ASIA

Talent recruitment has become harder due to increased competition from competitors poaching staff and social media providing a new avenue for people to build their personality profiles. There is now more competition for talent and wages. How are radio broadcasters coping and what strategies are they using to find and hold new talent? Steve Ahern, Head of ABU Media Academy led a panel discussion called ‘The Tussle for Talent’ with radio leaders to discover the extent of the problem and what they are doing about it.The panel included Duncan Campbell, Chief Content Officer, ARN, Australia, Amanda Lee, Content Director – Melbourne’s 101.9 The Fox, SCA, Australia and Abe Thomas, CEO, Big FM, India.Introducing the topic, Steve quoted the example of an anonymous employee who contacted Radio Today arguing for increased pay in an open letter to the industry. The reactions to it were polarized. Someone found it soul crushing to work really hard for perks which were few and far between and then hear that some people were earning obscene amounts of money, while someone else commented that if you don’t want to leave radio, you don’t need a six figure salary to “be comfortable”, learn what you can do with what you make.Steve then discussed comments from Malek Ali, Proprietor, BFM, Kuala Lumpur on what does it mean for retaining talent, now that people have other options. Is it a problem?Ali said: “Just the last few months, we have lost several people to other organisations seeking content creators. These are not media companies, just normal companies seeking content creator talent for their verticals. The only thing we can do is say it takes a team, not an individual, to create this great content, and then focus on our culture and environment to retain people. If an individual is motivated heavily by financial rewards and leave us, then we wish them well, but tell them to get back to us if anything changes.”Amanda said: “Yes, there’s a lot of other opportunities and not having to do the kind of hours we do in radio is a factor.”“You can make $40,000 a year with a YouTube channel as against $60,000 as a radio producer. You’ll stay in the business if you love it. It’s always been an issue,” said Duncan.Abe spoke of two new phenomena  he has noticed after the pandemic, when there were a lot of job cuts and it changed the way talent looks at work as they seek a better work-life balance. “Ghosting is when people just disappear after their first salary and become uncontactable. The other trend is ‘Quiet Quitting’, when people just do the bare basic minimum to keep their job, there is no effort to try to achieve anything more,” he said.“In an industry with a shallow talent pool, it is our responsibility to help them develop talent,” said Duncan. […]

“Covid was a wake-up call, a shock to the system. Radio brought a sense of community, a sense of connection to the outside world. It could be the beginning of the golden age of radio in the 2020’s,” said Ben Cooper at a session titled ‘Reinventing Radio’ at Radiodays Asia 2022.Cooper is Chief Content and Music Officer, Bauer Media Audio, UK – Europe’s largest commercial radio group. He was introduced by Francis Currie, International Radio Consultant.The session discussed how you can successfully transform from a traditional radio company to a digital audio business.Cooper, who could not make it personally, was interviewed earlier by Currie and made a video appearance.He said that radio has been predicted to die many times – by TV, by video, by CDs, by MP3, by streaming, but it’s still around and growing.“Radio sleepwalked through the smartphone era, but is fighting back with the smart speaker era. This moment in time is the key to reinvent radio,” said Cooper.According to him, in order to reinvent a radio business, top content priorities should be 3A’s – Audience, Artists and Advertisers.“Commercial radio has been focused on getting a famous name for breakfast and following it up with a playlist for the rest of the day. We need to provide more content, as audiences are demanding more.”“For Artists, radio is a great way of telling audiences about music. Catalog music makes up 80 percent of music labels. Being useful to the music industry is important. Even more so for new music. Labels know how important radio is for introducing new music.”“Advertisers want a merger of content, advertising and marketing. Social media and video content allows us to be creative in new ways.”Summing up his presentation he said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself.” […]

Arielle Nissenblatt, Founder, EarBuds Podcast Collective, USA, spoke about how to best use social media to help more people find your audio: and get closer to your audience at Radiodays Asia 2022.Nissenblatt, whose session was titled “Social Media – #winning for podcasting and audio”, listens to over 40 hours of audio content per week. She is a podcast industry futurist and believes in the power of audio to break down cultural barriers.She said the social media can be powerful, but one should use data and tracking to see how effective is it for your content. If it’s not working, let it be.She also stressed on regularity, saying: “you need to be active on social media so people know that you’re alive. If they see your content and share it, it means that it is valuable.”“A big mistake that podcasters make is that they follow only other podcasters. You need to follow and quote other influencers in your niche, who are talking about the same things as you.”She also discussed how not to use social media. Spamming your link, using only Apple podcasts link, changing your content’s appearance post to post, being everywhere all the time and irregularity should be avoided. […]

ARN’s Chief Content Officer, Duncan Campbell, has addressed Radiodays Asia, and talked about radio’s connections to its listeners.He says radio’s continued success and longevity is the result of powerful personal connections that listeners make through the unique personalities they listen to every day.Campbell says that even with a focus on new technologies that some claim are ‘radio killers’, it’s important to remind ourselves that radio is still incredibly strong and will evolve and adapt as it has since it was born.He says that for each person “…the reason for their connection can be different, and what’s interesting is that people can’t describe it easily either.  It’s a feeling or a sensation, or a psychological state…powerful emotions that are enduring. “Every day emotional connections are being formed or reinforced by radio personalities around the world …and these connections can be established one content line or over many days or weeks that we call story art.” […]

Anders Held (pictured) Project Director and founder of Radiodays has opened Radiodays Asia, welcoming around 300 attendees from 30 different countries who are attending this year.This is the 3rd edition of Radiodays Asia and once again it is a hybrid event with a number of participants attending on-line as well as those who have opted to attend in person.Speakers during the first session today have included the CEO Astra Radio Malaysia, Kenny Ong who presented the keynote address Sound of the Future.Kenny says that throughout Asia in particular, radio stations are just coming to grips with the audio battlefield that now exists, and those that are just coming into radio are finding the challenge very daunting.He says that McDonalds may not make the best hamburger in the world, they sell the most burgers in the world which poses the question about how important the product really is for success.Their success lies in the 2 C’s,
Consistency: They promise their burgers taste the same everywhere in the world
Convenience: They have the most 24 hours outlets in the world, were the first to begin serving breakfast at 3.00am in the middle of nowhere, they are ones with the most playgrounds, have the most drive throughs and the most efficient drive through in the world.
He says really knowing and understanding a stations audience is a priority.Businesses like Starbucks are successful because they understand what their customers want, and not because they serve the best coffee, bur because they are “…the best halfway house in the world, where I can get free Wi-Fi and free electricity.”Radio stations have to create the “why” for their listeners and also understand why their listeners tune in.Kenny also urged radio stations to take a close look at the technology that is coming out of China. […]

Community broadcasters from two countries demonstrated how ingenuity, creativity and smart technology keeps them connected and engaged with remote, indigenous, and hard to reach listeners in a showcase session titled ‘Connecting with ALL your listeners’ at RadioAsia.Jon Bisset, Chief Executive Officer, Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) said the purpose of their organization is to make community radio stations stronger and more successful by providing support and resources, products and services that deliver economies of scale, communication and collective representation and networking and peer-to-peer support.The community broadcasting sector in Australia is powered by 22,000 volunteers and 900 employees, 99 percent of whom find value in working in community radio.He discussed the importance of community radio news and info as a crucial service for undeserved audiences, which are under-represented by mainstream media and how in regional areas community radio provides an essential connection in times of crisis.He gave an example of Braidwood FM, a community radio in New South Wales, where during the bushfires, “there were people that had the radio on 24 hours a day every day just to hear what was happening. There was no on ground local coverage from the ABC here.”Speaking about going beyond on-air broadcasts to reach local audiences, he said: “We want to keep community radio relevant in the next five to ten years. Without integration with other platforms, it is not possible.”Bhumiraj Chapagain, Audit Committee Coordinator, Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (ACORAB), Nepal, discussed various way in which they tried to reach local communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.They created an audio center which allowed listeners to contact the through IVR, took audio messages from audience as well as from member stations to disseminate information and updates.“We are trying to receive voices of disadvantaged people from remote areas and take them to the authorities,” he said.He also discussed plans to involve more girls and women in community radio journalism as ACORAB aims to create 35,000 volunteer journalists over the next five years. […]