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.
James Cridland’s articles
- The MIDAS touch — RAJAR’s behavioural radio research (also here). Vital research from the UK (and I’d love to see this from other countries).
United States
- Pirate Radio Stations Explode on YouTube – interesting misuse of the technology that YouTube provides. Odd that their algorithms haven’t stamped this out (but that would assume, of course, that YouTube wants to stamp this out).
- Meanwhile, a new bill from the FCC is up in the US legislature tightening the laws against pirate radio
- ‘Almost 18% of Heavy Radio Listeners do not have a radio receiver in their home‘ – goodness, that’s quite a stat (from Edison Research) and highlights the multiplatform nature of radio. As I say in my conference speeches: radio is a thing, not a platform.
- Beyoncé, Kanye streaming stats ‘manipulated’ on Tidal (so they get lots more royalties). Because online stats are always correct, so I’m repeatedly told, except when they’re not, of course
- New radio station in the US being sold on music obscurity. Arguably, a) people want familiarity; b) those that don’t already have Spotify. Discuss.
United Kingdom
- Steal this, other countries – Radio Audio Week – a thing in the UK where all audio and radio people are doing things together to shout about it. Why not elsewhere?
- Also streal this: BBC and commercial radio – working together in the UK (for the first time) for mental health. Impressive work.
- The Bionic Studio – Cushions and Daylight – this is a great view into radio’s future from Broadcast Bionics.
- The MIDAS touch — RAJAR’s behavioural radio research (also here)
- Alexa, are you radio’s saviour? – Matt Deegan in an uncharacteristically grumpy blog post has lots of ideas for radio’s future for young audiences. It’s a good, data-driven piece.
- Interesting piece in The Spectator about one Radio 4 programme which could be a podcast; while another was a podcast.
- Love Sport Radio launches ten fan shows as podcasts on Alexa and Google Assistant – this is a clever and good idea; the station already broadcasts these in London, and getting the station to help promote them further seems to win with everyone.
Australia
- Australian Podcast Awards Winners – some good pieces of audio here. I enjoyed judging these.
- Email from boss of the (Aus) ABC to colleagues outlining the effects of the budget. The Guardian covers the budget cuts, too.
- Can Radio beat Spotify at its own game? (By which this article means targeted advertising, rather than 12-minute-long ad sets and self-indulgent talk breaks)
- Good, award-winning, radio commercials? They do exist. Listen here…
Elsewhere
- Denmark: Good new speakers for Radiodays Europe’s Podcast Day. If you use the code “PODNEWS” you’ll save money on your tickets too, by the way: until the end of this week. Just saying.
- Switzerland: they’re turning FM off in the next few years, and the government is now planning a four year information campaign: Switzerland Plans DAB+ Education Initiative. As an aside, we learn on May 17th whether the UK radio industry has hit the 50% target for digital listening which triggers a decision from the government about FM switchoff.
- Africa: In the East African country of Burundi, the BBC and VOA have been banned – from being rebroadcast, at least. There aren’t any restrictions on the internet, though Viber and WhatsApp have been banned before.