Online listening up (a bit); smart speakers aren't all good though
Triton Digital’s monthly ranker for internet radio streams is out for October 2018.
US: 46% of people have trouble using their smart speaker to listen to radio stations. I can believe that - there’s one station here in Brisbane that I still can’t get on my Amazon Alexa. It’s great for stations where it works - but it’s meant that I rarely listen to the others.
Think you’re a good music programmer? Top of the Spots is a game to guess which song (of two) was played the most. (Resize your browser if it doesn’t appear to work too well).
UK: James O’Brien off of LBC is getting some quite considerable coverage - last week, the front page of the New York Times.
Poland: Radio Driver is an online radio station just for Polish-speaking truck drivers across the EU (and beyond). What a great, niche, idea.
US: This is a good read about where radio should be prioritising its focus from Dick Taylor.
US: Lovely quote about radio in the 1920s. One to drag up every now and again.
Ireland: Steve Dempsey: ‘Streaming and a podcast boom may kill the radio star’ - #lazybugglesheadline
UK: The radio station I worked for five years is now a luxury housing complex. Although, we worked in the basement and I bet they haven’t made that into flats. And it’s haunted, so…
UK: The Radio Times’s new issue has “The 30 Greatest Radio Shows of All Time”. Not one from commercial radio. All judges from the BBC. Top trolling!
UK radio consultant Paul Chantler had an exciting day last week.
US: The New York Times is now earning more money from digital than print. Quite a moment in history.
UK: Newspaper sales. The best-performing has “only” seen sales decrease by 7% year-on-year.
Australia: Astonishingly, a man from News Corp doesn’t like Google’s plans for disaggregated news radio.
US: I love the opening to the latest Daily podcast on Friday - a great example of getting the excitement of a newsroom into a podcast. They seem to convey this hard work much better than any broadcaster I’ve heard. I wonder why?
Australia: A big audience boost for commercial digital radio - some good news for Aussie radio listeners.
I’m in New York in a few weeks (and other places too - see below). If you’re in NYC, it would be great to catch up.