What is a radio, anyway?
My stuff
- What is a radio, anyway? And what’s a smart speaker? - my weekly column. Also in RAIN; and also an almost-decent audio version.
Worldwide
2018 Internet Trends: that Mary Meeker thing that comes out every year. Very good read. There’s no mention of ‘podcast’; but a few mentions of radio - you’d like slide 96, which says that Americans spend 13% of media time with radio, yet it only gets 9% of ad spend. That means radio gets about US$9.3bn less than it ought to, Meeker appears to be arguing: at least, she argues similar for mobile. Incidentally, this is a 294 page slide deck, but it is meant for reading: so don’t worry about the video you might see elsewhere.
Ramadan in Saudi Arabia: peak radio listening, and no music allowed
Consistency is a major reason for any media’s success. The Economist knows that. How many radio stations have a style guide, I wonder?
United States
- This could happen to you - a website hack taking your site offline. Boo to the hackers of KBOO’s website!
United Kingdom
BBC predicts all-IP future, says it will evolve into an internet broadcaster says an excited article, quoting the nice Matthew Postgate. It’s also showing the World Cup in 4K, but “only a limited number of spots available”, because the future isn’t very scalable. Data point: 9.3% of all radio listening is via IP.
Radio 2 listeners revolt over new drivetime format - this story is from the Daily Mail, so is probably bullshit, but even so, I’ve not heard many good things about the enforced pairing-up of Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley. (I’ve not listened). I think Mayo’s a great broadcaster, and his days on Radio 1 breakfast were a good and well-executed multi-host format, so it’ll probably get there.
Clever marketing for Dave Berry’s new Absolute Radio breakfast show
I guested on BBC Radio Scotland earlier this week, in a slot about the new BBC Radio Scotland podcast The Doorstep Murder.
Australia
Newly-arrived Brit Christian O’Connell has had a party thrown in his honour; there’s a marketing campaign; and he was introduced to his new studio by cheering station staff. I never got any of this when I moved here.
Interesting to hear that 4BC are running some short, five second ads, for one client the other day. They work quite well.
Apple kicked out an Australian podcast re-publisher last week. Interesting idea, mind you.
I’m in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I like drinking coffee. I’m at james@crid.land or 0447 692743.
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