Radio 3.0 part 4 (the final part)
Posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 8:34pm. #
Worldspace man came on. Interesting.
They’re looking at a pan-European subscription radio service. They claim it’s complementary to free-to-air radio. I’d doubt that: particularly in the UK where we have quite competent ad-free (’subscription’) radio from the BBC. (I’ve been in Virgin Radio mode all day, quite deliberately, incidentally).
They talk about Italy as a start, since they’ve all the licences, and say it’ll launch in 2008. (Funny: it was slated for a 2007 launch, but clearly they’ve had delays).
They’re looking for UK partners to help them launch - indeed, UK partners to help them do everything bar the satellite, from what I understand. They need them to get the licence, and to provide the programming. They expect 50-200 repeaters per EU country. (Compare with DAB Digital Radio - I think Digital One has 120 ‘repeaters’ across the UK, and no satellite infill!)
They promise 50+ channels per country:
6 pan-EU news channels
10-15 national talk stations per country
30-35 music channels (not clear whether per country or pan-EU).
+ podcasts and music downloads
+ realtime data like travel etc
(Rather optimistic)
They plan a UK launch in 2009, but the system uses L-band which they need to bid for this year.
Hmm.
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Then, Radio 4.
The Controller of Radio 4 speaks (Mark Damazer) who compares Radio 2 - a station with four big names - and Radio 4, which is a station with a ton of different names, many of whom aren’t on every day. Quite interesting comparison.
Claims Radio 4 doesn’t pay well for appearances. With my commercial radio hat on, I blow silent raspberry.
Big-ups The Now Show and says how splendid it is.
Which is a good job, since Jon Holmes is sitting next to him, who launches into an exquisitely-written half-hour stand-up routine about life as ‘talent’ within the BBC, something he hates as a term. Brilliantly done, but he’s a bundle of talent and a jolly nice chap.
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Then to the bar. Interesting chat with a man who thinks that ‘visualised radio’ will ruin radio because you’ll have to depend on the screen. Don’t agree: but a good viewpoint. Then chats with the sponsors, National Grid Wireless, and other people.
Catch up with Jon Holmes. Nice man, I always got on with him when he was at Virgin, and good to see him again. We swap embarrassing stories; he tells me of some things he wants to do with podcasts that the BBC tells him he can’t do, and thinks I can do something about it.
Enjoy beer from Conor, the editor of Broadcast, without once speaking to him, feeling a bit bad.
All in all: great conference. Particularly worthwhile mentioning that the sound was perfect throughout the day - neatly, there was a speaker for the panel underneath the table, so we could hear the audience’s questions really clearly. Most unusual for a radio conference. Full marks. Lots to think about, lots of interesting people. I hope we can do similar at Radio at the Edge, but it has got me worried that we might not be able to. (Quite pleased with my own session which I’ve planned for that, though: although I need a good presenter to pull it off.) Many congratulations, Broadcast/Emap, on a good day.
Ash said at May 17th, 2007 at 9:05pm 
