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I want it all (and maybe iCloud will give it to me now) UPDATE

| jamesstodd

Back in 2009, I wondered whether one day I’d be able to listen to what I wanted, when I wanted it on my commute to work. I wondered whether I’d be able to switch on my portable device and get the latest news, the latest weather and maybe a selection of content alongside the music I wanted.

Yesterday’s announcement by Apple of the new iOS and also iCloud made me think that maybe this idea could be getting nearer. It looks like, along with allowing me to sync up anything I’ve bought from iTunes, by using iTunes Match, I’ll be able to (at a small cost) match up what I already have on iTunes and sync it with the cloud.

But, surely, there’s more to it than that. From what I understand, and I may be wrong), I’ll be able to sync my iphone up wirelessly with my library. So I’m hoping that since my library not only contains music but also podcasts, that they will sync as well.

If this is the case, this surely offers some interesting options for radio broadcasters.

In a post yesterday, Radio Intelligence asked “is podcasting radio’s enemy?“. The conclusion is that it’s not – but there are some broadcasters who still disagree.

It would be oh so nice if the radio trades spilled some digital ink on these types of broadcasters rather than creating the impression that radio can simply step into a tricked out DeLorean where it’s always 1999.

There has been much discussion of how radio still has a place within the music industry. One of these roles is that of Music Curation. This could be as diverse as new music from Radio 1, or Capital FM bringing you the latest hit record first. Does this always-synced future from Apple now mean that Capital FM should be publishing Smart iTunes playlists that contain the weeks new releases? If you are a Capital fan, you could have this on your iTunes account. Each week, as it syncs, it would show you the new songs that Capital has added – and that you could then buy (maybe with a nice partnership deal for Capital and Apple to get a share of revenues).

But there’s more. If my iPhone now syncs podcasts, couldn’t Capital FM produce a daily podcast that is in effect a topical call to action, a setup of an online-only contest entry or quick excerpt of that days big guest from the breakfast show. Maybe there could be a series of short “blipcasts” – no longer than 60 secs – that have a showbiz update or maybe a daily contest. If there were a way to combine this into a smart playlist with the biggest songs from the Capital playlist – then maybe there’s a way of reaching potential Capital listeners who don’t listen on the move.

And, (thanks to Radio Intelligence for the Twitter suggestion), I’d call it Capital Fm On Demand

Now whilst this may not be possible yet – and indeed the iCloud may not yet offer this – maybe my hoped for future is starting to get nearer.

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Developer Wanted

| jamesstodd

Matt Deegan at Folder media is looking for a developer to work on their projects.

Matt says:
“We’re doing lots of interesting things online and we’re keen to recruit a Developer to work on projects around music and radio listener interaction.”

The guys at Folder Media are working on lots of interesting projects. Maybe you’ve run your student media website, have developed fantastic client websites, or maybe create great apps. You’ll need to love radio and be open to new ideas. And love working in a small team.

You’ll find all the details here. And if you apply, tell them I sent you..

http://www.foldermedia.co.uk/jobs/developer/

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Search Me? Finding content in a search driven world

| jamesstodd

In a world of content – how can we expect people to find our great work?

I was intrigued by a session at Radiodays Europe last month presented by Jakob Bjur – the researcher in residence at Swedish radio. His presentation was based on a research paper he’d written on “Transforming Audiences – Patterns of individualization in Television Viewing”. It’s a weighty document and you can read it all here.

He made many interesting points, including the fact that “the content we deliver now falls into the web and is resocialised”. But he asked the question as to whether radio/sound now needs to be visualised in order to be found?

Think about it; you can search online for text and images and video, but sound is harder to search – unless it has loads of relevant metadata. Or maybe a full transcript?

As we consider the digital future, (or as someone put it today, the post Digital future), what content exactly do we want our listeners/audience to search out? And are we being far too prescriptive in how we categorise our content and how they consume it?

I’m not for a moment suggesting that our traditional, linear forms of broadcasting have had their place. Far from it. But in a world where our younger audiences are consuming 9 hours worth of content in less than 7 hours – ie using at least a couple of media simultaneously – should we be helping them find that content in a way that’s more suitable for their lifestyles?

Could we see a future where people could have an app on their smart phone that simply has a BBC search box – much like the Google search. It could learn who you are, what you like and give you it.

Maybe it’s a future where you select the type of content you want and it’s delivered to your phone – ready to consume on the way to work. But now, it’s not simply radio, but the funniest bits of last night’s Mock the Week, the must-see film from last week’s Top Gear, a video of the Taylor Swift Live Lounge performance, and the latest film review from Mayo and Kermode.

In short, I don’t care whether they are consuming Radio, or TV, or online content. I just want to make sure that, as future licence fee payers, and therefore our future audience, that they consume BBC content.

Or at least know that it’s there.

[Disclosure: Whilst I work for the BBC – these are my own views].

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Radiodays Europe 2011 #rde11

| jamesstodd

The case is packed. I’ve got a pocket full of Danish Krone. And I’m off to Copenhagen for Radiodays Europe  2011.

It’s the first time I’ve been to this European conference, though I spoke at Radiodays Denmark a couple of years ago, and am very much looking forward to experiencing the hospitality of this fine city. In fact, there’s a particularly nice bar round the corner from Radio 100 where @jamescridland, @newsleader and others enjoyed a nice variety of local brews. I’m also looking forward to catching up witha couple of old radio friends including Ryan Seacrest’s Executive Producer, Dennis Clark who I last saw when Ryan broadcast his show from Capital FM’s studios in London in 2007.

I’m on a panel entitled “Imaging and Branding – from strategy to successful branding” along with a number of other producers and presenters from the USA and Europe. I’ll include some insight from BBC Radio 1 and 2 about how their strategy feeds into their production – and how it’s more than just imaging and promos.

There’s one thing I’d have liked to show – but time precludes – and it’s this film produced by the agency PHD Worldwide. It was designed to stimulate marketeers about what our young audiences want from brands. And it’s a real eye opener. Nik Goodman wrote about it on his blog a couple of weeks ago – but if you haven’t seen it – it’s worth a watch.

So, if you are coming to RadioDays, hopefully you’ll come and say hello – or maybe Skål


Learn Radio (and TV) Production Skills for free from the BBC

| jamesstodd
BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place at the ...
Image via Wikipedia

The BBC College of Production website  has just launched.

 Now, anyone – not just BBC staff – can get a basic insight in the skills needed to make great TV, Radio or Online content. There are profiles of jobs, background “how to” films and details of talks and training courses.

In the radio section, there are details of music scheduling, setting up microphones, making a trail for Radio 2, and the role of a station sound producer.

For budding TV producers, you can learn about self-shooting, special effects, developing programme ideas, and how to shoot on green screen.

And if you need to know more about blogging, there’s a section on that too.

It’s a vast (and I guess constantly evolving) resource. See more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/collegeofproduction/

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Is syndication really killing the radio star?

| jamesstodd

So, according to a report in today’s Media Guardian syndication of radio services is killing the radio star.

In a way, it’s true. Fewer stations or on-air shifts mean it’s harder for new entrants to break in. But many (including Global Radio‘s Ashley Tabor) would argue that there were many mediocre presenters on air anyway, so at least the new wave of “syndication” is improving quality.

Image By AndyBee21 (CC) Flikr

This article set me thinking though about whether this trend by Global and others may have actually increased opportunities for people to get into the new era of radio?

Capital Fm now has a 24 hour team of producers turning around content and links to keep the national feed of the service on air. They (along with the Heart network) also have a fairly large team of imaging and promo producers turning around everything from contest promos to local sponsorship ads. Sure, it’s may not have exactly the same levels of creative freedom that existed years back when I joined the original Capital Radio group. But if I was a new producer, currently in student radio and wanting somewhere to aim, this is a huge opportunity. An opportunity to learn the mechanics of how huge brand scale radio works – skills which are transferable across the digital marketing spectrum.

It’s also a fact that the global (small g) marketplace is continually shrinking. When I wanted to get into presentation and production, my only hope was to send out a demo (cassette) to various programme controllers. Now, I can start up a blog, share audio with colleagues worldwide online and maybe come up with and produce stunning visuals and share them on YouTube. The ease with which content and talent can now be showcased makes the world your marketplace.

And since Radio 2.0 is now where we are at – it’s the web/marketing/digital skills that are (almost) more important than the DJs themselves. I started my career striving to be a DJ. When I finally got on air, I was relatively successful but quickly became bored with a (then very loose) format. Presenters would kill for that level of freedom now. But even then, I could see that to survive, you needed to be able to do far more than just play the hits. S ave for a precious few, this is still the case.

And new talent is definitely out there.  As Clive Dickens noted in the article; “Student radio has become the new hunting ground for new talent”.  Having judged the Student Radio Awards for a number of years, I can only agree.

When I was at Puretonic Media, we found a new temporary producer – Andy Jackson – who very quickly became full-time. He’d only worked on a very small station in The Wirral. But he had immersed himself in radio online, read loads of blogs/ sites/ articles. And had amazingly creative production skills. And, more importantly, was willing to learn.

And through this blog, I’m in contact with producers around the world who ate equally striving to make it.  One such producer is just 15 years old – Nik Kelly. Already creating imaging on a national night show in Australia. And gaining attention of the international imaging guys at Benztown Branding in the process.

So if syndication IS killing the radio star, it may also be providing many new opportunities in the process. But you have to be prepared to find them. And maybe adjust your skills accordingly.

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Play My Song and I’ll Say What You Like

| jamesstodd

Wow – I love NRJ in France. They have all the big stars on air and on their TV ads:

But hang on – I love Capital FM in London the UK – and they’ve got a fantastic new TV ad too:

These artists can’t surely love both NRJ AND Capital?

Can they?

Both these adverts are great examples of bringing brands closer to the music. They take a huge amount of planning – but give so much payback. They aren’t necessarily the sort of thing you can do if you are a small station with little real-time access to the big artists. But for Capital and NRJ, with big events to draw these stars in, increasingly, they are part of the deal. I’m not sure if any money changes hands with these things, but let’s face it – if you get to associate your face/name/band with the big stations in the market, and they hold events/play music/ do contests promoting your album/single/gig – then who loses out? And they got Justin Bieber  and Rihanna speaking French too.

Of course, radio station TV ads don’t always need to feature the music you play or the stars of the station. But I can’t imagine NRJ or  Capital would ever run something like this!

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Christmas Greetings – from Zagreb

| jamesstodd
Photo:James Stodd

This afternoon, this video popped into my inbox from one of my new European radio friends that I met at last month’s Broadcast Symposium in Nuremberg.

It’s a simple idea from Antene Zagreb

Take your on air talent. Put them in a room. And get them talking about Christmas. It’s a nice way of creating some connection with some of your on air talent and your listeners.  You could also take some of the audio and cut it into quick Christmas idents.

And whilst you’re doing it, get them to help create your Christmas Card – which you can film and then post on the website or maybe email to clients.

You didn’t do that? Maybe next year…

MTV: It’s all about the music – again

| jamesstodd

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, MTV is going back to it’s roots and focusing more on music again.

I used to love MTV back in the 1990s – it used to play non stop on the TV screens and sound system of our student’s union building in Canterbury when C4 Radio (now CSR Canterbury) was off air – in fact the sound from MTV was our off air sustaining service. (Rights – what rights…?). High rotation of songs, lunchtime requests, Ray Cokes and Euro news.

Then they discovered Reality TV.

They have just launched the MTV Music Meter – which scans social media worldwide to find the new bands generating a buzz in the social media space.

Bloomberg quotes Dermot McCormack, who oversees digital operations:
“We want to re-associate and new-associate the MTV brand with music.” “This is aimed at finding those artists who are rising fast in the social-media conversation.”

And, as Sam Zniber noted on his blog – this could be another useful tool for radio programmers looking for the next big thing.

http://www.mtvmusicmeter.com/