ASIA

Asian entries won one metal and seven Finalist nods as the New York Festivals Radio Awards announced the 2021 Storytellers Gala award-winners.From Qatar, Al Jazeera Digital’s entry ‘Hindsight’ won a Silver in the Best Narration category as well as a Finalist nomination for Best Coverage of Breaking News Story for ‘Beirut Explosion Multiplies Lebanon’s Crises’.India’s 104.8 ISHQ FM won two Finalist nominations, one each in the Best Social Justice Appeal and Best Mini Series.South Korea’s Busan E-Fm, Singapore’s Class 95, Taiwan’s Radio Taiwan International and Saudi Arabia’s Thmanyah had one finalist each.World-class audio work created by global storytellers from 30+ countries was honored at the October 12th Storytellers Gala virtual event.The 2021 Radio Awards Grand Jury panel honored riveting podcasts and audiobooks, dramas, documentaries, breaking news coverage, entertainment and music specials created by masterful audio storytellers from around the globe.A total of 3 Grand Awards, 48 NYF Gold Radio trophies, 46 Silver and 49 Bronze awards were given away.The BBC was honored with the 2021 Broadcaster of the Year Award. Award-winning entries captivated listeners with exceptional storytelling in News, Podcasts, and Dramas. TBI Media UK earned the title of Production Company of the Year.For the complete list of the 2021 Radio Awards winners, visit HERE. […]

Content from BPRCovid changed the way people look at many things, from social interactions to work from home to the re-shaping of media patterns and habits. Lockdown stories involving bread making, TV series binges and wearing facemasks are just some of the symptoms of the way the world changed in 2020 and 2021.If you’ve just woken up after the long slumber as the world starts to get back to ‘normal’ with vaccination levels increasing, places like the UK looking forward to July’s ‘freedom day’ and New York officially celebrating the end of the pandemic with fireworks, the most obvious question is what’s changed?Around the world, media generally was badly hit as economies were impacted by the effects of covid. Today the news is significantly more upbeat as radio in particular bounces back strongly – last month Australian radio reported May revenue increase of 73% following an increase in April of 51%.But what else is happening to radio?Contemporary music formats are finding more and more challenging as music tastes split and polarise and radio competes with various forms of social media for their listeners’ time and attention.Streaming giants Spotify, Amazon, You Tube etc. continue their push to create ‘radio like’ services.Podcasting is becoming a way of life.In short, Radio needs to be very clear how it will meet these new threats – doing nothing isn’t an option.Now here’s the interesting bit:The ‘biggest’ formats are versions of oldies including Classic Hits / Classic Rock and news & talk according to latest listening trends from the US and other markets. Why is that?Classic Rock is still being used in movies and gaming – introducing 50+ bands to new audiencesClassic Hits replaces 60s oldies with songs from the 80s and 90s.In their different ways both of these formats are reminders of a simpler and more comfortable time – before the world got crazy.And News and Talk? Well, because we’re in changing and often uncertain times the appetite for information is increasing.Be very careful not to assume that the ‘bunker mentality’ will last, as the world emerges to a post lockdown phase, there is likely to be a swing back to new, up to date feel-good music among many age groups. You need to have your finger on the pulse to understand exactly what your listeners are looking for.So how does the future look from your perspective, are you ready to meet the new challenges?By Peter Don, BPR […]

Content from BPRA positioning statement or brand message provides the words that help listeners understand a radio station’s value proposition….. (City’s)  #1 Hit Music Station, Rock’s Greatest Hits, Feel Good, Better Music and More of It.It articulates the brand promise. Brand messages tell a story that gets listeners excited about what you’re offering. In the battle for listeners’ minds, clearly defined positioning is vital.Persuasive brand messages are always brief and convey critical aspects of a station’s product offering. They often oversimplify concepts that, in reality, may be complex. This oversimplification is a good thing because the goal of a brand is to be noticed, remembered and desired. In an over-communicated world, the only way to get inside the minds of the listeners is to whittle away at your message until it comes to a sharp point.Is your station’s positioner a compact statement that declares why the brand matters, what it stands for and how it is stands apart from its competitors? A core brand message communicates the values and key differentiators that define the brand. And above all else, it makes people in the station’s target audience sit up and take notice.Critically, a positioning statement must be relevant to the audience.Are you unsure if you’ve got your messaging right? Check your brand messages against the following criteria:
Does your core brand message offer anything different from your competitors?
Are your messages simple, easy to understand and compelling?
Do your messages reflect reality? Brand messages must be based in reality to be believed. A little aspiration is ok, as long as the claim is plausible.
Do your messages resonate with your target audience?
Do they say anything interesting?

By David Kidd, BPR […]

At Radiodays Lisbon, this morning’s Radio Summit session featured four radio company leaders from around Europe with different perspectives on how they have adapted to the needs of their audiences during the covid pandemic.Pedro Leal, the Director General of Production at Renascença said there has been more interaction between journalists and presenters at his station during the pandemic.“We put into practice more increased interaction between them, giving information in a more informal way, where the presenters put the views and the questions of the audience to our news journalists. “We also broadcast news on our social media channels… The comments boxes have never been so full and so connected to our audiences.“We tried to fight fake news with excellence… We always had fake news, the issue now is that there is so much of it… To fight it we had to continue to do good journalism.”Patricia Schlesinger, the Director General of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg said the pandemic has made people and governments more aware of the need for “quality media.“Radio keeps recreating itself and connecting with us in many ways. Radio is a medium that never ages, it is still a young medium. “The pandemic has increased a longing for privacy in people in lockdown, radio is a personal private medium for this generation.“In Germany, podcasts are booming but not at the expense of free to air radio. Our listeners enjoy our content and count on our reliability during this pandemic.“A recent study shows that people feel safer in a society with a public broadcaster… Covid has triggered a need for well researched information and is a strong weapon against fake news and filter bubbles.”Marc Vossen, the CEO of NGroup says he is not a chief executive officer but “the chief enthusiastic officer… and our COO is the chief optimistic officer.”“There are so many new trends today, the podcast industry is worth $1 billion… connected devices, smart speakers, you can do anything with audio, it is the most accessible format and cheaper to produce than any other.“Audio has resisted the confidence crisis in the media. During these 18 unbelievable months of pandemic, the voice has regained strength… the voices of our hosts have prevented our listeners from loneliness, being ambassadors of solidarity empathy and love. Those voices speak directly to one person.“The voice on radio is a weapon of mass construction. We wake up every morning to be a positive force for the world. Even as music radio we have a role to play in making the world better. We lead by example.”Anne-Marie Dohn is Head of Radio 4. She said:“The audio industry has developed a multitude of new players in the past few years. Radio 4 which I represent has been on air for 2 years. We were born with the pandemic, broadcasting almost immediately from home.“We have had to ask how do we fulfill the promise of journalism to support democracy and society, that is the ground we stand on as public service media providers.“Our goal is to attract more people across more demographics than other BBC outlets. The majority of our users find us on new platforms that we don’t control… We have to compete on those platforms on the same basis as everyone else, we have to compete to be heard from the jungle of content that is on those platforms. Our task is to keep up with technology so we can do that.“We have to ensure that everyday we have unique content and offer the best companionship… We made a vow to the public to make content that would engage more people across many different social, cultural and economic areas.”Session host Matt Degan led a discussion after the leaders spoke where Marc Vossen of NGroup made an impassioned plea about how to make a great radio show or run a great radio station:“Ask yourself when you wake up every day, what is my purpose? At the end of the day ask, what have I done today that has made the world better.”[embedded content] […]

Radiodays Europe has begun.As a media partner for Radiodays Europe, radioinfo can bring you exclusive content from the conference, which is taking place now in Lisbon.Yesterday (Saturday 9 Oct) the conference began with a covid safe Fast and Curious meet, greet and discuss session and this morning Lisbon time in-person delegates began to enter the conference, while virtual participants logged in from their home offices in their own time zones.In the first session of the world leading radio and audio conference, Peter Niegel opened by telling the audience that 60% of them are at the conference centre in person, while another 40% of attendees are virtual.[embedded content]

Marianne Bugge Zederkof, the Director of the commercial radio body Danske Medier, said one of the important things on the agenda for radio companies in Europe is to prevent anticompetitive practices such as third party apps that do not pay to rebroadcast radio services and apps that insert ads into radio streams without the permission of the original broadcaster.
“We will act to ensure that listeners can continue to access and enjoy free radio.”

[embedded content]Adam Bowie, Business Development Manager at the BBC World Service looked at changing audience habits during the pandemic.In The UK, Rajar surveys stopped because the methodology involved visiting people’s homes and capturing the data on paper, but Adam used other information to extrapolate the changes to audience habits during this disrupted covid period.“What we know about radio is that it is habit driven, but habits were disrupted. We know that the commute is an important part of radio listening, but working from home became more common.“People are now coming back to work in cars and commuting data shows car transport returning to normal, but we have seen that public transport commuting has not returned to normal so listening on public transport has decreased. But what we have found is that people are listening more during the day than they were previously, especially to podcasts, which you can do between work and parenting from home.”“People are also exercising more and having picnics. their audio listening has adapted. 22% of Americans are listening to more podcasts during the pandemic. Listening has not been lost, it has been displaced.“Longer term there may be some reversion to normal listening, but it will not be a total return to normal in radio listening nor many other things either, habits have changed, such as online shopping and many other changed things too.”[embedded content]
📺 Watch the Opening Session of #RDE21 in Lisbon… https://t.co/yS0OUEDg7s
— Radiodays Europe (@RadiodaysEurope) October 10, 2021 […]

Content from BPRThis article is the second in a six part series.The real value in strategic thinking isn’t just in generating ideas or in making better decisions: it’s about building a framework that future-proofs your radio station and provides you with the best chance of achieving long-term success.Here’s the next tip on how to become a better strategic thinker..Step 2. Use All of Your BrainBecause strategic thinking is about creating connections, it requires two types of thinking: (1) divergent thinking, where one looks at the big picture, generates ideas and explores many possible solutions, and (2) convergent thinking, where one examines and arranges those ideas logically and derives the best solution or strategy.Psychologists have conducted research which found that the most innovative thinkers have the ability to switch between these two styles – divergent and convergent – rapidly.So how can you improve your ability to switch between the two styles of thinking?One popular method for doing this is through the Six Thinking Hats technique pioneered by Edward De Bono. In summary, this technique approaches a problem by wearing six different ‘hats’, reflecting different types of convergent and divergent thinking.The green hat focuses on possibilities, new ideas and creativity.The red hat deals with feelings, hunches and intuition.The yellow hat – brightness and optimism, exploring the positives.The white hat calls for information, known or needed. The “facts just the facts”.The blue hat manages the thinking process.The black hat – risks, difficulties, problems. The risk management hat.The more often you practice De Bono’s technique the better you usually become – and the more your mind moves with ease from one way of thinking to the next.By David Kidd, BPR […]