RADIODAYS EUROPE 2015

kurt at radiodays — Outside the main venue — Milano Congressi (“MiCo”)

RAIN News founding editor Kurt Hanson is in Milan for Radiodays Europe 2015. This is the first of his bulletins.

Over 1,300 radio professionals from across Europe descended on Milan, Italy, over the weekend for the sixth annual Radiodays Europe radio conference, following successful past events in Dublin, Berlin, and Barcelona in the previous three years.

Radiodays Europe, having evolved from a series of conferences organized by public radio broadcasters in Scandinavia, includes a unique mix of private radio broadcasters, public radio broadcasters, and an increasing number of digital-only initiatives (both DAB- and Internet-delivered).

Sunday’s opening festivities also incorporated an event designed for the general public— the RadioCity Milan radio festival, at which a wide variety of local Milan and national Italian broadcasters congregated in the large courtyard of a huge, trendy former steam factory (Fabbrica del Vapore) for an afternoon of live broadcasts from remote trucks, live musical performances, and more.

kurt radiodays james checking watch — Radio futurologist James Cridland

The event also included a “Meet the Media Guru” speech from the U.K.’s Helen Boaden, head of BBC Radio and Music, who will also be appearing on a Radiodays Europe panel today.

Other featured speakers who will be on stage today and tomorrow include Elvis Duran (Z100), Luigi Gubitosi (RAI, Italy), Cecile Megie (RFI), and Ali Abhary (Karnaval Media). The full program is available here.

I am in Milan to report on the event — look for additional coverage tomorrow and later this week here in RAIN News.

kurt radiodays crowd — Radiodays Europe opening cocktail party

by James Cridland

In his latest guest column: Bauer’s brand bundling. Then there is this piece of wistful idealism: “As the BBC gets ready to put advertising in its podcasts (on third parties) in the UK, you might think that if only BBC Radio took commercials, we’d not have to bother with the TV licence fee and everything would be good.” And than a deeper dive into that concept. A great, informative read.