James Cridland is Managing Director of media.info, and a U.K.-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.nets
James Cridland sends us his weekly links fresh from his Next Radio conference last Monday, and with this to say about the launch of Radio X:
By the time you read this, “Radio X” will be on-air. A rebrand of Xfm, with Chris Moyles back on the radio for the first time in a few years. It’s had a couple of PR bumps over the last few weeks, but I wish it all the best – a radio station where personality and talent is the priority, not slavish following of a Selector log.
I wish, though, Global could have swapped Capital Xtra and Radio X’s bandwidth on national digital radio. Pouring millions of pounds into a launch of a station that is in mono, for the target demo they’re aiming at, appears a little short-sighted. The target (men 25-44) listen to radio 25% longer in-car than the rest of us; and it’ll sound poor in comparison to Radio 1 or Radio 2.
United Kingdom
- This was the audio recap of Next Radio, edited and produced during the day by Tim Johns. Great reviews of Next Radio in #eRADIO, featuring Paul Chantler with our sandwiches; in the Radio Today Podcast (thank you, Trevor); and from Radiocentre. Valerie Geller is interviewed for journalism.co.uk, and highlighted in radioiloveit.com’s coverage.
- From Next Radio, Work together, says the BBC Radio 5 live controller Jonathan Wall. A great message.
- Also from Next Radio, watch personalising broadcast radio with musicBan – really clever idea, this, from Dominik Born
- Not just me who’s discovering long-lost things in his filing cabinet. Look atEmma Clarke’s hoarding tendency.
- James Stodd asks why we’re still using record scratch sound effects in the 2010s.
- The Media Focus podcast with Jeremy Vine is a really, really interesting listen. (Media Focus are sponsors of the daily media.info newsletter).
- Good to see Premier Radio attracting a good audience – 1.3 million listenersevery week
- Simplicity and Confusion – Matt Deegan writes about the new Radio X and says nearly everything I was going to.
- Well, this is clever. View this music video in the YouTube app for best results.
- Radio station makes peace with Justin Bieber – nice stunt!
- Quite justified grumbling that Global have effectively reduced competition by handing back a licence to Ofcom rather than selling it. A Facebook comment points out, correctly, that Global are acting within the rules.
United States
- In-car system from Microsoft. Includes a really GREAT looking FM radio. Bravo, Microsoft.
- Enter and Return by On the Media – interesting language of the media in the refugee crisis
- Which Radio Conference Are YOU Attending? The public radio conference looks great, but deliberately scheduling it the same week as NAB is either naive, insane, or deliberately non-cooperative
- What happened after 7 news sites got rid of reader comments – comments are the cesspool of most sites, after all…
- Lazy Buggles headline attempts to prove that mobile is beating TV, while just assuming radio has died…
- Special effects killed the radio star – lazy Buggles headline of the day
- Jacobs Media survey reviews top trends among public radio listeners – interesting stuff. One Facebook commenter points out the still-high penetration of newspapers in this demographic.
- US radio advertising is up – and other media are down. Surprising!
Australia
- Australian radio is the most innovative in the world, says APN CEO Ciaran Davis
- Interview with 7 West’s Clive Dickens – interesting that streaming TV only possible with accurate measurement sorted.
- Workshops to inspire creativity & innovation at the National Radio Conference– come to my session!
Elsewhere
- Radio Everyone, a global pop-up station, launches – proud to have helped them with this plan a little. Big project.
- Spain: “4 ways big-data will change radio” – perceptive piece from Tommy Ferraz
- Austria: Significant drop in radio listening on the smartphone. (And a lazy Buggles reference).
- India: A new Indian DRM radio looks pretty nice. Linked from this story. No price point, though, and to be honest, I can’t see it being affordable by its target market of rural Indians, but happy to be proven wrong.