All forms of broadcast.
As Audacy drops off the Wall Street radar (delisting info HERE), the company plans to push back. A written request will be filed within 10 days, according to a widely distributed press notice. Audacy President and Chairman David Field has voiced a two-point plan. Click for details. Continue Reading
In his latest piece, guest columnist James Cridland starts in India, where the government has decreed that mobile phones must be equipped with FM reception. Then it’s onto BBC Local Radio, where station cuts are being called “scandalous.” An unusually long and deep column this week; click through to read the whole thing. Continue Reading
The recently released Cumulus Media 2023 Audioscape study offers a deep dive into podcasting, smart speakers, and the status of AM/FM radio in those relatively new home speakers. Click through for charts, and a link to the study. Continue Reading
As radios continue a long-term trend of disappearing from homes, radio listeners lean into smart speakers tuned into radio station streams, and dedicated station mobile apps. The info comes from Jacobs Media, which will reveal its full TechSurvey results this week during the All Access Audio Summit. Click for the data graph. Continue Reading
“Good job I don’t write radio commercials any more,” observes guest columnist James Cridland, who has explored AI in that regard. The result? Synthetic commercial copy, read by a synthetic voice. Click through to hear it. Also: The world’s biggest broadcaster, statistics about Canadian radio, and more. Continue Reading
NPR’s most recent content post on Twitter is dated April 4 — a piece of political news. After that post, Twitter CEO Elon Musk applied this identifying label to NPR’s account: “Government-funded media.” This morning we see a tweetstorm of NPR links to the network’s other social sites and public resources, as NPR quits Twitter and guides 8.8-million followers to other social sites. Continue Reading
In today’s guest column, James Cridland fixes 4ZZZ in Brisbane. An odd choice on BBC Breakfast. A note from Radiodays Europe. An FM in New Zealand is pulled off the air, bafflingly. ABC Australia starts dealing with its ratings slump. Bauer Media announces Rayo. And much more. Continue Reading
It is well established that in-car listening is a stronghold for American radio’s reach. A recent edition of Edison Research’s Weekly Insights series puts numbers to the comparative strength of AM/FM in the car, and compares them with out-of-car listening. Click for details and charts. Continue Reading
A month after announcing upcoming layoffs, NPR has started and possibly completed the 10% workforce reduction. CEO John Lansing calls the action “existential.” The action is NPR’s largest layoff since 2008. Four podcasts will be discontinued. Individual and departmental targets are not specified, but it’s a broad sweep across many functions and types of work. NPM is not affected. Click for more details. Continue Reading
In one of the more delightful recent product releases, TuneIn has unleashed TuneIn Explorer, an interactive map-based radio tuner. As an audio browsing tool, we find it superior to World Radio Map and Radio Garden, two other inateractive audio maps. Click for the review, images, and linkage. Continue Reading
In today’s guest column, James Cridland discusses difficulties with the BBC, and a strike among BBC Local Radio journalists. Then, coverage of the imminent disappearance of AM radio reception in U.S. cars — “Broadcasters relying on AM for their flagship services need to have an urgent plan to fix it.” Finally, James’s list of links. Continue Reading
“Live, local, and powered by AI.” Here, guest columnist James Cridland broaches the tricky subject of artificial intelligence applied to radio — RadioGPT from Futuri Media. James expected to hate it, and surprisingly liked it. There are caveats, though; “smoke and mirrors.” Click through to read. Continue Reading