The launch of LBC News; RAIN Summit Europe; DAB listening in Australia

• Above: here’s what happens if you let TuneIn control the radio experience on smart speakers: you get a brand new radio station appear with an old logo. Bad TuneIn.

• An article from me about the Radio Alive conference last week.

• The new LBC News has just gone live, a 24-hour national rolling radio news channel for the UK. You can hear it over here. Oddly the UK has never really had a national rolling news service like this - the closest we’ve had was London’s “News Direct 97.3 FM” from ITN. Here’s a clip of that. The BBC did BBC Radio 4 News FM for two months in 1991 - here’s a clip of that. And there was also DNN in some parts of the UK, though I can’t find a clip anywhere.

• John Humphrys returns to radio as he joins Classic FM - clever move!

• Event: the RAIN Summit Europe is on November 13th in central London. Speakers include Ruth Fitzsimons from Podfront UK, Sarah van Mosel from Midroll, Declan Moore from Wondery, Steve Goldstein from Amplifi Media, lots of folks from Bauer, and radio consultant David Lloyd. Priced at over £200, this special link for readers of my newsletter will get you free tickets, if you’re quick.

• Radioplayer makes it to Italy. Good news for radio!

• It turns out that Australian radio presenters have been historically given full protection against defamation cases. I find that surprising: I certainly wasn’t.

• Adam Bowie looks at the #RAJAR figures and pulls out the interesting stories, as ever

• 30.4% of radio listening in Australia is to DAB (in coverage areas). Surprisingly high, given no radio station appears to ever mention it here. I learnt lots about DAB in Australia at the #CBAAconf - here’s some notes.

• There are fewer new ideas in television. That’s official, according to UK regulator Ofcom.

• In Brisbane, “local” radio station 4BC (which rebroadcasts 2GB excepting news, travel and ads) is moving in with new owners Nine. On the plus side, that means I get a radio studio half a mile away from my house, at the top of Mount Coot-Tha. On the negative side, there’s probably no reason for them to actually build a radio studio. I hope they do, mind.

• It’s official - DAB means radio, at least in UK English. Ian Deeley has spotted something neat in the iPhone keyboard

• Key Dynamics Shaping Radio’s Future - Francis Currie’s thoughts are good, and worth a read.

Thank you to Rupert Brun, Barrie Stephenson, Cleanfeed and Richard Hilton for your continued support.

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