ASIA

The Taliban forced Nasim Radio, a local radio station in Daikundi province in central Afghanistan, to shut down on Wednesday, September 27. They also arrested its director and two reporters.According to Afghanistan Journalists’ Centre (AFJC), the employees were subsequently released after five hours, but the station remains closed.AFJC said that General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) forces raided the station’s office at approximately 12:00 PM and confiscated the employees’ work tools, including mobile phones and voice recorders, and sealed the gate of the radio station.

The GDI subsequently detained the head of the radio station, Sultan Ali Javadi, along with reporters Saifullah Rezaei and Mojtaba Qasemi.As of now, local Taliban officials have not commented on the reason for the closure of Nasim Radio and the arrest of its employees. However, AFJC cited a credible source indicating that it may be due to the rebroadcasting of programs from a foreign radio network.AFJC strongly condemns the attack on the radio station as an attempt to suppress and restrict the activities of free media. AFJC requests that the Taliban issue permission to reopen Nasim Radio and refrain from obstructing the free activity of media outlets and their employees.The Afghan Supporting Independent Media (NAI), also issued a statement saying that systematic restrictions on access to information have made the future of journalism in Afghanistan uncertain. It also expressed concerns about challenges such as limited access to information, lack of job security, and physical violence against journalists and media personnel.According to Afghanistan’s media law, media should be free to carry out their professional work without restrictions or threats. Officials should be supportive of the media and journalists.

Earlier this year, the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture affirmed that no other entity has the right to interfere in media affairs or the work of journalists.Photo: AFJC […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonFourth quarter, in the U.S., usually means it’s time to renew clients for the new year. In today’s uncertain economic environment, doing so may seem a bit scary as we determine IF they will renew, might they want to cut back expenditures, or if they might choose NOT to renew!Renewals often require increasing rates. As salespeople, we often don’t want to “rock the boat” by asking for higher prices. Have you ever tried to sneak a renewal past your manager using last year’s rates? Or perhaps you held the dollar amount your client had been spending the same, which means you decreased the number of messages they were using. Did this put them beneath the number of ads required for an OES schedule? If so, we are doing our clients a disservice.

Renewal time should be a time to find ways to better serve our clients. Business is evolving rapidly tossed about by external factors beyond our control. These shifting sands require businesses to constantly change how they do business. The marketing plan they used last year, last quarter or even last week may need to be changed. It’s almost a certainty that their message will need to be changed.Before we ask for a renewal, we need to sit with our clients and do a needs analysis. We need to benchmark where that business has been in the last two years and where it needs to go in 2024. What has changed? What do they anticipate for 2024? Are they in a positive frame of mind or a negative frame of mind? What is their PERCEPTION of the next 12 months?Here are some questions we need to ask:How has your revenue changed in 2023? Up, down flat?What are the major challenges you are facing now?

How have these changed this year?What concerns you most about 2024?If the answer is “supply chain”, ask what products they can get, what they can’t get. When do they anticipate the supply chain to improve?How have they altered their business model because of the supply chain?If they mention not being able to staff fully, ask how this has affected their business specifically. Shorter hours? More days closed? Longer work days for the owner? Is revenue exceeding pre-COVID numbers?If revenue is soft, ask if they are seeing smaller average sales or less traffic. Have your profit centers shifted? If so, how?What will it be important for your customers to know about you in the next few months?How important to you is being involved with community events?Where do you want your business to be by the end of 2024?What needs to happen to get it there?You probe for changes in the business. You ascertain goals and objectives for 2024. You understand your client’s perceptions of his world. These new challenges can trigger changes in how they have been advertising. If clients have not been using effective schedules, you may now find ways to introduce them to doing so.When clients believe our campaigns can help them to solve problems, they will give us money. If they PERCEIVE that their opportunity for reward exceeds their PERCEPTION of risk, they will embrace our campaigns. Renewals start with understanding where our client’s business is NOW and where they want it to be by the end of 2024.Take the time to understand. It’s not about US: It’s about THEM. Easier renewals await!Happy Selling! […]

Among classical radio programmers, one of the most common beliefs is that the audience wants to listen mostly to symphonic strings-laden pieces. Not only do listeners want to hear “all strings, all the time” but they also want the tempo be mostly mid-tempo – not too fast, not too slow. Our research has shown time and again that nothing could be farther from the truth. In reality, classical format listeners want variety in style, tempo and orchestration.The classical music catalogue covers approximately 600 years ranging from the 15th and 16th centuries (the Renaissance era) to the modern era. The true “Classical era” is associated with music from 1750 to 1820 and is primarily known for the monumental contributions of composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. However, the eras that preceded and succeeded the Classical era produced a massive amount of music commonly associated with classical music. Pre-dating the Classical era were giants such as J.S. Bach, Handel, Scarlatti and Vivaldi. And yet, these composers produced few works that would fall into the category of “all strings, all the time”.The Romantic and Impressionistic music years (approximately 1820 to 1900) produced a large number of orchestral pieces but as time passed composers such as Brahms and Mahler expanded upon the melodic range of the Classical era. Even today some of the works of the period sound a bit more dissonant than those of Mozart and Beethoven. Nevertheless, the late 19th century produced a large number of works that are accessible to the listener and yet offer a contrast to the works of the Classical era.

Unfortunately, many classical music stations limit the historical range of the music that they play and tend to rely primarily on works from the Classical and Early Romantic eras. Research has shown that listeners are open to a much wider timeline. In recent decades, the music of Bach and Vivaldi have become a staple in the classical format just as the music of Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Stravinsky and Ravel have found a place in the hearts of classical radio listeners.In the next installation of this series, we will examine orchestration and the role that it plays in providing welcome variety to the classical format.Your thoughts and questions about classical radio are welcome. If you wish, you can contact me directly at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you.By Andy Beaubien, BPR

Andy Beaubien, a BPR senior consultant, has extensive experience working with classical music stations around the world including Classic FM in the UK. […]

Registration is now open for Radiodays Europe 2024, to be held from March 17 to 19, in Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria.This year, participants can register easy with three ways to join the event:
For those who want to join for all 3 days of the event, there’s a 3-day Access Pass which gives access to Radiodays Europe Inclusive and all of the Summits on Sunday.
Attendees who want to join for the Monday and Tuesday only we have the 2-day Conference Pass which excludes all events on the Sunday, these can however be added after registration if needed at a later date.
Finally, the 1-day Summit Only Pass gives those who wish to join this year’s Summits which include a more in-depth focus on: Youth, Podcast and AI access to these sessions.
Radiodays Europe offers free access to the Exhibition Only on Sunday for those who want to visit Exhibitors with no access to any conference sessions and a big discount to those who want to bring their full teams or book as a Group.

Register now at Super Early Bird Prices here. […]

Indian government’s regulator for the telecom industry in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) might get its next head from the private sector.The idea is consistent with the government’s recent decisions to choose members of the private sector to lead important regulatory organisations.It comes just a few days after TRAI recommended that private FM radio operators should be allowed to broadcast independent news and current affairs programmes.

According to media reports, the central government is considering a change in the TRAI Act, 1997, which would lay down specific requirements to enable senior corporate executives to become the chairperson of TRAI.It would mean an amendment to Section 4 of the TRAI Act, 1997, under which the Centre is empowered to appoint the chairperson and members of the regulatory body who have “special knowledge of, and professional experience in, telecommunication, industry, finance, accountancy, law, management or consumer affairs”.“There is a proposal that a person who has never worked in the government can be appointed as the chairperson of TRAI if they have at least 30 years of professional experience at a senior level, such as a board member or chief executive officer,” a senior government official said, requesting anonymity since the talks are currently private.According to the current rules, a TRAI member must have held the post of Secretary or Additional Secretary to the Government of India, or any equivalent post in the central or state government, for at least three years. But no rules are specified for the post of chairperson.“While technically, the chairperson could have been appointed from the private sector, the government had so far stayed away from appointing such an individual due to obvious concerns of conflict of interest. But the changes being considered now signal the changing mindset of the Centre towards opening up key regulatory posts for individuals from the private sector,” said the official.

“Besides, the changes being mulled also signal that TRAI has evolved as a regulator over the years and could now do well under a person from the private sector,” said sources.The current TRAI chairperson, P D Vaghela, is a Gujarat-cadre 1986-batch IAS officer, and was earlier Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. His predecessor, R S Sharma, a Jharkhand-cadre 1978-batch IAS officer, was the IT Secretary from 2014 to 2015. […]

Radio Taiwan International (Rti) celebrated its 95th anniversary with an event featuring remarks by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday, September 19.Other speakers at the event included Legislative Speaker You Si-kun, Ambassador of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Taiwan Andrea Bowman, and Rti Chairperson Cheryl Lai.In her speech, President Tsai said that Rti has borne witness to important moments in the Taiwanese people’s struggles for freedom and democracy. She said that RTI has consistently fulfilled its role, from its former duty in broadcasting on democracy to chronicling Taiwan’s increasing global engagement, bringing Taiwan’s voice to the international airwaves. The president also noted that RTI has shown its commitment to the ideal embodied by this year’s theme for World Radio Day: Radio and Peace and has conveyed to the world that Taiwan is willing to do its part for world peace. She expressed hope that everyone at RTI will continue to use their expertise to bring the voice of Taiwan to the world and wished RTI all the best as it embarks from a new milestone. Tsai also said Taiwan’s ability to connect people all over the world was demonstrated by the many postcards received in various languages on display at the event.

Rti Chairperson Cheryl Lai also gave remarks at the event. Lai said Rti is Taiwan’s only public media company to broadcast in 20 languages across multiple platforms. Lai says Rti has been an important channel for people in Southeast Asian countries to understand Taiwan. She says the Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai language services have a long history at Rti, and are important resources for Taiwan’s new immigrants and migrant workers. Lai said that Taiwan also began a Ukrainian language social media service following the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war. She concluded by saying that as Taiwan grows more vibrant and diverse, Rti will continue to spread Taiwan’s voices to all corners of the world.Ambassador Bowman said in her speech that reaching 95 years of service is not an easy accomplishment to achieve. She said Rti represents an excellent model for how to spread the message of democracy and peace across the globe.Here’s a translation of President Tsai’s remarks:“This year RTI marked its 95th anniversary by hosting a postcard collection drive appealing for world peace, as well as by expanding its scope of activities, holding forums in Taiwan and Thailand on the outlook for Asia post-pandemic.The forums were focused on the topics of “authoritarianism and democracy” and “addressing disinformation and information warfare around the world,” both of which reflect challenges currently facing democratic countries. As Taiwan stands on the frontline of the defense of democracy, and as we are facing an expansion of authoritarianism, we are willing and able to work with our global democratic partners to defend the values of freedom and democracy.

In recent years, Taiwan has continued to collaborate with democratic partners from around the world through the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, holding workshops to discuss various global issues, such as how to improve media literacy and counter disinformation. I am sure that this international conference held by RTI will also help Taiwan and our democratic partners share experiences on resisting authoritarianism and countering disinformation.I want to thank RTI for its dedication. Founded 95 years ago, RTI has borne witness to important moments in the Taiwanese people’s struggles for freedom and democracy. In particular, RTI has consistently fulfilled its role, from its former duty in broadcasting on democracy to chronicling Taiwan’s increasing global engagement, bringing Taiwan’s voice to the international airwaves.RTI has also helped connect Taiwan with its friends the world over. Guests with us here tonight and listeners around the world have sent in postcards in various languages to express their well-wishes for RTI as well as their hopes for world peace.This year’s theme for World Radio Day is Radio and Peace. I would like to thank RTI for showing its commitment to this ideal. Through its efforts, RTI has shown that the power of broadcasting knows no borders. It has also conveyed to the world that Taiwan is willing to do its part for world peace.Just now, listening to Anastasiia Palamarchuk, a student from Ukraine, recite a poem at the opening of this event, we can all understand that the commitment to democracy, freedom, and peace goes beyond borders, and that it is an important link between Taiwan and the international community. This link has become stronger as a result of everyone’s hard work. That is why I am confident that everyone at RTI, making an impact through radio, is proud to be a broadcaster.Over the past few years, RTI has been more than a bridge linking Taiwan to other nations around the world. It has also provided friendly, real-time information services to new immigrants and foreign language speakers in Taiwan. Once again, I would like to thank everyone at RTI for your contributions. I hope that you continue to use your expertise to bring the voice of Taiwan to the world. I wish RTI all the best as it embarks from a new milestone.” […]