James Cridland’s Future of Radio: Hybrid radio proven success, community correspondents, Radiodays Europe

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


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James Cridland sends us his weekly links as he continues settling into his new Australian homeland.

James Cridland’s articles

United Kingdom

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

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.

James Cridland