James Cridland’s Future of Radio: Voice control – is it radio’s future? Plus ABC’s reorg, and Canadians listen to lots of radio
James Cridland
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
Small US broadcaster who stands to gain the most from removal of main studio rules… argues for their retention. For me, it isn’t the physical space of where a studio is, but your programming mindset: it’s irrelevant whether your studio is within your transmission area (or, indeed, whether you even have a studio).
A moment in the increasingly-chaotic British election period going on at the moment on BBC Womens Hour – a video of the leader of the opposition not knowing a number off by heart, like it matters very much. Disappointingly, this is filmed from behind, without a tripod, with distorted audio, and someone walking in front of the camera with a drink of water, in a completely unbranded studio. Lots to learn from this. (And I can’t help but wonder whether – fun though it is to try and catch out someone not knowing a number off by heart – there’s much point to this little game).
Some breakdowns of Manchester radio station audience figures from Paul Easton. Advocates of “live and local” might like to look at how big national stations are (although, being fair, the size of the UK means everything’s local to a point).
Clever: Upload Radio embeds a promo on a show page before a show airs, so you could listen to what’s coming up. Seems a blindingly obvious thing for BBC iPlayer to have done, but I don’t suppose anyone thought of it.
This is very sad. Having used BBC drivers in the past in Africa, I know how liked and part of the family they are.
News about one of the hardest-working radio consultants I know. Congratulations to Francis Currie who is now the boss of two brands I’ve worked for and one I listened-to on day 1.
ABC merits award, not funds cut (says Sky News presenter in a Murdoch paper, no less). The problem about getting money directly from politicians is that they don’t like it when you do serious journalism on them.
Radio has 65% of “share of ear” in Canada (61% AM/FM/HD, 4% SiriusXM) according to new Edison Research data. This has been reported as “Canadians listening to way more radio than the US”, but that’s without including SiriusXM (which is radio, just a different platform): the CRTC’s regulations, the lack of things like Pandora, and the presence of the CBC will also have an effect.
Chile: The Onemi Radio – great thing. A little cardboard radio, given free in Chile as part of emergency packs, with solar power and a little rechargeable battery.
