WEBVTT

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Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist,

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and every week or so I write a newsletter all

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about the future of the radio. It's called Radioland,

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and this is it for September the 28th, 2025.

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No more awards in Australia and no more radio

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in the UK Academy. First, though, I have a picture

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of an ad. It's an out -of -home ad for Nova in

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Brisbane. photographed today, photographed this

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morning, in fact. And it's a picture of three

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people. The headline is Ash, Lutzy and Nicky.

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And underneath it's written, don't think just

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Nova. That's literally all that it says. There's

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no. information about frequencies or DAB or anything

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else. And I say that Nova is a radio station.

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Not that you'd know from that. Ash, Lutze and

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Nicky are, I think, the breakfast crew. And this

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type of advertising seems to only exist in Australia.

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This campaign is all the same as well. It's a

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picture of somebody, their name above it, and

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a slightly strange tagline. You might think this

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is another opaque ad campaign that assumes knowledge

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from the audience. What's Nova? Is it a streaming

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service? Is it a magazine? But then you realise

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that it's probably only aimed at those with rating

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diaries to fill, and literally to remind them

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of the name of the radio station that these personalities

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are on. And here's a fun fact. October the 28th,

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today, is the first day of a week out of survey.

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And I bet none of the people on this campaign

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will actually be on the air next week. In Australia,

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the Accra Radio Awards, last held in 2024, will

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no longer return, according to the organisers

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Commercial Radio and Audio. Individual networks

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continue to celebrate the amazing work being

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done across our industries through their own

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recognition programmes, suggests the CEO, Lizzie

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Young. Permanently cancelling the radio awards

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is quite a shock and does send a signal of a

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less showbiz, less relevant industry. Meanwhile,

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the Australian Podcast Awards isn't happening

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this year either. Pod News reporting it's shifting

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to 2026. And the ABC Local Radio Awards are long

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since mothballed. So is there any opportunity

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for audio to be recognised in the country anymore,

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excepting genre -specific awards like the Walkleys?

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The Radio Academy will, from next year, be known

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as the Audio Academy. As a former trustee, I

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was asked what I thought and... You know, I'm

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conflicted. It's the right move from the Academy,

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I think, which runs the ARIAs, the Audio and

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Radio Industry Awards. But it does seem another

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loss of the word radio rather than a redefinition

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of it. Now, here's a quote from Mark Damaser,

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the former BBC Radio 4 controller, on the BBC's

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international audio offer from Roger Bolton's

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Beebwatch. You feel... really quite strongly

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they've been making it up as they go along, and

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they've had a lot of trouble communicating to

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these audiences outside the UK interested in

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BBC Audio what it is that they're actually doing.

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Well, Mark Damaser suggests that the BBC's press

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office is currently suggesting that the music

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rights issue... isn't the reason the BBC remove

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most radio stations from clear visibility for

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international listeners and instead suggest it's

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just all about money. And he raises an eyebrow

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about that. Look, I know... for certain that

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this is what has driven the concern about music

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licensing, is what has driven the removal of

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BBC radio stations. I've spoken to too many people

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within the BBC about this. Of course, it's also

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about earning money. And the fact is that the

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BBC's music stations, both live and on demand,

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would give the BBC more availability for advertising.

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Were they able to do that? but the music rights

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issue prohibits them from doing so. So I do wonder

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why the BBC's press office is telling a former

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trustee something different. BBC Audio isn't

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yet linking to the new BBC DAB Plus stations.

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BBC Radio 1 Dance, BBC Radio 1 Anthems and BBC

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Radio 3 Unwind. I've updated my guide on how

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to listen to BBC Radio overseas to add those

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links. They work just fine, by the way. They

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didn't, but they do now. Presumably now they're

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fully licensed broadcast radio stations. There's

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no reason to treat them any differently. I wonder

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how long it'll take for the BBC's official list

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to include them. And thanks to those who pointed

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out that some BBC local radio stations are on

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DAB+. Those radio stations are the first national

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services on DAB+. A company in the US is publishing

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3 ,000 podcast episodes a week using AI. I'm

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not listening to almost any of them before putting

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them out there. I'm releasing 3 ,000 episodes

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a week and I have eight people on my team. There's

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no way we're listening to the overwhelming majority

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of our content before it's released. I interviewed

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Janine Wright, the company's CEO for the podcast

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Business Journal. Of course, radio could do that

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too. Let's hope it doesn't. In the US, a new

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law will mandate AM radio in cars, but only for

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the next eight years. John Katsimatidis, the

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owner of WABC in New York, an AM radio station,

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calls the eight -year clause unnecessary, though

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his station's website notes that since the onset

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of FM and podcasts, an increasing number of younger

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consumers opt for content they hear through their

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phone. I would suggest, based on US listening

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trends, that AM radio's audience will have entirely

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vanished by 2034. Someone finds a software -defined

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radio dungle on the internet this week and does

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50 different things with it, some quite fascinating

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things, some things that are less fascinating,

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lots of things that are not allowed in Germany.

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It's a good read. I linked to that today. And

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an interesting comparison between high -attention

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media and low -attention media. I've always considered

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speech -based radio as high -attention media.

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Podcasts, too. But the research appears to point

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to ad money shifting away from high attention

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media and shifting toward social media and out

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of home. Now, I was in Canada last week and I'm

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now at home. Hooray! Where I spent the last four

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days mainly in bed. recovering from, as you can

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probably tell, a surprisingly bad cold. But that

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is all it was, say the tests. Anyway, I link

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to a full trip report if you like that sort of

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thing. That's linked from the show notes of this

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very podcast. It's the first time now where I've

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got no speaking engagements, save a pre -recorded

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one early next week, until March of next year.

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I really enjoy public speaking. I like the travel

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though rather less. I am, though, planning to

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be in the audience at some of South by Southwest

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Sydney, however, so looking forward to that.

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So where am I speaking next? Well, I'm on the

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Health Podcast Summit. October the 1st to the

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2nd. Actually, you know what? As I read this

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out, I'm also forgetting that I'm also on a Italian

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podcast conference, which I will be doing live

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on the 30th of September. So there is always

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that. And then I'm speaking at Radio Days Europe

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in Riga in Latvia. in March next year, which

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is very exciting. And thank you to lots of very

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excellent people, including Meliora and Soma

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FM and Radio .co for your kind support. If you'd

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like to support my work in any way, then you

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can buy me a coffee. You can become a member

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to give regularly or just give a one -off coffee

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or five. You can do that at buymeacoffee .com

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slash James Cridland. I'm on the socials on bluesky

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as at james .crid .land or on mastodon as at

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james at bne .social. Mastodon, I'm rather more

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active on, but, you know, I'm active on both

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of them. I've got a blue tick now on bluesky.

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Look at me. And my website has more detail about

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who I am and what I do and whether I can help

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you further. You'll find that at james .cridland

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.net. And until next time, keep listening. free

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audio post -production