ASIA

radioinfo.asia managing editor, Peter Saxon visits the Triton – Omny stand at the recent Radiodays Asia to chat with Stephanie Donovan – Global Head of Revenue and Benjamin Masse – Chief Product Officer.

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Gagl, a new cloud service for remote contribution from Comrex, is now available for purchase. Subscriptions are available for $35 USD per month or $35 USD per year with a free 14-day trial.Gagl allows between one and five users to send and receive audio from computers and smartphones. Each user receives their own mix-minus to hear other connected guests, and the Gagl audio is delivered to a Comrex hardware codec (such as ACCESS or BRIC-Link, usually ina studio).All participants can hear other participants and the codec “sends” audio back to them. Participants can connect and send audio by simply clicking a link using any common web browser. Gagl is designed to be used with consumer grade equipment, so contributors only need a device and a headset to get on the air.It uses the Opus audio encoder, with a bit rate that delivers both voice and music in excellent quality. Gagl also delivers audio directly to aComrex codec with all the stability enhancements, pro-grade audio connections, and features that hardware codecs provide. The simple user interface makes it easy for users with any level of technical experience to use.Gagl could be used as the hub for a news program or for a morning radio show to support multiple simultaneous contributor connections. Because it offers low latency, it’s appropriate for call-in talk radio. Gagl could also be used to allow a single contributor to connect back to thestudio from a computer or smartphone.Gagl works with Comrex hardware IP audio codecs including the AES67-compatible ACCESS NX Rack IP audio codec and ACCESS MultiRack multi-channel IP audio codec as well as the BRIC-Link series. […]

Content from BPRRelaxing music radio was a fairly new format idea in the late 1980’s. Early relaxing music stations played mostly New Age and Jazz Fusion recordings, most of which were instrumentals. One of the pioneers of the format was The Wave in Los Angeles which debuted in 1987. The station created a lot of interest because it sounded so different from all other radio formats of the time. It provided a stark contrast to the Rock, Oldies and Contemporary Hit stations of the time. The format was known in the business as NAC (New Adult Contemporary).Subsequent relaxing music stations soon learned that the combination of New Age and “Smooth Jazz” (a new name for Jazz Fusion) was insufficient in the quest for a greater mass appeal audience. The emergence of PPM ratings technology (so-called People Meters) showed that audiences of the format were very passive and listeners had little allegiance to “relaxing” stations perhaps because the brand offering was so limited in content. In effect, the original format was similar to the music streaming services that offer a constant flow of the same style of music.One of the problems with the original relaxing music concept was that listeners were mostly listening at specific times and under specific circumstances such as late evenings before bed time. This severely limited the degree of listener engagement and loyalty to the station. NAC stations suffered from poor conversion of weekly reach to P1 listening status.In time, NAC stations realized that their target audience was being drawn away by the emerging Adult Contemporary format stations. AC stations differed from NAC stations because the AC stations played pop vocals. Additionally, AC stations were able to present a playlist with a somewhat broader tempo and dynamic range than NAC stations. As the years passed, the music tastes of the AC target audience changed and AC stations began to play more and more up-tempo songs by pop and pop rock artists.Meanwhile, NAC stations were moving away from New Age and Smooth Jazz. They added an increasing number of familiar vocal hits that appealed to the target demo (usually 25-54). Although the energy level and tempo of these vocal hits had to be limited in order to fit the format, vocal hits offered a key component common to almost every music format and that is familiarity. Listeners could now hear songs that they actually knew and with which they could sing along. The introduction of news and information segments and live presenters expanded the brand offering.The term Soft AC soon replaced the term NAC. Station brand names also had to change. The word “soft” unfortunately has negative connotations for some potential listeners. Soft implies weak and ineffective. As a result, brand names such as Relax, Smooth and The Breeze emerged. Positioning statements evolved into lines such as “the feel good station”. The benefit of “feel good” is that it does not necessarily imply any specific music style, tempo or energy level. It just makes you “feel good”.Today, some of the most successful Soft AC stations fill a void between contemporary hits and oldies formats. They attract audiences that have outgrown a steady stream of contemporary hits and they also attract listeners who are not quite ready for oldies nostalgia. The demographic center of the audience is most often 35-44 with a slightly larger concentration of women than men. However, the potential audience of a well-programmed Soft AC often extends to the 30-49 demo and beyond.It would not be an over-simplification to say that Soft AC stations are the new “easy listening” stations for listeners whose preferences fall somewhere between stations that make you want to dance, stations that make you want to fall asleep and stations that remind you of the good old days.By Andy Beaubien, BPR […]

Benztown and P1 Media Group will host a free webinar on Thursday, September 15, 2022, for radio professionals around the globe, entitled Join the Conversation: The Incredible NOW! Radio Success Story. The webinar will be hosted by Andreas Sannemann, CEO, Benztown, and Ken Benson, Partner, P1 Media Group, and features Mark Hunter, VP of Programming, NOW! Radio, and Ross Winters, Director of Programming, Pattison Media, Canada’s largest western-based media company.  This is the 24th in the webinar series from top radio experts from around the world.Mark Hunter started his radio career in 1985, when he was hired on his 19th birthday to work with Rawlco in Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Regina. He was on-air, producer, creative director, and News/Talk producer before he got his dream job as Program Director in 2000. In 2009, Hunter was named Program Director of a new license in Edmonton, CKNO-FM, and eight months later, NOW! Radio was born.He programmed 102.3 NOW! Radio Edmonton for 10 years, driving huge ratings and billings success which continues today.Hunter is currently a Senior Programmer for Pattison Media, working mostly in Metro markets including Calgary, Winnipeg, and British Columbia.Ross Winters began his radio career as a DJ at a Top 40 radio station in Victoria, British Columbia. He quickly moved into programming and worked as Program Director at legendary Canadian Rock stations in Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Toronto. While programming Rock 101 in Vancouver, Winters also served as National PD for Corus Entertainment, one of the largest groups in Canada.He spent time as a researcher and consultant before joining Pattison Media as Director of Programming in 2015.In the 30-minute webinar, Hunter and Winters will share their thoughts on programming successful radio stations today, and the power of doing things differently, including:
How a truly unique and different type of radio station became a runaway success
What are their secrets for finding, developing, and retaining the best talent today?
What has the response been to NOW! Radio’s music policy of allowing on-air talent to play the music that they want to play?
How important is talk to the success of their music stations?
Why do they refer to the NOW! Radio community as the NOW! Family?
Why don’t traditional promotions work for NOW! Radio? […]

Podcast Day 24 will be held on 4th October this year with three in-person conferences in Sydney, London and New York, all on the same day, bringing together the top broadcasters, publishers, platforms and technology companies from around the globe.Podcast Day 24 will include:
Content, Industry Trends, Spotlights, Revenue and Research
Find out the secrets behind some of Australia’s biggest shows…
Hear from the big names in the podcast world, the latest news, the facts and figures
Get the inside track from the new companies making a splash
What are the commercial opportunities for podcasters and networks and what’s the data     telling us about this new audience.
Attendees in Sydney also get free access to videos of all the podcast sessions in London and New York.Toni & Ryan (Ryan Jon Dunn and Toni Lodge) will be taking to the stage and sharing how they made the leap from radio to podcast in a multimillion-dollar deal with Spotify. Toni and Ryan have built a cult following for their podcast since launching in August 2021, in less than a year they clocked 1.3 million downloads in a single month.How did they make the leap from radio to podcast, what can be learnt about the role of video or ‘vodcasts’ and how do they plan to keep innovating since signing with Spotify.Prithi Dey from Spotify will be chairing the discussion.Starting a new show: the 50/50 rule.It’s easy to focus on the idea, but what else should be considered when launching a new podcast?Discover how the team at LiSTNR approach the launch of a new podcast and what the five rules of success are.With over twenty-five years in the entertainment industry, Executive Head of Podcasting LiSTNR, Grant Tothill shares exclusive insights and knowledge.What Makes a Compelling Narrative Podcast?Siobhán McHugh, Consulting Producer, The Greatest Menace discusses how to take a story and make it into bingeable audio.In this session the internationally recognised podcast producer, documentary-maker, oral historian, writer, journalism academic, podcast critic, podcasting consultant and The Power of Podcasting author, discusses tips, tricks and best practice to use story, sound, script and episodes to achieve the most compelling storytelling through sound.Some of the speakers confirmed for Podcast Day 24 include:Marc Fennell, It Burns (Audible), Nut Jobs (Audible), and the chart-topping hit ABC/CBC podcast Stuff the British Stole, Scott Stephens ABC’s Religion & Ethics Editor and the co-host, with Waleed Aly, of The Minefield on ABC Radio National. […]

This year’s overarching theme “DRM for FM and AM – The Radio Platform for All” gave the DRM Consortium the chance to make new receiver announcements and demonstrate the deepening worldwide interest in DRM.A foretaste of all this was given on September 6 as a virtual event, to an audience representing all continents around the world. But for many of the DRM Consortium members, supporters and all those interested in digital radio, the first chance to meet in person, after almost three years of restrictions, was at the “DRM Meet and Greet” event hosted by Fraunhofer IIS at the IBC convention in Amsterdam on September 10. There the guests enjoyed a chance for renewed networking accompanied by live DRM transmissions received on several receivers and receiver modules displayed at the booth.CML Microsystems and Cambridge Consultants from the UK for the first time presented the prototype of their upcoming low-cost and all-band DRM receiver module, which will make building affordable DRM radio sets particularly easy. The company representatives announced that the module will be available from Q1 2023.Gospell presented their entire range of well-established and full-featured DRM receivers consisting of desktop and pocket radios, with support for EWF Emergency Warning Functionality and Journaline text service. In addition, Gospell unveiled their new car radio for easy integration, the Stereo Digital Radio Receiver GR-520. All models provide DRM reception across all DRM broadcast bands.Next to the Gospell receiver, Starwaves showcased three upcoming DRM receiver solutions: A complete and full-featured DRM and analogue AM/FM receiver module available to receiver manufacturers, with automotive-grade tuning and fast scanning across all DRM frequency bands and support for EWF Emergency Warning Functionality and Journaline text service.Starwaves also presented its DRM SoftRadio App for Android phones and tablets, which upgrades any existing device to a full-featured DRM receiver simply by connecting an analogue RF SDR dongle. The app is available in major app stores including Google, Huawei and Amazon.The line-up of new and exciting DRM receiver developments could also be experienced a few hours later at the Nautel stand during the “DRM Is Ready for FM” event.The audience attending this DRM event learned about the multi-channel use of DRM in FM, as implemented by DRM member RFmondial and demonstrated in India. This was followed by a brief presentation of the recently concluded, successful DRM AM and FM trials in Australia. The focus switched then to Europe and specifically Copenhagen in Denmark, where the DRM in FM trial is continuing on the air.The DRM Chairman, Ruxandra Obreja, congratulated all those who attended in person the two DRM events during IBC 2022 for their involvement and support of digital radio. Some of them came from as far as India, South Africa, Pakistan, US, Romania, UAE, Australia and China. “It was exciting and even emotional to see again so many people involved in DRM in one single place, to talk to them directly and show them the great progress made by DRM in these last few and very hard years” she said. “It was satisfying to share with all the DRM family less slides but introduce more receivers. There is a real buzz around digital radio and DRM, despite current difficulties and the current economic climate. At IBC we feel that the case for DRM in both FM and AM, as the complete, energy-saving, feature-rich radio platform of the future was comprehensively demonstrated like never before.” […]