AI gets a number 1 song

Above: a grey day in May 2015, in Toronto - a billboard marketing the Bell-owned CHUM FM.

• Full story: Australia’s remote mines have lots of FM radio stations in the middle of nowhere, it turns out. A question from a Radioland supporter, Dafydd, led me to learning all about “Newman Area C”. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about this; become a supporter and drop me an email with anything interesting you might spot.

• Full story: How does radio on Google speakers work? Last time in this newsletter, I wrote about Radio National which has stopped working on Google speakers. I dug around a bit to learn more about how it worked, and talked with someone, and… good news! It worked perfectly! For three days! And now it’s stopped working again. :sadface: I’ve found out how it works, who actually sets those stations, and give it a go with the rest of the radio stations on the dial - it’s not good.

• Last week, Josh Fawaz’s Like a Prayer got just 3 plays on UK radio; 5 on US radio; just one spin in New Zealand; but, in his home country of Australia it’s the most-played song: 2,761 plays (Radio Monitor tells me) - heard on Nova, Fox, KIIS, Hit, Star, and even instore in Woolworths and Bunnings. But - the song appears to be AI. Nobody’s saying anything on the radio, though. And why would they? Last year, one station slung an AI voice on as a mid-morning radio DJ - for six months - without telling anyone. And the continued presence of two separate stations claiming they’re “Brisbane’s Number One Hit Music Station” seems to rather ably demonstrate that the Australian commercial radio industry thinks audiences aren’t worthy of any respect anyway.

  • That coincides with the BBC releasing its policy on the use of AI in music. The Corporation says that disclosure is important; and that its “priority will be music which is the result of meaningful human creativity”. This is how you do it.

Classifieds

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Only last week I was expressing concerns about Canadian radio’s viability. It took just a few days for Rogers to demonstrate that - abruptly taking six radio stations off-air in four Canadian cities, and announcing the loss of 230 jobs. In Vancouver, it’s the end of Sportsnet 650 and News 1130. The stations have already closed - Rogers have just handed the licences back to the CRTC.

In a country more sensibly regulated, Rogers would, at least, have looked for a buyer for these stations, and perhaps help the employees to still have a job. But, the CRTC’s ownership rules in Canada don’t allow radio companies to own more than a small number of stations - so the number of potential buyers is limited. (Naturally, only Canadians can own a radio station). Plus, a sale of a radio station is a long, drawn-out process, taking more than nine months of CRTC deliberation. Bell announced plans to sell 45 stations in February 2024: the CRTC took more than ten months to approve the first sale; and up to a further three months to approve the rest - a delay unthinkable in most parts of business.

The shuttering of these radio stations should give the CRTC concern. I fear it won’t, though.

• As media companies continues to merge with each other, Dave Letterman has posted this splendid clip from General Electric’s purchase of NBC in 1986.

• A radio producer for more than 38 years at ABC Radio Sydney has retired. This is a nice piece, all part of the ‘community of common interest’ for those station’s listeners.

Where I am speaking next

• Radiodays Asia, Jakarta Indonesia (Sep 1-3) - I’ll be keynoting on radio’s international trends and its future
• Podcast Movement NYC, New York City (Sep 14-18)

Supporters

Thank you to the supporters below, plus Dafydd Furnham, Marty from New Yawk, Gavin Watson, Greg Strassell, 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.

There’s a podcast version of this newsletter if you prefer that. I’m on Mastodon as @james@bne.social if you’re there too. And my website has more detail about who I am, and what I do, and whether I can help you further.

Selected bits from Radioland are in RadioInfo in Australia, and RAIN News in the US
Lesen Sie außerdem ausgewählte Artikel auf Deutsch in Radioszene