When should you ignore the data? And the UK's new RAJARs
David Lloyd, above, in full effect at the European Radio Show. Not pictured - the three minutes where he cuddled a balloon.
I’m in Los Angeles all week at Podcast Movement Evolutions. It’ll be my first time in downtown LA. Looking forward to it!
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Ed contacts me with The CPN Project, an interesting-looking project. Funded by the EU, it “offers news organisations transparent & easily integrated software to personalise their content.” It works in English, Dutch and Greek, and looks interesting: lots of user-testing and open results from their work.
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David Phillips is one of the cleverest people I know (and certainly one of the nicest-dressed). He works for the Canadian audience research company NLogic, and this recent edition of the Sound Off Podcast is worth a listen - a quite compelling argument for ignoring what the data says and using your gut, as well as a peek into Canadian broadcasting.
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Jon Sopel thinks that the impartiality required by the BBC can make for quite boring content. I think I’d partially agree with that: the BBC News website is functional but quite dull - but I think you can make some interesting content (not least, Brexitcast.) It’s quite a balancing act.
Classifieds:
I use Sendy to send this mailing list out. It’s like MailChimp, but no monkeying around with high fees (it’s 100x cheaper). The API is a most excellent thing (and, as a result, media·info uses it to send out the daily news briefings too). Very good for your station/podcast.
Decent radio is more than just show and go. A £1 week-long trial of Show Prep will make your show rather better.
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In the world of podcasting, an interesting tie-up with Sony and Somethin’Else. Sony Music appear to be into podcasting in a way no other record company is: I wonder what their end goal is?
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Alert! #lazybugglesheadline spotted! - thanks to Oliver Needham
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How’s radio going in the US? Pandora earnt $1.6bn in revenue; SiriusXM satellite radio earnt $6.1bn, according to their financial results. (The reason I quote these two? It’s radio. Isn’t it?)
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A long read about Magic, the national radio brand in the UK. I suspect someone at Bauer saw the FT’s coverage of LBC and wondered if they could get a bit of that; and Cat Martin ‘magically’ pulling this out of the hat. Nice piece: I’ve also enjoyed watching a bit of video content from the breakfast show trying to find a particularly velvet-voiced train announcer.
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Interesting chart from iHeartRadio in the US, suggesting that younger people listen to more ‘audio’ than older. Not visible: what audio they’re actually listening to.
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As an aside: does anyone know when you say “iHeartRadio” and when you say “iHeartMedia”? Is there a cheat-sheet or some easy-to-follow rule? I’ve asked the PR team, but either a) they hate me, b) they didn’t get the email, or c) they don’t know. Here’s hoping it’s b).
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The UK’s new radio figures are out. Lots of good news - but curious that none of the coverage or think-pieces I’ve read about these RAJAR figures mention that they’re new record low figures for radio listening (in terms of reach and hours listened). There’s lots of good stories - but I worry for the UK industry’s complacency.
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Alexa, why is this radio station promoting an on-demand music service? Do you think they know what they’re doing? Alexa?
Thank you to Rupert Brun, Barrie Stephenson, Cleanfeed and Richard Hilton for your continued support.