Emergency radio listening: figures from Spain
This is Radioland, my radio newsletter.
A post from Michel Colin on LinkedIn tips me off to discover this PDF from the Spanish Association for Media Research (AIMC).
It looks back at the morning of the power blackout in Spain on April 28, when at 12.30pm - as you may remember, Spanish people everywhere rediscovered the radio - since a battery-powered radio was the only thing that worked.
In English, the PDF says (my bold)…
The peak listenership occurred between 6:00 and 6:30 pm, when one in four people over the age of 14 were tuned in to the radio. During the same period, more than one in five relied on transistor radios to tune into FM, highlighting the importance of battery-operated devices in the absence of electricity.
This graph shows total reach in percent during the day: the previous Monday was the blue colour, and then the Monday of the blackout was the red colour. (Compare the dark red, which is total radio).
The PDF also shows listening in the home, where at one point 20% of all Spanish adults were listening; and another graph with listening in cars (coche), and listening at work (trabajo). Listening at work was much lower - possibly because nobody has battery-operated radio receivers there (though the release just says that few workers were able to perform their tasks).
We learn more about this when the full results are released on Jul 2.
The methodology for this data appears to be hybrid: there’s talk of a PPM as well as using streaming data and diaries. The PDF mentions “EGM fieldwork data”, so slightly unclear how this data is calculated.
This is fascinating data, and particularly impressive that the data is robust enough to give us a glimpse of how radio fared during this emergency.
- A note for Australia: AM was only a few percent of radio listening in Spain during this emergency. Yet, it should be noted that Australia’s emergency broadcaster, the ABC, is on AM in most capital cities. It’s getting harder and harder to find AM receivers: and fewer and fewer people have a battery-powered AM receiver in their home. (The only reason I have one is that I specifically went to find one). This is yet more evidence that it’s time for ABC local radio to (also) be on FM in the capital cities. The ABC appears to agree, judging by the last weather event here in Brisbane; so I look forward to that being made permanent. AM is fine, but if people don’t have the receivers, it’s also pointless to be an emergency broadcaster if you’re only available on that waveband.
The excellent Matt Wilkinson gives us a masterclass on a) how to use RCS Zetta to make a killer segue, but also b) how to care about what you’re doing enough to bother. Bravo, Matt! /tip Francis Currie
Having just given RCS, my newsletter sponsor, a nice mention just then, let’s, um, oh, mention a competitor. Sorry. Zack Zalon from Super Hi-Fi shows off a video from Bo Matthews recording outside on a cruise ship - there’s an AI-generated loop of the song he’s going into, so he can effortlessly hit the post, and AI cleaned up the audio as well. It’s pretty impressive. (Actually, it’s more than pretty impressive, to be honest).
Apple’s WWDC announcements are, you’d think, not that interesting for radio. One is, though - AirPods are getting an upgrade to support “studio-quality audio recording”, which should mean that if your guests use AirPods for interviews, the audio quality should sound dramatically better. The new iPad OS will also include better control of microphones.
Another “thing from the world of podcasting that radio might want to take note of” - Podscribe (which, fair disclosure, are title sponsors of Podnews right now) measure the effectiveness of advertising. If your clients use a coupon code or promo code to measure their radio advertising, Podscribe data shows that measuring ads using pixel-based attribution (essentially, a system knowing that this person heard your podcast ad and is now coming to your website) shows the ads working 4.6x better. The conclusion I draw from that is that only 20% of people actually use those promo codes. More details about the report is over here.
Congratulations to the Game Changers Radio podcast - which has changed its name and focus from the Melbourne Radio Wars, and is the place for sensible and intelligent chat about Australian commercial radio. They’ve just had Ben Cooper (from Bauer, formerly of BBC Radio 1) on for an interview. It’s still the same excellent podcast otherwise, though I heard a parody song on it the other week, so I might have to change my mind.
Want to supercharge your radio show? Here’s a £1 week-long trial of Show Prep - from a world class radio consultant and the best show-prep writer in the UK. Great for UK stations, or for English-language stations everywhere, too. (ad)
Where I am speaking next
- Podcast Movement, Dallas TX, USA (Aug 18-21)
- Radiodays Asia Jakarta, Indonesia (Sep 1-3)
- Pennine Radio’s 50th birthday! In Bradford.
- PodSummit YYC, Calgary, Canada (Sep 19-20)
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