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
James Cridland sends us his weekly links as he continues settling into his new Australian homeland. He writes:
It’s great to be listening to Australia’s A team again, now that the summer holidays are over. Every single big Australian radio name goes on holiday for six or seven weeks over Christmas. The dial is full of unfamiliar voices, in many cases networked from thousands of miles away. This week has been like stepping back into some comfy slippers.
James Cridland articles
- When Emergencies Happen, Don’t Get The Transmitter Mindset: a rather better rewrite of an article I shared last week
- Getting The Basics Right – an article where I call out 4ZZZ or triple j for almost not doing the bare minimum
- DAB+ services launch in UK – bloody finally! Sadly, they’re only on a trial multiplex, but heavens, it’s been a long, long time coming.
United States
- The 2016 State of Email Report – if you send email newsletters, this should be interesting. I’m learning lots.
- Westwood One on radio’s continued importance for auto [client]
- Four Questions For Radio – outstanding post from Jacobs Media. If you read nothing else from the newsletter this week, read this.
- Interesting that some companies are now producing bespoke products for radio station web brand extensions
United Kingdom
- Sir Terry Wogan dies, aged 77. Some lovely stories and memories of him here in the comments.
- Good to see Chris Price being made Head of Music for Radio 1 and 1Xtra. Want to know a measure of the man? Here he is, talking about his experience of streaming services. Meanwhile, the BBC is already in hand-wringing mode about this appointment. “BBC Radio 1 promises data will not replace DJs as it hires algorithm playlist expert Chris Price” says The Independent. Good grief. When will the BBC hire people who understand PR and radio, and can give a confident story about the corporation?
- Of note regarding the two above stories: it once made the papers that Wogan was the BBC’s highest-paid radio presenter, earning £800,000 in 2006. He said: “The amount they said was true and I don’t give a monkey’s about people knowing it. Nor do I feel guilty. If you do the maths, factoring in my eight million listeners, I cost the BBC about 2p a fortnight. I think I’m cheap at the price.” The BBC, once, did have confidence in what it did. Why can’t it again?
- Strange article (in a produce once owned by the BBC, though no longer) telling us why radio needs to reinvent itself. Wasn’t aware it was broken.
- ‘We’re not leaving this bar till we’ve come up with such a great idea that I can’t sack you”: the apparent history of the BBC iPlayer
- GPM-Playlister: A Node.js tool that generates a Google Music playlist from a BBC Playlist url. (I must confess to being a bit sad that Google Music is so closed.)
- How People Used to Download Games From the Radio (I did this once, on Signal Radio in Stoke after they’d closed down at 10.00pm.
Elsewhere
- France: Jungala Radio: Calais’ First Radio Station Run By Refugees
- Australia: getting its act together about how to measure video streams.
- South Africa: You should buy a copy of The Media Yearbook: lots of good media specialists (and I write for it too)