1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,440 Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist, and every week or so I write a newsletter 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,840 all about podcasting and that sort of thing every couple of weeks. 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,200 I should probably say because it's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote one. 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,440 But anyway, this is from July 11th, 2023. 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:22,400 What the world's first podcaster would do with radio? 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:27,440 Because it was podcasting's 20th birthday over the weekend and for the Podcast Business 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,840 Journal I interviewed Christopher Lydon, who's the world's first podcaster. 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,280 And our conversation got onto radio. 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,280 And well, here's a clip of that interview. 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,480 Has podcasting changed the way you thought it would 20 years on? 11 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:46,920 Well, I'd say yeah, it's bigger. 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:48,640 It is more commercial. 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,100 It's not monopolized. 14 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:54,160 You cannot monopolize human voice and it's still growing. 15 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:59,440 I mean, this is a very fluid world of media, but I think if the Marshall Land had been 16 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:06,680 said take me to your real voices to get the pulse of this nation, I'd say try the podcasts. 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,720 Arguably that's what radio was for. 18 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,560 And of course you have a tremendous radio background as well. 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,040 Where do you think radio is going? 20 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,280 That's a very good question and a dark sort of question. 21 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:25,400 I think podcasting is a terrible burden on radio, public broadcasting and otherwise. 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,400 I note that Vermont Public Radio has dropped the radio. 23 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,440 It's now Vermont Public. 24 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:36,280 WGBH dropped the W as if to say we're not a broadcast station anymore. 25 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,640 We're some sort of other service. 26 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:44,200 I think they're selling the peculiar brilliance of radio short. 27 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:45,200 It's cheap. 28 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:50,360 Anybody can listen on a very cheap instrument, whether you're out farming or doing the dishes. 29 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:52,440 It carries the human voice. 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,560 I think radio has stopped believing in the higher calling of radio itself and I think 31 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:58,560 it's a damn shame. 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:01:59,560 Yeah. 33 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,800 Where do you think if you were in charge of a radio station now, what would you be doing 34 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:03,800 with that? 35 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,680 Well, I'd be doing a whole lot of things. 36 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,240 I'd be doing a lot of podcasting. 37 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:14,740 I'd ask Erica Heilman to teach the world how to listen, but also how to listen to regular 38 00:02:14,740 --> 00:02:15,740 people. 39 00:02:15,740 --> 00:02:22,520 Our podcast, I say with some chagrin, not exactly, but is public people, people who've 40 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,880 written books or maybe won a Nobel Prize or hold a professorial chair somewhere and they're 41 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,520 advocating something. 42 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:35,840 I would do what Erica does so brilliantly, which is just get the voice of listeners. 43 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,080 Jay Allison did great work on this from the beginning. 44 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:47,120 Learner IDs, but let people talk until the dime drops or they cough up the secret. 45 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:48,120 Yeah. 46 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:49,120 Yeah. 47 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,880 So getting lots more other people's voices on the air rather than just the silky, the 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:54,200 silky voiced host. 49 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,200 Absolutely. 50 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:56,200 Absolutely. 51 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:57,200 Yeah. 52 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:58,200 Says you of the silky voice. 53 00:02:58,200 --> 00:02:59,200 Well, yes. 54 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:00,200 And me too. 55 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,920 They'll throw that at me too, but I've got an untrained voice. 56 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:06,600 I sound like my brothers. 57 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,680 We talk the way our parents taught us to talk. 58 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,800 There's nothing trained about my voice. 59 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,320 So we're going to keep it that way. 60 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,520 What a lovely man he was. 61 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:22,480 Christopher Lydon, who is still podcasting today, the open source podcast and the full 62 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,660 interview is in the pod news weekly review podcast. 63 00:03:25,660 --> 00:03:30,160 This Friday, you can listen wherever you get your podcast is I believe the phrase. 64 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,120 And now I wonder what you'd make of Alfred in the UK. 65 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,040 David Lloyd has written plenty of details about it. 66 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:41,280 It's the community radio station for Shaftesbury in Dorset that I've written a fair bit about 67 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:42,280 already. 68 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,600 Annoyingly, Ofcom has removed Alfred's license application from its website, which is a shame 69 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,960 because it was a really good read rather weirdly. 70 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:58,760 Anyway, you'll find that linked from my newsletter at james.crid.land and that's linked in the 71 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:00,800 show notes today. 72 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:05,320 As I speak to you today, the latest Australian radio figures are out and I've written about 73 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,880 the new research methodology Radio 360 last month. 74 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:15,080 I noticed that ABC Radio Brisbane has become the number one AM station in the city by Cume, 75 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,520 which seems to me the right way to measure public service radio output. 76 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:24,640 Interesting though to also see 4BH, the golden oldest station in Brisbane doing so well. 77 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,760 It's number one in share for 55 plus adults. 78 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,040 It's number five in share overall. 79 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:35,600 In its marketing, it's been heavily and perhaps uniquely promoting DAB Plus as an available 80 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:41,560 platform alongside its poorly performing 1116 frequency or 1116 frequency. 81 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,760 Anyway, I can't recall any other radio station mentioning DAB Plus in this market and for 82 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,600 the record, DAB Plus has more listening in this country than online does. 83 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,160 And also that's true in the UK as well. 84 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,040 I also linked to an interesting video from the US explaining why every radio station 85 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:00,040 sounds the same. 86 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,440 It's a quick canter through the ownership law changes of the Reagan era and then how 87 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,280 TikTok is setting the playlists these days. 88 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:11,240 There are some important caveats near the end though and there's a lot of you turn 89 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,400 me on like a light switch. 90 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:18,480 Meanwhile in Sydney and certainly not with the same production work as the YouTube video 91 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,520 I've just mentioned, two men wearing anoraks actually have a light switch and they wonder 92 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:28,680 whether ABC Radio Sydney's AM transmitter can turn it on. 93 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:33,760 The good folks at Futuri Media are now pointing their AI guns on the people who make the commercials 94 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,480 with a new product called Spot On. 95 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,720 Daniel Anstandig is quoted in the article talking about using it for spec spots to get 96 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:46,040 a client interested and if you're just going to use it for that, then that's fine. 97 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,260 Just use it for that. 98 00:05:47,260 --> 00:05:48,260 Just for spec spots. 99 00:05:48,260 --> 00:05:49,260 Nothing else. 100 00:05:49,260 --> 00:05:50,260 OK? 101 00:05:50,260 --> 00:05:51,260 Good. 102 00:05:51,260 --> 00:05:57,120 Also, on Twitter, if you remember that, Denis Floran, who's radio consultant to the stars, 103 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,840 he posted a video of Ennard doing something, you know, clever in French. 104 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:02,840 No, I do. 105 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:03,840 What it's about. 106 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:09,520 But it's worthwhile taking a look at the video because my goodness, the view in the studio 107 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:16,320 itself is the biggest, most ridiculously over engineered music radio studio you have ever 108 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:18,760 seen unless of course you know different. 109 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,200 And I'd love to see it if you do know different. 110 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:23,600 Definitely take a peek. 111 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,040 You'll find that linked from my newsletter. 112 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:31,520 Also on Twitter, assuming that you can still see anything on it, for some reason, Kit FM 113 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:38,400 UK's Tatum McGreal has decided that at a Pink concert she'll jock up the intro and hit the 114 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:43,440 post to some of the songs that Pink is singing, which is very strange. 115 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,720 She gets additional marks for the favourite biscuit reference, which I was quite a fan 116 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:49,720 of. 117 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:56,280 And while we're on the subject, Forbc has a new temporary afternoon host, the disgraced 118 00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:00,440 plagiarist and former Murdoch journalist, don't know which of those is worse, Peter 119 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:01,760 Gleeson. 120 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:07,840 And imagine my joy to be listening in 30 minutes into day two to hear this important phone 121 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:09,160 in topic. 122 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,800 Biscuit lovers, here we go. 123 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:18,920 Arnott's have come out and said whether you enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee as 124 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:20,880 a morning snack. 125 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:28,240 They've basically said here are the classics and they've recently introduced obsession 126 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:33,720 biscuits ranging from mint chocolate, salted caramel, milk and dark chocolate. 127 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,280 I want to know your favourite Arnott's biscuit. 128 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,920 Wow, two pieces about biscuit news. 129 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:47,800 So how about the subtitle of a piece in T3 to complete the trilogy of lazy radio tropes? 130 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,720 Spotify plans video upgrades that could change the way you use its app is the headline. 131 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,080 The sub headline video killed the radio star. 132 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,680 But what about streaming? 133 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:03,000 Now thank you to Broadcast Radio for becoming my latest supporter. 134 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,800 The company writes we've known James for far too many years, but we've been avid fans all 135 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:08,800 the way. 136 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,600 Here's to hearing him talk more about the industry we love and a mutual disdain for 137 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:15,200 lazy Buggles headlines. 138 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:20,760 Yes, I've actually found a listener to this podcast rather than a reader of the newsletter, 139 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,360 but I'm grateful to you. 140 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:24,360 Thank you so much. 141 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:30,160 Broadcast Radio makes the popular radio play out system Myriad, which is also in the cloud, 142 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,400 as well as tools and software for all kinds of things in radio as well. 143 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:40,400 You can go and visit their website at the rather excellent URL of allthews.broadcastradio.com. 144 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:47,320 All the W's are just my little thing to Russ Williams there. 145 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,240 All the W's. 146 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,040 Broadcastradio.com. 147 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:53,040 Thank you so much. 148 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:54,840 That's super kind of you. 149 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:01,600 Thank you to Clyde Broadcast, Richard Hilton, James Masterton, Brun Audio Consulting, Soma 150 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:07,260 FM, and Media Realms Radio websites for being supporters as well. 151 00:09:07,260 --> 00:09:11,180 If you would like to support my work in any way, you can buy me a coffee as well. 152 00:09:11,180 --> 00:09:14,280 You can become a member to give regularly if you like, or just give a one-off coffee 153 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:15,780 or five. 154 00:09:15,780 --> 00:09:18,760 Do that at buymeacoffee.com slash James Cridland. 155 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:20,840 Please do follow me on Mastodon as well. 156 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,720 I'm james at bne.social there. 157 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:29,400 You can also find me in threads in T2. 158 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:30,400 I'm still on Twitter. 159 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:32,440 I don't really use that. 160 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:33,440 I'm also on Blue Sky. 161 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,000 I don't really use that either. 162 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,200 Anyway, my professional website has more details about who I am and what I do and whether I 163 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:40,200 can help you further. 164 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,240 You'll find that at james.cridland.net. 165 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,240 No, james.cridland.net. 166 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:49,320 No, professional website is james.cridland.net. 167 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:50,320 That's right. 168 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:51,320 How confusing. 169 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:52,320 James.cridland.net. 170 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:53,960 Yes, that's the one you want. 171 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:59,160 And if you want more of this unprofessional nonsense, then I'll be back soon. 172 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:05,200 In the meantime, keep listening.