ACMA investigates Super Radio Network

Saw this on Mediawatch last week... and posting it here for international friends who can't watch it on Australia's ABC iView (plus it gets deleted after 14 days or so...)



Does your country have a Mediawatch type program?

The 2009 iPod Nano 5G

Its very interesting to read how people are recieving the news, that Apple have included an FM tuner in their latest iPod Nano (the 5G).

Here's my take.

• It's a long overdue addition.
• It's a great addition.
• At first glance, it looks to help keep radio relevant in the ever fragmenting media pie.

While it appears to be doing radio a favour, Apple has actually turned the FM dial into a cash cow for iTunes.

People can 'tag' songs they hear on the radio. And guess what happens when they next sync their iPod? You'll get prompted to download those songs from iTunes.

How does this benefit radio?
Does the radio station get a slice of the purchase price? No.

PCMag made light that Apple didn't make too much of a fuss about the addition of the FM tuner at their 09/09/09 presentation. Apple made a big deal about the camera, built-in speaker, Voice Over and pedometer. Oh, and iTunes 9. But FM tuner - yes, how nice. Moving on. It's like they were obligated to include it, like having to hand in overdue homework from 3 years ago.

iPod Nano vs Digital Radio
The features of the iPod Nano FM tuner poses problems for the New Zealand and Australian radio industries. We are launching digital radio - and Apple has stolen the thunder of these "new" features: live pause, rewind and artist tagging. When the radio industry is forking out billions to introduce this new (and very expensive) technology, its a fierce marketing ploy by Apple to get consumers to buy new iPod Nanos instead of digital radios.

Radio should HATE Apple, but its obvious we need Apple considering the impact of iPods, and the sheer marketshare Apple has. So its an understandably bitter start to perhaps the most unsavoury of partnerships.

Some of the comments made at the PCMag site include:

It actually made me angry that that apple chose not to include it for so long. It smacked of arrogance that they chose to ignore how many people felt it to be important because the feature didn't fit into their own framework of how a music player 'should' be used...

I don't the absence of an FM tuner smacked of arrogance as much as it smacked of "who listens to the radio any more?" I used to listen to the radio all the time, but with advances in portable audio I now almost never do. Personally I think an AM radio would be more useful on an iPod...

I couldn't help but retort.

Remember this - In the US, the FM dial might be predominantly littered with MUSIC based radio stations, in many other countries (Apples biggest market), half the FM dial is filled with talk, sport, commentary, access, public and ethnic language broadcasters who play little music, if at all.

Apple was arrogant to ignore FM for so long. They still show this arrogance, as there is no AM radio support. Despite the low quality sound, the AM band is very valuable when it comes to 'content' and the supposed issue around 'quality' is overshadowed by the fact that AM offers unique content - much of it talk/commentary - where sound quality is a redundant argument.

So what's in it for Apple? Plenty. There's no music to tag, but you could tag the station if they offer podcasts for example. If its not blatantly obvious to you yet on why this is value - I'll spell it out. People will use THEIR product for media consumption. If it's downloading music, listening to podcasts, live radio, playing games, reading news online, watching/recording video - Apple want you to use THEIR product to do it.

Apple can't achieve world domination by being arrogant now, can they?

Meanwhile at Facebook:
Mark Ramsey: Once the glow wears off I fear Broadcasters will feel radio has been "saved" by the iPod Nano.
Me: Apple is using radio to make more money for themselves. how does this help radio?
Mark Ramsey: Richard, it helps only in that it makes radio a tad cooler to people who consider us (correctly) uncool. Yes, Apple's motivation is clear, but so what? Everything about the trends in radio - including and especially PPM - argue for more music and less of everything else. In the long run, we are working our hardest to be Apple's bitch.

Virgin Radio Vancouver

A lot of reasons I post this - but I will keep it simple.

On January 8 2009, Vancouver Radio Station 95 Crave relaunched as Virgin Radio Vancouver.

I was really impressed with the lead-in to this launch. There was an open tease on air, the 95 Crave website was even blogging about it - and not just the webmaster, but from the programme director Ronnie Stanton (yes, the Australian).

Particularly active, is drive host Buzz Bishop. His blog was on fire with regular updates, and inside information - even an interview with Richard Branson! Listening from the other side of the world, I felt like he was my local drive host.

And it goes to say, that if they can have that effect on the other side of the world, then Vancouver has one dream team running a fantastic radio brand. Love the website with Flash aacPlus stream, and the Facebook page.


I'd call this a very very successful launch, in a time when radio is clawing for new listeners, no matter where in the world you are.

Audio: 60 minutes of the relaunch audio (55Mb)
Audio: just the relaunch imaging (8.7Mb)

Now that's dedication!

102.7 Kiis FM ends worldwide streaming

One of the best things about streaming on the internet, is being able to hear radio stations from the other side of the world. Getting an insight into their market, and hearing new things. It's part of the appeal (and to simultaneously hear the same breaking song when you're breaking it here - a great feeling I tell you!)

Clear Channel in their infinite wisdom are now scanning your IP address, and if you're outside of the US - big bouncer guy shows you the door.

Instead I get this: (click to enlarge)


Is this a clear sign that Clear Channel are tightening up (after news they keep selling off "middle market" stations) and focussing on strengthening their major market stations, and dare I guess - re-focussing on LOCAL radio? I'd probably be more accurate rephrasing it to LOCAL dollars.

Their website upon first glance, might not appear to be that of a typical looking "local" station's site, but look around, and you'll see that Kiis have clearly defined what their website should be; a portal for Kiis content, culture and lifestyle.

The music, whether it's FM, streamed, or digital - is treated as a feature component, as is video, and in this case, none of it is available to me - cos I don't matter on this side of the world. Their sales focus and content generation is targeted to their local audience - which is where they will yield the best result for their advertising clients.

It costs them less in international licensing fees as well, which would be one result (see: excuse) of this change in strategy, yet it's interesting to think that with this new "local" strategy for a website in which I can view on the other side of the world, you'd think I SHOULD be blocked entirely from seeing the page altogether?

The reason I can't get the audio stream is because I can't be reached by US business. Think of it like a flashlight. If the market illuminated is the US, then where does the international community come into the picture? Answer is, they don't. Not even Canada.

Non music radio - any future?

In the UK, a great "non music" idea is in its trial stage right now on DAB Digital. Traffic Radio: http://www.trafficradio.org.uk/js-index.htm

It's set up by the Highways Agency and Transport for London. A very useful and now seemingly obvious "non music" brand.

As for Chris' comments at Hear2.0, here in New Zealand, one brand is mixing lifestyle news and 'banter' (see John Tesh), on a brand called Easy Mix. I could see this kind of lifestyle essence becoming more of a feature inside genre/niche radio.. it's one reason why Howard Stern is such a huge name. The audience identifies with him, but more importantly, he LIVES the lifestyle himself and the content of his show is a direct reflection of that lifestyle. That's great rock/alternative radio. The same can be said for another station here in NZ - we have George FM and UpFM - both lifestyle focussed brands that are aligned with their psychographic audience.

I think "non-music" may be an irrelevant point, even if CHR/mainstream music brands start taking bigger steps toward incorporating and better reflecting the relevant lifestyle choices their focus audience holds dear.

A music station can still be a 1st port of call if it tries hard enough. Perhaps the idea of rigidly attracting a more focussed target audience will assist and benefit a change in sales strategies, and offset an otherwise uncomfortable truth that music radio will likely dissolve into 'audio'.

Radio, more specifically, music radio still "owns" this unique dimension. Lets not forget the power of street promotion and endorsement, by music radio.

Radio is your friend

I couldn't put it any better. Radio has always been the music promotion machine, and has a future to continue to do so, alongside the internet and online music services. Radio is as collaborative as online community portals. Radio is clever. Radio gives you free stuff, it's live and topical. Radio starts and follows trends. Radio is a culture tracker and developer.

I've always thought that radio will take a smaller slice of our 'media pie', and perhaps a more accurate way to decipher how, is to consider content. We have more content than we are able to work with. We need the internet to manage this. New media like the internet has become another 'staple', alongside old media like radio, television and newsprint. The content is forever growing - we just have more pages to pick from.

That's why we have 'mediums' like radio, to deliver the best and worst of it all.

Now a separate argument, is the music industry, and how radio has been presented (quite ridiculously I might add) as a medium that has hurt the music industry!??

This is far from true. Radio has been instrumental for the last 60 or so years, in developing a record industry. Radio has been the ultimate promotional tool. How we "digest the music" beyond radio, should be the music industry's concern, not that of radio. Radio needs to be separated from any equations relating to sales. Radio is PROMO! Listeners/Consumers are SALES!

Steven Van Zandt wrote a great piece about this recently. He reacts to the US economical slide, and how all forms of logic have started to slide with it:

The latest evidence of this sad loss of logic, pride and integrity comes in the form of a feverish obsession by virtually everyone to make all those greedy, evil radio stations pay for the privilege of playing our precious records.

How dare they!

The free dance is over, buddy, it's time to pay the piper!

It's perfectly obvious that this has been the problem with the record industry all along.

[ read more ]

K-Rock, KROQ & HD2 formats

I just listened to the audio file where 92.3 Free FM returned to New York it's beloved K-ROCK (minus Howard Stern). A rare radio moment toward the end where the General Manager jumps on air and apologises for taking K-Rock off the air. It's like the "good guys won" [comment]. If only the same could be done to bring back Channel Z here in NZ, even as an internet-only radio station. These guys managed to to do it with K-ROCK 2.

Speaking of which, the Los Angeles long standing KROQ, after implementing HD2 their broadcast, also launched a 'version' of KROQ, or simply, time delaying KROQ from the 80's. It's called ROQ of the 80s [listen live]. Choice!

Radioscope finally returns

The news is back. Radioscope returns with a mambo-built website, and it's now free!

Originally an industry magazine, funded by subscriptions - it was a staple for the industry throughout the 90s. It went online around 2000, providing support, news and teasers of job movements within the NZ radio industry. Charts and survey fiagures were soon added and Media Sauce grew.

In 2005, they stopped publishing the glossy magazine, and went online as a subscription news business, covering the radio and music industry headlines. Perhaps this industry is just too small or whatever, but even as a subscriber to it, I found that Medianstrip/Radioscope waned as a source for radio related news. I will excuse the fact that the industry is changing, and no longer exclusively radio. Either there's not enough news, or too much of it - I got the impression by the lack of updates that a major restructuring was underway. Web 2.0 also made it far too easy for me to get the stories long before they're published at Radioscope. There are industry bloggers, and somehow word of mouth has become a quicker means of getting information. That, I find interesting. Radioscope couldn't hold the exclusive.

I like the new website, simple (and free) as it is. I'm hoping for the articles and interviews that were such a huge attraction to the original published magazine. While the costs of taking it back to press will likely prevent this from happening, I trust that Paul and the Radioscope crew will continue to truck on. Thanks for providing RSS, I look forward to the forum and profiles, and more additions to the LPFM list as well.

Welcome back Radioscope!

2000

2002

2003

2005

Virgin Radio coming to NZ?

HT Media are set to buy up Canwest's interests in NZ. [ link ]

From the HT Media website:

As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, through its subsidiary HT Music and Entertainment Company Ltd., has entered the FM radio market in key Indian cities through a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio.

Virgin Radio!?

Questions...

• Could this deal pave the way for the Virgin brands to enter NZ? Richard Branson digs NZ remember...
  
• Will HT Media become interested in purchasing Apna AM and/or Tarana, perhaps re-branding it Fever?
  
• Will this finally lead to a shakeup of the current radio formats, opening the door for more commercial enthnic radio?
• Could HT Media help play a part in finally waking up the radio sector, to it's extremely underserved multicultural audiences - especially in Auckland?

When Canwest acquired Radioworks in 2001, the running gag was that a Canadian music quota might be implemented as policy.... More Alanis Morrissette, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion etc...
I wonder if the Mediaworks offices today are stocking up on Bollywood DVDs and their soundtracks... probably not....

The Radio Vault

Archive rooms are usually dusty places - but I've found a place on the net that smells like that cute girl back in school, that you secretly fancied - you even sat next to her in science...

You'll see the link on the right - it's The Radio Vault, a project by Duane Rafferty. He collects radio station memorabilia (stickers, logos, cards, press clippings etc), and has undergone a painstaking exercise of digitising these for us all to see, and reflect upon.

Looking at some of these radio station stickers, takes me back to my childhood and the music I used to hear on these various stations. I even took notice of promotional trailers at the time, and remember some of the corporate voices - how they used to say their catchphrases.. "nobody plays more music than 91FM" etc... reminds me of the imagery, stories, station promotions and the countless hours of recording songs off the radio onto Maxell cassettes :)

It also takes me back - seeing logos of radio stations I used to work for at various stages (even others that don't exist now), and how long ago it was. Very apparent.

The Radio Vault is growing too. If you have anything in your collection (I have a briefcase with lots of radio stickers on it), old promo t-shirts, jerseys etc - take a photo and email him. He would be very grateful :)

One other thing I found interesting, is that it clearly illustrates how - as the bigger networks acquired the smaller stations, the less LOCAL they appear to become!! Sometimes I wonder about the day Doug Gold put pen to paper about the More FM idea, and how he might be feeling now.

Even thinking back - about the govt regulations changes, with the 1989 FM frequencies release, I wonder if radio would be able to survive today if Govt, say, kept it regulated, but continued to release frequencies. How much more diverse and fiercly local would our airwaves be today?

Would we need National Radio, for example?

Ask me what I want

You know when something comes out of leftfield? A hard decision, pregnancy, a car accident, restructuring announcements at work etc - mostly come as a shock to the unwitting. In radio, things like programming changes are part and parcel of the deal. You have performance reviews, listener feedback and most of the time, ratings.

Over in the states, a lot of marketers, musicians and creative houses are involving their target audiences to participate in the very campaigns, that are addressed to them. It's Consumer Generated Marketing (CGM). Jacob hits 'the dark side' of the issue, with many links across the structure of his point (an interesting read), which below I have pulled across:

There's a price to be paid for inviting everyone to participate in the station's programming and marketing.

1: Stations have to live up to the promise. If you ask the audience for input or to take your survey, be prepared to show them the results, followed up by our action plan.

2: You have to stay true to your plan to deal listeners in. Too often, stations start an "Ask The PD" or help-us-create-something process, but then the entire campaign runs out of gas. If you ask for input and ideas, there needs to be a logical follow-up and payoff.

3: Your product has to be in place before you start asking for input. If the morning show is fledgling - or just plain mediocre - save the time, money, and aggravation. Preston & Steve or Mark & Brian can ask for creative ideas. But not all morning shows and personalities should be playing the CGM game.

4: Don't be afraid to air some laundry, even the dirty stuff. Not all comments are going to be positive, and your CGM campaign will have more credibility if listeners hear kudos and complaints. Address the addressables and let your audience know that you'll fix things that are broken. Chevy learned this the hard way during a recent campaign for their Tahoes. The anti-SUV crowd came out in force.

Finally, be careful what you wish for. If you're asking for ideas and help, there's a certain entertainment value in "Gong Show" type amateur entries. That's what the early "American Idol" shows are about - exposing some of the worst submissions and auditioners. But you also have to have a conclusion, and it's even more credible when the winner is something that listeners actually choose.

What the?

Are they listening to Australian Radio or something? Shizzle...