ASIA

Big FM, one of India’s largest radio networks launched ‘BIG World’ – a slew of offerings emanating from their core strengths, which can be tapped into by clients to engage with consumers in the new digital world.BIG World aims to utilise the power of digital media by playing to their strengths in audio creation and explore new avenues to increase their customer base and engage with their audiences.The launch commenced with a keynote by Abraham Thomas, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, who shed light on the Radio industry and its trends, followed by a short presentation by Sunil Kumaran, COO BIG FM, on the four pillars of BIG World.Thomas said: “Radio is a shared experience with human connection. Growth in Digital radio is also getting driven by this ‘radio-like’ experience. At Big FM, our endeavour is to keep creating amazing content, and be available everywhere through valuable partnerships. To provide an immersive radio experience is why we chose the metaverse to make the Big World announcement. Big World is a bouquet of client solutions that provide immersive and engaging experiences for consumers through multiple platforms.”Outlining the offerings, Kumaran spoke about the following four pillars of BIG World:
BIG Radio and its evolution into an audio conglomerate offering
BIG LIVE is a vertical dedicated to live events, both on-ground and online. The network has already established BIG Cafe online as their flagship offering for online concerts during the last two years.
BIG Social leverages the rapid growth of digital to the fullest, to introduce a myriad of avenues that include gamification, social commerce, & advocacy. With their RJs already being influencers on radio, the network has now opened them to digital advocacy for branded content. They also recently launched their first social commerce platform BIG Living, a one-stop destination for sustainable and mindful products curated by BIG FM RJs.
BIG Voice focuses on digital platforms for audio like podcasts and smart speakers. In the last one year, BIG FM has successfully deployed 200+ episodes of original podcasts across 30+ platforms.
Adding on, Kumaran said: “Audiences today are seamlessly moving across media platforms and content formats.  BIG WORLD offers operate at the crux of Content & Platform to drive a much deeper level of engagement with the audiences.  Utilising the power of Social media, Events on- ground and on digital, through new age audio formats like Podcast, through presence on Smart Speakers and through Games, the offering of BIG WORLD will provide clients a much deeper and effective way to reach audiences”.   […]

Jamaluddin Deldar, owner and executive editor of local radio station Radio Saday-e-Gardez, was detained by the Taliban at his office in Gardez city of Paktia province and transferred him to an undisclosed location on May 24, according to Dildar’s brother Parwiz Ahmad Dildar, who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The station has ceased operations since the arrest.On the same day, Taliban intelligence agents detained Mirza Hassani, the former owner and editor of Radio Aftab, a local radio station in Daikundi province that stopped operations amid the Taliban takeover last August, at a checkpoint in Herat city.Hassani was transferred to the 12th Directorate of the Taliban’s GDI in Herat after agents searched his phone and found news reports posted on his social media. He has reportedly been beaten and tortured while in custody and is accused of working as a reporter for the anti-Taliban militant group, National Resistance Front (NRF).Hassani’s family and the Herat’s Scholars Council have called for his immediate release.United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also tweeted asking on the Taliban to release all detained media workers and journalists, and to stop torturing, arbitrarily detaining, and threatening journalists.According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center, at least 80 journalists have been detained and tortured by the Taliban in the last nine months.In the latest South Asia Press Freedom report, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)documented 75 media rights violations, including 12 killings and 30 arrests, in Afghanistan from May 2021 to April 2022. An estimated 1,000 journalists have fled the country since last August, with threats, harsh restrictions and economic collapse leading to mass closures of media outlets.The IFJ said: “The Taliban must cease its arbitrary arrest and detainment of Afghan journalists and media workers. The escalating number of media rights violations in Afghanistan continue to restrict freedom of the press and freedom of expression. The IFJ calls for the immediate release of Mirza Hassani.”

CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler said: “The recent increase in arbitrary detentions of media workers and journalists mark a disturbing deterioration of press freedom and the ability of the Afghan people to access accurate, timely information.” Image: VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons […]

Content from BPRSong request programs date back to the early days of format radio. This was a time when music fans had only two options if they wanted to hear a favorite song – purchase the vinyl recording or call into a station and ask for the song to be played on the radio. Another less practical option was to play the song on a jukebox. Request programs became extremely popular. They served to bond the listener with a station. After all, if one was able to call into a program and have their favorite song played, that station had a real possibility of becoming that listener’s preferred station. Request programs also had a social side. A listener could dedicate a song to a special friend and that friend could then hear the song being played especially for them. And then the Internet came along…With the advent of the Internet, music fans were able to hear their favorite genre of music via platforms such as Spotify. Soon after, music fans were offered subscription services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music that offered them the option of downloading or streaming specific songs and albums. Amazon Music now boasts of having a library of 90 million songs and podcasts. Now that’s real music variety!Radio stations no longer have the advantage of music on demand. Research has shown that listener interest in song request programs is in the decline. And yet, many stations are still reluctant to abandon the song request program. Of course, there are some markets around the world where Internet penetration and access to digital technology are limited. However, these markets are rapidly becoming the exception.Although digital audio consumption is booming, many radio operators are being left behind. In spite of audience research findings to the contrary, many operators simply do not want to admit that they no longer have a monopoly on audio. The reluctance to accept new realities is a big problem for radio broadcasters.Perry Michael Simon, editor of all access.com, described the challenge that radio faces in a succinct manner when he wrote:You can stay in your comfort zone, keep doing what you’re doing, and hope for the best, or you can adapt and try doing different and even risky things. Okay, three ways: You can also give up.Although most radio operators are not prepared to give up the fight, the “keep doing what you’re doing, and hope for the best” option reflects the attitude of far too many in our business.

Creativity and imagination have always been a hallmark of our industry. When television came along, many people said that radio was doomed. However, radio did not fade away but rather it changed. New formats such as top 40, classic oldies and album-oriented rock found an audience eager to hear their favorite music. The development of talk radio brought to the industry an audience that many had given up for lost.Radio is once more faced with major challenges. Doing the same thing simply will not work in the face of today’s highly competitive audio marketplace. We need to try new things and encourage new thinking. The future of our industry belongs to creative risk takers.By Andy Beaubien, BPR […]

Radiodays Asia has announced more speakers for this year’s conference, to be held in-person and online on September 6 and 7 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.These include:Abraham Thomas is a media evangelist, he has over two decades of experience in building and scaling youth media platforms (across TV, Radio, Digital, Print) in India, China and South Asia. Currently, holding the post of Chief Executive Officer with Big FM / Reliance Broadcast Network, India.John Kelly joined Southern Cross Austereo, Australia in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer. John’s role includes ownership of the operations for SCA’s Digital Audio app LiSTNR, overseeing SCA’s General Management Teams, developing SCA’s Corporate Strategy and facilitating the company’s external key partnerships.Ralph van Dijk is a world authority on effective radio and audio branding. Ralph founded Eardrum in London in 1990, and launched Eardrum’s Australian agency in 2006. It is now the most awarded radio and audio agency in the world, producing effective radio campaigns, audio branding and audio content for advertisers and their agencies around the world.This will be the third edition of the new conference from the team who produces Radiodays Europe, the world’s largest and leading conference for radio and audio development, in collaboration with broadcaster organisations in the Asia-Pacific.Radiodays Asia includes a fantastic line-up of speakers, leading experts and professionals from around Asia, Australia and across the world. Topics ranging from radio and podcast strategy, new digital developments, successful formats and content development, fact checking and investigative journalism, podcast storytelling and business, social media, audio advertising, sales and the latest research about consumer behaviour. The most important trends and new ideas worldwide in one place.The main conference runs over two days with two parallel tracks of sessions. It will have meet-ups and interactive sessions as part of the programme to facilitate networking and sharing of ideas. There will also be an exhibiton area where you can learn the latest about services from our commercial partners. In addition four educational training workshops will be included in the offer, as well as an evening networking event.

The main Radiodays Asia conference will be hybrid – in-person in Kuala Lumpur and online for those who are unable to travel.The first Radiodays Asia was held in KL in 2019. It got fantastic feedback from participants, coming from 30 countries. Attendees gave the event an astonishing 4.25 rating on a 1-5 scale.  The second, virtual event in March 2021 saw attendees from 40 countries and the same high rating: 4.25.Click here to register with the Super Early Bird Price before June 5. […]

Content from BPR.There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal in April this year about the US retailer JCPenney.It centred around the corporate strategy being implemented by the new CEO.“The new chief executive isn’t trying to win new customers or court younger, hipper buyers. Instead, Marc Rosen hopes to revive the 120-year-old retailer by focusing on those who already shop there: budget-conscious American families.That is a departure from predecessors who tried to woo millennials, appliance buyers and even yoga enthusiasts, to name a few. Those strategies failed to keep the chain out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020.His goal now is to once again make JCPenney a destination for people who want affordable curtains, mattresses and silverware as well as clothes for work or leisure.“The biggest difference this time is we are loving those who love us,” Mr. Rosen said, adding that “we need to give them more opportunity to come back and find things they love.”As programmers we are often under pressure to continually grow market share.

Now, if your station is the perennial cellar dweller in the ratings, I can understand the following probably won’t apply.However, at successful stations there is a fine line between keeping those who love you happy and trying to please the rest.Whatever you do on air and off air should never be at the expense of those fans who love your station …your P1’s, your partisans. They are the ones most likely to recommend your station to their friends…they become your brand advocates and provide much needed “word of mouth”.Even your P2’s are at least listening to your station…they just need to LOVE it.P1’s and P2’s may have different programming priorities or music tastes (your research will tell you this).If that’s the case, it is often a balancing act to lure those P2’s into becoming P1’s while not disenfranchising your loyal fans.But, like JCPenney…never forget to love those who love you.By David Kidd, BPR […]

Grammy nominated band BTS are talking about their gradual journey to becoming K-pop superstars through a new weekly limited series “BTS Radio: Past & Present” on Apple Music 1.The three-episode limited series will air weekly, leading up to the release of the band’s new album “Proof,” which is scheduled for release on June 10.The band will take listeners on their quest to stardom while sharing stories and songs that helped shaped them.“We wanted to use this radio show to celebrate nine years of BTS with you guys and with our ARMY all over the world,” said RM of the seven-member boy band — which also includes J-Hope, Suga, Jungkook, V, Jin and Jimin.The inaugural episode aired on Saturday, May 28, in which the group discussed songs including “Intro: The Most Beautiful Moment in Life,” “Epilogue: Young Forever,” “I Need U,” “No More Dream” and “We Are Bulletproof, Pt. 2.”Suga said: “I chose ‘Intro: The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’ because I remember working on this song and exactly how much I struggled with it. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes right now. Just so many memories with this song”Speaking about “Epilogue: Young Forever”, Jimin said: “I listened to it a lot when I was going through a hard time, and it helped me get through it. It’s also one of the most beautiful songs ARMY has sung for us.”On “I Need You”, Jungkook said: “This song is special to us in many ways. ‘I Need You’ got us our very first No. 1 win on a Korean music show. I think back then was when we first got the feeling that we were finally being noticed, finally about to make it.”

The second episode, which airs June 3, has the band pick some of the BTS ARMY’s favorite songs.BTS shows how the group ultimately achieved fame as global music sensations in the final episode on June 10. […]