ASIA

Senior Indian Information Service officer, Vasudha Gupta assumed the charge of Director General of News Services Division, All India Radio.A 1989-batch Officer, Gupta has served in various capacities in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in an over 32-year  career.Before her appointment as Director General of the News Services Division of All India Radio, she was serving as DG, Press Information Bureau.

During her stint at PIB, she played an instrumental role in devising and implementing information dissemination products during the challenging period of COVID-19 pandemic.She is credited for leading the development a feedback dashboard for the Government of India across various media platforms, besides establishing a Fact Check system for the government.A Ph.D in Finance from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Gupta helped in the introduction of social media platforms in regional languages through All India Radio while she was posted as Additional Director General in AIR News. […]

Singapore’s Channel News Asia has launched a new digital audio strategy that involves live radio, original podcasts and repurposed audio content from some of CNA’s award-winning TV programmes.According to Crispina Robert, Senior Editor, CNA Podcasts, over the last 23 years, the CNA brand has undergone significant changes. Part of this evolution has been in radio. CNA938 began life in 1998 as NewsRadio 938 and in 2019, was rebranded as CNA938 and made available on mobile and online to cater to changing consumption patterns.Over the last two years, its signature news podcast, Heart of the Matter, saw steady growth in listenership – peaking during COVID-19, as audiences sought out expert perspectives on a fast-moving virus.

In the recently released Reuters Digital Report 2022, Singapore stands out as the only Asian country in the top 10 in a graph detailing the proportion of people who used a podcast. The report also indicates how technology is a big driver – new voice interfaces, smart speakers, in-car entertainment systems are all making it easier for people to ask Siri or Alexa to play their audio content.CAN Podcasts will now offer more choice with many new shows including a new personal finance pod called Money Talks. Adrian Tan and Crispina Robert navigate the issues around work and career in their podcast Work It.It also leverages on the best of CNA’s Radio and TV journalism. There’s content for book lovers, on health matters and all the news bulletins to start and end your day with. CNA Insider’s excellent journalism is also available in audio. CNA Correspondent is now available as a podcast – where hosts go behind the scenes to see how our journalists cover stories that matter to AsiaAccording to Robert: “In a world grappling with disinformation, credible news content is critical in our overall understanding of the issues that affect us. But beyond that, the wonderful thing about good audio content is the feeling that you are a fly on the wall, listening in on an interesting dinner conversation.” […]

As part of the UAE’s celebrations of Emirati Women’s Day, Sharjah Radio presented a special radio program on August 28.The one-hour show was broadcast live from 5 pm to 6 pm and shed light on the role of Emirati women in the development and construction of the country since the establishment of the Union.It was presented by Aisha Al-Hamoudi and Jamal Al-Sumaiti.

A number of female personalities from literature, poetry, arts, culture and sports representing various local, Gulf and Arab institutions took part in the program. […]

Content from BPRWith networking deeply entrenched in the radio industry around the world, there has become a trend to apply the corporate brand to various elements on the stations.Listen live via the XYZ app, not listen live via the Station Name App.Same with newsrooms. Where stations in a network all source news from the same newsroom, many are using terms such as the XYZ News Hub or the XYZ News Centre to brand each bulletin rather than Station Name News.

The thing is in most strategic studies conducted by BPR in countries globally news & information positions are always in the Top 10, usually Top 5.The listeners want their favourite radio station to provide the news & information to keep them up to date with what’s going on in the world.A recent study revealed, as usual, that news & information positions were extremely important to the audience overall and to all stations’ P1’s. Yet one network in the market used a corporate brand on their news bulletins for all their stations.These stations no longer own the news & information positions perceptually as they once did when the news bulletins were branded with the individual station names.The thing is, listeners want THEIR favourite STATION to provide the news & information, not some corporate entity which they probably haven’t heard of before.To complicate things even further, the awareness of the corporate news brand was very low.It’s yours…. they want it…. own it!By David Kidd, BPR […]

Jeff Tan, 29, is the winner of Mediacorp’s talent hunt competition, The Star Voice, at the grand final held on August 25.Previously named ‘The Sound Makers’, the competition has discovered and seen many personalities who have risen to fame over the years, including YES 933FM’s Chen Ning, Hazelle Teo, Zhong Kunhua and Lee Teng.Over the last six weeks, nine hopefuls had been competing for the title in a series of weekly challenges and knockout elimination rounds – with guidance from one of three celebrity mentors: LOVE 972 DJ Dennis Chew, CAPITAL 958 DJ Pan Jiabiao and YES 933 DJ Zhong Kunhua.

Tan, an audio-visual journalist, edged out fellow finalists Joey Tay and Jensen Wang to win more than S$80,000 worth of prizes and a one-year contract with Mediacorp.In the final stage of the competition between Tan and Tay, they had to transform into talkshow hosts to interview local celebrity, Mark Lee. Tan, who was the oldest contestant in the competition, managed to impress the judges with his ingenuity and hosting skills, and he also garnered the highest number of votes from a separate panel of DJs.The judging panel was made up of Taiwanese host Mickey Huang, Mediacorp’s Lead for Chinese & Malay Audio, Rebecca Yap, actress/host Kym Ng, as well as actor/host Mark Lee. Their scores formed 80 percent of the overall results, while the remaining 20 percent was made up of voting results from DJs across Mediacorp’s radio stations.Simone Lum, Mediacorp’s Head for Growth & Audio said: “The Star Voice underlines our commitment in nurturing the next generation radio talents and we are delighted that the competition has attracted close to 1,000 applicants. Through this, we have witnessed the immense display of eloquence from our quick-witted contestants and we are extremely proud of their great performances thus far.” […]

There are now under two weeks to go before Radiodays Asia on the 6-7 September at the Shangri-La Hotel,  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.On Wednesday the program includesMythbusters – Programming Myths that are Costing you Ratings – Ken Benson (P1 Media Group, USA)

This session will bust 5 widely practiced programming techniques and tell you why they don’t deliver what you think, and we’ll share how to use these 5 techniques to improve your ratings.Mirchi: From Radio to Digital Audio Entertainment – Udit Tyagi (Chief Digital Officer, Entertainment Network/Radio Mirchi, India)Radio Mirchi in India, part of the Times Network, has made a huge transformation from traditional radio to digital audio entertainment of all kinds. They will present their journey and current strategy as well as present their new audio ad network. Sport on the Radio – What Type of Content Will Engage Fans? – Adam Carruthers (TV/Radio Host, ASTRO Supersports, Malaysia), Guy Dobson (Director, Asia Radio Concepts, Australia)Sport on the radio has become a mainstay of listening in Europe, North America, and Australia, but it hasn’t taken off in Asia – yet. What type of sports content builds audience figures, and can contribute significantly to radio’s revenues?The ABU’s Radio Asia conference takes place on Sunday 4th September (training day) and Monday 5th September, followed by RadioDays Asia on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th September.The two conferences have worked together this year to offer a Super Radio Event Week to help radio and podcast companies across the region regroup and rethink after the effects of covid on their businesses in the past two years.radioinfo is a media partner of Radiodays so readers can still save USD $70 by booking with our special code.The discount code for radioinfo readers is RINFKL Register at radiodaysasia.com/register, then go through the credit card payment process and apply the code just before payment for your discount. […]