WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:02.770 I'm James Cridland, and this is the future of 00:00:02.770 --> 00:00:05.370 radio. It's from my international radio trends 00:00:05.370 --> 00:00:07.849 newsletter, which you can find at james .crid 00:00:07.849 --> 00:00:11.669 .land. And this is it for March the 16th. The 00:00:11.669 --> 00:00:17.289 Voice of America gets cut. Almost 1 ,300 journalists, 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:20.570 producers and assistants are no longer working 00:00:20.570 --> 00:00:23.469 at Voice of America. And for the first time in 00:00:23.469 --> 00:00:27.170 83 years, the broadcaster has been silenced. 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:31.710 I went to the Voice of America in 2009, and I 00:00:31.710 --> 00:00:34.210 did a talk there about radio's future, and I've 00:00:34.210 --> 00:00:37.049 just found my blog post from the time and restored 00:00:37.049 --> 00:00:39.829 it to my website. It reminded me of my visit. 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:42.590 I found it a little old -fashioned and governmenty, 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:46.490 but also genuine and sincere about its commitment 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.789 to its listeners. The White House suggests that 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:53.280 it is radical propaganda. and alleges that it 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:56.140 is left -biased. Now, much of everything appears 00:00:56.140 --> 00:00:58.320 to skew to the left if you believe that Fox News 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.060 is fair and balanced, I suppose, but along with 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:04.540 the closure of US aid, what an astonishing loss 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:08.620 of soft power around the world. The BBC World 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.480 Service is currently arguing about the sources 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:15.379 of its funding as part of wider BBC funding talks 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:19.439 due to complete in 2027. About two -thirds of 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:21.799 the cost of the BBC World Service comes from 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.659 the UK licence fee. In a rushed deal originally 00:01:24.659 --> 00:01:28.799 done by Mark Thompson in October 2010, the considerable 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.760 benefit that the BBC World Service delivers around 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.920 the world is immeasurable to Great Britain, but 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.799 yet successive UK governments haven't. seem to 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:41.040 have considered that. I know from my own travels 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:43.340 how important the BBC World Service is to the 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:45.900 standing of the UK, and while Voice of America 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:48.719 may not be in the same league, it still really 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.200 benefits the perception of the United States 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:55.280 of America. It's a massive mistake to close it. 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:00.780 Restoring the post from VOA has also meant that 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.400 I found and restored a ton of other posts from 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:05.920 that time. So I've linked to a gushing piece 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.180 about NPR, things I learned from Tokyo FM in 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:12.960 Japan, a trip to CBC Radio 3 in Vancouver, the 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.479 strangeness of radio in Bangkok, and a look around 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:19.960 Osterio in Melbourne. It's quite a nice trip. 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:22.990 That, down memory lane, I might have been unemployed 00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:25.949 at the time, after my time at the BBC, but what 00:02:25.949 --> 00:02:29.490 an enjoyable travel journey it all was. Emboldened 00:02:29.490 --> 00:02:32.810 by blogs, I wrote a new piece about why it was 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:36.909 time for ABC local radio to be on FM in the capital 00:02:36.909 --> 00:02:39.949 cities here in Australia. For them not to be 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:43.389 seems short -sighted from the ABC, but also short 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:45.610 -sighted from the government, who, after all, 00:02:45.729 --> 00:02:48.879 funds the ABC to exist. The amount of hatred 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.439 I've had in Facebook groups for making that suggestion 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.620 has been interesting, to say the least. One reason 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:57.060 the Facebook commenters give is that it's illegal 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:01.780 to simulcast on AM and FM. However, there's no 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:04.159 such law, as far as I can discover, not least 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:07.819 many ABC local radio services do exactly that. 00:03:08.759 --> 00:03:11.580 I recorded an interview this week for J -Wave, 00:03:11.659 --> 00:03:15.680 81 .3 FM, about the 100th anniversary of radio 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.439 starting in Japan. I'll be on JK Radio Tokyo 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:24.319 United with John Kabira between 6 and 11 .30 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:26.879 on March the 28th. That's in a couple of weeks. 00:03:27.159 --> 00:03:30.060 Radio in Japan started after the government was 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:32.659 concerned about misinformation and wished to 00:03:32.659 --> 00:03:35.900 give a sense of unity to the station. It's never 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:39.840 been as popular as in the US or Europe and reaches 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:43.000 about 40 % of people in Japan every week as opposed 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.400 to about 90 % in many other countries. It is 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.340 still a vibrant medium. And John told me during 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:51.300 the interview that younger audiences are rediscovering 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:55.680 this machine called radio. And finally, Smooth 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.240 Radio in North Wales has closed its AM transmitters. 00:04:00.300 --> 00:04:03.659 AM continues to be slowly turned off in the UK, 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.379 especially by the commercial sector. Here's a 00:04:06.379 --> 00:04:08.719 bit of the promo talking about that closure. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.000 Smooth FM in North Wales. Where am I speaking 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.699 next? Well, I'm in Dublin. In Ireland, March 00:04:18.699 --> 00:04:21.459 27th to the 28th, if you're listening to this 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:25.300 and you're in Dublin and you fancy catching up 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:27.920 for a pint of the black stuff, then I will be 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.850 delighted to do that. That would be fun. I'm 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:33.069 actually there a day early and stay there for 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:35.430 another day afterwards. So, yes, that would be 00:04:35.430 --> 00:04:37.689 a good thing. Anyway, Radio Days Ireland is a 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:40.230 thing. Maybe it's a Radio Days that I can actually 00:04:40.230 --> 00:04:42.709 get to this year, along with Radio Days North 00:04:42.709 --> 00:04:45.529 America, which I'm also going to in Toronto between 00:04:45.529 --> 00:04:48.730 May the 7th and the 8th. In the middle of that, 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:52.629 Evolutions in Chicago in Illinois, March 31st 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:56.490 to April the 3rd is when that is on. The podcast 00:04:56.490 --> 00:04:59.399 show in London. May the 20th to the 21st. Just 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.180 before that, I believe I'm speaking at PodCamp 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:08.019 2 .0. That's not yet confirmed, but PodCamp .live 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:11.480 is where you can learn more information about 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.579 that. There's a podcast movement going on in 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:18.240 Dallas, in Texas, in mid -August. Just booked 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:20.939 my tickets for that. That's good. Qantas has 00:05:20.939 --> 00:05:22.839 a deal on at the moment, so I better get that 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:25.439 booked and also get these two booked as well. 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:29.350 Pennine Radio's 50th birthday. I will be going 00:05:29.350 --> 00:05:31.370 to London. I think the way I'm going to be doing 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:34.730 this is return to London and then a return from 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:38.129 London to Calgary, which is where I am speaking 00:05:38.129 --> 00:05:41.209 the following week. Pod Summit YYC in Calgary 00:05:41.209 --> 00:05:44.149 in Canada. That's between September the 19th 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:48.269 to the 20th. There may be a Radio Data Asia in 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:52.680 there as well. due to have a conversation about 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:55.959 that, when I was in Athens. But that never happened 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.680 because I wasn't in Athens, because of the cyclone. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.339 Everything's fine, by the way, here. The worst 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:06.160 that happened to us is that the pool went green. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.579 There you go. I know. First world problems. Thank 00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:13.939 you so much to my many supporters, including 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:18.480 Wade Kingsley and Soma FM and Radio King, plus 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.399 Greg Strassel, Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton, Emma 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:24.160 Gibbs, Jocelyn Abbey and James Masterton for 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.160 being regular supporters. If you would like to 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.920 support my work in any way, please do. You can 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.709 buy me a coffee. Buymeacoffee .com slash. James 00:06:31.709 --> 00:06:34.129 Cridland. You can become a member if you like 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:36.129 to give regularly or just give a one -off coffee 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:40.310 or five in there. I'm on Blue Sky as james .crid 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:43.550 .land. Not that I use it much. I'm on Mastodon, 00:06:43.550 --> 00:06:46.230 which I use much more. James at bne .social, 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:49.769 brisbane .social. That would be a fine place. 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:52.110 And my website has more details about who I am 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:54.050 and what I do and whether I can help you further. 00:06:54.310 --> 00:06:56.430 But until next time, keep listening.