ASIA

February 13 is World Radio Day (WRD) and the theme for the 12th edition of the event is Radio and Peace.It acknowledges that in reporting and informing the general public, radio stations shape public opinion and frame a narrative that can influence domestic and international situations and decision-making processes.On World Radio Day 2023, UNESCO will highlight independent radio as a pillar for conflict prevention and peace building, saying that this is the reason why support to independent radio has to be viewed as an integral part of peace and stability.

In India, a Community Radio Symposium is being organised on Saturday, February 11. It start with a panel discussion on Role of CR in Deepening Democracy, followed by another discussion on Radio in the Digital Age. It will conclude with media presentations by radio stations from across the country featuring snippets of their programs and discussing their relevance in today’s scenario.All India Radio, Delhi, will organise a special edition of its program Mati Ke Rang featuring Rajasthani folk music by Seema Mishra and Group which will be broadcast live on air and on the channel’s YouTube channel on February 13.Eastern Indian city of Bhubaneshwar will host the ninth International Radio Fair from February 11 to 13 to mark WRD. It will feature radio professionals, ministers, government officials, radio associations, equipment manufacturers and sand art on WRD theme, besides meetings, seminars and workshops. […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonLast week I spent 5 days working with a new hire. Note I said, “New Hire” which should send you all into spasms of envy that we found a new salesperson. Not only did we find one, but he pursued US and he is absolutely thrilled to be in the radio industry. When was the last time that happened to you?This gentleman has no history in radio. He has some history in sales, but in an entirely different industry and sales system. So, he is a novice.

His first day on the job, I arrived. I prefer to come a week or so later, but the timing worked out this way. We began with “radio 101” and then proceeded to work on learning my sales system: best practices, how to plan your daily activities, prospecting, doing good needs analysis meetings, writing proposals, handling objections, understanding the basics of how marketing works on the brain of consumers, how to create effective campaigns, what makes a great radio commercial, using ROI sheets. In other words, the plan he must follow to insure success.The last day, we did something additional. I had the owner and the tenured salespeople come into our meeting and share the history of the stations.Which brings up the subject of this newsletter: what is your on-boarding system?One of the problems we encounter, other than finding good people to hire, is keeping good people. And one of the reasons people leave is that they have not fallen in love with the radio industry. They don’t understand WHY we do what we do. They don’t understand how vital the radio industry is to the communities we serve. Nor do they understand that advertising is the grease on the wheels of commerce. When consumers buy, the economy improves. Advertising delivers messages from businesses to potential consumers. Our life blood is the local business person and we can help them to compete with the giant companies of the world.So, what should be included in your on-boarding process?Ideally, the owner or general manager of the company should set aside some time to meet the new person and to share their history and their “Why?”. They should share their vision for the company moving forward.The new hire should spend some time with each department in the station: sit in on a morning show and listen to the interaction with listeners. Watch the production department produce commercials. Watch the traffic department do their jobs (no person new to radio understands what a traffic person does. They think of the cross walk guard in the neon yellow vest.) Go out with the current sales staff to see them in action. Go to station promotions to SEE the listeners.Learn the forms and paperwork that each station needs to function. In other words, the internal flow of information. What resources are available at the station to help them to do their job?At each and every step, emphasize the “Why?”I remember the first time I attended an NAB. I saw 100,000 broadcasters in one place and it hit me that this was the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the staffs were still at home running the stations. Wow! I was blown away by how big and powerful we are!New hires need to feel that they are a part of something bigger than one station or group. Yes, they need to enjoy their fellow workers. They need to believe in our mission. But they also need to believe in the mission of radio in general.Radio is not dead nor dying. We have only to remember how vital we were in 2020. We remain that vital as we serve our communities in a hundred different ways. We should all be proud to call ourselves “radio broadcasters”.I hope you may formulate your own on-boarding system. Indoctrinate the new hires in the best of our industry. Welcome them into the midst of one of the best jobs in the world.Happy recruiting and happy retaining! […]

There are now even more speakers at Radiodays Europe 2023.To register with the special radioinfo rate, go to this registration page and at checkout, use this discount code RTDA23PRA for a 10% discount.Joining the list of speakers that have already been announced are

Anna Rastner (pictured), Content Director of Audio for Bauer Media Audio Sweden
Ben Cooper, Chief Content and Music Officer Bauer Media Audio UK
Benjamin Biering, Head of AI at Podimo, who brings a wealth of expertise in Artificial Intelligence
Nina Bendstrup, Sound designer and music mediator at The Danish Broadcasting Corporation at Splittet til Atomer
Francis Currie, International Audio Consultant and partner in specialist radio research company, Currie Nordén
Dennis Clark, Vice President of Talent Development for America’s biggest radio company, iHeartMedia
Nina Fletcher, International Sales Director at Bauer Media Audio
Radiodays Europe will be held on 26-28 March 2023, Prague, Czech Republic, and this year begins at 9.00am on Sunday 26th March with the Free Radiodays Europe Inclusive (formerly Radiodays Europe Women), event followed by three Summits on the Sunday afternoon: Youth, Podcast and Data Research. […]

DAB+ is now established as the core future platform for radio in Europe and Australia. DAB+ has a huge range of receivers for home and portable use with prices starting around 20 USD and now comes as standard in over 90% of new cars sold in Europe.DAB+ is now either established or under consideration in virtually all European countries as the expansion of coverage and the number of services continues. For example, national DAB+ in France was launched in October 2021, expansion in eastern Europe in 2022 including Poland and the Czech Republic, and Switzerland is preparing to switch off FM in 2024. We are also seeing a step change in interest in Africa and Middle East with multiple new deployments being undertaken for both permanent services and technical trials and demonstrations.Within this context the establishment of DAB+ in South East Asia is being led by activities in Thailand. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NBTC) in conjunction with the Royal Thai Army Radio and Television have been running a high power DAB+ trial in the Thai capital of Bangkok since 2018. A second project has been established to test DAB+ in four major regional areas, Chon Buri south of Bangkok, Chiang Mai in the north, Khon Kaen in the northeast, and Song Khla in the south of Thailand. The regional trails are an extension of the Bangkok trial and focus on determining the suitable technical standard and parameters for the regional areas.

The NBTC commissioner for Radio Broadcast Air-Vice-Marshall Dr. Thanapant said: “The NBTC is now considering how to deliver state-of-the-art DAB digital broadcast radio to all of Thailand to ensure that the public can receive high quality radio with increased services. The results of the regional trial will be useful input into that process”.The DAB+ system design was completed  by the end of 2018 and the transmission sites, regional broadcasters’ input programs and the network implementation are in progress. The new transmissions include high power, 10 kW ERP, sites in Chiang Mai,  Khon Kaen and Song Khla to provide wide area coverage. The current Bangkok ensemble is being updated with six new services from the regional areas and form a prototype example of a national ensemble.The testing to be conducted includes comprehensive field testing to verify and update coverage field strength predictions, with particular attention being paid to the impact of building types and heights on received signal strength and quality. Indoor tests will also be undertaken in a range of in-building environments to determine the building entry loss for different types of buildings in Thailand.The Royal Thai Army TV5 is working with a number of suppliers to test new Announcement capabilities in a newly developed home/portable receiver product. The use of the Announcement feature is increasing with the Alarm Announcement (Emergency Warning) now being mandatory for portable receivers as per ETSI Technical Specification 103 461. There is also increasing interest in other announcements e.g. in Norway Announcements are regularly delivered for Traffic and Public Transport and in Germany DAB is being be integrated into a new national warning system. In Thailand the current emphasis is on the Alarm Announcement as well as the potential to use the Announcement system for local alerts such as traffic, news and other warnings such as Air-Quality.The testing programme will provide important feedback to the NBTC to help assess the cost benefits for DAB+ in Thailand. Currently there is significant congestion in FM broadcasting and little opportunity for new services. DAB+ offers a route to provide a state-of-the-art digital broadcasting solution with additional high quality audio services in defined interference free coverage areas.The initial testing is expected to be complete by the end of February 2023, however the regional trial is set to run until 2024. […]

Radiodays Asia,  the leading radio and podcasting conference in the Asia-Pacific, will be back 5-6 September in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.“It has never been more important to have a global perspective on media trends, consumer behaviour, competition, new technology and business opportunities. Though your radio or podcast might be local or national, the challenges and competiiton facing your business is global. That opportunity to get ahead of your competition and future-proof your service and business is what Radiodays Asia offers,” says Anders Held, Project Director of Radiodays Asia and Founder of Radiodays Europe.Radiodays Asia is a collaboration between Radiodays Europe, the world´s largest and leading conference for radio, audio and podcast, and broadcasting and podcast partners in Asia and Australia. The 2023 edition will run over 2 days in 2 tracks with 50 sessions. Top international speakers and industry leaders as well as succesful producers and market experts will share their insights.

Top ratings from attendeesSince 2019 Radiodays Asia is the meeting point for everyone in radio-audio-podcasting who wants to understand more about the challenges of today and tomorrow. The event will bring 400 attendees from 40 countries together with a top-quality programme and many networking opportunities to meet and learn from colleagues in the audio industry.Participants at Radiodays Asia have been overwhelmingly positive. The participant rating is 4,2 on a 1-5 scale with 90% rating the event a 4 or a 5.Podcast SummitAsia Podcast Summit will be part of this year´s Radiodays Asia. A full day dedicated to bring podcasters together and discuss how to develop your podcast business – how to format, market and monetize your podcast. A chance to learn from the most successful in podcasting and to network with other creative podcasters.Where and when?Radiodays Asia will be held at the Royale Chulan Hotel in central Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Additional workshop and specialst meetings will be organised on Monday 4 September, while the main conference is held 5-6 September. More information will follow.PartnersRadiodays Asia is supported by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), Public Media Alliance, Commercial Radio Malaysia, Indonesia Private Radio Association, Commercial Radio Australia, Radio Operators for India, Radio Festival India, Radio Broadcasters Association NZ, Podnews, radioinfo.asia and others.You will find registration and more information about the event on radiodaysasia.com.If you have suggestions for speakers or topics for Radiodays Asia 2023 please send these to Anders Held, Project Director, Radiodays Asia at [email protected] […]

Benztown and P1 Media Group will host a free webinar for radio professionals around the globe, entitled From Street Teamer to Morning Radio Superstar – How Kris Fade From Virgin Radio Dubai Built a Multimedia Empire.
The webinar is 27th in the companies’ Global Radio Ideas webinar series from top radio experts from around the world.
The 40-minute webinar will be hosted by Andreas Sannemann, CEO, Benztown, and Ken Benson, Partner, P1 Media Group, and will feature Kris Fade, Host of the #1 Rated Morning Show, The Kris Fade Show, on Virgin Radio 104.4 in Dubai.

Fade, often called “the Ryan Seacrest of the Middle East” talks to attendees live from Dubai, sharing the fascinating stories behind his meteoric career.
Fade began his radio journey working on the street team at The Edge 96.1 in his hometown of Sydney, Australia, later becoming the station’s Music Director and Afternoon Drive Host.
In 2008, he moved to Dubai to help launch Virgin Radio’s first station in the Middle East.
Within two years, Virgin Radio Dubai dominated the English market, and Virgin has been the market ratings and revenue leader ever since, due much in part to his Breakfast Show, which is also heard daily on Virgin Radio Lebanon.
Fade is not only a radio star; he recently starred in a top-rated Netflix reality series.
In Thursday’s webinar, Fade will share revealing stories from behind-the-scenes of building a multimedia empire, and will take attendees’ questions and cover topics including:

How he helped launch Richard Branson’s first Virgin Radio station in the Middle East and what it’s like to work with Branson.
How he adapted to the Dubai market and culture after moving from Sydney and how he cultivated a massive audience at Virgin Radio.
What are the secrets to his success and what has changed in the 16 years he’s been with Virgin Radio Dubai.
How production and imaging have been key to building his personal, show, and station brands.
How he and his wife came to star in the #1 streamed Netflix series, Dubai Bling, and how the show has propelled his brand.
What it’s like to interview stars on the Red Carpet at the Oscars and to have his own wax figure in Madame Tussaud’s.

WHEN: Thursday, February 9, 2023, at 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST/7:00pm CET. […]