WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.640 Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist, 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.299 and every week I write a newsletter all about 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:07.839 international radio trends. It's called Radioland, 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:10.880 and you can find it at james .cridland .net slash 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.820 radioland. And this is it for September the 21st. 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:18.910 The BBC adds new stations to DAB. Multi -platform 00:00:18.910 --> 00:00:22.050 radio offers a great opportunity to broaden brands 00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:25.230 and offer additional choice for wider appeal. 00:00:25.469 --> 00:00:27.570 And that has been particularly the case in the 00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:30.609 UK, where Virgin Radio was the first to add additional 00:00:30.609 --> 00:00:33.149 brand extensions, initially known as Virgin Radio 00:00:33.149 --> 00:00:36.210 Classic and Virgin Radio Wheels of Steel, back 00:00:36.210 --> 00:00:38.869 in early 2000. And in the main, these can offer 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:41.210 yield management around advertising, ensuring 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:44.329 that most advertisers buy across the brand network 00:00:44.329 --> 00:00:48.240 rather than solace stations. The BBC recently 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.520 launched three new brand extensions on DAB Plus 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:55.000 in the UK, Radio 1 Dance, Radio 1 Anthems and 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.579 Radio 3 Unwind. The stations have been on BBC 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:01.560 Sounds for a while, but have now made it to broadcast 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.420 radio as well. And it's the first time that the 00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:07.200 BBC has broadcast national DAB Plus signals. 00:01:07.379 --> 00:01:11.519 Back in 2007, the industry was loudly proclaiming 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.819 that DAB Plus would never come to the UK. It 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:17.599 does mean that the BBC's DAB Multiplex is now 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.120 quite interesting. It's a mix of the Heritage 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:22.519 stations on original flavour DAB and then three 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.719 DAB Plus services now squeezing in with the brave 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:29.540 choice of 32 kilobits a second being used even 00:01:29.540 --> 00:01:32.540 for classical music. Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 have 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:34.819 all slightly decreased in audio quality down 00:01:34.819 --> 00:01:39.870 from 128 to 112 kilobits a second. DAB Plus is 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.150 the standard in most DAB countries these days. 00:01:43.209 --> 00:01:46.510 It's a nervousness about the large number of 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:49.930 older DAB -only sets that means that the BBC 00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:52.769 hasn't switched entirely. But it's good to see 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:55.709 new services making it to DAB broadcasting, which 00:01:55.709 --> 00:01:59.069 is significantly more popular than online. It 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:01.969 gives the BBC more opportunity to reach audiences. 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:06.319 And that can only be a good thing. While I was 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.800 in London, I went to the Museum of Brands and 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.020 it's striking how much radio stuff is in there. 00:02:11.259 --> 00:02:13.620 It's a fun way to pass half an hour if you're 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:16.300 ever in Ladbroke Grove, particularly if you like 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:20.139 old -fashioned radios. More BBC outside the UK 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:23.860 oddness. And they've got a full archive website 00:02:23.860 --> 00:02:26.340 of Alistair Cook's letter from America, except 00:02:26.340 --> 00:02:29.259 if you press the Listen Now button, none of those 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.120 work. It just takes you to a 404 error page. 00:02:32.699 --> 00:02:35.560 But you can also press the Download button, and 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:38.599 that works fine. So I'm not quite sure what's 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:40.560 going on there. It was interesting to listen 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:44.020 to CBC Radio 1 in Calgary in Alberta. The news 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:45.860 bulletin at the top of the hour was quite fresh 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:47.800 -sounding. Some news stories just introduced 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:50.639 using actuality rather than a newsreader introducing 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:52.840 it. every news story first. It's quite a nice 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.860 tweak to a standard five -minute bulletin. It's 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.400 worth listening in if you can. I would give you 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.699 a recording of that, but I don't have access 00:03:00.699 --> 00:03:03.900 to one. Unfortunately, there seems to be no access 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:07.360 to CBC Radio 1 Calgary on the service that I 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.340 use, which is a bit of a shame. Now, as more 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:13.620 of us work for ourselves, it's becoming harder 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:16.520 for people to pick up the pieces if something 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:19.259 happens to us. I wrote a piece over on PodNews 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:22.780 about your digital legacy, but it's just as valid 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:25.560 for people who work in radio as well. It's worthwhile 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:27.719 giving it a read and seeing if it applies to 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:31.240 you as well. And iHeartRadio will continue as 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:34.080 a brand in Canada after Bell Media reviewed, 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.340 or renewed, I should say, its agreement. Although, 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.000 really, what option do they have? They've got 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.900 a sizeable install base within Canada. How would 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.180 they transition to a new app if they decided 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:48.740 that they didn't want iHeartRadio anymore? There's 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:50.900 an interesting one. Anyway, thank you so much 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:53.900 to Radio .co, to Clyde Broadcast, the radio people, 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:59.680 and to Admaster for your kind support. Also Greg 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.020 Strassel, Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton, Emma Gibbs, 00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:04.180 Jocelyn Abbey, and James Masterton for being 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:07.139 regular supporters as well. You can support this 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.199 podcast and my work by buying me a coffee, buyingmeacoffee 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.120 .com slash James Cridland. And you can follow 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.500 me on all of the socials, if by all of the socials 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:19.699 I mean the ones that nobody uses. Mastodon, mm 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:23.319 -mm. James at bne .social. Or Blue Sky, I'm at 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:26.759 james .crid .land. And my website has more details 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:28.720 about who I am and what I do and whether I can 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.800 help you further. You'll find that at james .cridland 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:33.519 .net. And until next time, keep listening.