WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.459
Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist,

00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:05.200
and this is Radioland, my international radio

00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.599
trends newsletter. You can sign up at james .cridland

00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:14.500
.net. And this is from July the 27th, 2025. ABC

00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:19.219
Radio Brisbane celebrates 100 years on air. Yes,

00:00:19.219 --> 00:00:21.899
what is now ABC Radio Brisbane launched on the

00:00:21.899 --> 00:00:26.579
27th of July 1925 at 1pm with the market report

00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:28.679
followed by the stock exchange and the weather

00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:31.420
after which, in a display of programming genius,

00:00:31.739 --> 00:00:35.609
the station closed down. until 6 .30. Ray Allen

00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:37.909
has written a full history on his website which

00:00:37.909 --> 00:00:40.189
I link to and I heartily recommend. It was quite

00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:42.530
the honour to have been asked to be on the station

00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:45.649
on its 100th birthday and I was asked whether

00:00:45.649 --> 00:00:47.810
I would give my thoughts on the output of the

00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:51.130
station which I hurriedly declined. But a chat

00:00:51.130 --> 00:00:52.829
about the future of the station might be fun

00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:55.490
I thought and I discovered on a chilly winter

00:00:55.490 --> 00:00:58.250
morning that... They weren't broadcasting from

00:00:58.250 --> 00:01:00.890
their South Bank studios, but instead broadcasting

00:01:00.890 --> 00:01:02.850
live from the Queen Street Mall in the centre

00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:05.549
of the city. Anyway, a very nice T -shirt was

00:01:05.549 --> 00:01:07.549
made, which my wife excellently ordered for me

00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:09.909
ahead of time as a gift, so I put that on and

00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:12.469
caught the bus into Brisbane to have a chat with

00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:15.409
Steve Austin. It was a day of celebration, though

00:01:15.409 --> 00:01:19.090
I have to, of course, I had to mention that ABC

00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:21.469
Senior Management should give that station an

00:01:21.469 --> 00:01:24.750
FM licence, which was reacted to with a bit of

00:01:24.750 --> 00:01:27.290
a laugh. Anyway, you'll find the audio linked

00:01:27.290 --> 00:01:31.950
from my newsletter and on my blog, james .cridland

00:01:31.950 --> 00:01:35.650
.net slash blog. Now, last week, I linked to

00:01:35.650 --> 00:01:39.189
a video about the BBC moving radio studios from

00:01:39.189 --> 00:01:43.010
Radio Tech Con. This week, I've linked to Bauer

00:01:43.010 --> 00:01:46.010
Media Moving Studios, a not altogether smooth

00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:48.010
move, if I can read between the lines, but a

00:01:48.010 --> 00:01:51.049
fascinating look into London's newest radio broadcast

00:01:51.049 --> 00:01:55.099
centre. Saga Communications in the US is replacing

00:01:55.099 --> 00:01:58.980
their voiceover talents for imaging with AI cloned

00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:01.680
voices. And that saved jobs rather than cost

00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.760
them, according to the report that I link to.

00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:06.920
Now, I use an AI voiceover for the Pod News Weekly

00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:11.699
Review. And yeah, it's right, but I can hardly

00:02:11.699 --> 00:02:14.379
pass judgment on Saga doing much the same sort

00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:17.159
of thing. Incidentally, that podcast of mine

00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:20.419
goes through an automated tool that removes um

00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:22.780
and uh filler words. And that seems to work quite

00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:27.500
nicely. Now, there's been a public beta of iOS

00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:30.759
26. That's the next operating system for iPhone

00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:34.219
that has been made available. I've had the developer

00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:36.300
version for some time and tried out the Apple

00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:39.939
Music Auto Mix run by the company's AI systems.

00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:43.400
And it's mostly really very good. It's better

00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:45.300
than any other streaming service that I've heard

00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:47.659
and frankly nicer than many radio stations manage.

00:02:47.819 --> 00:02:51.919
I link to what it did to my music on my blog

00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:56.560
as well. And the BBC Sounds app is now turned

00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.199
off for anyone outside the UK. Now, if you still

00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:03.080
have it and you want to still keep on using it,

00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.500
then it's relatively trivial to get past. You

00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:09.159
need to find a UK VPN, but use the BBC Sounds

00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:12.530
app on it just once. And that appears to reset

00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:15.330
the holiday clock for a month, and you'll still

00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:19.460
be able to use BBC Sounds for now. But there

00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:21.479
is a bit of an issue with that, in that the BBC

00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:23.860
Sounds app is no longer available in app stores

00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:27.120
anywhere outside the UK. So I guess if the BBC

00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.060
wants to break it, they just need to update it

00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:32.780
and check for the latest version. If you just

00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:35.039
want to listen to live radio, well, there's no

00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.699
need for even that. Just use your web browser

00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:41.000
and visit bbc .co .uk slash radio station name,

00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.319
like bbc .co .uk slash radio 2. or bbc .co .uk

00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:48.680
slash radio leads. Or you can use TuneIn or Apple

00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:51.479
Music or anything else. Now, as far as I can

00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.639
see, the BBC app is just a website wrapper. So

00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.500
it doesn't work with Apple CarPlay or Android

00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:59.379
Auto. But that does mean that if you want to

00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:02.560
see what the BBC app is like, and you're in the

00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:06.060
UK, then just use a VPN. and accessbbc .com.

00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.400
It's almost the same experience. The main issue

00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:11.719
that people have found is the lack of any scoped

00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:15.280
search for BBC Audio. So a search for The Archers

00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.480
results in the top search results being all about

00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.839
sport. I'm slightly surprised, it has to be said.

00:04:22.170 --> 00:04:24.889
about the copy on the BBC's subscription webpage.

00:04:25.310 --> 00:04:28.250
Now, in the US, the BBC is trying to earn money

00:04:28.250 --> 00:04:32.689
from an annual subscription, $8 .99 a month,

00:04:32.850 --> 00:04:36.329
or there's an annual cost in there as well. Anyway,

00:04:36.470 --> 00:04:39.610
it uses a font that isn't wreath serif and a

00:04:39.610 --> 00:04:42.029
text size that surely isn't BBC standard because

00:04:42.029 --> 00:04:45.750
it's microscopic. But the page contains a list

00:04:45.750 --> 00:04:49.550
of the things that it appears you get access

00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:53.230
to, including... the BBC World Service. It looks

00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:55.730
very much to me as if the BBC is trying to claim

00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:57.689
that you'll need a subscription to access the

00:04:57.689 --> 00:05:00.629
radio station in the future. Now, it does get

00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:04.350
government grant funding of £104 million and

00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:07.810
another £158 million from the licence fee, so

00:05:07.810 --> 00:05:10.129
I'm surprised that they can put that behind the

00:05:10.129 --> 00:05:12.970
subscription wall as well. Or perhaps they're

00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:15.430
not, and they're just being misleading. Who knows?

00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:18.730
Anyway, it's the lack of catch -up that hurts

00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:22.069
a bit, especially for those of us not in good

00:05:22.069 --> 00:05:25.610
time zones. As one example, the BBC's Today programme

00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:28.310
is now unavailable via catch -up internationally.

00:05:28.790 --> 00:05:32.769
But rejoice, there is a podcast called Best of

00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:35.709
Today, but there's been no updates to it since

00:05:35.709 --> 00:05:40.230
October 2024. So presumably there's been nothing

00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:43.709
good on since then. And thank you to the excellent

00:05:43.709 --> 00:05:46.850
Jared Greats, who sent over five coffees. That's

00:05:46.850 --> 00:05:49.029
kind of you. BuyMeACoffee .com slash James Gridland.

00:05:49.490 --> 00:05:52.290
Now running the Greats Media Group, he calls

00:05:52.290 --> 00:05:55.310
himself an audience -ologist. What a ridiculous

00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:58.370
thing to do, to take a word and add ologist to

00:05:58.370 --> 00:06:00.470
the end and hope you'll get away with it. Anyway,

00:06:00.529 --> 00:06:02.430
he's good and enthusiastic about the future of

00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:06.410
radio and worth chasing up. Speaking next, I

00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:09.910
am at Dallas in Texas, the podcast movement,

00:06:10.089 --> 00:06:12.790
which is August the 18th to the 21st. Looking

00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:15.829
forward to that. And Radio Days Asia in Jakarta

00:06:15.829 --> 00:06:19.389
in Indonesia in early September. If you'd like

00:06:19.389 --> 00:06:22.290
to go to either of those, I have money off tickets

00:06:22.290 --> 00:06:26.470
for you. please just get in touch and ask. James

00:06:26.470 --> 00:06:28.769
at crit .land is my email address and I will

00:06:28.769 --> 00:06:32.509
help you save some money off both of those and

00:06:32.509 --> 00:06:35.029
that'll be good. Thank you to my supporters,

00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:38.750
including Greg Strassel and Sam Phelps and James

00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:40.870
Masterton for being regular supporters. If you'd

00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:42.629
like to support my work in any way, you can buy

00:06:42.629 --> 00:06:45.310
me a coffee. Be a member to give regularly or

00:06:45.310 --> 00:06:47.910
just give a one -off coffee or five. Alternatively,

00:06:48.110 --> 00:06:50.009
you can do that directly with Stripe as well.

00:06:50.649 --> 00:06:53.649
There are links and all of that in the newsletter

00:06:53.649 --> 00:06:56.750
or buymeacoffee .com slash James Cridland will

00:06:56.750 --> 00:07:00.430
also get there. I'm on Blue Sky and on Mastodon.

00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:02.670
You should probably follow me on Mastodon, I

00:07:02.670 --> 00:07:05.250
guess. And my website has more detail about who

00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:07.110
I am and what I do and whether I can help you

00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:10.329
further. That's at james .cridland .net. And

00:07:10.329 --> 00:07:12.509
until next time, keep listening.