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 sends the week’s newsletter with this note:
Goodness. What a strange few days for the UK. My social media feeds are mostly full of people expressing sadness and anger about the outcome of the referendum on the EU; and anything else appears to have taken a back seat.
I’ve spent much of the last few days watching the domestic BBC News channel and, of course, listening to the radio. BBC Radio 4 ‘s Today Programme was a fascinating listen on Friday morning on a long drive (courtesy of TuneIn), and I’m also grateful to have access to the BBC World Service on DAB+ here in Australia (disguised as ‘SBS Radio 4’ for reasons that currently elude me). I’ve also dipped into coverage from LBC. This is a time when reasoned analysis is rather helpful.
James Cridland’s articles
- How European Radio Works – my weekly column this week. Oooh, topical.
United States
- NPR (the radio member stations) struggling with old audiences and older talent, says the Wall Street Journal. It does strike me that NPR’s radio stations aren’t focusing enough on what the BBC calls “replenishers” – younger audiences to replace the older audience who, um, die. Strange, since NPR’s podcasting is going amazingly well; but that seems not to translate to the actual stations.
- Tom Webster, Paige Nienaber Added To Lineup At Next Radio – thank you AllAccess
- Ad Fraud: Digital’s Newest Bad Guy – interesting post from comscore. Yes, it’s fine to have actual numbers from online advertising, but that leads to dishonesty…
- “One thought about how Podcasters might attract a new audience” from Matt MacDonald
- I Hate the Person My Music Algorithm Thinks I Am – fun piece about bad data
- Which Hits Shazam Can Help You Spot Early – fascinating use of data
- Facebook scraps in-video links to other sites – this is interesting if slightly ominous
United Kingdom of impending isolated irrelevance
- Thrilled with the second announcement of speakers from Next Radio – including the return of Iain Lee and Katherine Boyle
- In Car Radio Listening, And Other Locations – some great statistics from Adam Bowie’s archive
- “I dread what the BBC is planning for radio” – powerful stuff from Gillian Reynolds.
- In the sound-bite era, I really enjoy these long-form interviews from Media Focus podcast. Here’s Sir Trevor McDonald.
- With Next Radio the early-bird ticket price is just £99 for the UK’s largest radio conference. Book now.
- Knowing who you’re working with: an amazing radio sales job. Open to any great salesperson across the EU. Currently.
- Why radio and TV can’t talk about anything on polling day – it was interesting watching some international television stations, notably France 24, comprehensively break the law while still broadcasting into the UK on Sky. I wonder if anyone noticed?
- A Question of Question Time – a good read behind the scenes of a big BBC television show
- Aiir – changing “radio” to “audio” in their marketing. Blog piece explains why
Australia
- OzPod 2016 Podcast Conference to take place in September – good plan to kick-start Australia’s podcasting industry
- New ABC boss bans management-reserved parking spaces. She sounds good.
- A new breakfast show 2MORROW for 2DAY?
- ARN adds ACE Radio stations to iHeartRadio Australia… looks like iHeartRadio is becoming the leader here. As an aside: all ACE Radio stations are now listed in media.info as we work to add Aussie stations.
- Now, it’s Hamish and… Craig?