights what he sees as US myopia.
United Kingdom
- If you’re a fan of stand-up comedy, Alex Edelman Millennial seems excellent. Very good stuff from BBC Radio 4. Great writing.
- Iain Lee is planning his first ever live tour, talking about radio.
- There’s been a JACKquisition! OXIS Media have bought the JACKfm brand in its entirety for Europe. Celador, who currently license the JACKfm brand, are hurriedly rebranding next week to SAM FM; while OXIS are apparently going toroll out the brand across the UK.
- The Spectator: Does the future of radio really lie in podcasts? (“Yes, partly”, I think).
- The BBC have registered the “.bbc” TLD.
- Here’s Ofcom’s tarrifs and budgets. Ofcom costs the UK radio industry about £2m a year in fees and charges; and TV about £15m.
- Ed Vaizey turns on local DAB transmitters – 182 new towers planned in this work, to significantly improve reception
- Ofcom’s work for radio in the next twelve months will be around music formats and small-scale DAB
- Clever geo-targeting idea to give away a digital soccer magazine at a soccer ground…
- How to get more retweets for your radio show? Be accurate, not first, and use images and links.
- Producing the Today programme – fascinating piece from a new producer. (“Today programme” = “Morning Edition”, for any US readers)
- Good work from RadioCentre to open their member conference up to all, and for inviting Alastair Campbell to speak
- Research lights the way – nice piece from Australia, written in Italy, about radio research done in the UK
Australia
- “All the ways I wasted Rupert Murdoch’s money” from @woblord is a good, amusing read
- At the ABC in Australia, you get a medal for 25 years of continuous service. Congrats James O’Brien!
And the rest of the world
- The tale of two public service broadcasting countries – 244 jobs to go at CBC Radio-Canada in latest round of job cuts (en Français); meanwhile in Singaporeit’s getting a whole bunch more money.
- One of the local coffee shops has internet radio on in it, and I was listening to unbranded Radionomy station. “Just heard two ad-breaks with identical four ads in identical order. Digital folk don’t get radio.”, I tweeted, in a grump.