ASIA

Dielectric have made some significant inroads into the Asian market with the placement of over 100 units recently.Wayne Stamm from radioinfo caught up with Cory Edwards to talk about the new deployments and some of the new products Dielectric have coming on line that will be aimed at the Asian market.The company will be in Asia in May talking to prospective new clients. […]

Enco has released WebDAD 3.0 at this year’s NAB Show and radioinfo’s Wayne Stamm talked to Bill Bennett about the new products.WedDAD3.0 is a remote web-based system that tailors into Enco’s playout system DAD, allowing up to 10 users to remotely interface with system at any one time.From library and playlist maintenance to on-air control and voice tracking, it’s all there in this HTML5-based interface that allows native access and control from any web-enabled device, and introduces new operational efficiencies for full-time station personnel and allowing stations to decentralise their workforce with part-time, contract, and remote staff. […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonOne of the hardest parts of our sales process is getting in the door the first time. Today, businesspeople are inundated by people wanting to sell them something. In-boxes are full, phones ring constantly, people walk in their door. That businessperson didn’t get up in the morning saying, “Gee, I hope a radio or TV salesperson comes by today.” Instead, they are trying to figure out how to run a profitable business in a business environment that is constantly changing. New problems arise daily. When we approach them, they are asking themselves, “Why should I give this person my time?”“Hello, I’m salesperson X with XXXX station. I’d like to talk with you about your radio/TV advertising.” Or, “I’d like to come by and learn a little bit about your business to see if I can sell you something.” Or, “We’ve got this great new package I’d like to talk with you about.”Sound familiar? How are those opening lines working for you?There are two worlds in every sales situation: Our world and the world of the client. Guess which world is most important? A prospect will welcome us into their world IF they perceive that doing so will make their world better, will solve problems for them. It’s not about US: It’s about THEM. We must answer, “Why”?“Hello, my name is Salesperson and I’m with XXXX. I’m not sure if we have anything to talk about or not, but we’ve been working with businesspeople, such as yourself, to help them deal with some of the problems they are facing today. Some of our clients just can’t find enough good people to work for them. We are helping them to locate staff. Some are experiencing supply chain problems. We are creating messages for them that help them create revenue streams for other parts of their business. Some recognize that since the cost of doing business is rising almost daily, the only way to protect their profit margin is to get more people in their stores. We have devised campaigns to increase their traffic. Which of these frustrations might you be experiencing? Well, would it make sense for you to invite me over for half an hour so we could discuss whether or not we might be able to help you? I’m available Tuesday at 2:00. “Note that this .30 second commercial leads with how we have helped other business people to solve problems (3rd party reference.)The problems we mention (in bold) are the problems we are hearing from our current clients. These are almost universal today and will change as the business environment changes. You can insert new problems as they arise. Chances are your prospect has one or more of these challenges.We craft our 30 second commercial to present what we do from the world of our clients: We help our clients to solve business problems. The vehicles we use to deliver messages from our clients to potential customers may be our radio stations, TV stations, digital programs, outdoor, direct mail. All of these are VEHICLES TO DELIVER MESSAGES. It’s not about US: It’s about THEM: Our clients. They don’t want to buy advertising, but they DO want to solve business problems. If they believe we can help them do that, they will invite us in. They will give us their time. They will give us their money.Happy Selling! […]

Content from BPRWhen it comes to music streaming it’s a case of “In With the Old, and Out With the New”. A new study of streaming music habits by MRC Data* contains bad news for CHR stations.70% of listening across streaming services are now older songs, while in 2021 the top 200 new songs make up just 5% of all music streaming.This is down from 11% just three years ago, highlighting that we are seeing a rise of the re-current, in the current listening environment.Source: MRC DataThese results highlight that streaming continues to be a weak platform for new music discovery. Where users have control of their own listening it seems they are defaulting to listening to established, older hits they already have a relationship with, rather than trialing music and artists that are unknown or that they’ve only heard a few times.These results also highlight that radio remains the best medium for breaking new songs and artists, with listeners much more willing to sample new music on radio than they are anywhere else. The ‘curated playlist’ nature of radio still has substantial strength, radio is still the medium where new talent can and does emerge.So, what does this mean for radio formats?For CHR stations these results are a concern, highlighting that the new music environment is deteriorating further and there will be a more limited supply of new music that listeners are familiar with.This comes at a concerning time for CHR formats, as fewer younger listeners are invested in radio (as highlighted in BPR’s recent All Audio Study). Stations have to weigh up relying on re-current songs, that have that instant recognition with listeners but potentially undo some of the “New Music” credentials of a station, or attempt to launch new songs and artists, that risk alienating an audience who are already more marginal radio listeners.These results should be a boom for classic hits and classic rock formats, where we could see more listeners switching to stations that offer their old favourites. However, there are also dangers, with more stations reliant on re-currents, along with listeners streaming these songs, it’s likely we’ll see song burn out rising faster than it once did.The traditional life cycle for an older hit is likely to be upended over the coming years.With the top hits being overplayed, expanding the base is a good strategy for these stations to essentially re-break older hits and keep listeners engaged and not reliant on the same old songs that listeners listen to on their streaming services.It also highlights the importance of ongoing music research, not just for CHR stations, but classic hits and classic rock formats as well. Listening more to older hits can result in the listeners opinions on the songs changing more rapidly than before.At BPR we can deliver music research for all formats using a range of platforms – you can contact us at [email protected]Data sourced from MRC Data. Copy of their report available here.By Sam Williams, BPR […]

The GfK Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM) Wave 1, 2022 reported a new high for Malaysian radio as listenership reached almost 96% of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to a high of 21.3 million weekly listeners, marking an increase of 217,000 from the previous survey.From this, Astro Radio grew its market share by 3% to 16.4 million weekly listeners or 77.1% of 21.3 million available radio listeners, strengthening its position as the radio operator with the highest number of listeners in Malaysia.Astro Radio’s increased reach in radio listenership is underpinned by 16.6 million average digital radio streams, 25.7 million social media followers, 359.6 million video views, and 146.1 million monthly average Facebook page reach.Astro Radio brands continued to lead as No. 1 across all languages: HITZ, the No. 1 English brand; ERA, the No. 1 Malay brand; MY, the No. 1 Chinese brand; and RAAGA, the No. 1 Tamil brand. Astro Radio recorded a reach of 87.6% for English audiences, 71.9% for Malay audiences, 71.1% for Chinese audiences and 93.6% of Tamil audiences.
With 2.6 million weekly listeners, HITZ also achieved the highest ‘Exclusive Audience’ for English brands at 257,000 listeners, the Highest Breakfast segment for English brands with 1.2 million listeners and the Highest Drive segment for English brands with 1.3 million listeners. HITZ also recorded an increase for Time Spent Listening to 5 hours and 24 minutes.
MIX recorded 1.2 million weekly listeners, with the Breakfast segment increasing to 542,000 while the Drive segment garnered 489,000 listeners. MIX recorded an increase of more than 40% for its Exclusive Audience to 108,000.
LITE charted 771,000 weekly listeners with Breakfast and Drive segments receiving 368,000 and 374,000 listeners respectively.
ERA, also Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand, increased its weekly listenership to 5.8 million, and continued to achieve Malaysia’s highest weekly reach on radio amongst young Malay listeners between the ages of 10 to 29, with 2.9 million listeners. The Breakfast show remained No. 1 with an increase of 3.1 million listeners, and the ERA Drive Show remained the highest with 2.7 million listeners. ERA also achieved the Highest Exclusive Audience amongst all radio brands with 866,000.
SINAR, remained Malaysia’s second most-listened-to brand overall and the No. 2 Malay-language radio brand in Malaysia, with an increase in weekly listenership to 5.2 million weekly listeners. SINAR Breakfast and Drive segments increased to 2.6 million and 2.5 million weekly listeners respectively. SINAR also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience to 679,000.
GEGAR, Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand in the East Coast, increased its reach to 2.6 million weekly listeners consisting of approximately 35% from Kelantan, 22% from Pahang, 26% from Terengganu and 16% from the West Coast.
ZAYAN recorded weekly listenership of 340,000 with the Drive segment increasing to 185,000, while the Breakfast segment garnered 153,000 listeners.
Weekly listenership on MY increased by 300,000 growing to 2.8 million with the Breakfast and Drive segments achieving the highest number of listeners across Chinese radio brands with 1.8 million and 1.6 million respectively.
RAAGA, Malaysia’s No. 1 Tamil radio brand increased its weekly listeners to 1.8 million. This increase was also reflected in the Breakfast segment with a high of 1.1 million listeners, and an increase of more than 260,000 in the Drive segment to 1.2 million listeners. RAAGA also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience by 131,000 to 753,000.
The survey was carried out over 6 weeks with a mix of traditional radio diaries (75%) and e-diaries (25%) distributed to 6,000 unique individuals across Peninsular Malaysia to capture their listening habits. 21 commercial radio brands subscribed to this wave and Astro Radio secured 6 positions in the Top 10 brands ranking.Data source: GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 1 2022 | Facebook Page Reach: Facebook Business Manager (Jan – Mar 2022) | Digital Streams: Radioactive (Jan – Mar 2022) | Website Unique Visitors/Page Views: Google Analytics (Jan – Mar 2022) | Video Views: Facebook Creator Studio, CrowdTangle, YouTube (Mar 2022) | Total Social Media Followers: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok (Mar 2022) […]

New York Festivals® Radio Awards announced the 2022 Storytellers Gala award-winners. Innovative audio work created by world-class storytellers from 24 countries were celebrated at the April 26th Storytellers Gala virtual event.From Asia, Indian entries led with one bronze and 10 finalist cartificates.Club FM from India bagged a Bronze in the Craft category for Best Sound for its Egg Day promo. It also won four finalist certificates. India Vision Foundation’s Radio Parvaaz, Music Broadcast Private Limited’s Radio City and Sri Sri Publications Trust’s The Art of Living Radio all won two finalist certificates each.Mediacorp Singapore earned two finalist certificates while Radio Taiwan International got one finalist nomination.Creative and compelling audio entries from around the globe were recognized by the 2022 Radio Award Grand Jury including engaging podcasts and audiobooks, masterful dramas, and documentaries, up to the minute news coverage, entertainment and music specials all created by world renowned storytellers.All Entries in the 2022 competition were judged online by NYF’s Radio Awards Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe.RTÉ Ireland, the international radio network, was honored with the Broadcaster of Year Award. Captivating award-winning entries awarded gold trophies include: “Sing! Dublin’s Gay and Lesbian Choir” and “One Day / Lá Dá Raibh” (RTE Lyric  FM), “Mamó, By Sara Keating, Read By Ingrid Craigie” and “Documentary on One: L’Agression” (RTÉ Radio 1).Welcoming the award, RTÉ Director General, Dee Forbes said: “We are honoured that our radio stations and programmes, as well as our people, have been recognised among such prestigious company by the New York Festivals Radio Awards. While radio is evolving rapidly in a very competitive media landscape, it continues to occupy a special place in the lives of our listeners who come to us, not just for vital news and information, but to plug into the life and culture of this country across arts and entertainment, music and performance, drama, factual documentaries, sport and so much more. It is important that we continue to satisfy the clear appetite for authentic, diverse and original local content and provide a valuable platform for our talent. Congratulations to all this year’s nominees.”HarperCollins Publishers UK was honored with the 2022 Radio Production Company of the Year the Year Award for their exceptional audiobooks. Gold trophy winning work includes “Lord of the Rings,” “Gangsta Granny Strikes Again,” and “Einstein the Penguin.”“We are delighted to be recognised with the Production Company of the Year Award. This is a wonderful testament to a landmark year for the HarperCollins Audio team, with standout productions across a wide range of genres. We’ve been able to work with some of the most talented actors of the day, as well as highlight brand new talent from diverse backgrounds, and bring together incredible casts to make our recordings truly memorable.”—Fionnuala Barrett, Audio Publishing Director, HarperCollins UK2022 Grand Awards“Have You Heard George’s Podcast?” – from BBC Sounds & BBC Radio 5 Live – Narrative/Documentary Podcast. BBC’s award-winning podcast is a genre-defying, award-winning and critically acclaimed podcast that delivers a fresh take on inner city life through a mix of storytelling, music, and fiction.“If you haven’t ’Heard George’s Podcast?’, you need to. In this latest Chapter 3, George the Poet and producer Benbrick continue to raise the creative bar, beautifully showing the possibility and power of audio to tell important stories, and in particular stories of Black life and music. They also collaborated with the BBC Concert Orchestra, which must be the first time a full orchestra has recorded the score to a podcast series, and all achieved during strict lockdown conditions. We’re really proud of Have You Heard George’s Podcast? and delighted it’s the second year in a row that a BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds podcast has been awarded the Grand Jury Prize.” —Dylan Haskins, Commissioning Executive for Podcasts, BBC Sounds & BBC Radio 5 Live“U.Me: The Musical” – Magnum Opus Broadcasting – Best Original Music. The Grand award-winning new original musical created especially for the BBC World Service is a love story for radio and podcast tells the story of two young people on opposite sides of the world who meet online and make a true connection.“I think the overall message the project gave us at Magnum Opus Broadcasting, was of the power of collaboration: especially in a socially distanced, locked down world. londontheatrereviews.co.uk described U.Me: The Musical as: “without a doubt… the most creative and inspiring piece of art produced by the devastating effects of this pandemic. Whether that’s the case or not, it’s a ‘piece of art’ designed to offer hope; and it couldn’t have done so without that collaborative process. And if the pandemic taught us anything, maybe it’s that collaboration – in the arts, medicine, or whatever sphere – can overcome many, seemingly insurmountable, obstacles.” –Lewis Borg-Cardona, Producer, Magnum Opus Broadcasting“The Sounds of America” BMP Audio – Culture & The Arts. BMP Audio’s Peabody award-winning series, The Sounds of America showcases some of the works selected for the National Recording Registry which selects 25 works each year to preserve for all time. BMP’s award-winning documentary series earned the 2022 Grand Award.“We’re thrilled to be honored with the Grand Award for The Sounds of America radio series! The series profiles audio recordings preserved at The National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. Recognizing recordings that made a significant impact on American culture!  What better way to pay tribute to our audio heritage than through audio storytelling.”—Ben Manila, Founder/Executive Producer, & Jennie Cataldo, Producer, BMP Audio.New York Festivals Storytellers Gala honored Sean McManus, Chairman of CBS Sports with the twelfth annual New York Festivals® Lifetime Achievement Award.  Greg Gumbel, television sportscaster for CBS Sports presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. McManus.Podcasts from around the globe engaged listeners in a wide range of genres. Gold trophy winners include “American Radical” (NBC News), “9-11 Janice Brooks, the South Tower” (Sky News Radio), “Jaleh’s Drive For Freedom” (ABC Radio National), “Sounds of the Moana” (Centre for New Zealand Music Trust), “Vital Signs – My Mind Is Terrorizing Me” (SiriusXM), “Embrace Everything – The World of Gustav Mahler” (Aaron Cohen Productions), “The Effect” (B7 Media /Audible), “My Only Story: Back to School” (Media24 & My Only Story NPC), “Interprètes afghans : partir ou mourir (Afghan Interpreters: Leave or Die)” (Radio-Canada), “Before–After: The 1972 Bulltofta Hijacking” (Sveriges Radio), The Greatest Menace” (Lockdown Productions /Audible), “Tender” (Broadwave), “The Lake” (Popsock Media), and “False Idol” (Religion of Sports).Audio Books captivated listeners. Entries earning Gold include “Lord of the Rings,” “Gangsta Granny Strikes Again,” and “Einstein the Penguin” (HarperCollins Publishers), “A Slow Fire Burning” (Penguin Random House UK), and “Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon Audiobook” (Pushkin Industries).Captivating documentaries celebrated compelling non-fiction narratives explored through sound.  Gold trophy-winning work includes “King Louis The First Of Britain” (6Foot6 Productions), “Encounters – Stories about our Natural World” (Regan Hutchins), “Stuff The British Stole” (Marc Fennell), “Virgin Radio Pride” (Virgin Radio UK), “Game of Empires. Malvinas 1982: Colonized by the Dictatorship” (National Radio from Argentine. The Public Radio), “The Doc Project – The Skyluck Journals” (CBC), “The Let It Be Story” (Howlett Media Productions Ltd.), and “The Long Haul: Texas and The Pandemic” (Texas Standard). Visit the 2022 Radio Awards winners’ showcase HERE.Enthralling entertainment entries earned Gold including “U.Me: The Musical” (Magnus Opus Broadcasting), “Major Events” (Sveriges Radio),  Silver trophy winners: “Exonerated with Clay Cane“ (SiriusXM ), “Enoch Arden, From The Balcony Of ICI Premier “ (Radio-Canada), and “The Adventures of a Young Pirate Queen – season two” (Roundstone Media Ltd). Sound entries earning Silver: “JUKEBOX | 25 Miniatures” (Götz Naleppa) and “Movies and Musicals with Aedín Gormley: Sondheim Special” (RTE Lyric FM).Breaking news coverage, features and investigative reports from broadcasters around the globe earned Gold: “Assault On The US Capitol” and “The Fall of Afghanistan” (CBS News), “The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout” (KUT 90.5), and “Third Squad: After Afghanistan” (Airloom Media).  Silver winners include “Mina Smallman, For All Women” (BBC Radio 4), and “My Name is Joe McDonnell, Hunger Striker” (Ocean FM).Visit the complete 2022 Radio Awards winners’ showcase HERE. […]