James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: Emergency broadcasting, radio’s market share, and the launch of Alfred

by James Cridland

James maintains his column schedule even as his home town of Brisbane (Australia) is flooded with nonstop rain. He tuned into radio during this time of weather emergency, and has things to say about public network ABC — “a good calming listen” (especially as the studio had to be evacuated). Then, his traditional linkfest, including a graph showing U.S. radio ad revenue market share. Continue Reading

Steve Goldstein: This Undeniable Trend Should Frighten Every Talk Radio Station

by Steve Goldstein

In the latest guest column from Steve Goldstein, he cites Edison Research indicating that spoken word’s share of all audio listening continues to rise. That’s good news, according to Steve, but the breakdown is troubling for talk radio stations. “Talk radio needs to think beyond the transmitter.” Click through for more metrics and graphics. Continue Reading

Podcast “Super Listeners” soak up 11.2 hours/week, via YouTube & Spotify more than Apple

Super Listeners 2021, a consumer research study by Edison Research with support from Houston-based Ad Results Media, was released in a webinar yesterday co-hosted by Edison SVP Tom Webster and Ad Results Media CEO Marshall Williams. Fascinating results ensued. Click through for details, graphics, and a download link. Continue Reading

iHeartMedia partners with Veritone’s synthetic voice/translation tech to broaden global podcast reach

In a signal of how well resourced networks can use technology to enlarge their footprints, iHeartMedia is pairing with audio-AI company Veritone to translate and synthetically voice iHeart’s leading podcasts for Spanish-speaking markets. Click for details, and a link to RAIN’s interview with Veriton president Ryan Steelberg. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: The curious case of the radio station that broke peoples’ cars

by James Cridland

James Cridland returns with the latest installment of his weekly column. In this edition, an HD Radio debacle that breaks receivers in some Mazda cars, which cost $1,500 each to replace, but Mazda is offering a free replacement because apparently the problem is with Mazda, although one Seattle radio station seems to have started it all, and anyway, no receivers are available. Whew … and there’s much more here, including Absolute Radio giving a station to a listener.
Continue Reading

“We showed up on the Apple charts, and that’s the day everything changed.” Mike Carruthers at RAIN Podcast Business Lunch (transcript)

Mike Carruthers was the guest speaker at RAIN’s Podcast Business Lunch on Feb. 9. Mike is the creator and host of Apple top-10 charting podcast Something You Should Know. He described the radio roots of this hit show, how it is produced, and how the advertising works. Click through to read the conversation and link to the video. Continue Reading

Edison’s Top 50 U.S. Podcasts 2021: All podcasts eligible; Joe Rogan is #1; and now you can sort it

Edison Research has released its always-interesting Top Podcasts list, this one for all of 2021. (See the bottom of this post.) The Joe Rogan Experience is atop the list, followed by The Daily at #2. Edison’s reckoning of top podcasts is importantly different from Podtrac, Triton Digital, and other machine-based measurements, because no podcast is excluded. Click through for the list, and a link to a nifty interactive version of it. Continue Reading