ASIA

Radio Nepal celebrated its 74th anniversary with a classical music conference last week, where six groups showcased their talent, comprising three singing, two melody, and one rhythm ensemble.A state-owned radio broadcasting organisation, Radio Nepal was established on April 2, 1951. It airs programs on short wave, medium wave and FM frequencies.In addition to the classical conference, the broadcaster also announced a nationwide modern music competition as part of its anniversary festivities.The contest will feature 21 groups showcasing their musical talents. It reflects the evolving tastes of audiences and the station’s efforts to stay relevant in the changing landscape of Nepali music.Executive Director of Radio Nepal, Buddhi Bahadur KC, emphasized Radio Nepal’s pivotal role in the country’s music landscape and its commitment to honouring creators. […]

GMA Network’s flagship AM radio station Super Radyo DZBB 594 registered a total audience share of 45 percent in March, marking a significant increase from its February performance of 30.7 percent.According to a company release, DZBB’s lead over closest competitors DWWW 774 and DZRH Nationwide 666 remains undisputed. For the months of February and March, DWWW 774 had a total audience share of 14.4 and 21.8 percent, respectively. DZRH had 20 percent and 9.8 percent for the same period.Barangay LS 97.1, GMA’s flagship FM radio station, led other radio stations in March with a total audience share of 44.1 percent, while its nearest competitor 90.7 Love Radio had 14.2 percent. Barangay LS 97.1 also claimed the top spot for Mega Manila listeners in February with a 43.7 percent total audience share over 90.7 Love Radio’s 11.8 percent.GMA Network’s radio stations have also earned distinctions from various award-giving bodies lately. In February, Super Radyo DZBB was recognized as AM Radio Station of the Year at the 2024 Platinum Stallion National Media Awards of Trinity University of Asia. At the 2nd Laurus Nobilis Media Excellence Awards of the Lyceum Philippines University Cavite held in March, it anchors were honoured with the Laurus Nobilis Media Excellence in Radio News Reporting: veteran broadcast journalist Susan Enriquez (Female Category) and Joel Reyes Zobel (Male Category). Papa Dudut of Barangay LS 97.1 was awarded the Laurus Nobilis Media Excellence in Radio Disc Jockeying for the Male Category. […]

By Valerie Geller “Podcasting, like karaoke, is open to anyone brave enough to pick up a mic”THE RADIO PODCAST: A SECOND CHILDThe challenge in successful podcasting for radio:  To offer listeners additional content that breaks through a deluge of abundant competing content; plus enhances your brand, attracts new and younger listeners and makes money.Your podcast doesn’t replace your radio station or broadcast.  Think of it as a second child, Your podcast efforts ADD to it, it’s an additional canvas upon which to create.Many radio personalities enjoy the freedom of not dealing with over-the-air broadcast rules and regulations, time constraints or formatic restrictions. But stay true to brand, radio podcasts should protect the image and brand of your station as well as the expectations of the audience.HIGH QUALITY PODCASTS ARE EXPECTED FROM RADIO PROSPodcast training has become one of the joys of my broadcast coaching and training business.  Successful hosts come from everywhere: newspapers, comedy, TV, magazines, theater, law, real estate, and teaching. Although anyone can be a podcaster with a microphone and a smartphone, radio podcasters are expected to be better, coming experienced.PODCASTING IS THE NEW OVERNIGHT SHIFTYou now have a golden platform to develop new talent. Your station may be filled with talented or funny, creative off-air staff or support staff, who want to be performers. It’s a place for the less experienced or those not ready to be on the air to show what they can do. You may have a star in the making.GET THE “HARD TO GET” MEETING“Be on my podcast” has become the new “Let’s have lunch.”   Here’s an excellent way to gain access to hard-to-reach decision makers. Savvy radio account executives have found podcasting can be a new way to get to and meet with previously elusive potential clients. If you’ve been trying to contact an executive CEO or business owner who didn’t, take your call, or answer your email, you may find they’re happy to be a guest on your podcast.THIS IS NOT a commercial for a potential client’s product or service but rather, getting to know someone — try asking each how they got started and to share their advice and stories. As with any content, to engage audiences, it has to be interesting, fun, informative, entertaining or relevant.WHAT’S YOUR PODCAST ABOUT?One of the great strengths of podcasting: it is narrowcasting rather than broadcasting. As long as a radio station keeps to its brand image, go as weird and niche with your topics as you’d like. Find your unique niche.MAKE AS MANY AS YOU WANTCanada’s Lead Podcasting founder  says, “People think that once they start a podcast they have to keep going indefinitely. They feel like they’re on a hamster wheel — producing once a day, week, or once a month,  forever. Before you publish your first podcast, commit to a certain number of episodes that you think is realistic and sustainable.  Stop there. Call it ‘Season One.’  Decide later if you want to continue.”CREATING POWERFUL PODCASTSAnyone can talk, so hosting a podcast should be easy, right?If you’ve tried it, you know it can be harder than it looks. Whether your distribution platform is over-the-air or online–the Geller Media International Creating Powerful Communicators Principles work.
Speak Visually – in terms a listener can picture
Start with your best material
Podcasts are pre-recorded. They last forever online. Make it perfect.*
Never let anything go too long
Listen
Always ask: “Why would someone want to hear this?”
What is the unique journey? What is the talkable topic?
Did you inform, entertain, inspire, persuade, and connect?
Address each listener individually, use the word “YOU.”
Stay Curious
Relax, let natural humor happen
Be who you are
Take Risks.
The rules for powerful broadcasts also work for podcasts:  Be authentic. Make it matter. Never be boring.EXCERPTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE FORTHCOMING 2024 EDITION OF BEYOND POWERFUL RADIO – An Audio Communicator’s Guide to the Digital World  by Valerie Geller, Routledge PressInternational broadcast consultant Valerie Geller is an author, talent coach and trainer for radio and podcasting.  An in-demand keynoter, and workshop leader, she is one of Radio Ink’s Most Influential Women, and has worked in 42 countries, helping more than 500 stations get, keep and grow audiences.  She will be in Australia presenting a Powerful Radio session in October 2024 for the CBAAwww.gellermedia.com[email protected] […]

“Advertiser’s can benefit by using need-state data to create a more sophisticated and effective targeting approach for advertising campaigns,” said Mark Barber presenting Radiocentre UK’s recent audience-led research at Radio Days ’24 Sales Summit.“A deeper understanding of listener need-states is the key to growth in commercial audio,” said BarberFirstly, let’s look at the reasons audio is growing:
Easier access through the increased penetration of connected devices and non traditional audio devices since 2014. For example, smart speaker penetration in household is up 39% and smart phone adult users are up 48% (Ofcom Technology Tracker, 2022).
 Increased availability of audiences now that half of working adults work from home at least one day a week or more.
Total commercial audio adult listening hours are growing.
Now let’s look at the study conducted by Radiocentre, Generation Audio 2022, where new data sources were gathered using both qualitative and quantitative methods over the period of a week.Key learnings show that audio satisfies the seven contemporary need-states that belong to the categories of personal, context, content and social. These are:
Keep me in the loop
Help me escape
Lift my mood
Broaden my horizons
Provide social currency
Amplify the moment
Keep me company is newly added since 2014, as audio provides companionship and is the human voice people seek when they are on their own.Here is the profile of listeners who seek audio to keep me company.Keep me company accounts for 26% of total audio listening timeLift my mood accounts for 35% of total audio listening time.While, Broaden my horizons accounts for 4% of total audio listening time.A key learning Barber found is that context-driven need-states dominate 80% of commercial audio listening time.He believes that live radio and on-demand audio play complementary roles for listeners. Live radio listening is driven by the need to feel energised, uplifted and more connected with specific social groups and to a wider world.With podcasts, listening is led by a desire to learn new things and develop a deeper understanding of selected topics. While with on demand music services listening is centred around mood management.Live radio has both the highest weekly audio reach and also has the highest share of listening time in comparison to podcasts and on demand music (Generation Audio, Radiocentre/ Differentology 2022).In summary radio need-states learning shows:
Greater accessibility and evolving audio need-states are fuelling growth in commercial audio audiences.
Need-states demonstrate how linear radio and on-demand audio continue to play complementary roles for listeners
Context-led occasions dominate listening
This knowledge will create a deeper understanding of reasons behind listener behaviour and more effective targeting approaches for advertising campaigns.Find out more about Audio Need-States Navigator the launch pad for effective audio planning here. […]

The New York Festivals®(NYF)  2024 Radio Awards has revealed this year’s Storytellers Gala Shortlist.Mesmerizing audio entries created by storytellers from around the world were judged online by NYF’s Radio Awards Grand Jury to determine the 2024 Radio Awards Shortlist. Shortlisted entries include audiobooks, podcasts, dramas, documentaries, breaking news coverage, entertainment, and music specials from radio stations, networks, prominent production companies and independent producers.Shortlisted entries from Asia include:

QATAR
Al Jazeera English Online
The Take
PODCAST: NEWS PODCAST

QATAR
Al Jazeera English Online
The Take
PODCAST: NARRATIVE/DOCUMENTARY PODCAST

SAUDI ARABIA

Aramco media production division
Eclectica

PROGRAMMING FORMAT: ALTERNATIVE FORMAT

SAUDI ARABIA

Aramco media production division

Eclectica – Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon – 50th Anniversary Special

ENTERTAINMENT: MUSIC SPECIAL

SAUDI ARABIA

Aramco media production division

Energy Radio KSA

DIGITAL: DIGITAL RADIO

SAUDI ARABIA

Aramco media production division

Pure Energy

ENTERTAINMENT: MUSIC PROGRAM

SOUTH KOREA
Busan E-fm
It’s Okay to Stutter : A Stuttering Liberation Journal

DOCUMENTARY: HUMAN RIGHTS

OMAN
Entertainment Network SAOC, Oman

So! Radio, Oman – The Launch

PROMOTION/OPEN & ID: STATION ID

INDIA
Music Broadcast Limited

Aritifical Independence (AI)

PROMOTION/OPEN & ID: STATION PROMOTION

INDIA
Music Broadcast Limited

Kadak Currency with RJ Salil

PODCAST: BUSINESS PODCAST

INDIA
Music Broadcast Limited

Sextortion

DOCUMENTARY: COMMUNITY SERVICE

INDIA
Music Broadcast Limited
Sunkranthi

MORNING DRIVE/AFTERNOON PROGRAMMING: INNOVATIVE SHOW

INDIA
Music Broadcast Limited

Touch Me Not With RJ Archana

DOCUMENTARY: COMMUNITY SERVICE

Radio Television Hong Kong – Radio 4

In Memory of ‘The Father of New Music in Hong Kong’ – Doming Lam

DOCUMENTARY: BIOGRAPHY/PROFILES

Radio Television Hong Kong -Chinese News and Current Affairs Section

Engulfed in Boundless Darkness

DOCUMENTARY: SOCIAL ISSUES […]

The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and the Presidential Broadcast Service (PBS) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Wednesday, March 20, to launch a radio program promoting media and information literacy and the government’s “Bagong Pilipinas” (New Philippines) branding.PIA Director-General Jose A. Torres Jr. expressed gratitude to PBS Director-General Rizal Giovanni “Bong” Aportadera for accommodating their request. The program, starting April 3, will air live on Radyo Pilipinas 1 (RP 1) and be simulcast on four other government channels, reaching a nationwide audience. It will also be carried by other Radyo Pilipinas 1 (RP 1) affiliate stations across the country.DZRB, on-air as Radyo Pilipinas Uno or RP1 News, is a radio station owned and operated by the Presidential Broadcast Service, an attached agency under the Presidential Communications Office. It serves as the flagship station of the Radyo Pilipinas network.The PIA has an important role in sharing information about government programs, projects, and services with the Filipino public with the goal of improving people’s quality of life and empowering them to participate in the country’s democratic processes.The PIA is also the only government information network that can reach grassroots communities across the country. With 16 regional offices and 78 provincial information centers, it is the chief source of information from the government down to the local level. PIA also acts as a PR firm for communication campaigns requested by the Office of the President, national government agencies, local government units, government corporations and financial institutions, special committees/councils, government task forces, and others. “This MOA formalizes our collaboration in promoting media and information literacy alongside the Bagong Pilipinas initiative,” Torres said.Aportadera welcomed PIA back to the airwaves, highlighting Torres’ natural broadcasting ability. He assured smooth planning for the program, which will launch after Holy Week.“The program will be live not only on RP 1, but also on our free TV channels, in cooperation with PTV,” Aportadera explained. “This collaboration extends to live broadcasts of PIA’s new radio show on our digital channel, similar to how PTV4 carries Radyo Pilipinas programs.”He further emphasized that the program will be carried not just by RP 1 but also by the 28 Radyo Pilipinas stations nationwide.“This MOA signifies a stronger collaboration between attached agencies under the current administration,” Aportadera said. “These partnerships are crucial as they allow us to fulfill our collective mandate of informing and entertaining the public.”Aportadera concluded by expressing support for the program’s growth and pledging to extend all necessary resources for its success. […]