A shared experience - the future of radio in 2025
Welcome back to work! As if you were ever away…
This year, I’ll be making a number of rash appearances at conferences talking about the future of radio once more - a subject I’ve actually not been very vocal about for quite a few years. The future, of course, is human connection and shared experience - something I’ve been saying is the definition of radio for some time, but I’ve come to realise it’s not always what radio is: especially the high amount of non-stop music stations that now exist, in a lonely cold computer, playing songs back to back with badly-made idents, as if nobody is listening.
As an example of that, over Christmas it was the 600th “Forgotten 80s” music show on Absolute 80s. Matthew Rudd had been doing a show called Q the 80s on Bauer station Q, but Bauer then turned that station off in May 2013. I knew Matthew from years earlier at Hallam FM, and I suggested to the just-launched (and then independently-owned) Absolute Radio 80s that they might want to take a look at the show; and they did, which was nice. It’s been on - “featuring the underplayed and the almost completely forgotten hits of the 80s” - ever since.
Its consistency of always being on-air on Sunday nights between 9pm-11pm appears to have struck a chord with its listeners. At least half of the songs on each show are requested by the audience; and a look on BlueSky at the #forgotten80s hashtag rather underlines how respected and revered it is by its community of listeners. You could almost call it human connection and a shared experience…
Amazingly clever thing: France Info, the French speech station… but you can add English subtitles (or any language - just change the language at the bottom). Those with a keen eye will notice that the translation is at exactly the same time as the audio, which is a clever trick. It’s done by a company called Radiozeit, and there are so many applications for it, not least for international broadcasters. I would love it if EVERY international broadcaster did this.
Public radio in Switzerland turned off all their “outdated analogue FM transmitters” on Dec 31. The stations (which have between 66% and 75% market share in the country, depending which language) will only be on DAB+ or the internet from hereon in. At work and at home, over 80% of radio listening is done via a digital platform, says the Swiss Ofcom.
Clever trick from Bauer’s Kisstory, which is, essentially, the dance station Kiss but for older people - bring back the massively successful breakfast show with Bam Bam and Streetboy. (But do it in the afternoon.) Nicholas Canham posts the story on LinkedIn.
David Lloyd has tenaciously followed the wholesale disintegration of BBC Local Radio, and made a complaint to the BBC about the lack of local coverage during last summer’s unrest on the streets of Britain. “A systemic failure”, says the BBC’s own Executive Complaints Unit..
- David adds: “Worryingly, however, I am told that this highly critical and very illustrative BBC verdict will not be published by the BBC.” I note the verdict is carried in PressGazette, and local newspapers like the Dartmouth Chronicle and Devon Live. However, the BBC’s Devon news website, on Dec 27, contained a story about a man retiring after 27 years; the discovery of a fossil of a tree; a GP doing her surgery in the garden; and a nice story about otters - but didn’t cover this story, oddly enough.
“The car radio of the future?” Tomorrow’s World, the BBC’s tech show, covers “the latest in car radio technology”. It’s from 1971. It’s rather lovely.
Finally, RadioAnalyzer writes a love letter to our medium - and its own ideas of what we should do in 2025. Agreed with all this.
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Where I am speaking next
- Atelier Radiophonique Romand, Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Feb 7)
- Radiodays Europe, Athens, Greece (Mar 9-11)
- Radio Days Ireland, Dublin, Ireland (Mar 27-28)
- Podcast Movement Evolutions, Chicago IL, USA (Mar 31-Apr 3)
- Radiodays North America, Toronto ON, Canada (May 7-8)
- The Podcast Show, London, UK (May 20-21)
- Podcast Movement, Dallas TX, USA (Aug 18-21)
- Radiodays Asia (tbc)
- And, Pennine Radio’s 50th Birthday, on the second week of September. I’m not speaking at it, but hoping to go: someone book me in Europe around then, please!
Supporters
First, thank you to the many excellent people who “bought me a coffee” after my last newsletter, including the excellent Fred Jacobs, Robin Goldstein @SchnauzerLogic, and Gavin Watson. Thanks, too, to those who gave other feedback, too.
Thank you to the supporters you see on this site, plus Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton, Emma Gibbs, Jocelyn Abbey and James Masterton for being regular supporters.
If you’d like to support my work in any way, you can BuyMeACoffee - become a member to give regularly or just give a one-off coffee, or five. Here’s where to do that. Or, alternately, here’s a way direct with Stripe.
I’m on Bluesky as @james.crid.land or on Mastodon as @james@bne.social
My website has more detail about who I am, and what I do, and whether I can help you further.