1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 Hello, I'm James Cridland, the Radio Futurologist, and well, I'm supposed to record this whenever 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:12,760 I write a new newsletter, but clearly I haven't been doing so. But nevertheless, that means 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:18,400 that I've got plenty of test stuff for something that I would like to test. So this is partially 4 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:24,160 a test and partially something about better user interfaces in cars changing radio listening, 5 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:30,600 which I wrote on the 23rd of October. So if I don't really know what I'm reading, that's 6 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:36,440 probably why. A fascinating bit of data from Edison Research came out then, showing the 7 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:41,560 effect of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on car audio listening. It seems that AMFM is 8 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:48,920 still the number one source, but total listening goes down by a third if you have CarPlay or 9 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:54,800 Android Auto. Everything else doubles – music streaming, podcasts, all of that kind of stuff. 10 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:00,080 It's the effect of a decent user experience, of course. If you make it simpler to listen 11 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:05,000 to other things, people will. It's why things like Radio Player that aim to make a decent 12 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:11,120 user experience for all of radio are so important. As a case in point, I was in Adelaide over 13 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:16,480 the weekend, the hire car had Android Auto in it, and I didn't listen to the radio once. 14 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:22,200 I just asked YouTube Music to play music from My Mix, and it did. How did that compare with 15 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:27,240 the radio? Well, we did some listening in a cafe – Power FM, I think it was – but 16 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:32,040 on a Sunday morning it was just non-stop music punctuated by one, quite eager local news 17 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:36,440 bulletin and a number of commercials. And non-stop music really isn't much of an alternative 18 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:42,400 to My Mix, which is also non-stop music, but the music that I like. Radio's selling point, 19 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:48,200 a shared experience, and a human connection is important here, you'd think. 20 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,240 In Australia, some interesting corporate manoeuvring as ARN launches a hostile takeover bid of its 21 00:01:53,240 --> 00:02:01,040 competitor, SCA. The broadcast radio market is worth $1.7 billion, which is $1.1 billion 22 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:07,000 US. And this would be the equivalent, I guess, of Bauer trying to take over global or Odyssey 23 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,800 taking over iHeart. There's a phrase that is aged considerably badly. Anyway, the radio 24 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:21,080 ownership rules in Australia allow for Analog Radio, one company, to own two radio stations 25 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:28,320 in each broadcast area. And I linked to the Brisbane RA1, the licence area for Brisbane, 26 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,960 and the Ipswich RA1, the one for Ipswich, and most of the city of Ipswich, is in the Brisbane 27 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:39,680 area as well. So when ARN bought grants a few years ago, the Ipswich station River 94.9 28 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:45,360 meant that they had to sell a station in Brisbane. And if ARN is successful in taking over SCA, 29 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:50,680 of course they'll have four stations in many areas, so the plan there is to have two broadcast 30 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:56,600 radio companies run separately in much the same way that global and communicorp exist. 31 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:02,840 But that regulatory requirement isn't relevant for streaming, or for DAB+, or for podcasting. 32 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:09,720 And looking at the recent Australian podcast ranker, ARN and SCA represent 69% of all podcast 33 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:15,920 downloads in Australia. That's quite the behemoth. So I don't really understand whether the ACCC, 34 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:20,520 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, would have the same concerns as the UK's 35 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,480 CMA, but it's certainly interesting times for the industry ahead. 36 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:30,000 In other news, Eric Newsom has written a content strategy for US public radio, three strategies 37 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,800 actually. It's worth a read. You'll find it linked in our show notes and our newsletter. 38 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:41,120 In South Africa, happy 30th birthday to the NAB. I was honoured to speak at the NAB's 39 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:47,200 30th anniversary event via my home office. The deeply unsatisfactory result of the Voice 40 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,280 to Parliament referendum in Australia led to the presenter of Triple J's Blackout, which 41 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:58,360 is a show playing Indigenous artists, to make a protest speech and then play the same song 42 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:04,320 for an hour. That was promoted on the ABC's website. And think of how that would have 43 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,680 gone down at the BBC. 44 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:12,000 And Sean Ross suggests that the first thing that US radio must fix is the add load. I'm 45 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:18,480 always mystified why US radio doesn't understand how much to charge for its airtime. 46 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,720 It says here, coming up, I'm speaking at the following events, which I will skip past because 47 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,960 all of those are in October and November, and it is no longer October and November. I'll 48 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:31,240 tell you that. Supporters, at the point that I wrote this were, thank you to Broadcast 49 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,240 Radio, Clyde Broadcast, Richard Hilton and James Masterton, Brun Audio Consulting, SOMA 50 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,040 FM and Media Realms Meta Radio. If you'd like to support my work in any way, you can buy 51 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:48,200 me a coffee. You can do that at buymeacoffee.com. I believe you can also follow me on Master 52 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:54,320 Don. I'm James at bne.social there. My professional website has more detail about who I am and 53 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,800 what I do and whether I can help you further. You can hear this newsletter being read to 54 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,480 you on a podcast playing near you. It says, gosh, you've been listening. You've been waiting 55 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:08,200 for a long time. Just search for James Cridden Radio Futurologist. Well, that's this. Anyway, 56 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:13,000 anyway, thank you for listening. I hope that was good. Sorry, it was about six months too 57 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,800 late. Well, October, November, December, January, okay, three months too late. But anyway, at 58 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:25,120 least this gives me a chance to test a number of things. So we'll do that and I'll speak 59 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:52,120 to you again soon and keep listening.