ASIA

Radiodays Asia, the leading radio and podcasting conference in the Asia-Pacific, has announced its first set of speakers for this year’s event which will be held 5-6 September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Nazri Noran, CEO, Media Prima, MYNazri has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. From his broad and extensive experience in the radio broadcast industry, he is known for specialising in creating content that resonates with the local audience.As Chief Executive Officer of Media Prima Audio, Nazri is in charge of its overall strategy and operations to further strengthen its position as a leading radio network.Nazri most recently served as Senior Assistant Vice President of Astro Radio Malay and Tamil where he headed its radio brands ERA, Sinar, Gegar, ZAYAN and Raaga. He began his career with Astro Radio in 2001 where he served various roles with hitz FM, xfresh FM and Sinar FM.Paul Kaye, VP, Music Brands & In House Productions, Rogers, CANPaul has over 10 years of senior/executive leadership experience & 20+ years in media & entertainment. Considerable background in performance coaching, team development, strategic planning, brand building & content creation.In 2016, Paul joined Rogers as Vice President, Product & Talent Development in 2020 his role expanded as he became Vice President, Music Brands & In House Productions. Paul is now responsible for the strategy and brand development of the company’s music-based audio brands and in house TV productions.Kim Blair, Content Director, Magic Talk Network, NZKim has been in the radio industry for 26 years. Starting in a small country town in rural Western Australia to Sydney and now Auckland, New Zealand. Starting as an on air announcer, Kim is also an award winning radio programmer. He is currently the Content Director for the Magic Talk Network, one of New Zealand’s newest news/talk radio stations.Radiodays Asia is a collaboration between Radiodays Europe, the world´s largest and leading conference for radio, audio and podcast, and broadcasting and podcast partners in Asia and Australia. The 2023 edition will run over 2 days in 2 tracks with 50 sessions. Top international speakers and industry leaders as well as successful producers and market experts will share their insights.Register for Radiodays Asia at Super Early Bird prices before June 1. […]

Content from BPRAs a programmer coaching talent can be difficult for a number of reasons.It requires a deep understanding of the talent’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the ability to effectively communicate and motivate them to improve. Additionally, as a coach you have to be able to adapt to the unique needs and goals of each individual, as well as being able to provide constructive feedback and guidance. You will need to create a positive and supportive learning environment and to build trust and rapport with the individuals being coached. All these skills are not common in any given individual and require a lot of time and experience to master.Here are some bullet points on why coaching talent can be a difficult task:
Resistance to change: Talent may be resistant to feedback or suggestions for improvement, which can make it difficult to effectively coach them. They may think “sure you are the PD but where’s your on air experience?” This is of course is a naïve approach…some of the greatest film directors have never been actors. Some of the greatest football coaches have never been star players.

Lack of self-awareness: Often talent may not be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, which can make it difficult for a PD to identify areas for improvement.

Communication: Effective communication is key to successful coaching, but some talent may have difficulty understanding or accepting feedback. They immediately get defensive. Conversely, the PD may need to polish up their communication skills to deal with talent on an individual basis and not just a “one size fits all” approach.

Lack of trust: If a PD is not able to build trust and rapport with the individual/show being coached, it makes it very difficult to effectively guide and motivate them.

Limited time: Coaching talent can be time-consuming, and some PD’s may not have enough time to devote to each individual. Let’s face it most PD’s in 2023 are under a lot of time pressure.

Lack of experience: Coaching talent requires experience and knowledge; some PD’s may not have the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively coach the individual. This will of course result in push back from the talent.

Finally……the talent just hasn’t got “it” to make to the next level. They’re good but not great….no matter how many hours you put in….and you need great.
By David Kidd, BPR […]

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonAll of us face attrition of some sort every year. We’ve been making a study of why businesses leave us. Every case may be different, but we’ve identified the main reasons we lose business:
A business closes
A business sells
The owner retires
New management
A change in marketing philosophy
They don’t recognize results
We mess up
We don’t take care of them after the sale
Some of these, 1-5, we can’t always control. We must prepare for them anyway. Today I want to talk about Numbers 4 and 5.One of my markets has seen a rash of cancellations or cutting back in a short period of time. Each situation has different elements, but they all share one thing in common. In each case, we had been calling on our designated person, but we had no other contacts within that business. Now, either the designated person has left, or they have a new boss. Oops! Now we start all over.How can we prepare for this eventuality?As we work with our clients, find out who the influencers are for that business. It might be the front desk person. It might be a spouse. The more people we know inside the business, the better armed we are to survive a new decision-maker. These “friends” can vouch for us. They can also give us useful information about the inner workings of the business. Who really makes the decisions? What is the decision-making process? Who might be the “power behind the throne”? Can our outgoing contact give us valuable information about the new person so that we make our initial contact armed with details that will encourage a new relationship quickly?If we are calling on a marketing director, we should try to get to know Mr. or Ms. Big. One of my clients had a great relationship with the marketing director. When it came time to renew, the salesperson asked for an increase. We were told that Mr. Big said, “Spend the budget anyway you want, but don’t raise it.” Many marketing directors can spend the money allocated, but they can’t increase budgets. Many times they can’t even decide which marketing vehicle to use. They are directed to spend X amount in radio, Y amount in digital, Z amount wherever.The same thing applies with ad agencies. It’s tricky to develop a relationship with a client without incurring the wrath of the agency. But ultimately, the client is the boss. If they designate money to a particular station, the agency must comply. In most agencies, we call on the buyer. What about the planner? The Account Executive? In larger agencies, the decisions as to where money will be spent are made long before the buyer sees the buy specs. All they do is decide which radio stations to buy, not how much of the total budget radio will get. And, despite what agencies will say when on the stage at RAB or state association meetings, how much success have you had in pitching a special promotion to a buyer? If it doesn’t fit in their numerical code, it doesn’t happen. But pitching a special promotion to a planner or an AE may give you and the client a “win”. Do you know the upper echelon of your agencies?So much of the time, we call on those who can say, “NO”, but we fail to develop a relationship with those who ultimately can say, “YES”. As we strive to manage our attrition, go deep. Know the influencers. Develop advocates in your businesses.Happy Selling! […]

New York Festivals announced the 2023 competition’s award-winning entries at the 2023 Storytellers Gala virtual event on April 18.  The virtual event featured global audio highlights, award winners’ acceptance speeches from around the world, and up-close and personal spotlights featuring some of radio’s most respected storytellers.From Asia, entries from Al Jazeera network, Qatar, led with two Gold, two Silver, one Bronze and five Finalist certificates.From India, MnM Talkies and Spotify India won a Gold, Bhopuwala Creative Solutions Private Limited won two Silvers, Radio City won a Bronze, and there were five Finalist certificates, of which four went to Radio City and one to Club FM.Energy Radio Saudi Arabia took home one Bronze and one Finalist CertificateSeoul Media Foundation from South Korea won a Bronze, Mediacorp Singapore’s Love 972 won a Finalist nomination and Radio Taiwan International won two Finalist nominations.The BBC was honoured with the 2023 Broadcaster of the Year Award. Compelling award-winning entries were honoured with both the prestigious Grand Award and 7 Gold trophies including “Burn Wild,” “Gangster: The Story of Curtis Warren (S2)” and “You, Me and the Big C: Putting the Can in Cancer.”HarperCollins Publishers UK was honoured with the 2023 Radio Production Company of the Year Award. This is the second year in a row that HarperCollins Publishers were recognized for their outstanding audiobooks.View the 2023 Radio Awards winners’ showcase here.New York Festivals Storyteller’s Gala honoured “The Kalb Report” with the 13th annual New York Festivals® Lifetime Achievement Award. For nearly 30 years the Kalb Report, moderated by eminent journalist Marvin Kalb, has provided a forum for prominent newsmakers and journalists to discuss the news media’s impact on American democracy.“Start Here” by ABC News in the News Podcast category earned the inaugural National Press Club Award. The new award launched in 2023, in partnership with the National Press Club, goes to the highest scoring entry in the following news program categories: Best Coverage of Breaking News Story, Best Coverage of Ongoing News Story, Best Nonfiction Series, and News Podcast.All Entries in the 2023 competition were screened online by NYF’s Radio Awards international Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe and judged on the following set of criteria: production values, creativity, content presentation, direction, writing, achievement of purpose and audience suitability.Visit the 2023 NYF Radio Awards winners gallery, visit here. […]

This Raya season, Malaysians can tune in to all 11 Astro Radio brands offering more detailed and accurate weather and traffic updates for smoother and safer journeys on the road. Through recent collaborations between Astro Radio and PLUS as well as MET Malaysia, updates will be provided on-air or via the SYOK app or website.For the first time, the Astro Radio Traffic team will monitor highway traffic cameras and speedily broadcast accurate traffic reports from the Persada PLUS’ Traffic Monitoring Centre (TMC), via on-air and on social media. These reports will also be based on traffic analysis by PLUS from previous festive seasons. Further to this, listeners can catch exclusive interviews with PLUS representatives for traffic management strategies.Kenny Ong, CEO, Astro Radio and Rocketfuel Entertainment, said: “We are excited to provide our 16.3 million weekly listeners and 27.5 million social media followers with a safer and more comfortable travel experience, especially this festive season. We thank our partners, PLUS and MET Malaysia, for the opportunity to collaborate and provide our listeners with valuable updates including enhanced traffic reports from all major highways including the North-South Expressway, Elite Highway, Penang bridge as well as many other roads nationwide. In addition, we will keep listeners informed and prepared to face the upcoming weather conditions. We wish all celebrating a Selamat Hari Raya, and happy holidays to all Malaysians.”“The collaboration is part of PLUS’ commitment to help highway users travel better during the festive season and ensure PLUS highway users enjoy safer and more convenient travel,” said Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi, PLUS Malaysia Bhd Chief Operating Officer.“Hopefully, with this collaboration, all Malaysians will be more aware of the current weather conditions provided continuously by MET Malaysia while enjoying this festive season,” said Muhammad Helmi Abdullah, MET Malaysia Director General.For more information, tune in to Hitz FM, Mix FM, Lite FM, ERA, SINAR, GEGAR, ZAYAN, MY, MELODY, GOXUAN and RAAGA on-air or on the SYOK app or website, or follow Astro Radio News and Astro Radio Traffic social media pages. […]

Stream Guys are now able to convert audio to video. This means they can now take a traditional radio stream, turn it into video with either a static image overlay or dynamic video, and they can add the visual display of the in-stream metadata, like artist and title, and display it as a visual overlay.This allows radio stations to get a video feed into third party platforms that require videoEduardo Martinez (pictured) outlined the new process to radioinfo, as well as new concept of a contribution network where broadcasters have a one stop shop to sends one high quality feed, and Stream Guys take care of the rest of the distribution chain. […]