ASIA

Afghanistan and Mexico are the most dangerous countries for media work this year, the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said in its annual report in Geneva on Thursday in view of Human Rights Day. Since January 1, 76 media workers have been killed in 28 countries around the world.Afghanistan leads with 12 assassinations, ahead of Mexico where 10 journalists were killed. Among the most dangerous countries are Pakistan (7), India (6), Yemen (4), Democratic Republic of Congo (3) and the Philippines (3 killed).Two deaths were recorded in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina-Faso, Colombia, as well as in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Turkey. Finally, one victim has been identified in the following countries: Ecuador, Gaza, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, Netherlands, Syria, and the United States of America.

Of the 76 journalists murdered, 29 were in war zones (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, DRC, Ethiopia, Gaza, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen). Terrorist groups were responsible of at least 20 murders (Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen), an increase compared to previous years.The PEC strongly condemns these attacks and calls for those responsible for these crimes to be brought to justice. By region, Asia, with 39 dead (+6), is ahead of Latin America 17 (-10), Africa 14 (+5), Europe 5 (+2) and North America 1 (+1).“The number of journalists killed decreased by 8% compared to the same period of last year, a slight improvement. Improvement has taken place in Latin America outside of Mexico, deterioration is observed in Africa and Europe. Mexico and Afghanistan have been among the most dangerous countries for journalists for many years, but the rise in Africa is particularly worrying”, commented PEC Secretary General Blaise Lempen.In Europe, the targeted killings of 3 journalists, in Greece, Georgia and the Netherlands is a very sad development. In Burma (Myanmar) after the coup and in Afghanistan after the departure of the NATO troops, press freedom has registered a very serious setback.Over the last 5 years, Mexico has recorded the highest victims (66), ahead of Afghanistan (53), then India (40), Pakistan (35), Syria (29), the Philippines (21), Iraq (18), Yemen (17), and Somalia (16). In ten years, from 2012 to 2021, 1150 journalists were killed, or 115 per year, 2.2 per week, according to figures from the PEC.One positive development, says PEC President Hedayat Abdel Nabi is that the awareness across the globe has become more widespread due to the enthusiastic engagement of media colleagues to spread the message of media protection and the safety of journalists as well as press freedom.“India has recently lost Buddhinath Jha (journalist cum Right to Information (RTI) activist, also known as Avinash Jha), whose body was found in Madhubani locality of  Bihar on 12 November. The Benipatti-based family claimed that Buddhinath was offered a lot of money (as bribes) by some illegal healthcare clinic owners, but he did not listen to them. Later he received a number of threatening calls from unknown persons,” said Nava Thakuria, PEC’s India representative.Prior to him, the populous country lost five journalists namely Ashu Yadav, Sulabh Srivastava, Ch. Keshav, Manish Kumar Singh and Raman Kashyap to assailants this year. Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in Afghanistan. India’s two neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh reported (7 and 2 respectively) media casualties, however Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet (China), Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have not reported any incident of journo-murder till date this year. […]

New York Festivals® Radio Awards announced the appointment of Dylan Haskins, Commissioning Executive for Podcasts for BBC Sounds & BBC Radio 5 Live, to the NYF Radio Awards Advisory Board.Haskins is the 14th member of the prestigious New York Festivals Radio Awards Advisory Board, a brain trust of executives comprised of some of the Radio industry’s most respected content creators and broadcast leaders from around the globe. These thought-leaders provide NYF’s Radio Awards with ongoing knowledge of emerging trends, critical industry insights, and a global perspective.“It’s a great honour to be asked to join the Advisory Board of the New York Festivals Radio Awards and to have the opportunity to help shape and advise the awards during such an exciting period of evolution in audio creativity, innovation, investment and audience habits. As a commissioner for a public service broadcaster, it’s also a time of challenge and competition from new commercial players but, in my experience, this is leading us all to be more ambitious, to go bigger on what makes us distinctive and to experiment and collaborate more where there are shared aims. All of this means radio and podcasts have never been better and a competition like the New York Festivals helps recognise this,” said Haskins.

Dylan Haskins is a a multi-award winning audio commissioner and executive producer at BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live responsible for podcasts including I’m Not A Monster, Have You Heard George’s Podcast?, Where Is George Gibney?, Bad People and Wheel of Misfortune.I’m Not A Monster, the 10-part podcast series and the investigative podcast series ‘Where is George Gibney? won a total of six Golds, a Silver and the Grand Award at the 2021 New York Festivals Radio Awards, contributing to the BBC also being awarded 2021 Broadcaster of the Year.Dylan’s industry accolades in the US and Canada include podcast commissions that have won a Peabody Award, a RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award and multiple Webby Awards including Best Documentary and Best Sound Design. In Europe, they’ve won the Rose d’Or for Audio, multiple UK Radio Academy ARIAS Golds, Silver and Bronze, the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Podcast of the Year, NME Podcast of the Year, British Podcast Awards ‘Moment of the Year’ Gold and multiple Silvers, and Overall Prize at the Justice Media Awards in Ireland.This year is the twelfth year that New York Festivals has partnered with the annual NAB Show. This strategic partnership provides all attendees to the April 26th, 2022, Storyteller’s Gala access to the multi-day NAB event. NAB is the ultimate marketplace for people passionate about media, entertainment, and technology.The Radio Awards receives entries from radio stations, networks, and independent producers from over 30 countries around the globe. The mission of the competition is to honor the achievements of the men and women who make up the global audio storytelling community. To view the 2021 Winner’s Gallery, visit: HERE.New York Festivals invites award-winning industry leaders from around the world to become members of their world-class Radio Awards Grand Jury. The 2022 Grand jury will soon be set. Those jurors will include some of the most world’s recognizable voices and captivating content producers in the radio industry. Entries are judged on production values, organization, presentation of information, creativity, and use of the medium. All Entries in the 2022 competition will be judged online by NYF’s Radio Awards Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe. Award-winning entries will be showcased on the Radio Awards winners gallery. To view the 2021 winner’s gallery, visit HERE.The deadline to enter the 2022 Radio Awards competition is February 9, 2022. To enter please visit: HERE, for additional information visit: Rules and Regulations. […]

Known as New York’s source for music discovery, WFUV (90.7FM) has been a non-commercial, member-supported, public media service of Fordham University for more than 70 years. Striving to ramp up its podcast presence and streamline the creation of its on-demand archives, the station deployed the SGrecast podcast management and live stream repurposing solution from StreamGuys earlier this year. The comprehensive, SaaS solution has delivered new operational efficiencies while also eliminating barriers that previously impeded creativity.WFUV has received national recognition for its unique weekday format of adult album alternative music, award-winning local news and sports, as well as a diverse weekend programming lineup. The station has used StreamGuys’ live streaming services for nearly 15 years, delivering streamed simulcasts of WFUV’s broadcasts to its large listener base across StreamGuys’ CDN. WFUV also leverages StreamGuys’ third-party monetization platform integration to incorporate pre-roll advertising from the station’s underwriters, and uses StreamGuys’ rich analytics and reporting tools to garner valuable audience insights. Extremely pleased with StreamGuys’ solutions and white-glove customer service, WFUV again turned to the company to help meet the station’s podcasting ambitions.“We were slow to join the podcasting game, but we knew we needed to ramp up our podcast presence,” said Jim O’Hara, associate director of technical operations at WFUV. “SGrecast is the perfect platform to enable us to do that. We don’t have a very large technical staff, but users don’t need to be technical in nature to use the system. Our news and sports staff are mostly students at the university. They can just go into SGrecast, create a new podcast on the fly, and upload some episodes. They’ll have a brand new podcast up and running in minutes, without needing oversight or interaction from our technical staff.”

In addition to easing the burden on the technical team, SGrecast also brings benefits across the station as a whole. “It really allows all of our departments to act with freedom,” said O’Hara. “It improves not only our efficiency but also their ability to be creative, as there are no hurdles to implementing new ideas they have. If a particular department has an idea for a new podcast, they can just go for it – they don’t need to go through other departments or wait for our technical team. They can do it independently, which really improves our creativity as a station.”WFUV’s website also offers a two-week, rolling, on-demand archive of programs from its live weekend broadcasts, and SGrecast has enabled the station to automate the process. “We use SGrecast’s side channel recorders to capture our live stream and make audio of our shows instantly available on demand,” O’Hara explained. “It’s a completely automated system, which is great for us since we don’t have a lot of human resources to dedicate to these jobs. It’s also great for our listeners, since it lets them catch up on any shows that they miss.”Beyond the product-related benefits of SGrecast and StreamGuys’ other solutions, O’Hara also appreciates the exceptional support and personal communication WFUV gets from the vendor. “The StreamGuys team is great to work with,” he said. “We get to build relationships with the staff there, not just the automatic responses and form letter-like emails you often get from other vendors. StreamGuys is always willing to go that extra mile and works with us on custom solutions to fit our specific needs.”WFUV plans to continue expanding its podcast offerings, and SGrecast will play a key role in achieving that. “We’ve only just begun to realize the potential of what SGrecast offers,” said O’Hara. “It’s a brilliant solution that ‘just works’ and doesn’t require any manual intervention or babysitting. It’s exactly what we needed.” […]

Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped unveiled the top artists, albums, songs, podcasts, and more that defined how more than 381 million people around the world listened and discovered audio during the year.According to the company, “Wrapped helps us reflect on the large role audio played in the lives of  listeners—and how our favorite creators soundtracked the world around us.” For the second year in a row, Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny takes the title of most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify. And what’s more: He’s received over 9.1 billion streams without releasing a new album this year. He is swiftly followed by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose Red (Taylor’s Version) gave old and new fans alike a reason to relive the artist’s early groundbreaking work. Rounding up 2021’s top three is BTS. The globally beloved k-pop group had a standout year thanks to their single “Butter.” Canadian hip-hop artists Drake—who released Certified Lover Boy in September—and Justin Bieber—whose 2021 album Justice featured collaborations with artists from across the globe—take spots four and five, respectively.

The top song of 2021 globally is Olivia Rodrigo’s runaway “Drivers License,” which garnered over 1.1 billion streams. Lil Nas X’s viral “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” dances its way to second place and heralded the artist’s first studio album. The Kid LAROI enters the ranks for the first time, with his Justin Bieber collaboration “STAY” taking third. The fourth spot sees Olivia Rodrigo once again, this time with “Good 4 U”, which also earned the title of 2021 Spotify Song of the Summer. The fifth most streamed song to rise in the ranks is Dua Lipa’s “Levitating (feat. DaBaby).”When it comes to top albums of 2021 globally, Olivia Rodrigo once again claims the crown—her debut album SOUR clearly held a bit of sweetness. Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia ranks second, with Justin Bieber’s Justice, Ed Sheeran’s =, and Doja Cat’s Planet Her coming in third, fourth, and fifth.Coming out of its first full year as a Spotify exclusive, The Joe Rogan Experience remains the number-one podcast on Spotify globally. It is followed by the fearless Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, which also became exclusive to Spotify in 2021. True crime and news continue to be popular genres within the medium, with Crime Junkie, TED Talks Daily, and The Daily rounding out the list. […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonIn 26 days 2022 will arrive.

Now’s the time to set goals and expectations for the new year. It can be difficult to gaze into your crystal ball and project the next 12 months. We know that external events can affect business. As business rebounds, 2022 is looking very promising. The Christmas season has started with a BANG. This usually means happy, optimistic clients who are ready to continue the momentum in January.Even in normal years, as salespeople and sales managers, we may dread the goal-setting process. Whether or not some external force intervenes, in reality, our goal-setting process should not be focused on what management wants us to bill. It should be focused on what you want to earn. At the end of the day, you determine your paycheck. How you spend your billable hours, how you respond to changing market conditions, will ultimately determine your earnings. Spending our billable hours productively is critical to recovering our income levels.There is a simple formula to calculate what you will need to bill to earn what you wish to earn.Amount I want to earn________________________________________Divided by:Commission rate ____________________________________________Equals:How much I must bill _________________________________________Next, divide that total yearly amount into months. What must the billing be for each month, and what will you earn that month?This exercise gives you a starting place to plan your efforts for the coming year. Now that you know what you must bill monthly, you can calculate how many face-to-face calls you will need to make each day to achieve that billing level:Monthly goal:______________________________________________Divided by:Average order: _____________________________________________Equals:Number of orders needed: _____________________________________Divided by:Closing ratio %: ____________________________________________Equals:Number of meetings needed: ___________________________________Divided by:Number of work days in a month: ________________________________Equals:Number of meetings per day: ___________________________________Sales is a numbers game. Once you know your numbers, you have a roadmap to higher income in 2022.Happy Selling!Pat has a New Book […]

Content from BPRChristmas songs are the staple of many formats and stations around the world. There has been a rise in the number of All Christmas Music radio stations helped substantially by digital streaming options that allow stations to have the choice of a little or a lot of Christmas music…

Assuming that you have decided to play some Christmas music then you’re still left with the question of how many songs, how often and which songs to playOldies based stations, AC, Full Service or Soft AC format have an advantage in terms of available song repertoire. For contemporary and niche formats the available pool of Christmas music may be more limited. However, the mood of Christmas is what defines the choice rather than the format.It’s not a surprise to hear Cliff Richard, (Mistletoe and wine) Dean Martin, (Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer) Slade (Merry Christmas Everybody), Paul McCartney (Wonderful Christmas Time) alongside new songs or versions of songs by Justin Bieber, and Ariana Grande all played on a CHR station.In recent music surveys the ‘usual suspects’ continue to top the list. After all, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Wham singing ‘Last Christmas’, however it’s the rest of the list that may contain a few surprises. In the US the list of ‘most Played Christmas songs includes many long-dead artists and much played songs. The US top ten includes:10. “Last Christmas,” Wham9. “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby8. “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24),” Trans-Siberian Orchestra7. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Andy Williams6. “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Burl Ives5. “Feliz Navidad,” Jose Feliciano4. “Jingle Bell Rock,” Bobby Helms3. “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” Nat King Cole2. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Brenda Lee1.1.”All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah CareyOf course, many of these songs have been re-made by contemporary artists but many original versions survive – the notable of these is of course ‘White Christmas’ which is still played without irony in many Southern Hemisphere Summer Christmas cities.Christmas Music lists also vary by location. Band Aid’s – ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’, Chris Rea ‘Drivin home for Christmas’ The Eagles ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’ have become modern-day classics in many countries.Here are some of the more recent additions to the Christmas listFairytale of New York – The PoguesHow to Make Gravy – Paul KellyAnd of course, a special mention goes to ‘Snoopy’s Christmas’ by the Royal Guardsmen that has been a New Zealand Christmas staple for many yearsThis year, a number of stations have carried out their own Christmas Music surveys to find out which songs their listeners really love When to play?Christmas music season has already kicked off in the US (even before Thanksgiving) with major stations including KOST in Los Angeles, LITE FM in New York, WTMX Tampa, WLIT Chicago, among 80 stations across the country already deep into an ‘all Christmas music’ format.In recent years these stations have also been joined by Magic FM in London and many others around the world in the All Christmas Music group although it seems that the US stations are well ahead of their counterparts in other parts of the world. How many songs?That’s a question with an answer like – “it depends…” on how often you’re going to play them. Some of the options might include
One track per hour.
100% Christmas songs on Christmas eve/day
Christmas song double play per hour
Christmas song countdown leading up to Xmas Day
All Christmas music – all the time
The definition of All Christmas Music sometimes extends to include songs that come from movies with ‘Christmas’ or Holiday Themes.  Movies like “Love Actually’, ‘Home Alone’, ‘Trains Planes and Automobiles’ and even ‘Christmas Vacation’ or ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ still feature on favourite or ‘it feels like Christmas’ movie viewing choices.The number of songs you should play will ultimately depend on how often you decide to play Christmas (or holiday) themed songs – this is also obviously related to time spent listening and whether you want your station to be full-on in the Christmas theme stakes.It is interesting to note that Christmas-only stations in the major US markets have their highest audience ratings at this time of year.Even if you decide not to play Christmas music you can still enter into the spirit of the season through a number of tactics like; Christmas themed audio branding, Street promotions, social media posts, messages from your personalities and artists or supporting a charitable cause.By The BPR TeamEnjoy the season – Merry Christmas! […]