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.
James Cridland’s articles
- Radio and cars: the best of friends – some great new research that you should be using
United Kingdom
- Daventry Calling – download a (free) 20 year old book about a much older transmitter.
- We all thought newspaper paywalls were stupid; but if the content’s right, they do work. One example: the FT, which has the highest paying reader figures in its history. Just as radio has the “transmitter mindset” (we only exist to feed the transmitter), so newspapers have had the “printing presses mindset”. Congratulations to them for broadening their mind. Meanwhile, The Independent closes its print edition – sad, and losing a printing press mindset doesn’t mean losing the printing press altogether.
- Job alert: come and work with Radioplayer Worldwide and make radio better for everyone.
- Alan Partridge: why radio is better than TV for the talented broadcaster. As a note for confused non-Brit readers: Alan Partridge is a comedy character and this isn’t to be taken massively seriously.
- Radio Lives – Terry Wogan. Lots of audio from Wogan’s career. Andy Walmsley does a fantastic job in digging through the archives.
- talkRADIO announces first four presenters, and its launch date. The new lineup for Virgin Radio was also announced, with some really nice photography.
- Always instructive to keep a close eye on what people are doing on Twitter. Like Virgin Radio UK making friends.
United States
- I talk a lot about getting radio receivers looking better and working better. And here’s some data that shows that I’m not talking complete rubbish – because if you make radio a better user experience by adding hybrid data, you get listening increases of 334%
- Nice piece from Dick Taylor about managing highly talented people. A correspondent on Facebook adds “it’s just about treating people as fellow human beings and not being a d*ck”. If only it were that easy.
- Interesting document from US public radio – trying to agree how to measure podcasts. Sadly, this is fairly indicative of how US radio works: public radio isn’t talking to commercial radio, and there’s no acknowledgement that there’s the rest of the world out there too.
- Interesting new presentation from Edison Research: Ear Wars. I’d be really keen to see similar work from Edison in Europe and Australia: I suspect the similarities and differences would be very interesting.
- This looks fascinating – Anchor, kind of like what Audioboo might have been. Sadly, the company behind it can’t resist badmouthing radio when promoting their new product, but that’s where we are these days.
- Pandora is apparently up for sale. Who would want to buy it, asks this article. Pandora’s a disruptor, not a serious business: it loses $10m a month, and it’s really hard to see how the company will ever be able to make a profit. While Apple or Google could swallow the losses, I’m not sure a more traditional radio company could.
- Great picture of an early radio pioneer.
Australia
- ABC Radio Brisbane drags me to Brisbane’s newest daytrip destination – the Gateway Motorway Upgrade North Visitor Centre. Of note: this was posted 18 hours before they broadcast it.
- This is a brilliant idea for BBC Local Radio (and, frankly, many smaller stations too. The ABC are looking for Community Correspondents – interesting idea, simple, and cost-effective; with a clear community benefit.
Other places
- Europe: Good new report from the EBU on what’s going on with digital radio in Europe. To be honest, I’d also like to see one from them about AM switchoff, since it’s real, happening now, and should be part of someone’s communication.
- Netherlands: Philips introduce an old-style radio with new-style innards. Because radio is old-fashioned, and must look old, even if the technology inside is rather newer. I’m really conflicted about these things: I love nice design, but the radio receiver industry’s nostalgia isn’t good for our industry.
- France: Radiodays Europe full programme announced! I’m speaking on radio apps with a focus around personalisation, so if you’re doing clever things with personalisation, please get in touch.