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
NOTE: Meet James Cridland at RAIN Summit West, where he will appear from Australia as admirably non-jet-lagged co-host.
James Cridland’s articles
- Ad blocking and the radio – my column for this week and in audio form
- The bright, more personalised, future of radio – I get interviewed before Radiodays Europe. Nice to get some of my more recent thinking out there.
- Thanks to the folks at Jacobs Media, I present 5 Countries You Should Look At For Radio Ideas. Apologies in advance for a) being slightly ruder about Americans than I intended, and b) calling Africa a country.
United States
- How WNYC is tackling podcasting’s big challenges – including lazy Buggles lyric in first paragraph!
- Another lazy Buggles headline, talking about video on social media. (Amazing way to link to video too!)
- I’m guessing this also goes in the “lazy Buggles” headline box. (A bit random, too.) Thanks to Edison Research for passing this one on.
- Task force aims to preserve radio history – great to see radio archives being taken seriously. I’ve been working with the Irish commercial radio industry to do this there.
- The future of music consumption (and, by extension, how music radio needs to evolve). Interesting piece, pointing out the already large part Spotify plays in breaking new artists. Probably doesn’t distinguish between “people who really like music” and “people who listen to music radio”, which I think radio programmers sometimes think are the same.
- Podcast Stack by Josh Muccio looks like the beginnings of an interesting resource for podcasters everywhere
- What do North Korea, China, Iran and the United States have in common? You’ll never guess.
- Another online streaming service, another black hole where all the money goes. Hello, Rhapsody/Napster.
Australia
- How Repetitive Aussie Radio Station Playlists Actually Are – how the listener sometimes perceives playlists. Also see comparemyradio.comfor the same kind of stuff in the UK.
- A pop-up radio station all about women. Lasted a full week.
United Kingdom
- As I predicted might happen, Ofcom won’t turn off the small-scale DAB transmitters; extending their trial licences. At Radiodays Europe, John Ryan will be sharing his experiences.
- Brave decision by a children’s radio station in the UK to ban all Frozen songs. But I did manage to get some puns in.
- Congratulations to Fun Kids Radio for this excellent coverage on the BBC. Typically, the BBC don’t mention other media sources, so it’s great to see them with a positive story.
- Always sorry to see a station close down – particularly one as iconic as this.
- Some employment lawyers look at the Tony Blackburn sacking by the BBC: and conclude that it was wrong.
- Lazy journalism allowed this guy onto BBC News to talk about something he hadn’t witnessed nor had any experience on. And, as many of my Twitter followers noted, he then managed to get onto a number of other media outlets, satisfied that the BBC had checked the story.
Elsewhere
- Ireland: bus drivers threaten to strike if they can’t listen to the radio. No, really. Good on you, Ireland.
- Europe: EBU Head of Radio speaks in Asia on importance of digital radio – he’s at Radiodays Europe too
- Raspberry Pi Internet Radio – looks lovely, if slightly strange. Might be a fun project.
- Switzerland: DAB+ radio sales still on the rise