ASIA

radioinfo’s Wayne Stamm is off to Malmö to cover Radiodays Europe, and filed this story as he headed for Sydney International for the flight to Europe.My bags are packed, I’ve got a warm jacket, scarf, computer, headphones, and my Opal pass to get me to Sydney International Airport for the flight to Copenhagen and then on to Malmö for Radiodays Europe.Oh, yes and my Passport. I say this with the confidence of someone who has left his passport at home and had to turn around on the M1 to go back and get it, and has also left it in a hotel safe in Las Vegas, only to discover that fact in LA on the morning of the flight home from an NAB Show.It takes 8 hours to drive to Las Vegas and back, but only 2 hours to drive home on the M1.Radiodays organiser Rosie Smith insisted I should also take 6 pairs of shoes, so my feet don’t get sore, murmuring something about lessons learnt during her modelling days, but I don’t have room for 6 pairs and a long coat, so I’m only taking 2, and I’m not planning on modelling anything.I am also looking forward to this conference as it is focused on radio/podcasting/audio unlike the NABShow which takes in everything ‘broadcast’ including TV/video meaning it’s sometimes easy for radio to get lost.And there are some really interesting sessions this year with Radiodays Women, a Youth forum, Podcast Summit, sessions headed by names I know well, including Grant Blackley, Caroline Beasley, Francis Currie, Joe D’Angelo, Tom Webster and James Cridland, as well as a session on the war in Ukraine and its effect on broadcasting.Some of the sessions I’ll be attending include, Rise of Audio Drama, American regional radio in a digital age, Radios quick response in a crisis, Triton Digital’s Q&A, How Oldies and Classic Hits took over radio, and more.There is a lot packed into the three days of Radiodays Europe, and I’ll get to as much of it as I can, reporting back daily for radioinfo. […]

Content from BPRBack in the 90’s, an audio device called auto-tune began to be used in the music industry. The first big hit using auto-tune was Cher’s “Believe.” Auto-tune soon became a fixture on the pop music scene. As the name implies, in addition to creating a special audio effect, auto-tune actually corrects the pitch of the instrument or the singer’s voice. In effect, anybody can sing in perfect pitch using this audio device.An article in the music magazine Indie Panda explains it in this way:“Auto tune can be programmed to stay within certain parameters, such as a scale or a key. When the vocalist sings into the microphone, the program will morph the vocal track towards the nearest programmed note.The speed at which the program adjusts an incoming note can also be calibrated. A slow tuning speed will sound much more natural, whereas a fast-tuning speed will sound digital and artificial.”Recording artists no longer need great voices or even good ones in order to sound “professional.” Auto-tune can even be used in live performance. This has opened doors to many singers with only the lowest level of singing ability. All they have to do is to sing or rap in time.Digitally-created instrument sounds that attempt to replicate real instruments have become so common that it is difficult to find pop hits that are using real instruments. The problem is that digital instruments tend to sound artificial. This results in many recordings sounding very similar to each other. For example, digital piano and drum sounds are very difficult to distinguish apart in a wide range of current recordings.Computerization in audio recording has led to the “everything sounds the same” syndrome. In other words, listener fatigue due to lack of variety. The big advantage of computerization is that it is far cheaper to create a digital instrument or voice track than if one uses real musicians or talented singers to do the same.By Andy Beaubien, BPR […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) was back in session last week. After a two-year hiatus, it was great to see friends and fellow broadcasters back together again.My trip was to be a short one: I arrived on Friday, spoke to the BEA group on Saturday, attended the BLT reception and MIW dinner Sunday night and returned home on Monday. In between, I experienced some great customer service and some not-so-great customer service. As I have lately been teaching sessions on adding value to our offerings through great customer service, I was especially intrigued.My first morning there, I wandered into Sid’s restaurant in the Westgate Hotel for breakfast. Who greeted me? Paul, the singing waiter. Now, I knew he was the singing waiter for two reasons: first, he wrote it on my tab, and second he SANG!Lesson number one: Do something to stand out from your competition.Lesson number two: Do what you promise to do.Paul was attentive: he fulfilled my needs, but what made him memorable and set him apart from the other waiters was his uniqueness.I returned to Sid’s for a quick lunch. Someone served me, but I don’t remember anything about that person.Lesson number three: If they don’t remember you, they can’t buy from you!But the next morning, I returned to Sid’s for another breakfast. My waitress, Marianne, came immediately and introduced herself, and ASKED FOR MY NAME. Thereafter, she referred to me by name in every interaction. I asked for a glass of ice tea (my caffeine beverage of choice). When she returned, she brought TWO glasses of tea.“I wanted to make sure you didn’t run out.”I ordered toast and crisp bacon. Guess what? The bacon WAS crisp, but when she brought the jam and butter, she said, “The butter was hard as a rock so I softened it for you.” Now, if you have ever tried to spread rock hard butter on toast, you appreciate the added value. After checking back several times, when she brought my check and change she said, ” I hope you have a wonderful day. Send good thoughts out into the universe.”Lesson Number Four: Surprise your clients with that “little extra.” (two glasses of tea)Lesson Number Five: Go above and beyond expectations and tell your clients what extra you did for them. (melted butter)Lesson Number Six: Always project positivity with your clients.While I was in Las Vegas, I ate at some expensive restaurants. But the best service I found was at Sid’s. Which only goes to show you don’t have to be Number 1 to be the best. Being the best is up to each of us.Our mission for 2022: provide extraordinary service to our clients.Happy Selling! […]

The Adthos Platform has received its second industry award having been crowned ‘Ad Tech Company of the Year’ at the latest Global Business Tech Awards, which recognise, reward and celebrate all things technical in the business world. This is the second win for Adthos, following the IBC’s Best of 2021: Radio World Award.The platform combines an innovative ad-server designed specifically for radio, with Adthos Creative Studio which provides advanced text to speech and synthetic voice technology to create audio advertising on the go. New features are being developed and further releases are expected later this year.Raoul Wedel, CEO of Adthos: “We are delighted at the recognition that Adthos continues to receive. We’re already so proud of what we have achieved, and to have it validated by the industry is fantastic. We have a lot more still to come with the platform so watch this space!” […]

Following the government’s decision to create a new public media entity by merging RNZ and TVNZ, nine Establishment Board members have been announced to lead the creation of the new broadcasting body.These include corporate bosses and a former minister.Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi announced former MP and New Zealand First broadcasting spokeswoman Tracey Martin as the chair of the board.Other members include Former MediaWorks chief executive Michael Anderson and current TVNZ board chair and Briscoe Group director Andy Coupe, TVNZ’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver, Bailey Mackey – an NZ Rugby director and Māori Broadcasting Advisory Panel member, Dr Jim Mather, RNZ board chair and former Māori Television chair, ANZ Bank executive and RNZ board member Peter Parussini, former Kordia Group chair John Quirk and tech entrepreneur and augmented reality producer Aliesha Staples.As of 2020, TVNZ had revenues of $340m and 390 staff, while RNZ had a staff strength of 310 with $50m revenues.Faafoi said the new entity would be multi-platform and designed to reach new and existing audiences. It would be built on the best of the TV and radio entities and could better meet the challenges of changing technology and global competition.Legislation to create the entity would be introduced to Parliament in the next few months.The public would then have the chance to give feedback through the select committee stage. […]

Radiodays Europe is now just a week away, and radioinfo’s Wayne Stamm chatted to organiser Rosie Smith about some of the features of this year’s event.The conference begins on Sunday in Malmö with the Radiodays Europe Women session that features Siobhan Kenny who stepped down as CEO of Radiocentre, the UK’s industry body for commercial radio, in July 2021, and Daria Suvorova, a Founder and Host of the Women Authors of Achievement (WAA) Podcast.The Youth session takes place of Sunday with four sessions that will cover podcasting and radio with speakers that include Teresa Hanratty, Learning Waves, Ireland, Signe Muusman & Christian Frederiksen, DR Talent, and DR Sam Bailey, Radio Academy. Sunday night will also see the European Premiere of Worst to First, the true story of Z100 NY. There is a focus on events in the Ukraine with two journalists from the public broadcast arena in the Ukraine who will be discussing the events as they saw them unfold and what is happening with media in their country right now, and what the radio industry can do to help the situation in their homeland.Caroline Beasley is talking about US regional radio in the digital age,  SCA’s Grant Blackley is heading a discussion on Digital Transformation – The journey from Radio to a Digital Audio Powerhouse, and there will be sessions on the connected car, programming for youth, podcasting, audience engagement, the rise of audio drama and whole lot more.Rosie’s full interview with Wayne is below, and she highlights some of the surprises for this years program.[embedded content]The full program is here. […]