ASIA

Content from BPRMany radio people stress the importance of “being local”. And there is a valid argument to the concept but great networked shows perform strongly too.

But “being” local and “sounding” local are two very different things. Just because an announcer broadcasts from the same city they broadcast to doesn’t always mean they “sound” local.This was brought home to me recently when listening to the Kyle & Jackie O Show (the #1 FM morning show in Sydney, Australia). Kyle was broadcasting from Sydney while Jackie O was in Melbourne for the filming of a TV show. She made the comment about how people in Melbourne use different names than Sydney-siders to refer to the same thing. It was a very entertaining piece of content.For example, a slice of potato which is battered and deep fried is called a potato scallop in Sydney but if you order that in Melbourne they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. In Melbourne it’s called a potato cake.In Australia, the swimming costume creates even more confusion. In the state of Queensland, a swimming costume is called “togs”, in New South Wales they’re called “swimmers”, in Victoria …”bathers”.In the US, there are many regional differences in the names used for the same object or activity. In many parts of the country a water fountain is called just that….in the Northeast, it’s called a “bubbler”. Shopping carts are called “carriages” in the Northeast. And don’t refer to a roundabout as a roundabout there….. they’re called “rotaries”. The University of Wisconsin has even written the Dictionary of American Regional English that documents words and phrases that vary from one place to another across the United States.And then there are pronunciations. The suburb of Coogee in Sydney is pronounced very differently to Coogee in Perth.My point in mentioning all this is that most people in radio will work in many different parts of the same country, sometimes even different countries. To “sound” local on air, talent should research the different regional linguistic nuances. Being in the city to which you broadcast is only one part of “local”.If you are new to a city you can make this part of your show content just as the British broadcaster Christian O’Connell did when he arrived in Australia to do mornings at Melbourne’s Gold 104.3. Obviously his accent made it clear to the listeners that he didn’t grow up in Melbourne so he made “getting to know” the city part of his daily content.And guess what……. The Christian O’Connell Show remains the #1 FM morning show in that market.David Kidd […]

ABU and UNESCO have launched a new competition called T4P Media Awards, which will highlight and promote the crucial role of independent, ethical journalism and citizens’ media literacy for building positive peace in the minds of men and women.The Awards will honour innovative and creative Radio, TV and Digital Media content, which informs and educates audiences on best practices of building positive peace in three critical areas that have increasing urgency in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and “building back better” from the COVID-19 pandemic.The three sub-categories for each of the Radio, TV and Digital Content categories are:

Transformative EducationLiving in harmony with nature, including coping with climate change and biodiversity lossLiving well with diversity, fostering human flourishing and intercultural understandingPrograms broadcast between 5 August 2019 and 5 August 2021 on Radio or TV stations or online and smart devices are eligible to enter the competition. There are no entry fees. The deadline for submission is now 30th September.Entries are open to everyone, including non-ABU members and has a global reach.The Entry Form, Competition Rules and Topics Covered by the Awards can be accessed here.The Jury of the T4P Media Awards consists of internationally recognized media professionals and practitioners in the field of peace – building. The judging will be conducted online in two steps – shortlisting and final judging.The winners of the 2021 T4P Media Awards will be announced during the ABU Prizes Gala Ceremony, to be held online on 19 November 2021 in association with the ABU General Assembly. […]

Two children died in a blaze at Papua New Guinea’s National Broadcasting Corporation in Boroko, a suburb of Port Moresby, the capital, on Friday, August 27.The fire gutted two units of a four-unit property of the public broadcaster in Tanatana Street.According to the broadcaster’s staff and families who reside in the compound, the fire started from one of the rooms on the ground level at about 2 pm.

Two small children, whose father is a senior archivist with the PNG’s oldest radio station, were trapped inside. Firefighters tried to put out the fire but could not save the children.The water used to control the fire damaged the other two units of the building.Staff have blamed the management for negligence over the rundown building.NBC Managing Director Kora Nou said: “NBC’s immediate concern and care is for the eight families affected.  We provided cash to all of them to keep them going for the weekend until we assess the situation more this week. NBC will meet all funeral expenses, including taking the remains of the two kids to their final resting place later this week. We will ask the affected families to temporarily move in with other NBC staff or relatives in NCD. We have also started the process of building new accommodation for the affected staff on existing NBC land. We have sourced quotations for prefabricated houses and will start clearing land this week.” […]

Content from BPRIt’s summer, just gone holiday time in the Southern Hemisphere – radio stations mostly have theirstars back after backup teams have in place as the main presenters, often the ‘face’ of their station, took a well-earned break.

But what does this say to consumers who may still be in a more normal work and listening environment? Their favourite radio station is on auto-pilot?In many cases these front-line personalities are the main focus of the relationship between listeners and the station – you need to be able to answer the question, ‘what does the brand stand for when the ‘A’ team is away?’Successful radio stations fulfil three essential requirements:
They have clear brand attributes – consumers know and understand what they stand for
They are acquisitive – they attract listening beyond a narrow music or interest group
They ‘bestow status’ – people like it and want to be associated with it.
The new media reality is that radio is now just one of many media choices available for consumers, the choice is often not just about which radio station but it is often about which audio source listeners might choose – music on Spotify, stories on Podcasts etc.At one level Radio competes with Big Tech as a ‘brand choice’ among many others yet at another it’s an intensely personal choice – radio is the one medium that can establish a personal relationship with its listeners yet it seems to be in danger of giving up the very thing that makes it special.Radio still needs to provide primary motivation for listeners to continue to listen and to build a strong relationship between brand and listeners. It needs to identify that link and rekindle the passion.Ask yourself, do your listeners care about your station? Do they care enough to want to be involved in something that your station does?  An event, a fundraiser or other activity?As brand marketing disappears – has visibility for your brand been replaced by short term contest ‘noise’ or a set of faces on a billboard that no-one recognises?To survive and thrive radio and individual radio stations need to re-focus on the key elements that make it an essential part of people’s lives, the things that make it special.Take care of that relationship, once its lost it may be impossible to replace it.Brand passion: a type of consumer–brand relationship whereby consumers exhibit high levels of enthusiasm and desire and is considered the core of the emotional connection between brands and consumers.By Peter Don, BPR […]

Listeners of all Mediacorp stations in Singapore can now win a host of prizes with a range of new contests and games.English stations:CLASS 95 – Spin & Win

The game is played hourly across all timebelts from August 30. Listeners must be the first to call in when they hear the song of the hour to qualify. On Friday, they must be the first caller through after the cue to call and have qualified during the week, to spin the sure-win wheel. There is a chance to win cash prizes ranging from $1000 to $20,000.GOLD 905 – Supersonic It’s the 2nd edition of the game on the station. Everyone gets a chance to win with $20K cash in total to be given away.  It is played 5 times a day with $100 to be given away each time. DJ will play a sped up snippet of a song and the first caller through to guess the song title correctly wins $100. Prize snowballs if the caller doesn’t get it right.987 – Secret Sound Back by popular demand – 987 Secret Sound is played throughout the day from 6am – 12am.Participants have to listen out for the cue to call throughout the day and be the first one through the phone lines. DJ will play the sound. Guess it correctly and walk away with the big cash prize.Symphony 924 – Artiste of The Week Featuring eight outstanding classical performers each week, sharing about their music, loves and lives. Look out for Sol Gabetta, Daniel Trifonov, Katherine Jenkins, Yang YueFei and more. Listeners can win up to $4k in shopping vouchers, by answering trivia questions on classical artistes on the station’s Facebook page each week.CNA 938 – Understand Asia Quiz There’s a chance to win a total of $9600 shopping vouchers by participating in the CNA938 Understand Asia Quiz. Listeners will have to tune in and call to participate in the quiz 3 times a day, Mondays to Fridays for 8 weeks. The caller stands to win $80 if he/she answers a question about Asia correctly. If the wrong answer is provided, the prize snowballs to the next quiz.Chinese stations:CAPITAL 958 – Mystery Sound Game will be played on Mon to Thurs, throughout the day from 6am to 12am, 5 times per day across 5 timebelts.  Listeners have to call in to CAPITAL 958’s hotline when they hear the DJ’s shoutout, and they must guess the correct Chinese idiom, and stand a chance to win $50 cash. The winner will also quality for the Friday’s lucky prize wheel spin where the first caller will stand a chance to win additional prizes.LOVE 972 Game will be played throughout the day from 6am to 11pm. Listeners have to call in to LOVE 972’s hotline when they hear the DJ’s shoutout, where the DJs will provide a sentence with some parts removed, and listeners must guess the missing phrase. If they guess correctly, they stand a chance to win $972. All winners who won $972 will also stand a chance to win an additional grand prize of $9,720.YES 933 – Crack the code! Game is be played throughout the day from 6am to 12am. Listeners have to call in to YES 933’s hotline when they hear the DJ’s shoutout, and they must guess the five digit code, and stand a chance to win up to $10,000 cash. However, should the code remained unsolved each day, $1000 will be deducted daily until it reached $2,000. Helpful tips will be provided by the DJ and they will let you know whether you are guessing too high or too low.Malay radio stations Warna 942 – Peti Bahasa DJ will give out the sponsor related password at a stipulated time. DJ will give out 1 word + meaning at a random timing during the timebelt. Lines will be opened and and listener with correct password plays the game. Caller that can give the correct word that was mentioned qualifies for the weekly finale round on Friday morning, where first caller from the qualifier list to call in with the correct password will play a language game – jumbled up letters that forms a simpulan Bahasa.Ria 897 – Lagu Misteria RiaListeners have to tune in to Ria 897 and wait for the respective DJ in each belt to announce the title of the ‘Song of The Hour’. When the song is aired, the first caller to provide the correct title qualifies for the mega-round. In the mega-round,  the title of the song will not be announced. Instead, RIA listeners have to guess the title of the ‘Mystery Song‘ based on the snippet of the song and clues aired by the DJ on duty. Tamil radio station Oli 968 – Adutha Naangu Varigal Enna? (Guess the next 4 lines?) Listeners will be provided clues from a movie from which the song is being selected. At the first level, listener will be required to mention the password of the day which will be available on the station’s meLISTEN newsfeed. At the second, they will get to guess the lyrics correctly within 20 seconds. If the listener guesses it correctly, he/she will win $100. Otherwise, the winning money is snowballed with $50 added to the pool. It will be awarded to the listener who finally gets it right. The listener who gets it right will qualify to enter the Big Game at the finale. Up to $11,000 over 8 weeks and a grand prize of $10,000 is up for grabs in the finale. […]

India’s Radio City network announced the 13th season of its singing talent hunt Radio City Super Singer.The show will provide one of the biggest podiums to aspiring singers across 39 cities, with auditions from 25th August to 12th September.The audition process will shortlist five talented candidates from the Hindi, Tamil, Telegu and Kannada speaking regions respectively this year, to make way for a super grand finale that will be streamed on September 26 on radiocity.in, post which the final winner will be selected.

Sensational singer Kailash Kher is all set to return as a judge for the second consecutive season, and mentor yet another set of budding singing talent in the country.Radio City’s Chief Executive Officer, Ashit Kukian, said: “With a reach of millions through the years, Radio City Super Singer remains one of our most successful properties. This year, we have strategically grown in the virtual domain amidst the pandemic.”Speaking about his excitement to judge yet another season of Radio City Super Singer, Kailash Kher said: “I had a great experience mentoring the best budding talents in India, in season 12 and am thrilled to help in the discovery of sensational new voices yet again. The talent that we have nurtured and encouraged through this podium is as diverse as India itself.” […]