James Cridland, the radio futurologist, is a conference speaker, writer and consultant. He runs the media information website media.info and helps organise the yearly Next Radio conference. He also publishes podnews.net, a daily briefing on podcasting and on-demand, and writes a weekly international radio trends newsletter, at james.crid.land.
- Malaysia: Announcing the launch of Radiodays Asia 2019 – this is very exciting, and I’m looking forward to this
- UK: Magic goes all Christmas. I write about Christmas stations across the world.
- US: Google is launching a news radio station. On your smart speaker. This looks really interesting, if it’s anything like the writeup – a model of disaggregation, where anyone can make the content.
- Switzerland: the Swiss public service broadcaster discuss the road to DAB+ – is it being “well received”? (oh, ho.) Linked from here are some tests of DAB receivers by a consumer organisation; and more information in a piece called “DAB Plus or Minus“. The Swiss are switching off FM ahead of schedule.
- US: “Weather radios still needed during digital age” – weird only-in-America technology, but highlights the benefit of broadcasting.
- Canada: A fascinating and detailed look at the Montreal radio market. Virgin isn’t doing well.
- Hawaii: Tiny Radio Station Spreads Its Show Islandwide – And Beyond
- UK: BBC Sounds launches first range of radio box sets – I’m a bit confused at this press release, which seems to confuse podcasts with “stuff available on an app”.
- UK: A nice clip of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Stephen Nolan – so gripping that his callers fall asleep. (Note the end frame – “Listen on BBC iPlayer Radio”, which is odd. Isn’t it BBC Sounds now?)
- UK: Why doesn’t your band get played on the radio? Here’s the ugly truth… – a bit of a negative piece which rather ignores the plethora of radio stations specifically there to break new music.
- Spain: ¿La radio muere por culpa del podcast? – Is radio dying because of podcasting?
- US: This is nice – from Westwood One, perception vs reality in terms of radio consumption. I don’t quite understand why only Westwood One appears to be keen to tell radio’s story in the US: why aren’t I seeing similar pieces from other big broadcasters?
- US: Baby, it’s cold outside gets banned. Banned songs are catnip for the media. Want to get your radio station in the headlines? Ban a song.
- Australia: A documentary of my local community radio station, 4ZZZ – I should sit and watch this.